Health, Spirituality and Medical Ethics

Author Guidelines

Obligation of Authors
Original Article Template

There are no article processing or submission charges. The articles have free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles and allow readers to use them for any other lawful purpose

Aims and Scope: The “Health, Spirituality and Medical Ethics (HSME) " is a scientific research-based journal published quarterly which deals with Islamic medicine, Ethics, Medical Ethics, Traditional, Religious, Medical Jurisprudence and Law, spirituality, the objective of which is to boost and disseminate the findings of the researches done on medical sciences and the corresponding fields, and its target groups are those active in the field of the medicine and allied health sciences. This journal is published quarterly by “Qom University of Medical Sciences”, Qom, Iran. Members of editorial board are specialists in different areas of medicine. The articles of the journal are available at: http://jhsme.muq.ac.ir.

Articles: This Journal accepts Original Articles, Review Articles, Case Reports, Short Communications and Commentary

Submission: Manuscript must be accompanied by a covering letter to Editor-in-Chief, including title and author(s) name(s) provided that it has not been published or submitted elsewhere. In case the manuscript had been submitted earlier to some other Journal and been rejected, the authors must provide full information for proper analysis. Manuscript should be typed in single space with clear margins on both sides. Tables as well as illustrations should be typed and drawn on a separate paper. Do not submit tables as photographs. the authors must declare that it is being exclusively contributed to Health, Spirituality and Medical Ethics. The text should be submitted in Microsoft Word format as an attachment. The figures should be sent in a format of JPEG or GIF which will produce high quality images in the online edition of the journal.

The manuscript should include: Title page; the Abstract; Introduction; Methods; Results;Discussion; Conclusion; Acknowledgement and References.

Short Communications are suitable for the presentation of research that extends previously published research, including the reporting of additional controls and confirmatory results in other settings, as well as negative results, small-scale clinical studies, clinical audits and case series. Authors must clearly acknowledge any work upon which they are building, both published and unpublished. and should include: Title page; the Abstract; Introduction; Methods; Results;Discussion; Conclusion; Acknowledgement and References.

1. Title page: The complete title of the manuscript, the name of all the authors (the authorship criteria) with their highest qualifications, the department or institution to which they are attached, address for correspondence with telephone numbers, e-mail, and Fax number.
2. Abstract: All original articles must accompany a structured abstract up to 250 words. It should be structured as Background and Objectives, Methods, Results and Conclusion followed by 3 to 5 Keywords. Keywords will assist indexers in cross indexing the article as they are published with abstract. Use terms from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of index medicus (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html ). Authors need to be careful that the abstract reflects the content of the article accurately.
3. Introduction: This should summarize the purpose and the rationale for the study. It should neither review the subject extensively nor should it have data or conclusions of the study.
4. Methods: This should include exact method or observation or experiment. If an apparatus is used, its manufacturer’s name and address should be given in parenthesis. If the method is established, give reference but if the method is new, give enough information so that another author is able to perform it. If a drug is used, its generic name, dose and route of administration must be given. For patients, age, sex with mean age ± standard deviation must be given. The statistical method must be mentioned and specify any general computer program used. The Info system used should be clearly mentioned.
5. Results: It must be presented in the form of text, tables and illustrations. The contents of the tables should not be all repeated in the text. Instead, a reference to the table number may be given. Long articles may need sub-headings within some sections (especially the Results and Discussion parts) to clarify their contents.
6. Discussion: should emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow them. Possible mechanisms or explanations for these findings should be explored. The limitations of the study and the implications of the findings for future research or clinical practice should be explored.
7. Conclusion: This should emphasize the present findings and the variations or similarities with other work done in the field by other workers. The detailed data should not be repeated in the discussion again. Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. It must be mentioned whether the hypothesis mentioned in the article is true, false or no conclusions can be derived.
Ethical Considerations

Compliance with ethical guidelines
Ethics code and its issuing reference should be mentioned.

Funding
Please add: “This research received no external funding” or “This research was funded by NAME OF FUNDER, grant number XXX.

Authors' contributions
Designate each author’s contribution using their initials.
For example: “Conceptualization, X.X. and Y.Y.; methodology, X.X.; software, X.X.; validation, X.X., Y.Y. and Z.Z.; formal analysis, X.X.; investigation, X.X.; resources, X.X.; data curation, X.X.; writing—original draft preparation, X.X.; writing—review and editing, X.X.; visualization, X.X.; supervision, X.X.; project administration, X.X.; funding acquisition, Y.Y”.

Conflict of interest
Declare conflicts of interest or state “The authors declare no conflict of interest.” Authors must identify and declare any personal circumstances or interest that may be perceived as inappropriately influencing the representation or interpretation of reported research results. Any role of the funders in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results must be declared in this section. If there is no role, please state “The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results”.
8. Acknowledgment: All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be covered in the acknowledgment section. It should include persons who provided technical help, writing assistance and departmental head that only provided general support. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged.
9. Tables: In limited numbers should be submitted with the captions placed above. Do not submit tables as photograph. Place explanatory matters in footnotes, not in the heading.
10. Figures: Should be in limited numbers, with high quality art work and mounted on separate pages. The captions should be placed below. The same data should not be presented in tables, figures and text, simultaneously.
11. References: All manuscripts should be accompanied by relevant references. The author should ensure reference to locally published studies by doing proper literature search. It may not be possible for the editor and reviewers to check the accuracy of all reference citations. To minimize such errors author should verify references against the original documents. The Reference should provide the following information as stated in the presented models as follows: (Vancouver Style). Example formats are listed below. Additional examples are in the ICMJE sample references.

Proof Reading: A computer print-out is sent to the corresponding author for proof reading before publication in order to avoid any mistakes. Corrections should be marked clearly and sent immediately to the Journal office.

Abbreviations and symbols: Use only standard abbreviations. Avoid using them in the title and abstract. The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement. The corresponding author: Will be supplied with 5 free issues.

Ethical guidelines: Ethical considerations must be addressed in the Materials and Methods section. 1) Please state that informed consent was obtained from all human adult participants and from the parents or legal guardians of minors. Include the name of the appropriate institutional review board that approved the project. 2) Indicate in the text that the maintenance and care of experimental animals complies with National Institutes of Health guidelines for the humane use of laboratory animals, or those of your Institute or agency.

Conflicts of interest: Authors must acknowledge and declare any sources of funding and potential conflicting interest, such as receiving funds or fees by, or holding stocks and shares in, an organization that may profit or lose through publication of your paper. Declaring a competing interest will not lead to automatic rejection of the paper, but we would like to be made aware of it.

Page charges: There are no charges for publication in this Journal.

Copyright: The entire contents of the HSME are protected under international copyrights. The articles have free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles and allow readers to use them for any other lawful purpose

Peer review process: All manuscripts are considered to be confidential. They are peer-reviewed by at least 2 anonymous reviewers selected by the Editorial Board. The corresponding author is notified -as soon as possible- of the editor’s decision to accept, reject, or require modifications. If the manuscript is completely acceptable according to the criteria set forth in these instructions, it is scheduled for the next available issue.

Disposal of material: Once published, all copies of the manuscript, correspondence and artwork will be held for 6 months before disposal.