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Author Guidelines

This page provides essential information to assist you in preparing and submitting your manuscript to Al-Qadisiyah Medical Journal (QADMJ). Please read the guidelines carefully to help ensure a smooth review process and avoid unnecessary delays in the publication of your work. For detailed information on the journal’s editorial policies and ethical standards, please also refer to the Editorial Policies page. The sections below cover manuscript preparation, formatting requirements, submission procedures, and other important instructions for authors.

Contents

Author Responsibilities

The authors have the following two responsibilities:

  • Their assertion that their scientific work has not been published at all or is under review in another journal.
  • The accuracy of the references used and the texts quoted from them.

Criteria of Authorship

  • Active participation in the study design and formulation, data acquisition and statistical analysis, and discussion of data results and their comparison with other studies.
  • Writing the article in a scientific refereed form or reviewing it.
  • Approval of the final version of the research is to be published.

Each author must be sufficiently involved in scholarly research to express his responsibility for appropriate portions of the manuscript. The sequence of the authors depends on the size of their participation in the study and its writing. The sequence of the authors in a manuscript cannot be changed after it is submitted to the journal unless there is written consent from all the contributors.

Manuscript Submission Requirements

  • Blind manuscript: The main manuscript file must be prepared without author names, affiliations, or any identifying information to ensure a double-blind peer review.
  • Title page: A separate title page file must be submitted that includes the manuscript title, full names of all authors, their institutional affiliations, corresponding author’s contact information, and any declarations or statements that identify the authors. This separate file ensures that the main manuscript remains fully anonymized for double-blind peer review.
  • Cover letter: A cover letter must be submitted with the manuscript, including the manuscript title, names and affiliations of all authors, and a brief statement describing the submission.

Types of manuscripts

QADMJ accepts the following scientific works:

Original Research

It should consist of

  • Title: Each word should start with a capital letter.
  • Structured Abstract (background, objectives, materials and methods, results, and conclusion)
  • Keywords
  • Text (Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion), Acknowledgment, and References.

Case Report

It should consist of

  • Title: Each word should be started with a capital letter.
  • The abstract of one paragraph contains three components: introduction, presentation of the case, and conclusion.
  • Introduction
  • Case presentation
  • Discussion and references

Review Articles

QADMJ publishes both narrative and systematic reviews. It is expected that narrative articles will be written by individuals who have done substantial work on the subject or are considered experts in the field. The abstract should include an overview of the topic and the main objective for the review, the primary observations and findings, as well as the conclusion of the review that is supported by the information, along with clinical applications and relevance. The main body section titles would depend on the topic reviewed. Authors should also include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data.

For systematic reviews with meta-analysis, a structured abstract is required. In addition, the main body of the text should comprise an introduction, methods (detailing the following: search strategy, study selection and data extraction, quality of evidence, risk of bias, and publication bias), results (detailing search results and the primary findings), discussion, conclusion, references, tables, and figure legends.

General Requirements

  1. Abstract: The abstract is 350 words maximum and unreferenced and must include the following subtitles: Background, Aims, Material & Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Do not use abbreviations and acronyms, and expand all abbreviations at first mention in the text.
  2. Key words: 3-6 relevant key words or short phrases are provided following the abstract. These should not duplicate keywords from the title.
  3. Introduction: This part of the research summarizes its purpose and rationality. In addition to clarifying the conclusions reached by previous studies on the same topic and what remained ambiguous. It should not contain a detailed explanation of the previous studies, nor should the results or conclusions of the research be placed there.
  4. Materials and Methods: (1) Provide the detailed information to allow the work to be reproduced. The previously reported methods should be indicated by a reference; (2) at the beginning of the section, include the details of ethical clearance from the local review board and informed consent from patients with reference number and date of the approval (if needed); and (3) include "Statistical Study" as a subtitle in the final part of the section, and specify the statistical methods used in the study. Avoid non-technical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as 'random' (which implies a randomizing device), 'normal', 'significant', 'correlations', and 'sample'. Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols. Specify the computer software used. All P values should be reported as exact numbers to 2 digits past the decimal point, regardless of significance, unless they are lower than 0.01, in which case they should be presented to 3 digits. Express any P values lower than 0.001 as P<.001. P-values can never equal 0 or 1. Use upper italics (P).
  5. Results: Present your results in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations, giving the main or most important findings first. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables or illustrations; emphasize or summarize only important observations. Numbers are given in the tables and figures. The title (legend) of the table is placed above the table, and the legend of the figure is placed below the corresponding figure.
  6. Discussion: Include a summary of key findings, strengths and limitations of the study, interpretation and implications in the context of the totality of evidence, controversies raised by this study, and future research directions. Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction or the Results section. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed. New hypotheses may be stated if needed; however, they should be clearly labeled as such.
  7. Conclusions: The conclusions of the manuscript may be presented in a short Conclusions section or may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion section.
  8. Acknowledgement: All contributors to the research who do not meet the author's specifications must be mentioned. It includes everyone who provided technical or financial assistance or helped in writing the research.
  9. Tables: The upper limit of the number of tables is 6 for original studies and 5 for case reports (figures and tables). Tables in Word form are acceptable; however, the tables in image form are rejected. The table is put into its appropriate place in the text. A brief title is provided for every table.
  10. Figures: The upper limit of the number of figures is 6 for original articles and 5 for case reports (figures and tables). Figures must be submitted in JPEG or GIF format as a separate file. A figure legend is provided for each figure. If a figure contains multiple panels (e.g., A, B, C, D, or right, left), you should specify each of them in the legend. Any abbreviation used in the legend should be clearly clarified.
  11. Conflicts of Interest: Researchers must clarify whether there are conflicts of financial interest or other interests that affect the outcome of scientific research. Also, the researchers must clarify if there is any financial support for the research and the party that supports it.
  12. Consent for Participation: Authors must include a statement in the manuscript confirming that informed consent to participate was obtained when required. If consent was not required (e.g., ethics waiver; retrospective research using fully anonymized data; use of public datasets), the manuscript must state this and provide a brief justification. The privacy rights of participants must always be observed.
  13. Consent for Publication: If the manuscript includes patient images that preclude anonymity or descriptions that could reasonably identify the patient, authors must include a statement in the manuscript confirming that written informed consent for publication was obtained.
  14. Abbreviations: Universal abbreviations are permitted in writing the research. It is also possible to use abbreviations in the text after writing the term in full, as first mentioned in the article. Avoid using acronyms in the abstract unless they are absolutely necessary.
  15. References: The authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references used in the research. To facilitate writing the references, you can use multiple software programs such as Mendeley and EndNote.

Examples of references are given below according to the IEEE style used by QADMJ:

  1. V. Faraone and H. Larsson, “Genetics of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,” Mol. Psychiatry, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 562–575, 2019.
  2. K.Urion, “Pediatric Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder,” Nelson Text. Pediatr. 21st ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier, vol. 1, chapter 49, pp. 262–267, 2020.

For more details, please read the IEEE Reference Guide at this link: https://ieeeauthorcenter.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/IEEE-Reference-Guide.pdf

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

QADMJ permits the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools during manuscript preparation, provided that such use complies with the following guidelines:

  1. Transparency and Disclosure: Authors must fully disclose the use of any AI-assisted technologies (e.g., ChatGPT, Grammarly, Google Gemini, DeepAI, etc.) in the preparation of the manuscript, including for writing assistance, language editing, data analysis, or image generation. This should be stated in the Acknowledgements section or a separate AI Disclosure Statement.
  2. Author Responsibility: The use of AI does not absolve authors of responsibility. Authors are fully accountable for the content, accuracy, originality, and integrity of their manuscript, including any sections or content generated or assisted by AI tools.
  3. Prohibited Uses:
    • AI tools must not be listed as authors.
    • AI must not be used to fabricate, manipulate, or falsify data, citations, references, images, or research findings.
    • AI-generated content must not be submitted without thorough human review and editing.
  4. Plagiarism and Authorship: AI-generated content must be free of plagiarism. Authors are responsible for ensuring that AI tools do not generate unattributed or improperly paraphrased content from other sources. Authors must disclose any use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in manuscript preparation (including the tool used and the purpose of use).

Format of Tables

  • Include a title for each table (no longer than 15 words) in a single file.
  • Tables should be self-explanatory and should not duplicate textual material.
  • Tables with more than 10 columns and 25 rows are not acceptable.
  • Explain all nonstandard abbreviations in footnotes.
  • The tables, along with their numbers, should be cited at the relevant place in the text.
  • Submit tables in a word processing format, not an imaging format.
  • Identify statistical measures of variations, such as SD or SE. Do not merely repeat information in the text.
  • All P values should be reported as exact numbers to 2 digits past the decimal point, regardless of significance, unless they are lower than 0.01, in which case they should be presented to 3 digits. Express any P values lower than 0.001 as P<.001. P-values can never equal 0 or 1.

Format of Figures

  • Upload the images in JPEG format. The file size should be within 1024 kb in size while uploading.
  • Number all figures in the order of their citation in the text.
  • Include a title for each figure (no longer than 15 words). Titles and detailed explanations belong to the figure legends, not on the illustrations themselves.
  • Multi-panel figures (for example, Figs. 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d) should be submitted as a single composite file that contains all parts of the figure.
  • Labels, numbers, and symbols should be clear and of uniform size. The lettering for figures should be large enough to be legible after reduction to fit the width of a printed column.
  • The photographs and figures should be trimmed to remove all the unwanted areas.

NOTE: It is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce figures that have previously been published elsewhere.

Preparation of Manuscripts

Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the "Instruction to Authors" of QADMJ. Before submitting a manuscript, authors are requested to check for the latest instructions of the journal. All manuscripts must be written in English, either American or British style. To avoid unnecessary errors, you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.

To submit a manuscript, authors should prepare the manuscript in the form of two separate files:

  1. Title Page and Cover Letter:
    • The type of manuscript (original article, case report, review article)
    • The title should be concise and informative; do not use "Effects of..." or "Study of..." and keep it under 150 characters. Do not use abbreviations and formulas;
    • The names of all authors (with their affiliations) and the name(s) of the department(s) and/or institution(s) to which the work should be credited. All information that can reveal the author's identity should be here.
    • The total number of pages, total number of photographs, and word counts.
    • Acknowledgement, if any. One or more statements should specify 1) contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, such as general support by a departmental chair; 2) acknowledgments of technical help; and 3) acknowledgments of financial and material support, which should specify the nature of the support;
    • If the manuscript was presented as part of a meeting, the organization, place, and exact date on which it was read.
    • Registration number of a clinical trial and where it is registered (name of the registry and its URL)
    • The name, address, e-mail, and telephone number of the corresponding author, who is responsible for communicating with the other authors about revisions and final approval of the proofs.
  2. Blinded Article File:

    The manuscript must not contain any mention of the authors' names or initials or the institution at which the study was done or acknowledgments. The page header cannot include the authors' names. The main text of the article, beginning from the abstract till the references (including tables), should be in this file. Do not incorporate images in the file. The pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the first page of the blinded article file. The file should include the main title of the article.

Submission of Manuscripts

All manuscripts must be submitted online through the Editorial Manager online submission system. New users will have to register at this site. Registered authors can keep track of their articles after logging into the site using their user name and password. If you experience any problems, please contact the editorial office by e-mail at joumed@qu.edu.iq. Prior to sending your electronic submission, please ensure that the manuscript has been prepared according to these instructions, with special emphasis on the style of the manuscript and reference list. The submitted manuscripts that are not as per the Instructions to Authors would be returned to the authors for technical correction before they undergo peer review.

Conflicts of Interest

All authors must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest, including any financial, personal, or other relationships with other people or organizations, with the study. Authors should also disclose conflicts of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript.

Permissions

Authors must submit written permission from the copyright owner (usually the publisher) to use direct quotations, tables, or illustrations that have appeared in copyrighted form elsewhere, along with complete details about the source.

Ethical compliance

Researchers who wish to be published in QADMJ must adhere to the following:

  • All research conducted on humans must match the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki.
  • Research carried out on animals should follow the guidelines for the use and care of laboratory animals followed by institutions, the National Research Council, and the laws in their countries. Please include this in the materials and methods section, as well as the name of the institution that granted the license to conduct the research, along with the number and date of granting the
  • Taking informed consent from all patients and documenting it according to the specifications of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and/or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
  • All original research involving humans, animals, biological material, protected or non-public datasets, collections, or sites must include a statement in an Ethics Approval section that clearly reports, where applicable:
    • the name of the ethics committee(s)/IRB;
    • the ethics approval number(s)/ID(s);
    • the date of the approval, and
    • when ethics approval was not required, a brief explanation (e.g., exemption/waiver; use of anonymized/public data), as applicable.

Note: It is possible to reject the articles by QADMJ if there are concerns that the work was not conducted within ethical guidelines.

Patient Anonymity and Informed Consent

It is the author's responsibility to ensure that a patient’s anonymity is carefully protected and to verify that any experimental investigation with human subjects reported in the manuscript was performed with informed consent and following all the guidelines for experimental investigation with human subjects required by the institution(s) with which all the authors are affiliated. Authors should mask patients' eyes and remove patients' names from figures unless they obtain written consent from the patients.

Statements and Declarations

The following statements must be included in your submitted manuscript under the heading 'Statements and Declarations'. Please note that submissions that do not include required statements will be returned as incomplete.

Funding

Please describe any sources of funding that have supported the work. The statement should include details of any grants received (please give the name of the funding agency and grant number).

Example statements:

  • This work was supported by […] (Grant numbers […] and […]). Author A.B. has received research support from Company A.
  • The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

Competing Interests

Effective from June 2026, Authors are required to disclose financial or non-financial interests that are directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication.

Example statements: “The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.”

Author Contributions

Effective from June 2026, all submitted manuscripts must include a clear Author Contributions statement. This statement should specify each author’s individual role in the research and the preparation of the manuscript.

We recommend using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) which provides a widely accepted framework for attributing specific types of scholarly work. Examples of such roles include:

  • Conceptualization
  • Methodology
  • Software
  • Validation
  • Formal analysis
  • Investigation
  • Data curation
  • Writing – original draft
  • Writing – review & editing
  • Visualization
  • Supervision
  • Project administration
  • Funding acquisition

Example Author Contribution statements:

  • Author A conceived and designed the study; Author B performed the experiments; Authors C and D analyzed the data; Author E wrote the original manuscript draft; all authors reviewed and approved the final version.
  • Author X was responsible for data collection and formal analysis; Author Y contributed to the methodology and manuscript editing; Author Z supervised the project and secured funding.

Data Availability

Effective from June 2026, QADMJ requires a Data Availability Statement in all submissions.

Example statements:

  • Available on reasonable request: “The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.”
  • Public repository (DOI or persistent link): “The data supporting the findings of this study are available in [repository name] at [DOI or persistent URL].”
  • Public database with accession numbers: “The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available in [database name], accession number(s) [XXXX].”
  • Controlled-access repository: “The data supporting the findings of this study are available in [repository name] (controlled access) at [URL]. Access is subject to approval by [data access committee/ethics board].”
  • Ethical or legal restrictions: “The data supporting the findings of this study are not publicly available due to [ethical/legal/privacy] restrictions but may be available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request and subject to approval.”
  • No new data generated or analyzed: “No new data were generated or analyzed in this study.”
  • Secondary use of publicly available data: “This study analyzed publicly available datasets, which can be accessed at [repository/database name and URL].”

Ethics approval

For research involving humans and animals, authors must include an Ethics Approval statement in the manuscript. The statement should identify the approving committee/IRB (or relevant animal ethics body), the approval number/ID (where applicable), and the approval date (if available).

Example statements: “This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of the College of Medicine/University of Al-Qadisiyah (Date.../No....).”

Consent to participate

For studies involving human participants, authors must state whether informed consent to participate was obtained.

Example statement: “Oral Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.”

Consent to publish

When the manuscript includes identifiable personal data, images, or information about individuals, authors must state whether informed consent for publication was obtained.

Example statement: “The authors confirm that informed consent for publication of the images in Figure(s) 1a, 1b and 1c was obtained.”

Proofs

One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness, and correctness of the text, tables, and figures. We will do our best to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back in one communication within 48 h., proofreading is solely your responsibility.

Revised Manuscripts

It is recommended that the revised article be submitted online using the same format as the original submission. There is no requirement to send the "First Page" or "Covering Letter" file when submitting an updated version. Contributors are urged to include the "referees" remarks in the updated file itself when submitting a revised paper.

After Acceptance

Upon acceptance, your article will be exported to production to undergo typesetting. Once the typesetting is complete, you will receive the proofs.

Supplementary Materials

Explain any supplemental materials (figures, tables, videos, spreadsheets, etc.) that were made available online with the manuscript. Kindly specify the name and designation of each component as outlined in the document.

Article Publishing Charge

The article processing and publishing charge (APC) for this journal is 150,000 IQD, and there is no submission charge. This fee covers the costs of editing, publishing, and archiving articles, ensuring open access to the full-text versions of published papers. The APC is payable after acceptance and applies to national authors. Al-Qadisiyah Medical Journal does not charge international authors.

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