Guide for Authors

Article Categories  Forms for Submission Manuscript Preparation Submission Process  Retraction Policy
Article Processing Charge Revised Manuscript  Reprints and Proofs Publication Schedule  Creative Commons Licensing

 

    Medical Education Bulletin (MEB) is an open access, peer-reviewed journal, dedicated to publishing research and scholarly articles pertaining to education (all fields), medical education, and other content relevant to the medical sciences professions academe.  
    This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.  
       
    If you have any questions about publishing with MEB, please visit the contact us.  
       
    Please Read the Manuscript Submission Guidelines below before submitting your manuscript   
       
  Article Categories   
   
  • Original Research (3000-5000 words, up to 50 references )
  • Review Article/ Systematic Review (2000-5000 words, up to 100 reference)
  • Short Communication / Report ( 1000-2000 words, up to 25 references )
  • Case Report (1500-2000 words, up to 29 references )
  • Editorials (1000-2000 words, up to 5 references)
  • Letter to Editor (300-600 words, 5-10 references)
  • Commentary (1500-2000 words, 10-15 references).
  
    Medical Education Bulletin accepts manuscripts written in American English.  
       
   Forms for Submission  
   

Manuscripts should be sent through the online submission system (https://www.medicaleducation-bulletin.ir/author). Please submit the Copyright and Cover letter forms via Website. 

  
    Conflicts of Interest  
   

All authors of must disclose any and all conflicts of interest they may have with publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or is important to the outcome of the study presented. Authors should also disclose conflict of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript.

  
       
    Copyright notice  
   

Once the manuscript has been approved, MEB will request the signature of each author on a copyright agreement form to give the required publication rights. Because the author(s) publish their work as open access, some rights, like patents, trademarks, and designs, retain with the author(s), while other copyright is given to the MEB  (Copyright form ). 

  
       
    Cover letter   
    The cover letter should be submitted to the editor and indicated the reasons that the paper are suitable to be published in this journal and comprised the e-mail address and telephone of the author responsible for correspondence (Cover Letter).  
       
 

 Manuscript Preparation

  
   

All manuscripts must be submitted on-line through the website https://www.medicaleducation-bulletin.ir/contacts?_action=loginForm. First time users will have to register at this site. Registration is free but mandatory. Registered authors can keep track of their articles after logging into the site using their user name and password. Authors do not have to pay for submission of articles. If you experience any problems, please contact the editorial office: https://www.medicaleducation-bulletin.ir/journal/contact.us

 

The submitted manuscripts that are not as per the “Instructions to Authors” would be returned to the authors for technical correction, before they undergo editorial/ peer-review.

 To send electronically, manuscripts should be in Word Document and well-written in English. Please double check the article for spelling, structure and format mistakes. To distinguish different parts of the article, it is recommended to use the font Times New Roman size 12 for the body, size 12 bold for subheadings, size 14 for headings and size 14 bold for the title. What follows is a series of recommendations on how the article should be like in order to process it faster and more efficiently.

 

  
   

Use only standard abbreviations; use of nonstandard abbreviations can be confusing to readers. Avoid abbreviations in the title of the manuscript. The spelled-out abbreviation followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis should be used on first mention unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measurement.

 

  
    Figures (photographs, graphs and diagrams) and tables should be submitted as separate files. Tables should be typed using single-spacing. Figures and tables should be numbered consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text (separate numbering for figures and tables). Arabic numbers (e.g. Figure 1, Table 2), and their desired position in the text should be indicated. With respect to tables, authors should place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading, using * symbol. Tables should be left justified with simple style. They should have only inside borders and any colored row or column.  
       
    In brief, you should consider the following:  
       
    1. Title page  
   
  • Titles
  • Authors (state the authors contribution)
  • Institutional Affiliation (position, institution, location)
  • Corresponding author (state his name, phone, fax, email)
  • Running title (shortened title)
  • Word count.
  
    2. Abstract  
       
    An abstract summarizes, in one paragraph (usually), the major aspects of the entire paper in the following prescribed sequence:  
   
  • Introduction and aim
  • Method and Materials
  • Results
  • Conclusion
  • Keywords are used for indexing purposes; each article should provide three to five keywords selected from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/.
  
     The length of your Abstract should be kept to about 270 words maximum.  
       
    3. Article Body  
     
  1. Introduction
  2. Materials and Methods
  3. Results (Table, Figure)
  4. Discussion
  5. Conclusion
  6. Acknowledgment
  7. Conflict of interest.
  
       
    a. Introduction  
       
     State the purpose and summarize the rationale for the study or observation.   
       
    b. Materials and Methods  
       
     It should include and describe the following aspects:  
       
   
  • Ethics:

When reporting studies on human beings, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional), and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (https://www.wma.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/DoH-Oct2000.pdf). For prospective studies involving human participants, authors are expected to mention about approval of (regional/ national/ institutional or independent Ethics Committee or Review Board, obtaining informed consent from adult research participants and obtaining assent for children aged over 7 years participating in the trial).

 

Evidence for approval by a local Ethics Committee must be supplied by the authors on demand. The journal will not consider any paper which is ethically unacceptable. A statement on ethics committee permission and ethical practices must be included in all research articles under the ‘Materials and Methods’ section.

  
       
   
  • Study design in Methodoloy
  
       
    Please followed this format:  
   
  • Study design and population
  • Inclusion and exclusion criteria
  • Methods
  • Measuring tools: validity and reliability
  • Laboratory measurements
  • Intervention
  • Ethical consideration
  • Data analyses.

  
   
  • Selection and Description of Participants:
  
    Describe your selection of the observational or experimental participants (patients or laboratory animals, including controls) clearly, including eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population. Technical information: Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods (see below); provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well known; describe new or substantially modified methods, give reasons for using them, and evaluate their limitations. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration.  
    Reports of randomized clinical trials should present information on all major study elements, including the protocol, assignment of interventions (methods of randomization, concealment of allocation to treatment groups), and the method of masking (blinding), based on the CONSORT Statement (http://www.consort-statement.org).  
       
   

         Reporting Guidelines for Specific Study Designs

Initiative Type of Study   Source

CONSORT

Randomized controlled trials

 http://www.consort-statement.org

STARD

Studies of diagnostic accuracy

 https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/stard

PRISMA

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses

 http://www.prisma-statement.org/

STROBE

Observational studies in epidemiology

 https://www.strobe-statement.org/index.php?id=strobe-home

MOOSE

Meta-analyses of observational studies in epidemiology

 https://www.elsevier.com/__data/promis_misc/ISSM_MOOSE_Checklist.pdf
 
   
  • Statistics:

Whenever possible quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Authors should report losses to observation (such as, dropouts from a clinical trial). When data are summarized in the Results section, specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. 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. For all P-value include the exact value and not less than 0.05 or 0.001. Mean differences in continuous variables, proportions in categorical variables and relative risks including odds ratios and hazard ratios should be accompanied by their confidence intervals.

  
       
    c. 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. Extra- or supplementary materials and technical detail can be placed in an appendix where it will be accessible but will not interrupt the flow of the text.  
     When data are summarized in the Results section, give numeric results not only as derivatives (for example, percentages), but also as the absolute numbers from which the derivatives were calculated, and specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Where scientifically appropriate, analyses of the data by variables such as age and sex should be included.  
       
    d. Discussion  
       
     Include summary of key findings (primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, results as they relate to a prior hypothesis); Strengths and limitations of the study (study question, study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation); Interpretation and implications in the context of the totality of evidence (is there a systematic review to refer to, if not, could one be reasonably done here and now?, what this study adds to the available evidence, effects on patient care and health policy, possible mechanisms); Controversies raised by this study; and Future research directions (for this particular research collaboration, underlying mechanisms, clinical research).  
     Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction or the Results section. In particular, contributors should avoid making statements on economic benefits and costs unless their manuscript includes economic data and analyses. 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.  
       
    e. Conclusion  
       
     This should state clearly the main conclusions of the research and give a clear explanation of their importance and relevance. Summary illustrations may be included.  
       
     f. Acknowledgements  
       
    Please acknowledge anyone who contributed towards the article by making substantial contributions to conception, design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, or who was involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content, but who does not meet the criteria for authorship. Please also include the source(s) of funding for each author, and for the manuscript preparation. Authors must describe the role of the funding body, if any, in design, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Please also acknowledge anyone who contributed materials essential for the study. If a language editor has made significant revision of the manuscript, we recommend that you acknowledge the editor by name, where possible.  
       
    g. Conflict of interest  
       
    All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, Personal or other relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. To prevent the information on potential conflict of interest for authors from being overlooked or misplaced, mention this information in the cover letter.  
       
    4. References  
       
   

The Medical Education Bulletin follows the conventions of the Vancouver reference list system in which references are numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. References should be identified in round brackets within the text, table headings and figure captions. An article with up to six authors should include all authors. If an article has more than six authors, only the first six need be given, followed by 'et al'.

  
   

 

  
   
  • Article citation example:
  
   

Author(s) – Family name and initials. Title of article. Title of journal – abbreviated Publication year, month, day (month & day only if available); volume (issue): pages. ü  Durandy Y. Perfusionist strategies for blood conservation in pediatric cardiac surgery.World J Cardiol. 2010 Feb; 2(2):27-33.

  
   

 

  
   
  • Book citation example:
  
    Author(s) – Family name and initials, multiple authors separated by a comma. Title of book. Edition of book if later than 1st ed. Place of Publication: Publisher Name; Year of Publication. ü  Karp Ge. Cell Biology. 6th ed. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons; 2010.  
       
   
  • Chapter in a book:
  
       
     ü  Speroff L, Fritz MA. Clinical gynaecologic endocrinology and infertility. 7th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2005. Chapter 29, Endometriosis; p.1103.  
       
   
  • Web Page citation example:
  
       
    Author. Title of publication [type of medium – Internet]. Place of publication (if available): Publisher (if available); Date of publication – year month day (supply year if month and day not available) [updated year month day; cited year month day]. Available from: web address. ü  The family impact of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) [Internet] 2009 Nov 1 [updated 2010 Jan 1; cited 2010].   
       
   
  • Thesis citation example:
  
       
    Printed Thesis: Author. Thesis title [type of thesis]. Place of publication: Publisher; Year.  
       
    Online Thesis: Author. Thesis title [type of thesis on the internet]. Place of publication: Publisher; Year [cited date – year month day]. Available from: Name of database/web address. ü  Kay JG. Intracellular cytokine trafficking and phagocytosis in macrophages [PhD thesis]. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland; 2007.  
       
   Submission Process  
       
    All manuscripts must be submitted on-line through the website: https://www.medicaleducation-bulletin.ir/author.  
       
    First time users will have to register at this site. Registration is free but mandatory. Registered authors can keep track of their articles after logging into the site using their user name and password. Authors do not have to pay for submission of articles.  
       
   

If you experience any problems, please contact the editorial office by e-mail at editor: meb.2021@yahoo.com OR Info@medicaleducation-bulletin.ir

  
   

 

  
    The submitted manuscripts that are not as per the “Instructions to Authors” would be returned to the authors for technical correction, before they undergo editorial/ peer-review.  
       
    Generally, the manuscript should be submitted in the form of following separate files: Title Page/ Copy right form/ Covering letter/ Blinded Article file/ Table and Figure files.  
       
     We recommend our authors to read the following carefully before submitting the manuscripts:  
       
    1. Manuscripts are accepted on condition that they have not been previously published or submitted for publication, and are not going to be sent to other journals. This restriction does not apply to works published in a form of abstracts or summaries. The "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts (URM) Submitted to Biomedical Journals" is incorporated into our review and publication process. All of the submissions should meet the highest standards of publication ethics, which are: 1) Manuscripts should only report results that have not been submitted or published before, even in part, 2) Manuscripts must be original and should not reuse text from another source without appropriate citation, 3) For biological studies, the studies reported should have been carried out in accordance with generally accepted ethical research standards.  
       
    2. After admin processing, the corresponding author will receive a Manuscript ID Number. All of the manuscripts are subject to be under Review process. Authors can expect to receive the first round of reviewers' comments and the initial result of their submissions within 3-6 weeks for routine submissions, and within 1-2 weeks for fast Track submissions (depending on the availability of expert reviewers). However, if a manuscript does not meet the minimum requirements (such as poor language, unclear methods, inappropriate presentation of the findings, inappropriate research design), the manuscript is subject to "Immediate Rejection" within 1-2 weeks after submission.  
       
    3. Final decision on an article will be made by Editorial Boards after consideration of reviewers' evaluation. Possible decisions on a manuscript are: accept as is, minor revision, major revision, or reject; however, no one of the manuscripts have been accepted "as is" during our ten years of publishing.  
       
    4. Constructive reviewers' comments: All of the accepted manuscripts receive constructive reviewers' comments from our editorial office. Being constructive is one of the main features of peer-review process in MEB. Our authors can consider the constructive reviewers comments as an educational class to improve the quality of the manuscript and they acquire new skills and knowledge that can use it to perform their future research in higher standards and quality of the methods and validity of the findings.  
       
   Retraction Policy  
       
    The MEB follows the COPE flowchart for retraction of a published article (http://publicationethics.org/guidelines) to determine whether a published article should be retracted.  
       
   Article Processing Charge  
     
   

The journal didn’t charges any fees on submission of manuscript. If, after peer review, your manuscript is accepted for publication, a one-time article processing charge (APC) is payable. This APC covers the cost of publication and ensures that your article will be freely available online in perpetuity under a Creative Commons license.

The APC for this journal is currently $ 100 USD for accepted articles of Iranian authors. Articles by Non-Iranian authors are free of charges.

  
       
   Revised Manuscript   
     
    The revised version of the manuscript should be submitted online in a manner similar to that used for submission of the manuscript for the first time. However, there is no need to submit the “First Page” or “Covering Letter” file while submitting a revised version. When submitting a revised manuscript, contributors are requested to include, the ‘referees’ remarks along with point to point clarification at the beginning in the revised file itself. In addition, they are expected to mark the changes as underlined or colored text in the article.  
       
  Reprints and Proofs  
     
    MEB is an online journal and the articles available only by PDF format. Journal provides no free printed reprints. Authors can purchase reprints, payment for which should be done at the time of submitting the proofs.  
       
 

Publication Schedule

  
     The journal publishes articles on its website immediately on acceptance (article in press), and follows an every three months schedule (March, then June, and so on).  
       
 

Open Access Publication and Creative Commons Licensing

  
    This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.  
       
       
   

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the Manuscript Submission process should be sent to the meb.2021@yahoo.com

  
   

Regards, Editor-in-Chief