Journal of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences

Aims: The Journal of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences (JRUMS) aims at promoting the sciences of public health and medicine to improve healthcare of the people within the region and elsewhere. We accept Original Research, Review Articles, Case Reports, Short Communications, and Letters to the Editor.
  The authors must ensure that before submitting the manuscript for publication, they have observed the following criteria:
  1. Letter of Undertaking must be signed by all authors that their article has not been published or submitted elsewhere.
  2. The main body of the manuscript must be in Persian language along with both English and Persian abstracts.
  3. Disclosure regarding source of funding and conflict of interest if any beside approval of the study from respective Ethical Committee/Institute Review Board are necessary and should be accomplished as follow:
  3.1. Ethical considerations must be addressed whenever necessary in the Material and Methods section. Please: 1) state that informed consent was obtained from all human adult participants and from the parents or legal guardians of minors. 2) Include the name of the appropriate institutional review board that approved the project. 3) Indicate 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.
  3.2. 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.
  4. Cover letter must accompany any submission.
 5. Online submission is available through the website of the JRUMS (http://www.rums.ac.ir/journal/index.php?slc_lang=en&sid=1). Authors must declare that the submission is being exclusively contributed to the JRUMS.
The manuscript should include:
  1. Title page: contain title, the name of authors, their qualification and affiliation, address for correspondence with phone, fax number and email address.
  2. Abstract: All articles must accompany by a structured abstract up to 250 words. It should be structured as Background, Methods, Results and Conclusion followed by 3 to 6 Keywords. Keywords must be determined using MeSH system. Authors need to be careful that the abstract reflects the content of the article accurately and avoid using abbreviation in the title and abstract.
  3. Introduction: This should summarize the purpose and the rationale for the study. Use only standard abbreviations. The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement
  4. Materials and Methods: This should include full details of exact method, 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, without requiring any further details. 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. Statistical methods must be mentioned and any computer program used must be specified.
  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.
  5.1. 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. Tables are numbered consecutively. Supply a brief title for each table and give each column a short heading. Be sure that the table is mentioned in the text. If the data is taken from another source, include the source in the list of references at the end of the paper. Place explanatory matter in a note, not in the heading. For notes use the following symbols in this sequence: *, +, **, ++, etc.
  5.2. Figures: Should be in limited numbers, with high quality art work and mounted on separate pages. The captions should be placed below the figures. The same data should not be presented in tables, figures and text, simultaneously.
  6. Discussion: This should emphasize the present findings and the variations or similarities with other works done in the field by other researchers. The detailed data should not be repeated in the discussion again. Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that come out from them. It must be mentioned whether the hypothesis mentioned in the article is true, false or no conclusions can be derived.
  7. Acknowledgements: All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be covered in the acknowledgement section. It should include people who provided technical help, writing assistance and departmental head who only provided general support. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged.
  8. References: The author should ensure to reference 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 follow based on the Vancouver Style.
  8.1. In the text: References are numbered consecutively in the order they are first mentioned. Place each reference number in the Parentheses
throughout the text. If the same reference is used again, re-use the original number. Direct quotes are to be used very cautiously. If a direct quote is necessary, place quotation marks around the quote and number the reference as usual. Internet sources may, in time, be deleted, changed, or moved, so it is a good idea to keep a hard copy for your records. Also, take care to critically evaluate the reliability of the information.
  8.2. In the reference list: List all references in order by number, not alphabetically. List each author's last name and initials; full first names are not included. List all authors, but if the number exceeds six, give the first six followed by "et al." Capitalize the first letter of the first word in the title. The rest of the title is in lower-case, with the exception of proper names. Do not underline the title; do not use italics. List the abbreviated journal title, period, year, semi-colon, volume, issue number in parentheses, colon, page numbers, and a period. For other references please consult the home page of the JRUMS.
  Persian references must be translated into English. In this case, it is necessary to add the word "Farsi" in the squared brackets at the end of reference. For example:
  [1] Ghanbarian A, Salhi P, Rezaei GN, Mortazavi N, Azizi F. Blood pressure in a Tehranian urban population of adolescents: Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study. Hakim Res J 2003; 3 (6): 21-8. [Farsi]
  9. Proof Reading: A computer printout 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 back to the Journal Office.
10. Copyright: The entire contents of the JRUMS are protected under international copyrights. The Journal is for personal noncommercial use. Nobody may modify, copy, distribute, transmit, display, or publish any materials contained as long as the original authors and source are cited correctly.
  11. Peer review process: All manuscripts are considered to be confidential. They are peer-reviewed by at least 4 anonymous reviewers selected by the Editorial Board. The corresponding author is notified as soon as possible of the editor decision to accept, reject, or require modifications. As soon as the manuscript is completely acceptable according to the criteria set forth in these instructions, it will be scheduled for the next available issue.
  12. Disposal of material: Once published, all copies of the manuscript, correspondence and artwork will be held for 12 months before disposal.