Information for Authors

Aim and Scope

The Archives of Iranian Medicine (AIM) is an open access monthly peer-reviewed multidisciplinary medical publication. It is free of charge. The journal welcomes international contributions particularly relevant to the Middle-East region and publishes biomedical experiments and clinical investigations on prevalent diseases as well as analyses of factors that may modulate the incidence, course, and management of diseases and pertinent medical problems. Manuscripts with didactic orientation and subjects exclusively of local interest will not be considered for publication.

Peer-Reviewing

Manuscripts are first reviewed by the editorial board to ensure their appropriateness and relevance to the framework of the journal. Manuscripts are also excluded by the editors if there are major faults in the methodology of research. Peer reviews are handled anonymously and comments are discussed in weekly editorial sessions. Reviews are then sent to the corresponding authors for proposed modifications and the new version of the manuscript would be peer-reviewed for a second time by one or two external reviewers.

Submission

Manuscripts must be submitted in English. Contributions will be considered for publication with the understanding that they are exclusively submitted to AIM, have not been previously published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review or thesis), and are not under consideration by another journal. The covering letter should designate one author as “corresponding author” and all other authors should personally sign the submission covering letter. Authors are responsible for all statements made in their work. The right is reserved to incorporate any changes deemed necessary by the editorial board to make contributions harmonized with the editorial standards of the journal. Accepted manuscripts become the property of AIM. Manuscript submission to AIM is possible via online submission system. For online submission authors should refer to the website at: http://www.aimjournal.ir/Login

Original Articles: Text of the original articles should include title page, structured abstract, keywords, introduction, materials/patients and methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. Authors’ contributions, ethical statements, conflict of interest, acknowledgment, references, tables, figures, and legends should be added. Title page should include title (less than 10 words favored), author(s) information, including first name, last name, highest academic degree, affiliation, running title ≤50 characters, including spaces, and name and address of the author to whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed. Structured abstract is needed including background, objective, method, result, and conclusion sections separately. The length of the text should not exceed 4500 words excluding the references. The length of an abstract for original articles should not exceed 250 words. For indexing purposes, keywords are required. Each submitted article should include three to five keywords chosen from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). They should be organized in alphabetical order. In keywords section, the abbreviated forms are unacceptable. Figures should be used only if they augment comprehension of the text. Drawings and graphs should be professionally prepared. Professionally designed computer-generated graphs (grayscale or color) are also acceptable. Each figure should have a legend. Illustrations should be numbered as cited in the sequential order in the text. Figures should be original and otherwise the source and permission should be mentioned. Enumerate tables with Arabic numerals should be self-explanatory, clearly arranged, and supplemental to the text. Tables should provide easier understanding and not duplicate information already included in the text or figures. For original articles, maximum accepted tables will not be more than 5. Extra information of an article including tables, documents, graphs, figures may appear in the supplement section which display only on the website.

References: The authors are responsible for the accuracy of the bibliographic information provided. References must be numbered consecutively in order of citation in the text. Mark reference citations by superscript Arabic numbers. Personal should not be used as a reference; nonetheless, they may be placed in parentheses in the text.

Periodical titles should be abbreviated according to the Index Medicus (please refer to http://www2.bg.am.poznan.pl/czasopisma/medicus.php?lang=eng). Inclusive page numbers should be given for all references. Print surnames and initials of all authors when there are six or less. In the case of seven or more authors, the names of the first six authors followed by et al., should be listed.

Listed below, are references to a journal, a chapter in a book, a book, and a website respectively

1. Mohammadi Y, Parsaeian M, Mehdipour P, Khosravi A, Larijani B, Sheidaei A, et al. Measuring Iran's success in achieving Millennium Development Goal 4: a systematic analysis of under-5 mortality at national and subnational levels from 1990 to 2015. Lancet Glob Health. 2017;5(5):e537-e544. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(17)30105-5

2. Schiebler GL, van Mierop LHS, Krovetz LJ. Diseases of the tricuspid valve. In: Moss AJ, Adams F, eds. Heart Disease in Infants, Children, and Adolescents. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins; 1988: 134 – 139.

3. Guyton AC. Textbook of Medical Physiology. 8th ed. Philadelphia: WB Saunders; 1996.

4. Allen M, Allen J, Hogarth S, Marmort M. Working for Health Equity: The Role of Health Professionals. 2013. Available from: http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/ working-for-health-equity-the-role-of-health-professionals.

5. All clinical trials should include patients’ informed consent forms and the approval of the bioethics committee of the corresponding university/institution.

Review Articles

Solicited and unsolicited review articles undergo peer review and editorial processing as original papers.

Narrative reviews: The authors of review articles are invited to contact the Editorial Office before preparing a review article. Review articles are also solicited by the editor. The journal will only consider unsolicited review articles from authors with substantial research background in the subject. Narrative reviews consist of title page, unstructured or traditional abstract, keywords, and the text including introduction, discussion, and conclusion. Authors’ contributions, ethical statements, conflict of interest, acknowledgment, references, tables, figures, and legends should be added. Narrative reviews should not exceed 5000 words excluding the references.

Systemic reviews: Systemic reviews with sound methodology are encouraged and do not require the above-mentioned condition and are greatly encouraged. The systematic reviews consisted of title page, structured abstract, keywords, introduction, materials/patients and methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. Authors’ contributions, ethical statements, conflict of interest, acknowledgment, references, tables, figures, and legends should be added. Systematic reviews should not exceed 5000 words excluding the references. We only accept those systematic reviews which are not published in popular databases in past 3 years. Systematic review should follow the same principals of original papers.

Mini review: The aim of mini-reviews in medical sciences is to publish short reviews on the important recent developments in medicine and allied disciplines. Mini-reviews contain up to 1500 words. The same conditions as narrative reviews described above apply.

Case reports: Case reports should be limited to 1500 words excluding the references. They should include abstract (≤150 words), 3 to 5 keywords compatible with MeSH, introduction, case presentation, discussion, acknowledgment, references, and 1 – 4 figures. Necessary documentations of the case(s) such as: pathology reports, laboratory tests, and images should be included in the submission package. The patients’ photographs should not be recognized. The case report should be unique, educational, and novel (less than 50 published cases). Please note that the AIM accepts only limited number of case reports each year.

Brief Reports: Brief reports are short descriptions of interesting research findings which do not require a full-length article; and should be limited to 2000 words excluding the references. They include unstructured abstract (≤150 words), keywords according to MeSH and in alphabetical order, introduction, materials/patients and methods, results, discussion, and conclusion, acknowledgment, references less than 15. Brief reports should not have more than one figure and/or a table.

Photoclinics: Photoclinics of interesting and novel biomedical images should be up to 1000 words. The maximum number of pictures is 4. Number of references should not exceed 10. The patients’ photographs should not be recognizable. The high quality photographs are needed.

History of Contemporary Medicine in Iran: Manuscripts narrating how modern medicine has been established in Iran, how outstanding scientists have contributed to its progress, and what has happened over the past decades to our health-care system are of paramount importance to us and are welcomed. The sources should be cited from primary and original resources. The number of figures should be less than 10.

Editorials: Provide commentary and analysis about an article in the issues of the Journal in which they appear. They are nearly always invited, although uninvited editorials may occasionally be considered. Editorials are limited to 1000 words, with up to 12 references.

Letter to the Editor: AIM welcomes letters to the editor. Letters, up to 1000 words, preferably should discuss materials published in the journal. Letters are subjected to the editorial review and editing for clarity and space.

Opinion: Opinion is a forum where researchers can present their points of views on various controversial issues of medicine sciences. The submissions should not be more than 1000 words long with at most one figure, graph or table, and ten references.

Meeting Report: Meeting report should include the title of meeting, date, the president and scientific members as well as subsections, participants, the important and effectiveness of the meeting. The meeting report should not go beyond 1000 words. Only one or two figures are accepted.

Book Review: A book review approximately consists of less than 1000 words including an introductory paragraph regarding the book main characteristics. Then in the first 2 paragraphs explain the primary subject of the book and its importance for readers. The book review should reveal the strength and weakness of the book. At the end the manuscript should be finished by a concluding paragraph.

Obituary: It is written by an expert in regard of an influential medical figure who is recently passed away.

Ethical Considerations

Ethics issue

AIM editor-in-chief will ask advice about submitted papers on any aspect of a manuscript that raises concerns such as ethical issues or data fabrication. All studies should have been performed within an appropriate ethical framework. The editor in chief, advisory boards, reviewers, and authors must declare and consider facts described by “Committee on Publication Ethics” (COPE). Any evidence of plagiarism, fabricated data or any other kinds of fraud must be informed and will be accessed carefully based on COPE rules.

Human and Animal Rights

The submitted human researches to the “Archives of Iranian Medicine” journal should have been already approved by an appropriate ethics Committee according to the “Declaration of Helsinki” (please refer to https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-of-helsinki/). Informed consent of the patients is also needed when any experimental use of a new procedure or tool, or a clinical trial is carried out on the patients according to international guidelines.

Researches on the animals must also comply the standard ethical codes approved by the national or international ethics committee.

Authorship and Author Responsibility

The corresponding author takes main duty for communication with the AIM during manuscript submission, peer review, and the process of publication and typically ensures that all of the journal’s administrative requirements, such as providing details of authorship, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration documentation, and writing conflict of interest statements, are properly completed. The corresponding author should response to editorial queries throughout the submission and peer review process as early as possible and should obey with any requests from the AIM after publication.

Conflict of Interest

Scientists are asked to declare all relationships or interests regarding to their work. All submitted manuscripts must have a ‘conflict of interest’ paragraph at the end of the manuscript to disclose all financial and non-financial competing interests. Where there is no conflict of interest, the statement should write, “The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.”

Authors should acknowledge any financial competing interests but also any non-financial competing interests

Editor in chief may ask for further information relating to competing interests. Associate editors, member of advisory board and reviewers are also required to declare any competing interests and will be excluded from the peer review process if competing interests exist.

Research and Publication Misconduct Management Process

The Editor-in-Chief will investigate misconduct possibility such as duplication, plagiarism, fabricated results, fake authorship, fake reviewer, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and ethical problems with a submitted paper, salami publication, complaints against editor in chief/ associate editors or advisory board or reviewers. In the mentioned cases AIM action will be based on the guidelines provided by the COPE. The complete guidelines appear on the COPE website: http://www.publicationethics.org.uk.

Clinical Trial Registration

AIM requires that randomized controlled trials be registered according to policies accepted by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).

The registration number of the trial and the name of the trial registry must be mentioned at the end of the abstract. Acceptable trial registries include the following:

http://www.clinicaltrials.gov

http://www.anzctr.org.au

http://isrctn.org

http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/index.asp

http://www.irct.ir

AIM Journal’s Policy on the use of Artificial Intelligence in Submitted Articles

The Archives of Iranian Medicine journal (AIM) follows the guidelines of the International Association of Medical Journal Editors. (Please refer to :https://wame.org/page3; https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf page 3 item no. 4) Artificial intelligence is a tool and does not take the place of a human author(s). Authors should clearly explain the type of artificial intelligence used, and in any case, the author or authors are responsible for the validity and accuracy of the submitted manuscript. The author or authors must also ensure that there is no trace of plagiarism in the article which is submitted.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations used in the text should be defined in the text at first usage. Please do not use abbreviated form in the title of the manuscript.

Covering Letter

All submissions to the AIM must be accompanied by a completed copy of signed covered letter including the copyright agreement.

Galley Proofs

The galley proofs must be duly corrected and returned within 48 hours. Absent authors should arrange for a colleague to access the E-mail and reply the proof.

Corresponding Author

The AIM office only informs the corresponding author regarding the manuscripts’ evaluation process.

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The AIM journal does not accept any advertisements (medical, pharmaceutical, ...) for publication. 

Further Information

Tele: +98-218-864-5492; +98-218-8656198

E-mail: aim@journalaim.com; arch.iran.med@gmail.com

The AIM office address

Archives of Iranian Medicine, Editorial Office,

Academy of Medical Sciences of I.R. Iran,

P.O. Box: 19395-4655, Tehran, Iran.

(Information for authors revised on December 1st, 2019.)