Requirements for Manuscripts

Scope of the Journal

"The Caucasus Journal of Medical and Psychological Sciences" (CJMPS) is an open-access multi-disciplinary journal devoted to the publication of manuscripts reporting significant research discoveries in all fields of Medicine and Psychology. The mission of CJMPS is to support the exchange of knowledge and information and to publish high-quality fundamental, applied, and educational research in Medicine and Psychology.

Disclosure of prior publication. Submitted manuscript must not be under consideration or published elsewhere or concurrently submitted to another journal; manuscript that was previously published in other publications, as well as in the form of online preprints, are not accepted for publication. Manuscript will be screened with plagiarism software; information on whether the manuscript has been previously considered elsewhere must be provided.

Author list with affiliations: List of authors, order of authors, author affiliations, and manuscript title must be the same on all pieces of the submission and match the electronic entry at submission

Title and Abstract: Titles and abstracts of manuscripts may not contain the words “New”, “Novel”, or “First”; “Superb”, “Excellent”, “Exceptional”, “Outstanding” or other similar descriptive words discouraged unless rigorously supported by a thorough comparison with the state-of-the-art in the manuscript. Acronyms and abbreviations are not permitted in manuscript titles unless they are broadly familiar to readers in all disciplines of Medicine and Psychology. Abstracts to Articles are typically limited to 300 words and should summarize the significant results and conclusions.

Manuscript Types

Articles must be of high scientific quality, originality, significance, and conceptual novelty. Articles that mainly expand findings that were previously published and that only incorporate experimental data, without greatly expanded scope and without providing new insights or conceptual breakthroughs, will be declined. Similarly, articles that are mainly routine extensions of previously published related work will be declined. Articles should cover their subjects with thoroughness, clarity, and completeness but should be as concise as possible.

Research Article

A full-length article presenting important new research results. Research articles include abstract, key words, introduction, methods and results sections, discussion, and relevant citations. Suggested maximum length: 40 pages including citations, tables, and figures (supplemental materials not included in length guidelines).

Research Note

A research note is a brief manuscript presenting pilot, preliminary, and/or exploratory findings or a new method for the collection or analysis of data. Includes a short abstract with key words, and introductory paragraph. The scientific findings should be explained and documented concisely. Suggested maximum length: 20 manuscript pages including citations, tables, and figures).

Review Article

“Review Article” is an umbrella term covering systematic reviews (with or without meta-analyses), historical reviews of a body of research, description of an author’s programmatic research, and possibly other types of reviews. Reviews can be a comprehensive overview, or they can be focused on a narrow body of research. Reviews should be accessible to knowledgeable readers not experts in the subject area. They should be prepared with the same rigor as a research article reporting specific results. Suggested maximum length: 40 manuscript pages including citations, tables, and figures (supplemental materials not included in length guidelines).

Perspectives

Perspectives are personal reviews of a field or area by one or a small team of authors, and they are focused rather than comprehensive. Perspective authors are asked to assess the current status of the field with an emphasis toward identifying key advances being made or those advances that are needed, and with an eye to the future. The Perspective should touch base with the current literature, including key contributors and references, but will primarily serve to inspire and help direct future research efforts.

 Clinical Focus

 A clinical focus is an article that may be of primary clinical interest but may not have a traditional research format. Case studies, descriptions of clinical programs, and innovative clinical services and activities are among the possibilities.  Suggested maximum length: 40 pages including citations, tables, and figures (supplemental materials not included in length guidelines).

Introduction

An introduction is generally a short article presented at the beginning of a forum or special issue. It may be written by, as applicable, the journal's editor-in-chief, an editor, or the special issue editor involved and is intended to provide background information on the topic covered, brief explanations of the articles, and the aims or goals of the forum or special issue. An introduction is typically limited to 10 manuscript pages, including citations, tables, and figures.

Epilogue

An epilogue is a short article at the end of a forum or special issue that is written by, as applicable, the journal's editor-in-chief, an editor, or the special issue editor involved. An epilogue should include a summation of the preceding articles' findings and may draw broader conclusions than the individual articles. An epilogue is typically limited to 10 manuscript pages, including citations, tables, and figures.

Manuscript Preparation

 Journal expects scientific research papers to be written in the traditional format, which is also referred to as the IMRaD format (Title, Introduction, Materials and methods, Results,  Discussion,  Summary). The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) offers guidance to authors in its publication Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (ICMJE Recommendations), which was formerly the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts.

General Manuscript Formatting

Manuscripts submitted to the CJMPS should adhere to the following general formatting guidelines:

• Manuscripts must be provided as a standard document format (e.g., .doc, .docx).
• Page parameters in electronic format: - margins: left and right - 2 cm; upper and lower – 2 cm;
• Times New Roman font, font size — 12. - formulas: 11 size; - tables, diagrams, footnotes, captions to figures and tables: 10 size.
• Figures must be provided as a standard image format (e.g., JPEG, TIFF, PNG) and have a resolution of at least 300 DPI.
• Tables must be provided as either an editable Microsoft Word document (i.e., .doc, .docx), or as an editable Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (i.e., .xls, .xlsx) containing only text and no formulas.
• Manuscripts should be 1,5 spaced.
• Single spaces after periods.

Page Limit

A guideline of 40 pages (including title page, abstract, text, acknowledgments, references, appendixes, tables, and figures) is suggested as a limit for manuscript length for most manuscript types. This page limit does not include supplemental materials. Please note that this is just a general guideline. Longer manuscripts, particularly for critical reviews and extended data-based reports, will be considered.

Title Page

 The title should be short and clear, yet provide a sufficient description of the work. As the title becomes the basis for online search results, it should contain the keywords describing the work presented. If your title is not precise and informative, people may have difficulty finding your article. The title page should also include a list of the authors and their affiliations. 

Abstract

The abstract helps readers scan through lists of articles or search results and is essential for helping users decide whether to read the rest of the article or save it for future reference. As a result, abstracts must be brief but also informative enough to be genuinely useful. The size limit for what can be included in the submission is set above 300 words, but detailed abstracts for specific types of studies can be accommodated. Regardless of the type of manuscript, abstracts must be structured using the following sections: Purpose: The Purpose section must include a concise statement of the specific purposes, questions addressed, and/or hypotheses tested. Lengthy descriptions of rationale are not desirable. Method: The Method section must describe characteristics and numbers of participants and provide information related to the design of the study (e.g., pre-post group study of treatment outcomes, randomized controlled trial, multiple baselines across behaviors; ethnographic study with qualitative analysis; prospective longitudinal study) and data collection methods. If the participants have been assigned randomly to study conditions, this must be noted explicitly. If the article is not data-based, information should be provided on the methods used to collect information (e.g., online database search), to summarize previously reported data, and organize the presentation and arguments (e.g., meta-analysis, narrative review). Results: The Results section should summarize findings as they apply directly to the stated purposes of the article. Statistical outcomes may be summarized, but no statistics other than effect sizes should be provided. This section may be omitted from articles that are not data-based. Conclusions: The Conclusions section must state specifically the extent to which the stated purposes of the article have been met. Comments on the generalizability of the results (i.e., external validity), needs for further research, and clinical implications often are highly desirable. Keywords:  are a tool to help indexers and search engines find relevant papers. This will increase the number of people reading the manuscript, and likely lead to more citations. To be effective, Keywords must be chosen carefully; they should represent the content of the manuscript and be specific to the field or sub-field. 

Acknowledgments

Citation of grant or contract support of research with the applicable grant or contract numbers must be given in an acknowledgments section at the end of the article (before the References). If any part of the research was supported by an institution not named on the title page, that institution should be acknowledged in this section. Individuals who assisted in the research may be acknowledged.

Data Availability Statement

A data availability statement (DAS) detailing where data supporting the results reported in the article can be found, including, where applicable, hyperlinks to publicly archived datasets analyzed or generated during the study, is required. The DAS should be submitted within the article manuscript, before the References section.

References

Bibliographic description of the sources cited in References is recommended to be performed in one of the styles: American Medical Association (AMA), National Library of Medicine (NLM), or American Psychological Association (APA), observing uniformity of the style in the description of the sources listed in the references. References should be listed alphabetically, then chronologically under each author. Journal names should be spelled out and italicized. Particular attention should be paid to accuracy for references cited in the text and listed in the references. Page numbers for any chapters or journal articles should be provided; digital object identifier (DOI) information should be included if available.

Tables and Figures

 Tables present lists of numbers or text in columns, each column having a title or label. Figures are visual presentations of results, including graphs, diagrams, photos, drawings, schematics, maps, and so on. Each table or figure should appear on its own page. Use Arabic numerals to identify both tables and figures. Simplify complex tables by making two or more separate tables. Table titles and figure captions should be concise but explanatory. The reader should not have to refer to the text to decipher the information. Keep in mind the width of a column or page when designing tables and figures. All graphics and tables must be placed near the point of first mention in the text of the manuscript (not grouped at the end of the document) and must be sized according to current guidance. Long notes are not permitted in the References section.

Additional Materials Appendices

An appendix allows you to include detailed information that would interrupt the flow of the main body of the article.

Research Reporting Standards

CJMPS encourages the use of relevant reporting guidelines to help promote the transparency and reproducibility of scientific research.

Reference Style and Formatting

Following any of the styles: APA, AMA or NLM, include all necessary references and citations in your manuscript before submitting.

Research and Publication Ethics

Protection of Humans and Animals in Research – All research to be submitted for publication in CJMPS in which humans or animals are used must adhere to the basic ethical considerations for the protection of research subjects. CJMPS requires every research article submitted to include a statement that the study obtained ethics approval (or a statement that it was not required), including the name of the ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s), the number/ID of the approval(s), and a statement that participants gave informed consent before taking part. When reporting research involving data from human subjects, the author should ensure that the work described has been carried out in accordance with The World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki for experiments involving humans. The privacy rights of human subjects must always be observed. The authors should clearly indicate in the manuscript that such guidelines have been followed.

 Conflicts of Interest – As part of the manuscript submission process, authors are required to disclose any real or potential conflicts of interest that could be seen as having an influence on the research. Sources of outside support for research, including funding, equipment, and supplies, must be named during the submission process.

 Copyright and Permissions - During submission of a manuscript, the author will be required to affirm that no material in the manuscript is the copyrighted work of another individual or organization or any material that is the copyrighted work, or an adaptation of such work, of another individual or organization is clearly marked as such and that the author has obtained permission for its use in the manuscript in all forms (i.e., both print and electronic) and languages. For information on authorship criteria, see the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ (ICMJE) resource, “Defining The Role of Authors And Contributors.”

Corresponding Author

 The corresponding author is the one individual who takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer review, and publication process, and typically ensures that all the journal’s administrative requirements are properly made. The corresponding author should be available throughout the submission and peer review process to respond to editorial queries in a timely way, and should be available after publication to respond to critiques of the work and cooperate with any requests from the Journal for data or additional information should questions about the paper arise after publication.

Changes to Authorship

Any addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the editor will be made via an erratum.

Editorial Procedures and Peer-Review

Initial Checks

All submitted manuscripts received by the Editorial Office will be checked to determine whether they are properly prepared and whether they follow the ethical policies of the journal, including those for human and animal experimentation, and whether it is scientifically sound. Manuscripts that do not fit the journal's ethics policy or do not meet the standards of the journal will be rejected before peer review. Manuscripts that are not properly prepared will be returned to the authors for revision and resubmission.

Peer Review Process

Manuscripts submitted to CJM&PS go through an editorial board peer review model; manuscripts are forwarded to researchers familiar with the particular subject area for special review. After a paper is reviewed, it is returned to the author for revisions (if necessary) or rejected. Assuming two rounds of review (one round for the original submission and one round for the revised manuscript), time from submission to final decision in the editorial board peer review model can take as little as approximately 2 months.

Production Process and Timeline

After the article has gone through peer review and been accepted, it will enter the production phase of the publication process. In the production phase, the original manuscript is styled, copyedited, professionally typeset, and then proofread. After all these steps are complete, the corresponding author will receive page proofs of the article. After the revisions, the Journal production team will apply the edits and have the final version of the article typeset. Once revisions are complete, the manuscript is ready for advance online publication. The corresponding author can help keep the production process on track by returning the proofs on time, and by being mindful of things such as copyright issues within the article. Publication of the article within an issue will be contingent upon the issue schedule for the journal.