Author Guidelines

Thank you for considering submitting your paper to the Journal of Medical Rehabilitation Science. By following these guidelines, your manuscript will follow a seamless peer review, production, and publication process. To ensure that your manuscript complies with the journal's requirements, please read these guidelines carefully and make sure to adhere to each item.

Manuscript Types:

Original Research: Detailed studies reporting original research findings.

Review Articles: Comprehensive analyses of specific topics in rehabilitation sciences.

Case Studies: Documentation of treatments and patient outcomes that offer significant contributions to knowledge.

Clinical Trials: Reports on pre-registered clinical trials.

Short Communications: Brief reports of data from original research.

Letters to the Editor: Comments on recent articles published in the journal.

General Submission Requirements

Manuscripts must be submitted in English.

All submissions should represent original work that has not been previously published and is not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Submissions must comply with the ethical guidelines relevant to research and publication in the field of rehabilitation sciences and associated disciplines.

Authors are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest.

Manuscript Preparation

Title Page: 

It should include types of manuscripts (original research article, case report, review article, letter to the editor, images, etc.), the article title, a brief running title (no more than 80 characters), the full names of all authors (including first name, middle initial, and last name), and the complete name of the department and institution for each author (with affiliations listed in numerical order at first mention). Additionally, the title page must provide the corresponding author’s address, telephone number, and email address. The title page must also indicate the total page count, the number of figures, and the word count for the abstract and main manuscript, excluding references, figures, and tables.

Abstract: An abstract is required for original articles, case reports, review articles, and perspective articles. The abstract of original articles should be written in a structured format using the following headings: Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. The abstracts of articles not presenting original data should not adhere to this format. Abstracts should be no more than 250 words long.

The abstract should be provided in Arabic, including a list of authors with their first name, middle initial, and last name. It should also include the full name of the department and institution for each author, with affiliations listed in numerical order at the first mention.

Keywords: Five key words should be listed at the bottom of the abstract page.

 

Main Text :

The text of original articles (but not necessarily of other types of manuscripts) should be structured as follows:

Introduction:

The introduction should provide a clear and concise overview of the study's rationale, highlighting the issues addressed. It should clearly state the purpose of the study or observation and provide a brief summary of the rationale behind it.

Materials and Method:

This section should thoroughly describe the materials and methods used, including sample size and statistical approaches. Commonly used techniques should be referenced without detailed description, citing appropriate sources. However, unique experiments should be explained in sufficient detail to enable replication by others. The manufacturer's name for all products mentioned should be provided, though the geographical location of the manufacturer is not required.

In studies involving human subjects, authors must explicitly state whether the procedures adhered to the ethical standards set by the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and conformed to the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki (1975, revised 2000), available at Helsinki Declaration. In prospective studies, it is essential to report approval from the relevant Ethics Committee or Review Board, as well as confirmation that informed consent was obtained from adult participants and assent was obtained from children aged over 7 years, in accordance with regional and/or national guidelines. For animal studies, authors should indicate whether the research followed the guidelines set by the institution or national research council, or complied with national regulations governing the care and use of laboratory animals.

Researchers must ensure the confidentiality of participants by refraining from including personally identifiable information, such as names, initials, or hospital numbers, particularly in illustrative materials.

Authors must provide evidence of approval from a local Ethics Committee for both human and animal studies upon request. Animal experimental procedures should prioritize humane treatment, and the specific anesthetics and analgesics used must be clearly stated. Ethical standards for these experiments must adhere to the guidelines provided by the CPCSEA (https://ccsea.gov.in/Auth/index.aspx) for animal studies, and the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Humans for studies involving human participants.

A statement affirming approval from the ethics committee and compliance with ethical standards must be included in the 'Materials and Methods' section of all research articles.

Results:

This section should briefly present the results without extensive discussion or interpretation of individual data points. They should be presented in a logical and structured sequence within the text, tables, and figures, prioritizing the most significant findings. Repetition of data from tables or figures within the text should be avoided; instead, key observations should be emphasized or summarized. Supplementary materials and technical details may be included in an appendix to ensure accessibility without disrupting the narrative flow, or alternatively, they may be published exclusively in the electronic version of the journal.The statistical tests used should be clearly specified, and statistical significance must be indicated in both figures and tables using superscripts such as a, b, c, etc.

Discussion:

This section should summarize but not repeat the Results. It should distinguish between logical explanations of the results reported and hypotheses drawn from the results. The Discussion should end with a succinct summary of the data and conclusions. Where possible and reasonable, some conclusion should be made about the wider implications of the study findings.

Acknowledgements:

Authors should acknowledge in the manuscript all support for the work, including funding, equipment, and drugs. Individuals should be acknowledged before institutions. The acknowledgment should specify the nature of the contribution of each individual or organization that is mentioned in this section.

References Formatting Guidelines

References should be numbered consecutively in the order they are first mentioned in the text, rather than alphabetically. In the text, tables, and legends, references should be indicated by Arabic numerals in square brackets [Reference Number], placed after punctuation marks. References that appear solely in tables or figure legends should follow the numbering sequence established by their first mention in the text, corresponding to the specific table or figure.

 

Use the style of the examples below, which are based on the formats used by the National Library of Medicine NLM:

- The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. Use complete name of the journal for non-indexed journals.

- Avoid using abstracts as references.

- Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as "unpublished observations" with written permission from the source.

- Avoid citing a "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text.

The commonly cited types of references are shown here: (more citation formats can be found at https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html )

Articles in journals

  1. Standard journal article

Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002 Jul 25;347(4):284-7.

  1. If there are more than six authors, list the first six authors, followed by et al.

Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res. 2002;935(1-2):40-6.

  1. Volume with supplement:

Shen HM, Zhang QF. Risk assessment of nickel carcinogenicity and occupational lung cancer. Environ Health Perspect 1994; 102 Suppl 1:275-82.

  1. Issue with supplement: Payne DK, Sullivan MD, Massie MJ. Women's psychological reactions to breast cancer. Semin Oncol 1996; 23(1, Suppl 2):89-97.

 

Books and other monographs

  1. Personal author(s):

Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996.

  1. Editor(s), compiler(s) as author: Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996.
  2. Chapter in a book: Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. pp. 465-78.

 

Electronic sources as reference

Monograph on the internet

Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [monograph on the Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309074029/html/

Homepage/web site

Cancer-Pain.org [homepage on the Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2000-01 [updated 2002 May 16; cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.cancer-pain.org/ .

Part of a homepage/web site

American Medical Association [homepage on the Internet]. Chicago: The Association; c1995-2002 [updated 2001 Aug 23; cited 2002 Aug 12]. AMA Office of Group Practice Liaison; [about 2 screens]. Available from: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/1736.html                                                                                                                                                                                       Journal article on the Internet:  Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes:  the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [serial on the Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12];102(6):[about 3 p.]. Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htm

Figures, Schemes and Tables

Our guidance regarding various aspects of figures and tables is described below.

 

Resolution, color, schemes  and format:

All figures should be of a high quality (preferably no less than 600 dpi) in PNG, JPEG or TIFF formats. Authors are encouraged to prepare figures and schemes in color (RGB at 8-bit per channel). Images should be combined to avoid any issues during formatting changes. There should be no editable parts in the images.

All table columns should have an explanatory heading. To facilitate the copy-editing of larger tables, smaller fonts (no smaller than 8 pt.) may be used. Authors should use the “Table” option in Microsoft Word to create tables.

All figures, schemes and tables should be inserted into the main text close to their first citation and must be numbered following their order of appearance (e.g., Figure 1, Scheme 1, Figure 2, Scheme 2, Table 1, etc.).

Generally, figures should contain only English text and the correct mathematical symbols, e.g., - instead of — and decimal points instead of commas.

The figure content should be complete and the characters should not be masked. Unnecessary marks such as red wavy lines and hard (soft) returns are not allowed. A comma should be added in numbers of five or more digits in all figures, schemes and tables. The scientific enumeration should be correct.

All figures, schemes and tables should have a short explanatory title and caption. Any special characters or icons in an image, e.g., *, **, and #, need to have a corresponding explanation in the caption.

  1. Formatting Requirements
  • Manuscripts should be submitted in Microsoft Word format.
  • Use a standard, easily readable font, such as 12-point Times New Roman.
  • Use double spacing throughout the document.
  • Set margins to 2.5 cm on all four sides.
  • The title page should include all required information (as mentioned previously).
  • Provide a running title (maximum of 50 characters).
  • The abstract page should display the full title of the manuscript.
  • Provide an abstract: a structured abstract of 250 words for original articles, and an unstructured abstract for all other manuscripts.
  • Include at least five key words.
  • References in the text should appear after punctuation marks, in superscript, and within square brackets.
  1. Review Process

JMRS is a peer-reviewed journal that follows a single-blind review process. The Editor-in-Chief first reviews each manuscript abstract to ensure it aligns with the journal's scope. If the manuscript is not within the scope or does not offer a significant scientific contribution, it may be returned. If appropriate, the manuscript is then assigned to an Associate Editor for further evaluation. If the Associate Editor deems the manuscript acceptable, they will select reviewers, and the manuscript will proceed through the automated review process.

The Associate Editor receives the reviewers' feedback and compiles it to make an overall recommendation to the Editor-in-Chief, who will then communicate the decision to the authors on behalf of the journal. The possible decisions are as follows:

  • Accept: The manuscript is accepted as is and will proceed to the production phase with no further changes.
  • Minor Revision: Minor textual changes are required, and once addressed, the manuscript will be ready for acceptance after a final check by the Associate Editor.
  • Major Revision: Significant revisions are necessary, potentially involving additional experiments or a complete re-review after the changes are made.
  • Reject: The manuscript is not suitable for resubmission to JMRS.

Resubmissions
When submitting a revised manuscript, authors must respond to all reviewer comments in a separate document with a detailed, point-by-point rebuttal. Authors should also outline and explain any other revisions made to the original manuscript. To facilitate the revision process, please be as specific as possible in your responses to the reviewers. You will not be able to revise the original manuscript directly; instead, please make changes in the new version by either using the track changes feature in MS Word or by highlighting modifications in bold and red text. It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure the revisions are clearly visible and easy for the reviewers to assess.