Journal Policy

 

  1. Submission Procedure
  • Manuscripts should be submitted electronically via the journal’s online submission system. Instructions for registering and accessing the system can be found on our website.

 

 

The Editorial Process

 

A manuscript will be considered for publication with the understanding that it is submitted exclusively to *JMRS* and has not been published, concurrently submitted, or accepted for publication elsewhere. Authors must designate one individual to handle all communication with the journal regarding the manuscript. All submissions are acknowledged upon receipt. Initially, the editors assess whether the manuscript is suitable for formal review. Manuscripts that lack originality, contain significant scientific or technical flaws, or fail to provide a meaningful contribution will be rejected before formal peer review. Additionally, manuscripts that are unlikely to appeal to *JMRS* readers may be rejected at this stage.

 

Manuscripts submitted by members of the editorial board will be reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief and may be sent to external peer reviewers if needed. Editorial board members who are authors of a manuscript will be excluded from the publication decision process.

Manuscripts that are found suitable for publication in JMRS are sent to two or more expert reviewers. During submission, the contributor is requested to provide names of two or three qualified reviewers who have had experience in the subject of the submitted manuscript, but this is not mandatory. The reviewers should not be affiliated with the same institutes as the contributor/s. However, the selection of these reviewers is at the sole discretion of the editor. The journal follows a double-blind review process, wherein the reviewers and authors are unaware of each other's identity. Every manuscript is also assigned to a member of the editorial team, who based on the comments from the reviewers takes a final decision on the manuscript. The comments and suggestions (acceptance/ rejection/ amendments in manuscript) received from reviewers are conveyed to the corresponding author. If required, the author is requested to provide a point by point response to reviewers' comments and submit a revised version of the manuscript. This process is repeated till reviewers and editors are satisfied with the manuscript.

Accepted manuscripts undergo copyediting to ensure proper grammar, punctuation, style, and formatting. The corresponding author will receive page proofs and is expected to return the corrected proofs within three days. Corrections submitted after this period may not be incorporated. The entire process, from manuscript submission to final decision and proof review, is conducted online. To promote faster and wider dissemination of knowledge, the journal publishes articles online as "Ahead of Print" as soon as they are accepted.

 

Processes for appeals

 

Authors have the right to appeal if they believe the editorial board has made an erroneous decision in rejecting their manuscript. To submit an appeal, authors must email a detailed explanation of their reasons to the editorial office at rmhussain@kau.edu.sa. The editorial office will acknowledge the appeal and conduct an impartial review. The appeal process will be completed within 8 weeks. During this time, the manuscript should not be submitted to other journals. The final decision regarding the appeal lies with the Editor-in-Chief, and no further appeals will be entertained.

 

 

 

 

 

The use of artificial intelligence policy

Manuscripts submitted to the journal must not include text generated by artificial intelligence, machine learning, or comparable algorithmic tools. Furthermore, AI systems are not eligible to be recognized as authors in any publication within the journal.

Clinical trial registry

 

JMRS advocates for the registration of clinical trials and adheres to the Statement on Publishing Clinical Trials in Indian Biomedical Journals. Registration in the following clinical trial registries is considered acceptable: https://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/login.php; http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/; http://isrctn.org/; and http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr.

 

Authorship Criteria

 

Authorship should be assigned solely based on meaningful contributions to each of the following three essential components:

  1. Conceptualization and design of the study, data acquisition, or analysis and interpretation of the data.
  2. Drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for significant intellectual content.
  3. Final approval of the manuscript version to be published.

Simply contributing to funding acquisition or data collection does not qualify for authorship, nor does general supervision of the research group. Each contributor must have made a meaningful contribution to the work to assume public responsibility for the relevant portions of the manuscript. The order of authors should be determined by each individual’s relative contribution to the study and manuscript preparation. Once submitted, the author order cannot be modified without the written consent of all contributors. The journal has established a maximum number of authors, which varies depending on the manuscript type, its scope, and the number of institutions involved (detailed below). If the number of authors exceeds this limit, a justification must be provided. The journal does not accept multiple corresponding authors or multiple main authors for a single manuscript.

 

Contribution Details

 

Contributors are required to provide a detailed account of their specific contributions to the manuscript, which should be categorized into the following areas, as applicable: concept, design, definition of intellectual content, literature review, clinical studies, experimental studies, data acquisition, data analysis, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, manuscript editing, and manuscript review.

Conflicts of Interest/ Competing Interests

 

All authors must disclose any conflicts of interest they may have concerning the publication of the manuscript, including any affiliations with institutions or products referenced in the manuscript and/or relevant to the study’s findings. Additionally, authors should disclose any conflicts of interest related to products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript.