For Authors
Contribute your expertise as an Author and help advance knowledge in your field.
Workflow of IUJ
Information for Authors
Please carefully read instructions below for details on manuscript submission (A to D), the journal’s requirements and standards, and the procedures succeeding acceptance of a manuscript for publication in the International University Journal (IUJ).
Authorship
Authors submitting a manuscript do so on the understanding that the manuscript has been read and approved by all authors and that all authors agree to the submission of the manuscript to the Journal. IUJ adheres to the definition of authorship set up by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). According to the ICMJE criteria, authorship should be based on:
1) Substantial contributions to the conception or design, data acquisition, or analysis and interpretation of data
2) Drafting or revising the article critically for important intellectual content
3) Final approval of the version to be published.
Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, and 3. It is a requirement that all authors have been accredited as appropriate upon submission of the manuscript. Contributors who do not qualify as authors should be mentioned under Acknowledgements.
Acknowledgements
Under acknowledgements, please specify contributors to the article other than the authors accredited and all sources of financial support for the research conducted.
Ethical Approvals
Authors of original studies conducted with human subjects should specifically state the ethical review and clearance of the protocol. Informed consent must be obtained from all participants. Studies involving subjects such as institutionalized children or intellectually challenged individuals, may need additional details of ethical clearance.
Experimental Subjects
Experimentation involving human subjects will only be published if research has been conducted in full accordance with ethical principles, including the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki 2002 and any additional requirements of the country where the research was carried out. Manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the experiments were undertaken with the understanding and written consent of each subject and according to the principles mentioned above. All studies should include an explicit statement in the “Material and Methods” section identifying the review and ethics committee approval for each study, if applicable. Editors reserve the right to reject papers if there is doubt as to whether appropriate procedures were used.
Ethics of Investigation
Manuscripts not in agreement with the guidelines of the Helsinki Declaration will not be accepted for publication.
Copyright
Authors submitting a manuscript do so on the understanding that the work and its essential substance have not been published before and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. The submission of the manuscript by the authors means that the authors automatically agree to assign exclusive copyright to the publisher. The work shall not be published elsewhere in any language without the written consent of the publisher. The articles published in this journal are protected by copyright, which covers translation rights and the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute all the articles printed in the journal. No material published in the journal may be stored, reproduced, or distributed in any form, including microfilm, videocassettes, or electronic databases, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authors must assign copyright upon acceptance of their manuscript for publication.
Suggest Two Reviewers
IUJ attempts to keep the review process as short as possible to enable rapid publication of new scientific data. To facilitate this process, please suggest the names and current email addresses of two potential international reviewers whom you recommend to be capable of reviewing your manuscript.
E-mail Confirmation of Submission
After submission you will receive an email to confirm receipt of your manuscript. If you do not receive a confirmation email within a few days, please verify your email address in the system.
Peer-Review Policy
- All submitted manuscripts are reviewed by at least two suitably qualified reviewers. Editors and reviewers involved in the review process are asked to disclose conflicts of interest resulting from direct competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors, and remove oneself from cases in which such conflicts preclude an objective evaluation.
- All publication decisions are made by the journal’s editors-in-chief based on the reviews received from the reviewers. Members of the editorial board lend insight, advice, and guidance to the editors-in-chief and assist in decision-making on specific submissions. Additionally, editors will have the option of seeking additional reviews when needed. Authors will be informed when editors decide further review is required. Authors of papers that are not accepted are notified promptly.
- The editorial team provides efficient administrative support for authors, reviewers, editors that allows IUJ to maintain the integrity of peer-review with a rapid turnaround.
- Our peer-review process is confidential: the identities of reviewers cannot be revealed. Reviewers are requested not to discuss any manuscript received for review from IUJ, with anyone not directly involved in the review process.
Manuscript Format
Articles must be submitted in Microsoft Word format, using 12pt Times New Roman font and 1.5 line spacing.
Language
All submissions must be in English, using either American or British spelling conventions. Authors for whom English is a second language must have their manuscript professionally edited for high-quality language prior to submission.
Structure
All manuscripts submitted to IUJ should follow the guidelines regarding structure stated below.
Title Page
The manuscript should include a title (maximum 50 words), a running head (maximum 50 characters), and the names and institutional affiliations of all authors.
Abstract
All manuscripts submitted to IUJ must include a structured abstract with the following headings: Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. The main text of the original article should have an Introduction, Materials and Methods, and Discussion.
Introduction
This section should be focused on outlining the historical or logical origins of the study and not summarize the results: exhaustive literature reviews are not appropriate. It should end with the explicit statement of the aims of the research.
Materials and Methods
The Material and Methods section must contain sufficient detail such that, in combination with the references cited, all studies reported can be fully reproduced. As a condition of publication, authors are required to make materials and methods used freely available to academic researchers for their own use.
Discussion
This section may start with a brief summary of the major findings, but repetition of parts of the abstract or of the results sections should be avoided. The section should end with a brief conclusion and a comment on the potential clinical program or policy relevance of the findings. Statements and interpretation of the data should be appropriately supported by original references.
List of Abbreviations
Include a list of abbreviations used in the text.
Acknowledgements
Details of the non-author contributors cited individually or collectively, and their precise contributions should be specified. The corresponding author is required to obtain written permission to be acknowledged from all acknowledged individuals.
Financial disclosure
Disclose the funding agency or sponsors, grant number, and the role of funders. If there was no funding or funders had no role, include a statement mentioning that.
Conflict-of-interest
There should be a conflict-of-interest disclosure statement or a declaration by the authors that they do not have any conflicts of interest to declare.
Author Contributions
Pertaining to the ICMJE guidelines, authors must disclose their contributions to study conception, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript writing, and other roles. All authors must also approve the final manuscript version for publication.
Ethical Policy and Institutional Review Board Statement
Include the review board name, approval number, and approval date. For clinical trials, provide the clinical trial registry number. State that all procedures were conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki (year).
Patient Declaration of Consent
Mention a statement that informed written consent for participation in the study and publication of the data for research and educational purposes. Appropriate statement for parental consent in case of minor patients should also be mentioned.
Data Availability Statement
The Statement should include that the data set used in the current study, as applicable:
a) Repository name
b) Public domain resource name
c) Availability within the article or supplementary materials
d) Available upon request (include contact name/email)
e) Available after an embargo period due to commercial restrictions.
For case reports, the manuscript should include the following: List of Abbreviations, Acknowledgements, Financial Disclosure, Conflict-of-Interest, Author Contributions, and Patient Declaration of Consent.
References
The list of references begins on a fresh page in the manuscript and should follow the Vancouver format. References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identified references in the text should be sequentially numbered by Arabic numerals in parentheses (e.g., (1,3,9)). Avoid referencing “unpublished observations” and manuscripts not yet accepted for publication. References to abstracts should be avoided if possible as such references are appropriate only if they are recent enough that time has not permitted full publication. References to written personal communications (not oral) may be inserted in parentheses in the text.
Tables, Figures, and Figure Legends
Tables are part of the text and should be included, one per page, after the References. All graphs, drawings, and photographs are considered figures and should be sequentially numbered with Arabic numerals. Each figure must be on a separate page, and each must have a caption. All captions, including necessary references, should be typed on a separate page and numbered clearly (Fig.1, Fig. 2, etc.).
Preparation of Electronic Figures for Publication
Although low quality images are adequate for review purposes, online publication requires high quality images to prevent the final product from being blurred.
Permissions
If all or parts of previously published illustrations are used, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder concerned. It is the author’s responsibility to obtain these in writing and provide copies to the publishers.
Protection of Patients’ Right to Privacy
Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, sonograms, CT scans, pedigrees, etc., unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient or legal guardian gives informed consent for publication. Authors should remove patients’ names from figures unless they have obtained informed consent from the patients. The journal abides by ICMJE guidelines:
1) Authors, not journals nor publishers, need to obtain the patient consent form before the publication and have the form properly archived. The consent forms are not to be uploaded with the cover letter or sent through email to editorial or publisher offices.
2) If the manuscript contains patient images that preclude anonymity, or a description that has obvious indication to the identity of the patient, a statement about obtaining informed patient consent should be indicated in the manuscript.
After acceptance
Upon acceptance of a manuscript for publication, the manuscript will be forwarded to the Production Editor who is responsible for the production of the journal.
Proof Corrections
The corresponding author will receive an email alert containing a link to a web site. A working email address must therefore be provided for the corresponding author. The proof can be downloaded as a portable document format (PDF) from this site to add any necessary corrections. Further instructions will be sent with the proof. Hard copy proofs will be posted if no e-mail address is available. In your absence, please arrange for a colleague to access your email to retrieve the proofs. Proofs must be returned within three days of receipt. As changes to proofs are costly, we ask that you only correct typesetting errors. Excessive changes made by the author in the proofs, excluding typesetting errors, will be charged separately. Other than in exceptional circumstances, all illustrations are retained by the publisher. Please note that the author is responsible for all statements made in his work, including changes made by the copy editor.
Manuscript Submission, Processing, and Publication Charges
Submission Charges
The journal does not charge fees on submission.
Article Processing Charges
The journal charges the following fees upon acceptance:
Case report, Editorial, Letter To Editor, Original Article, Review Article, Short Communication:
Discounted APCs: 215.00 USD (approximately 10% of international average)
There is a 3000-word limit for original and review articles and a 1200-word limit for case reports including table, images, graphs, and other supporting materials (if applicable). Exceeding the recommended limit will increase the PDF page count incenting additional fees to be applicable.