Author Guidelines
Manuscript File
Manuscripts must be submitted as Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) files. Times New Roman font
size 12 with double spacing should be used. The word count (excluding abstract, references,
declarations, and tables and figures) for original research, case report, short communications, and
letters to the editors should not exceed 3000, 2000, 1000, and 750 words respectively.
Illustrations (both tables and figures) should not exceed five altogether. Paragraphs should be
inserted with the tab function and not with manual spacing. The manuscript should be arranged
as follows: title page, abstract, main text, declarations, references, tables, and figure legends.
Title Page
The title of the article should not exceed 16 words. The title page should include full names
(NOT initials) of the author(s) with the surname capitalized, and institutional affiliations. Highest
academic qualification of each author should be included in parentheses after the name. The
name, complete postal address, telephone number, and e-mail address of the corresponding
author should be clearly indicated. A short running title not exceeding 8 words must be provided.
Abstract and Keywords
The abstract of all manuscripts (including reviews) must not exceed 250 words and should be
structured with the following subheadings: Background, Objectives, Methods, Result and
Conclusions. Conclusions and recommendations not related to the study findings and not found
in the main article text should not be stated in the abstract. Avoid references in the abstract. Four
to six searchable keywords or specific phrases available in Index Medicus, included in the title
and manuscript text, should be provided alphabetically below the abstract.
Text
- Original research articles and systematic reviews should be divided into the following
sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. For studies involving human subjects, the authors must indicate adherence to the Helsinki Declaration in terms of important ethical considerations such as:
(i) institutional ethical clearance to use human subjects or the permission to use institutional data;
(ii) informed written consent/assent obtained from the human subjects.
These should be indicated in the Methods section.
Declarations
- Before the references, please provide information under the following subheadings.
Authors’ Contributions: Please check the details on www.icmje.com. Acknowledgments:
for individuals who assisted in the research or manuscript writing but do not qualify to be
listed as authors
Funding/ Conflicts of Interest
Authors must declare the details of their research funding and any potential conflicts of interest
for inclusion in the article.
Plagiarism Policy and Procedure
- All submitted manuscripts are checked for plagiarism using Turnitin before peer review.
- Manuscripts with >20% similarity index (excluding references) are returned to authors
for revision or rejected outright. - Authors found to have engaged in plagiarism will be blacklisted from future submissions,
and their institutions may be notified.
Licensing and Copyright Policy
- This journal publishes under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license.
- Authors retain copyright of their work but grant the journal the right to publish and disseminate.
- Readers are free to share, adapt, and build upon published articles, provided proper attribution is given.
- Violations of copyright or licensing terms will result in formal notices, withdrawal of the article, and notification of relevant stakeholders.
Data-Set Policy
- Authors are encouraged to make datasets underlying their research publicly available in recognized repositories (e.g., Zenodo, Figshare, institutional repositories).
- Where data cannot be shared (due to ethical, legal, or confidentiality reasons), authors must provide a clear statement explaining restrictions.
- Data availability statements must be included at the end of each article.
Gender, Racial, and Language Policy
- The journal is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion in scholarly publishing.
- Submissions are accepted from authors of all genders, races, and ethnic backgrounds.
- Articles must be submitted in English. Authors who are non-native speakers are encouraged to seek professional translation or language editing support.
- Discriminatory language or bias in manuscripts will lead to desk rejection.
References
- References should not exceed 10 for letters to the editors and short communications, 22 for case reports and 35 for original research. The Vancouver style of referencing is adopted by the journal. Within the text, references should be kept within square brackets, superscripted, and inserted after punctuations. The cited literature must be numbered consecutively in order of appearance. A list of references numbered consecutively according to the order of in-text citations should be placed at the end of the manuscript (after Declarations). Personal communications must not be listed in the references but should be so indicated in parentheses within the manuscript text.
- Articles that have been accepted for journal publication but not yet published can be listed in the references with the name of the journal clearly stated and “In press” added as an indicator. Journal titles should be abbreviated as found in Index Medicus. All the authors must be listed except if there are more than six. In such cases as the latter, the first six authors should be listed followed by “et al”. Examples of references are as follows:
Journal articles
Ayodele OE, Okpechi IG, Swanepoel CR. Long term renal outcome and complications in South Africans with proliferative lupus nephritis. Int Urol Nephrol . 2013;45(5):1289–300.
Online articles
Rajasingham R, Boulware DR. HIV care: ART adherence support and cryptococcal screening.
Lancet 2015;385(9983):2128–9. DOI: 10.1016/S0140 6736(15)60455-X Available at https : // www.thelancet.com/journals/ and accessed on April 12, 2015.
Books
a. Editor(s) as author(s)
Falase AO, Akinkugbe OO. Introduction to molecular biology: Technical development in molecular analysis and gene therapy. In: Falase AO, Akinkugbe OO (Editors). A Compendium of Clinical Medicine. 1st edition. Ibadan, Nigeria: Spectrum Books Limited; 2000:944–55.
b. Chapter in a book
Burgess A. Nutritional disorders. In: Lucas AO, Gilles HM (Editors). Short Textbook of Public Health Medicine for the Tropics. 4th edition. London: Book Power with Hodder Arnold; 2003: 261–82.
Figures
Figure legends should be included in the manuscript file after the references. Vector diagrams, line drawings, and graphical representations should be submitted as Microsoft Word or Excel files. Photographs and other illustrations should be submitted in JPEG or TIFF format (size not more than 1 MB). All the illustrations should be consecutively numbered with Arabic numerals.
Tables
Tables should be placed, in editable forms, after the figure legends and numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals, with the table title placed above the table. The table drawing command on Microsoft Word should be used, not tabs function and unformatted lines.
Abbreviations
Only standard abbreviations are acceptable. All abbreviations must be defined at the first instance of use in the text, tables or figures, and then used consistently thereafter. The International System of Units (SI) is recommended for use within the text, tables, and figures. Trade names for drugs should be avoided; generic names are preferred.
Article-Processing Charges
The journal charges the sum of 50000 NGN as publication fees payable after the acceptance of the manuscript by the journal.
