Author Guidelines

Mission Statement

The purpose of the Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice is to promote clinical and academic excellence in Medicine and Dentistry and allied sciences. To this end the Journal will publish its issues regularly and will ensure their prompt distribution to all subscribers and libraries worldwide.

Authorship
Only those persons who contributed to the intellectual content of an article should be listed as authors thereby allowing persons named to take public responsibility for the content of the article.

Duplicate Submission
Manuscripts are considered with the understanding that they have neither been published previously nor are under consideration by another publisher. Authors are reminded that failure to disclose information of prior publication is a breach of scientific ethics. However, previous publication of a fraction of an article (abstract) does not necessarily preclude its being published in the Nigeria Journal of Clinical practice.

InformedConsent and Ethical Committee Approval
Authors should statewhere appropriate the procedure used to ensure adherence to ethical guidelines on informed consent and should submit approval of the study by the appropriate institutional ethics committee. Affirmation that the protocol is consistent with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki as amended in Tokyo (1975),Venice (1983) and Hong-Kong (1989)' should be submitted. The Journal will not publish an illustration or photograph or description in a case report which allows the patient to be recognized or identified unless the patient's written permission for publication is submitted with themanuscript.

Responsibilities for Reports
Authors are responsible for all statements contained in their articles
and where they submit information that describes reportable diseases, malfunctions of medical device, adverse drug reactions or any other events that are potentially damaging to public health, they should report themto the relevant regulatory agencies.

Embargo on Release of Information

Authorsmay discuss their researcheswith representative of themass
media but they, are requested that in respect of articles already accepted for publication in the Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice no distribution of copiesmust take place before publication.

MANUSCRIPT FORMAT

The editorial committee welcomes contribution in form of original research reports, clinical trials, reviewarticles, case reports and short  communications, conference, seminar and workshop reports, medicopolitical reports, letters to Editor, etc. Articles may also be
solicited by the Editors. Manuscripts must be typed double spaced and only on one side of white bond paper, A4 (212 x 297mm), with margin of at least 25mm.Authors are advised to be conversant with the principles of clear scientific writing and to be familiar with how to present facts from figures . Submit one original and three copies of all parts of the manuscript accompanied by all supporting materialswith a covering letter signed by all the authors to:

The Editor,
Professor SNCAnyanwu
Nigeria Journal of Clinical Practice,
Department of Surgery,
Nnamdi AzikiweUniversityTeachingHospital
P.M.B. 5025,Nnewi,Nigeria.
Fax: +234-(0)46 460 124.
E-mail: editornjcp@yahoo.com

Requirements described below conform to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journal issues by the InternationalCommittee ofMedical Journal editors and the consolidated standards ofReportingTrials (CONSORT)

Categories of contributions.

Original research articles: Original research articles in any aspect of Medicine and Dentistry and allied sciences. Research in animals but with relevance to humans will also be considered. Text should be 15-20 pages (5,000 words).

Clinical Trials: These should be articles concerning drug evaluation and intended as very precise presentation with a minimum number of graphs and tables.Text should not bemore than 6 pages (1,500words).

Review Articles: Reviews must be detailed, systematic and should critically evaluate the literature on a specific problem. Review articles should have a
maximum of 20 pages (5,000 words) and should contain subheadings.

Case Reports and Short Communications: These may be special reports, unique clinical experience and short reports of original research which should not exceed 10 pages including two tables, two illustrations and a maximum of 15 references.

Conference, Seminar and Workshop Reports: These may of a general or specific medical meeting. Text should not exceed 20 pages.

Medicopolitical Reports: These should be articles expressing personal or group opinion, socio-economic and other matters as they relate to the practice of medicine and dentistry.Text should not exceed 15 pages.
Letters may be comments on published materials in the Journal, clinical observations or other matters of relevance to medicine and dentistry and allied fields. Submit one original and two copies.

Letters to the editor: Letters should include a maximum of two tables/illustration and ten references and should contain a maximum of 1,000 words. Letters may not be subject to peer review.

Format: The Manuscripts should consist of (i) title page, (ii) abstract, (iii)
text, (iv) acknowledgment, (v) references (vi) table, (vii) figures and (viii) legends, all numbered consecutively. Submit the original and three copies of the manuscript with four sets of glossy prints of figures, Each manuscript component should begin on a new page in the sequence given above.

Title Page: Should include the title of the manuscript, surname and initials,
qualification of each author; names of department and institution in which the work was carried out, name and address of the corresponding author and three to six keywords.

Abstract: This should contain 150-250 words and be structured under the
specified headings for original articles, reviews, case reports and
short communication, as follows:

Original Contributions: (i) Objective, (ii) Method (Design, Setting, Subjects and Measurements) (iii) Result and (iv) Conclusion.

Review: (i)Objective, (ii) Sources of data, (iii) Study Selection; (iv) Date Extraction; (v) Results and (vi) Conclusions. There should be no abbreviations m the abstract. Abstracts are not necessary in Editorials, letters to the Editor, commentaries, medical memoranda and position papers.

Text: Should be divided into (i) Introduction (ii) Materials and Methods (iii) Results (iv) Discussion. (V) Conclusion (vi) Acknowledgment (vii)References.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments of general support, financial and materials
support, technical help, etc should be indicated at the end of themain
text. Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission form
anyone acknowledged.

References
References should not exceed 20-25 in number and should preferably be limited to the last decade. They should be identified in the text by superscript ARABIC numerals in order of appearance in the test. The format should conform to the Vancouver style. All authors should be listed but if however the number is more than six, list six followed by et al. Examples of references:
1 JournalArticles
Give (i) Surname and initials of all authors, (ii) article title, (iii) name of journal, (iv) year, (v) volume number, and (vi) first and last pages.

Example:
Mohammed I.M., Taylor T.V, Ansell I. The use of HIDA and BIDAinHepatobiliary ScintigraphyNiger.Med. J. 1992,23 (3) 100-105

Ogunbodede E.O., Jeboda S.O., Intergration of Oral Health into existing Primary Health care services in Nigeria. Nig. Dent. J. 1996; 11 (1), 21-26
2.Author(s) ofBook
Give (i) Surname and initials of all authors, (ii) Title of book (iii) Edition (except if first), (iv) City, (v) Publisher, (vi) Year and (viii) Page.
Examples:
Obidike E. K. Essentials of Clinical Methods in Paediatrics. Enugu, Institute for Development Studies,University ofNigeria; 2004 p25
3. Author(s) of aChapter inBook
Give (i) surname and initials of all authors of the particular chapter (ii) title of chapter (iii) editor(s) of the book (iv) title of the book (v) edition (except if first) (vi) city (vii) publisher (viii) year and (ix) pages.
Example:Abudu O. O. Tumours of the vulva. In Agboola. A. (Ed) Textbook of Obstetrics and Gynecology forMedical Students. Lagos University Services Education Publishers Limited. 1998 (pp 203-213)
4. Author (s) ofDissertation orThesis
Give (i) Surname and Initials of authors (ii) title of dissertation or thesis (iii) institution (iv) year. Example: Bojuwoye B.J. Pathogenic Mechanisms of
Bacterial diarrhoeas: an illustration Yersinia enterocolitica. National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria Part II Dissertation in Physic.
1983

Tables and Figures
Tables and figures should be added to the manuscript on separate sheets and numbered.

Tables: Each table should be titled, numbered (with Arabic numerals e.g
Table 1,2,3) Authors should prepare tabular material in an easily readable form. Tables should be referred to in the text and approximate position indicated.
Figures
Submit four complete sets of professionally drawn and photographed figures. Original drawings, X-rays etc. are not acceptable. Send instead, sharp, glossy black and white prints of figures or about the size of 127 x 173mm. Letters, numbers and symbols should be clear and even throughout and of sufficient size to be fully legible after reduction. Figures should also be titled, and numbered (withArabic numerals e.g fig. 1.2.3... etc.)And should be referred to in the text and approximate position indicated.

Legends: Type legends for figures of illustration starting on a separate sheet with Arabic numerals corresponding to the figure. Identify and explain in the legend each symbol, number, letter etc used in the figure. Explain the internal scale or any methods of staining in photomicrographs in the legend.

Units of Measurement: Report length, height, weight and volume respectively in metres, kilograms and litres, or their decimal multiples. Temperature should be reported in degrees Celsius while blood pressure should be given in millimetres of mercury (mmHg). Haematological and
biochemicalmeasurements should be reported in SI unit. In table and figures, allmeasurements should be reported in SI units.

Reprints
Single reprint should be obtained from the author(s). Reprints in
quantities of 100 ormoremay be ordered fromtheEditor.

Copyright
The Journal is owned, published and copyrighted by The Medical and Dental Consultants' Association of Nigeria. The copyright of papers published in the Journal are vested in the Journal and Publisher.

ElectronicManuscripts

Electronic manuscripts have the advantages that there is no need for the rekeying of text, thereby avoiding the possibility of introducing error. For the initial submission of manuscript for consideration, hard copies and electronic (disk) copies should be submitted. For the processing of accepted papers, electronic versions are preferred. After final acceptance, your disk plus two exactly matching printed copies should be submitted. Flash discs or CD - ROM are acceptable. It is important that the files saved is in the native format of theword processor andword processing package used, your name and the name of the file on the disk. Further information may be obtained from Editors.

ReviewProcess
Each manuscript treated as a privileged communication. Each article will initially be internally reviewed. When a paper is selected for review by outside reviewer it is then sent for peer review usually by ay least two assessors. Reviewers from any institution of any of the author are not eligible. In any study that contains quantitative data and statistical inference, the Editor may request that it be reviewed by a statistician. Reviewers are requested to treat papers as confidential and not to copy manuscript.Manuscripts are judged on the interest of the topic, intellectual and scientific content and strength, the clarity of presentation and relevance to readers of the Journal.Acknowledgment of receipt ofmanuscriptwill be sent to the corresponding author. Papers not accepted will normally be returned to the authorwith orwithout reviewers comments.

Documents cited                                                                                1. Declaration of Helsinki, Bull Pan A.M Health Organ. 1990; 4:606-609
2. GopenG.D, Swan J.AThe science of scientificwritingAm. Sci
1990: 78: 550-558.
3. MooneyM.J Facts Figures. 2 Ed.London PenguinBooksLtd.
1973
4. Uniformrequirments for manuscripts submitted to biomedical
journals. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.
Ann. Intern.Med. 1997; 1 26: 36-47.
5. Begg C., Cho M, Eastwood S, Hortou R, Moher D, Olkini. Et
al. Improving the quality of reporting of randomized control
trials.The CONSORTstatement, JAMA1996; 276: 637-9