Author Guidelines
The Benin Journal of Postgraduate Medicine (BJPM) is the Official Journal of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City.
The Benin Journal of Postgraduate Medicine (BJPM) will consider in principle, manuscripts that conform to the “Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals” developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal editors as in: BMJ, 1997, 314: 1 – 10. http//www.blackwellscience.com/med. The emphasis is on contributions that advance medical science and its practice in the tropics. Contributions may be in the form of original articles, review articles, case reports, clinical practice materials, letter to the editor, viewpoints, book reviews and medical education materials. BJPM may also consider articles on politics, poetry, socio-economic, legal matters related to medical practice, rapid communications (between 1000 and 1500 words) that describe recent breakthroughs requiring accelerated publication and reviews of new books in medical practice.
MANUSCRIPT
Manuscripts should be written in English and on white bond size A4 paper and should be typed doublespaced on one side only with a least 25mm margins.
Original writing will be accepted with the understanding that they have not been previously published and are not being submitted elsewhere for publication.
Begin each of the following sections on separate pages: title page, abstract and keys words, text, acknowledgements, references, individual tales and legends for illustrations.
Three copies of the manuscripts and three complete sets of illustrations are to be submitted.
The title page and abstract should not be numbered. Sequential numbering should begin with the text.
Manuscripts and a soft copy stored in rewriteable CD should be sent with a covering letter to the editor.
TITLE PAGE
This should include (a) the title of the manuscript, (b) the preferred given name, initials and last name of each author with the highest academic degree, (c) the name(s) of the department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed and (d) the name and address of the corresponding author. In addition, an abbreviated title page containing only the title of the manuscript is required for anonymity during the review process.
AUTHORSHIP
All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship and should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. Substantial contributions to which authorship may be based include:
1. Conception, design or statistical analysis and interpretation of data;
2. Article drafting, critical revision for important intellectual content and
3. Final approval of the version to be published. All the above three conditions must be met and the Editor may require authors to justify the assignment of authorship.
ABSTRACTS AND KEY WORDS
An abstract of no more than 150 words for unstructured or 250 words for structured abstracts should be submitted with each manuscript of a major paper and should state the following: purpose, basic procedures, main findings and principal conclusions. Below the abstract, 3 to 10 key words identified as such should be provided as assist indexers in cross indexing the article. Suitable terms from the medical subject headings (MeSH) list of index Medicus should be used whenever available. The sections of the abstract of original research articles should be: – Context – Objective – Study design – Interventions (if any) – Main outcome measures – Results – Conclusion TEXT Observational and experimental articles usually have their text divided into sections with the following headings: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion. Other type of articles, such as case reports, reviews and editorials require modification of this format.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
One or more statements should specify the following:
(a) Contributions that need acknowledgement but do not justify authorship such as general support by a department chairman;
(b) acknowledgements of technical help;
(c) acknowledgements of financial and material support and
(d) financial relationship that may pose a conflict of interest.
REFERENCES
References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text using Arabic numerals in parentheses. The format used by the US National Library of Medicine in Index Medicus should form the basis of citing references and the reference list should be in the Vancouver style. Include among the references, papers accepted but not yet published; designated the journal and add “in press” in parenthesis. Information from manuscripts submitted but not yet accepted should be cited in the text as “unpublished observations”. Published abstracts can be included as references. Journal Article: List all authors, but if the number exceeds six, list the first six followed by et al. Initials should follow surnames, e.g. Gharoro EP, Enabudoso EJ, Ebeigbe P. OPEMS: Health system method for collecting and displaying information for obstetric patients. Trop. J. Obstet. Gynaecol., 2003; 20(1): 40 – 43. Chapter in books: Ande ABA, Instrumental deliveries: Destructive operations. In: Okpere E. (ed), clinical obstetrics. Uniben Press, 2003; 329 – 331. BOOK: Abedin P. and Sharif K. MROCG II Short essay questions. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2003; 1 – 9. From the Internet: Suleman A. and Heffner K. Physical Exercise. Available at http:/www.emedicine.com/sports/topic 146.html. Assessed 4th April 2003.
TABLES
Tables are to be typed double spaced with internal horizontal and vertical lines used only when absolutely necessary. They are to be numbered consecutively in the order of their first citation in the test with a brief title supplied for each. Explanatory notes should be placed in the footnotes, not in heading.
ILLUSTRATIONS
These should be limited to only those required to show essential features described in the manuscript. Labels should be bold enough with enough black and white differentiation. Captions describing all labels placed on the print of an illustration should be supplied for each illustration drawing or graphs. All captions should appear collectively on one or more pages separate from the text.
UNITS OF MEASUREMENTS
Measurement of height, length, weight and volume should be in the appropriate metric units. Temperature in degree Celsius; Blood Pressure in millimetres of mercury (mmHg); and haematological and chemistry measurements in S.I units.
ABBREVIATIONS AND SPELLINGS
Abbreviations should be standard. In special situations, the full meaning should be followed by the abbreviations in parenthesis where they are first used. British English spellings should be used. PEER REVIEW All articles selected for publications are sent to two or more professionals and specialists who are experts in the field of medicine under focus. Articles scaling this stage will be further subjected to scrutiny by a statistical analyst for appropriateness of statistical technique. Manuscripts may be reviewed to suit the format of the BJPM.
DISSERTATIONS
For dissertations, the author’s name should be followed by the title of the dissertation, the fellowship, the name of the college, month and year. E.g. Ibinabo O. Severity of sickle cell anaemia in urban kids, WACP dissertation. West African Postgraduate Medical College, April 2002.
COPYRIGHT
On acceptance, the copyright of the paper will be vested on the journal and the publisher.
SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPT
Manuscripts should be submitted to: The Editor, Benin Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, Association of Resident Doctors Secretatriat, UBTH, P.M.B. 1111 Benin City Edo State OR Online to: bjpmbjpm@yahoo.com
