Babcock University Medical Journal
Journal / Babcock University Medical Journal / Submissions

 

Before submission

Authors should ensure that their articles are suitable for publication in BUMJ. In essence, the articles should align with the aims and scope of the journal. The authors should also understand that an article processing fee will be charged upon acceptance of their article before publication. Articles should be written in an accurate and readable format while being consistent in the use of either American or British English. All articles should be subjected to plagiarism checks before submission. The journal has zero tolerance for plagiarism. BUMJ only considers articles that have not been previously published and are not currently under review for publication elsewhere. Finally, the authors need to understand the copyright agreements which they are required to sign before the publication of accepted articles

Criteria for authorship

For an individual to be listed as an author, he/she must fulfill the following criteria in line with the ICMJE 2018 recommendations

Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
Final approval of the version to be published; AND
Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
General instructions

Manuscripts must be double-spaced with wide margins and pages numbered consecutively. The word processing should be done with Microsoft word and font size of 12. The name of the author(s) must not appear anywhere in the main text of the manuscript. Files should be labeled with descriptive names that do not bear the name of the author.

BUMJ publishes the following types of articles with the prescribed word limits;

Regular Article 4,000 words
Review Article 6,000 words
Case Reports 1,500 words
Brief Communication 1,000 words
Letter to the Editor 750 words
Referencing Style: Vancouver. In-text referencing (1).

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

All articles must be submitted online at https://bumj.babcock.edu.ng. The metadata of all authors (including the names, affiliations, email addresses, and ORCID ID) is required and must be appropriately entered. In case of technical difficulties with the online process or need for clarifications regarding the submission process, please send an e-mail to the editorial office at bumj@babcock.edu.ng. The corresponding author will receive confirmation that the manuscript has been submitted within 48hours. Requests for revisions and the final decision of the reviewers will be communicated to the corresponding author via e-mail. The decision of the editorial board based on the recommendation of the reviewers is final.

ORDER OF DOCUMENT SUBMISSION OF RESEARCH ARTICLE

Research articles report the methods and reports of original studies. Manuscripts for regular articles submitted to BUMJ should be divided into separate documents in the following order:

Title page
Main Manuscript
Title
Abstract
Keywords
Plain English summary
Background
Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
List of abbreviations
References
Declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Consent for publication
Availability of data and materials
Competing interests
Funding
Authors' contributions
Acknowledgment
Supplementary files (if necessary)
Title page

A separate title page should be included containing the running title of not more than 45 characters and five keywords, the full names of all authors, academic or professional affiliation, e-mail address, and phone numbers of the corresponding author.

Main manuscript

Title: The title should describe the research and include the study design.

Abstract: Abstracts should be structured and presented in the following format and sequence: objectives, method, Results, and Conclusion. The maximum word limit is 250 words

Objective: A clear statement of the specific objective or question addressed in the article. The statement of the hypothesis may be included.

Method: Methodology and statistical approach should be concisely stated.

Results: The main findings are presented in narrative form with levels of statistical significance indicated.

Conclusion: must be directly supported by the evidence reported and include clinical or public health relevance.

Keywords: Five keywords representing the main content of the manuscript.

Plain English summary: A plain English summary of not more than 200 words in a language the patients and wider audience would easily comprehend is mandatory.

Background: The style of writing in the background section should be that readers without specialist knowledge in the field of the article should be able to follow logically. A summary of the literature and the gaps in knowledge that the current study intends to fill must be clearly stated. This section should end with the specific objectives of the study.

Methods: The methods section should include the study design, setting, participants or materials involved, recruitment process, sampling technique, a detailed step-by-step description of all procedure interventions and comparisons, as well as the statistical analysis. A statement of confirmation that ethical approval and consent were obtained from participants is mandatory.

Results: The results should be presented as narratives. When appropriate, levels of statistical significance, confidence intervals should be included. Redundancies should be minimized by avoiding the presentation of the same findings in words, tables, and figures.

Discussion: This should highlight the significance of the findings of the current study in the context of previous research as well as limitations and recommendations for future research.

Conclusion: This should state clearly the main conclusion of the research and give a clear explanation of their importance and relevance.

List of abbreviations: In alphabetical order

References: Vancouver. In-text referencing (1).

 

ORDER OF DOCUMENT SUBMISSION OF REVIEW ARTICLES

Review articles provide a comprehensive report of a topic. Manuscripts for review articles submitted to BUMJ should be divided into separate documents in the following order:

Title page
Main Manuscript
Title
Abstract
Keywords
Background
Main text
Conclusion
List of abbreviations
References
Declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Consent for publication
Availability of data and materials
Competing interests
Funding
Authors' contributions
Acknowledgment
Supplementary files (if necessary)
Title page:

A separate title page should be included containing the running title of not more than 45 characters and not more than ten keywords, the full names of all authors, academic or professional affiliation, e-mail address, and phone numbers of the corresponding author.

Main manuscript

Title: The title should describe the research and include the study design.

Abstract: Abstracts should be structured and presented in the following format and sequence: Background, main body, and a short conclusion. The maximum word limit is 350 words

Keywords: Five to ten keywords representing the main content of the manuscript.

Background: This section should state the aims, summary of the literature search, and the issue of interest.

Main text: The main text should contain the body of the review. It may be subdivided into subsections with short and clear subheadings.

Conclusion: This should state clearly the main conclusion of the review and give a clear explanation of its importance and relevance.

List of abbreviations: In alphabetical order

References: Vancouver. In-text referencing (1).

ORDER OF DOCUMENT SUBMISSION OF CASE REPORT

Manuscripts for case reports submitted to BUMJ should be divided into separate documents in the following order:

Title page
Main Manuscript
Title
Abstract
Keywords
Background
Case presentation
Discussion and Conclusion
List of abbreviations
References
Declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Consent for publication
Availability of data and materials
Competing interests
Funding
Authors' contributions
Acknowledgment
Supplementary files (if necessary)
Title page

A separate title page should be included containing the running title of not more than 45 characters and five keywords, the full names of all authors, academic or professional affiliation, e-mail address, and phone numbers of the corresponding author.

Main manuscript

Title: The title should describe the research and include the study design.

Abstract: Abstracts should be structured and presented in the following format and sequence: Background, Case Presentation, and Discussion and Conclusion. The maximum word limit is 200 words

Keywords: Five keywords representing the main content of the manuscript.

Background: A clear statement of the specific objective or question addressed in the case report.

Case presentation: The section must include a concise description of the patient’s relevant demographic details, medical history, symptoms and signs, treatment or intervention, outcomes, and any other significant details.

Discussion and Conclusion: Must discuss relevant current literature and state the main conclusions, including an explanation of their relevance or importance to the field.

List of abbreviations: In alphabetical order

References: Vancouver. In-text referencing (1).

 

ORDER OF DOCUMENT SUBMISSION OF BRIEF COMMUNICATION

Brief communications presenting novel research of timely importance submitted to BUMJ should be divided into separate documents in the following order:

Title page
Main Manuscript
Title
Abstract
Keywords
Main text
List of abbreviations
References
Declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Consent for publication
Availability of data and materials
Competing interests
Funding
Authors’ contributions
Acknowledgment
Supplementary files (if necessary)
Title page

A separate title page should be included containing the running title of not more than 45 characters and five keywords, the full names of all authors, academic or professional affiliation, e-mail address, and phone numbers of the corresponding author.

Main manuscript

Title: The title should describe the research and include the study design.

Abstract: Abstracts should be concise and summarize the aims and findings of the articles. The maximum word limit is 150 words

Keywords: Three to ten keywords representing the main content of the manuscript.

Main text: The main text should present the body of the article and could be broken into subsections with apt subheadings.

List of abbreviations: In alphabetical order

References: Vancouver. In-text referencing (1).

ORDER OF DOCUMENT SUBMISSION OF LETTER TO THE EDITOR

A Letter to the Editor is a brief report within BUMJ's scope and of particular interest to the community, but not suitable as a standard research article. Letters to the Editor submitted to BUMJ should be divided into separate documents in the following order:

Title page
Main Manuscript
Title
Keywords
Main text
References
Declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Consent for publication
Availability of data and materials
Competing interests
Funding
Authors’ contributions
Acknowledgment
Supplementary files (if necessary)
Title page

A separate title page should be included containing the running title of not more than 45 characters and five keywords, the full names of all authors, academic or professional affiliation, e-mail address, and phone numbers of the corresponding author.

Main manuscript

Title: The title should describe the research and include the study design.

Keywords: Three to ten keywords representing the main content of the manuscript.

Main text: The main text should present the body of the article and could be broken into subsections with apt subheadings.

List of abbreviations: In alphabetical order

References: Vancouver. In-text referencing (1). Not more than 10 references

 

DECLARATION

All types of articles submitted to BUMJ must contain a declaration section which should contain the following;

Ethics approval and consent to participate: All manuscripts should include statements on ethics and consent even if the ethics approval was waived and include the name of the approving IRB and the reference number.

Consent for publication: Articles containing personal data must include consent for publication obtained from the individuals or parents/legal guardians as appropriate. Consent for publication is mandatory for all case reports. For articles that do not contain personal data, authors should state "not applicable" in this section.

Availability of data and materials: Authors should include information on where data supporting the results can be found. The recommended formats for data availability statements include;

The datasets generated and/or analyzed in this study are available in the [NAME] repository, [PERSISTENT WEB LINK TO DATASETS]
The datasets used and/or analyzed in this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
All data generated or analyzed in this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files].
The datasets generated and/or analyzed in this study are not publicly available due [REASON WHY DATA ARE NOT PUBLIC] but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Data sharing does not apply to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed in this study.
The data that support the findings of this study are available from [third party name] but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for this study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of [third party name].
Not applicable. If your manuscript does not contain any data, please state 'Not applicable' in this section.
Competing interests: Authors must declare all financial and non-financial competing interests Kindly use author initials to describe each author. If the authors do not have any competing interests, please state “The authors declare that they have no competing interests" in this section.

Funding: The authors should state all the sources of funding and the roles of each funder.

Authors' contributions: Each author's contribution to the research and article should be defined. The authors’ initials should be used to describe the authors. The final draft should also be read and approved by all the authors. This has to be stated.

Acknowledgment: The authors should obtain permission and acknowledge everyone who made contributions to the research and article who have not met authorship criteria. If there are no acknowledgments to make, kindly state “not applicable”

Tables and figures

The authors should number and cite tables and figures sequentially in the text using Arabic numerals (1, 2). All tables should have titles (maximum of 15 words) included underneath the tables. The tables and figures should be placed within the manuscript at the appropriate location. The table should not include color or shading.

A maximum of six tables and figures should be included in the main text. All other tables and figures should be included as supplementary materials.

PRIVACY STATEMENT

The BUMJ is committed to protecting the privacy of the users of this journal. The names, personal credentials, particulars, and email addresses entered in this journal will only be used for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available to third parties without the user’s permission or due process.

DISCLAIMER

The contents of the journal reflect the opinion of the authors and not necessarily that of the BUMJ, Babcock Medical Society, Babcock University Teaching Hospital, and the Benjamin Carson (Senior) School of Medicine, Babcock University, Ilishan- Remo, Nigeria. The BUMJ and its editorial team will neither be liable nor take responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or validity of the contents.

Research Article
Maximum word count: 4000

Review Article
Maximum word count: 6000

Case Report
Maximum word count: 1500

Brief Communication
Maximum word count: 1000

Letter to the Editor
Maximum word count: 750

FEES

If accepted, each manuscript published will attract a processing fee of $200 for international lead authors or 125,000 Naira for Nigerian lead authors. This is necessary since the journal does not receive any external funding and all published articles are made publicly available for free. Payments are made through direct deposits into the Journal accounts, which are provided upon acceptance.