Author Guidelines
AUTHOR GUIDELINES:
COPYRIGHT
Material submitted for publication in the South African Journal of Bioethics and Law (SAJBL) is accepted provided it has not been published elsewhere. The SAJBL reserves copyright of the material published. The SAJBL does not hold itself responsible for statements made by the authors.
AUTHORSHIP
All named authors must give consent to publication. Authorship should be based only on substantial contribution to:
(i) conception, design, analysis and interpretation of data;
(ii) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
(iii) final approval of the version to be published.
All three of these conditions must be met (Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals; www.icmje.org/index.html).
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Authors must declare all sources of support for the research and any association with the product or subject that may constitute conflict of interest.
PROTECTION OF PATIENT'S RIGHTS TO PRIVACY
Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives informed written consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that the patient be shown the manuscript to be published. (www.icmje.org)
ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION
Work that is based on or contains reference to ethnic classification must indicate the rationale for this.
MANUSCRIPTS
Short items are more likely to appeal to our readers and therefore to be accepted for publication.
Original articles of 3 000 words or less, with up to 6 tables or illustrations, should normally report observations or research of relevance to bioethics, law, human rights and related topics. References should preferably be limited to no more than 15.
Short reports or scientific letters, which include case reports, brief or negative research findings etc. should be 1000 words or less, with 1 table or illustration and no more than 6 references.
Editorials, Opinions, Issues in Medicine, etc. should be about 800 words and are welcome, but unless invited, will be subjected to the SAJBL peer review process.
Review articles are rarely accepted unless invited.
Letters to the editor, if intended for the correspondence column should be no longer than 400 words with only one illustration or table.
Obituaries should not exceed 400 words and may be accompanied by a photograph.
MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
Research articles should have a structured abstract not exceeding 250 words (50 for short reports) comprising: Objectives, Design, Setting, Subjects, Outcome measures, Results and Conclusions. Refer to articles in recent issues for guidance on the presentation of headings and subheadings. Abbreviations should be spelt out when first used in the text and thereafter used consistently. Scientific measurements should be expressed in SI units except: blood pressure should be given in mmHg and haemoglobin values in g/dl. If in doubt, refer to 'uniform requirements' above.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures consist of all material that cannot be set in type, such as photographs and line drawings. If any tables or illustrations submitted have been published elsewhere, the author should obtain written consent to republication from the copyright holder and the author(s). All illustrations, figures etc. must be of high resolution/quality, preferably jpeg or equivalent but not powerpoint, and preferably attached as supplementary files.
REFERENCES
References should be inserted in the text as superior numbers and should be listed at the end of the article in numerical and not in alphabetical order. Authors are responsible for verification of references from the original sources. References should be set out in the Vancouver style and approved abbreviations of journal titles used; consult the List of Journals in Index Medicus for these details. Names and initials of all authors should be given unless there are more than six, in which case the first three names should be given followed by et al. First and last page numbers should be given.
Journal references should appear thus: Price NC . Importance of asking about glaucoma. BMJ 1983; 286: 349-350.
Book references should be set out as follows: Jeffcoate N. Principles of Gynaecology. 4th ed. London: Butterworth, 1975: 96-101. Weinstein L, Swartz MN. Pathogenic properties of invading microorganisms. In: Sodeman WA jun, Sodeman WA, eds. Pathologic Physiology: Mechanisms of Disease. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1974: 457-472.
Manuscripts accepted but not yet published can be included as references followed by (in press). Unpublished observations and personal communications may be cited in the text, but not in the reference list
GALLEY PROOFS
Galley proofs will be forwarded to the author before publication and if not returned within 2 weeks will be regarded as approved. Please note that alterations to typeset articles are costly and will be charged to the authors.
CHANGES OF ADDRESS
Please notify the Editorial Department of any address changes so that proofs etc. may be mailed without delay.
CPD POINTS
Authors can earn up to 15 CPD points for published articles. Certificates will be provided on request after the article has been published.
SUBMISSION PREPARATION CHECKLIST:
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
- The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
- The submission file is in Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
- When available, the URLs to access references online are provided, including those for open access versions of the reference. The URLs are ready to click (e.g., http://pkp.sfu.ca).
- The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
- The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
