• General principles
• Types of articles
• Manuscript structure
• Article submission and review
• Essential documents

General principles

The Iranian Journal of Biomedical Law and Ethics is a peer-reviewed quarterly published in electronic form, in Persian, and every two years in English. In keeping with the aims of the quarterly, the general principles governing the journal are as follows:

• Responsibility for the accuracy of the content in submitted articles rests with the authors and their opinions and remarks do not represent the official opinion of the journal and editorial board members.

• Irrespective of the type of manuscripts, commitment to intellectual properties of researchers, authors, scholars, and generally ethics in research, should be observed throughout all the stages of writing the manuscript.

• Only manuscripts with subject matter in the scope of the journal will be accepted for publication.

• The article should not be submitted or published previously in any domestic or international journal.

• The review process lasts approximately 4 months from the date of submission and the final decision will be announced accordingly. Authors can track the status of their manuscript by visiting the website or contacting the journal’s office. Authors are expected to refrain from submitting their articles to other journals during this period.

Types of articles

The following types of articles are welcomed by the journal:

Original article: The original research article is an article that provides original research results about a specific topic with a limit of 3,000-8,000 words.

Review articles: Providing the latest findings on a specific topic in the field of law and bioethics, analyzing existing perspectives and comparing them are accepted as review articles. Since only the Systematic Review articles are welcomed in this journal, it is necessary for the author to have the required knowledge and expertise of the field and to refer to at least three research articles within the desired scope of the submitted manuscript (maximum 6,000 words).

Short communication: In terms of structure and content, short communication resembles a research article. The number of authors will be at most five and the number of resources for referencing is maximally ten (maximum 1500 words).

Commentary/ special issues: In this article, the author expresses his/her views and criticisms on a specific topic (between 1000-2500 words).

Case report: Introducing and analyzing profiles and cases, lawsuits, or any reports that are registered in or out of the country is presented in the form of a case report.

Letter to editor: Journal readers can submit their scientific opinions or short criticism about the articles published in the previous two issues of the journal in a letter to the editor in chief. The author of the criticized article can also defend his/her comments and scientific findings in a text entitled "Reply to the Editor" (max. 750 words).

Manuscript structure

The overall structure of each article is as follows: title, authors, academic rank and their institutional affiliation, abstract, keywords, body of the manuscript [including introduction, background, methods, results, discussion and conclusion], acknowledgment, references, tables and figures.

1. Title page
   The full title of the article, authors’ names, their highest academic degree (s), institutional affiliation of each author (The name of department, school, university, city, country or the name of section, hospital, city, country), address of the corresponding author (name, address, phone and fax number, email) need to be included in the title page.  The corresponding author(s) should be identified by an asterisk (*) and contact details given as a footnote to the first page. You do not need to include authors' personal titles or qualifications (Doctor, Professor, Sir, Lord) in title page, in text and in the reference list. The authors’ academic degrees should be written as PhD, BS, MSc, and MD after their names.

2. Abstract
   The abstract summarizes the details of an idea or hypothesis and the evidence to accept or reject the tentative hypotheses. It is mandatory to add the institutional affiliation of the author(s) in the abstract. Moreover the following points are required to be observed with reference to the type of the manuscript.

   • Abstract of original articles
     All original articles must accompany a structured abstract (including introduction, methods, results, discussion and conclusion) up to 250 words. The components of the structured abstract contain:
     Purpose: The main research question and the purpose for conducting the research are provided in this section.
     Methods: The study design, sampling method, characteristics of the sample population, place of the study besides the implications of the study including the probable consequences and results should all be stated in Methods section.
     Results: The results include a summary of obtained data and findings.
     Discussion and Conclusion: A summary of the findings, their subsequent interpretation and justification should be re-emphasized in this section. The Discussion and Conclusion is preferably structured, in which a summary of the findings, a comparison of the findings of the study with the results of similar studies, the strengths and weaknesses of the study, the explanation of the possible application of the results for practical use in future research in conjunction with concluding remarks are all stated in Discussion and Conclusion section.

   • Abstract of case reports
     Abstract of case reports should be less than 125 words and the following titles must be included.
     Background: The purpose of selecting the case and purpose of the study are the main components of this section.
     The case: The authors need to refer to clinical findings, the significant lab abnormalities, the method of treatment and its results and consequences.
     Conclusion: Main findings, chief discoveries and novelty of the study are the main factors in this section.

   • The abstract of review articles
     If the abstract is unstructured, the limit is up to 250 words. Otherwise, less than 300 word length is preferred for structured abstracts.
     The following components comprise the abstract of review articles:
     Purpose: The purpose and intention of review needs to be expressed in this section.
     Information and data sources: This section contains all research resources.
     Selection methods: The number of studies reviewed and selection criteria are explained in this section.
     Synthesis and analysis: Summarizing the information and the relationship between the obtained data and information, integrity among the sentences, findings and outcomes are the main factors in this section.
     Conclusion: This section must present preliminary conclusions and clinical applications of the findings obtained by the study.

3. Key words
   Insert three to ten keywords based on Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) at the end of the article abstracts.

4. The content of the manuscript
   The original file must be prepared in accordance with the standard guidelines for the preparation and writing of various articles, including CONSORT for the clinical trial, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for review articles and meta-analysis.

   • Font type and size
     The entire article, including title page, abstract, body, acknowledgement, tables and figures (double space). Please leave 3.5 cm of right margin and bottom margin and 2.5 cm of left margin and top margin.

     Font type	Size	Items
     B Zar/ Times New Roman	15 Bold	Title of the article
     B Zar / Times New Roman	12 Bold	Names of the authors
     B Zar/ Times New Roman	11 Normal	Abstract body
     B lotus/ Times New Roman	14 Bold	Titles inside the text
     B Zar/ Times New Roman	13 Normal	Body
     B Zar/ Times New Roman	13 Normal	References

     
      
   • Sections of a manuscript
     To facilitate the reader's understanding, it is necessary to divide the article into various sections, including introduction, materials and methods, findings, discussions and conclusions. The following categorization in non-research articles is not required.
     
      A. Introduction
     The introduction consists of introductory explanations, statement of the topic, the necessity for conducting the research, the main purpose, the questions, the hypotheses and the background. It is desirable to overview the recent international and national studies related to the topic at issue.
     
     B. Background
     If background is comprehensive and elaborate, so that it is not possible to write it in the introduction, after the introduction, an independent section can be assigned to background.
     
     C. Materials and methods
     In this section, the tool(s) and instrument(s) for collecting data are fleshed out. The questionnaire(s) or checklist used in the article are required to be included except the standard questionnaires which are mentioned in the reference list and described in the article. Also, all sections, such as sample selection, type of study, method of implementation, ethical considerations, statistical analysis, must be written in such details that other researchers would be able to replicate the study.
     
     D. Results
     In this section, the research findings are expressed in brief. Findings may convey a few points for the readers to evaluate the research and its validity. The chief data are presented in tables and figures and their summary is written in the text. If simple results are obtained, instead of including tables and figures, the findings are simply written in the text. The results should be written concisely and clearly to be comprehensible for the readers.
     
     E. Discussion
     In this section, the findings from the research are expressed and compared with the results of similar studies. It is recommended that the discussion be structured, put the emphasis on important and novel aspects of the study, present and suggest new hypotheses. The authors in this section should explain their interpretation of the findings without having to repeat the data or other issues presented in the introduction or the results and ultimately compare the findings with future prediction.
     
     F. Conclusion
     The study should end up with the overall findings of the research.

5. Acknowledgement
   In this section, the author may appreciate or thank sponsors or other natural or legal persons who have contributed to the research or provided the fund. It is also possible to briefly cite the type of individual assistance and their critical role in conducting the research.

6. References
   Resources should be original as far as possible. Referring to unrelated resources is unwise. However, authors are responsible for ensuring the completeness and correctness of all references.

   • How to cite
     Citing to resources must be done according to Vancouver citing and referencing1 style. Accordingly, the resources in the text should be specified by numbers in parentheses and each number should be listed as a separate entry with one line space between each entry in the reference list at the end of the article on a separate page. The use of standard acronyms and abbreviations in the text is common, but all uncommon ones must be defined after the first use.
   • Citing articles
     All the resources in the reference list are written in English.
     To cite the articles in a journal, the following format must be observed:
     The authors’ surnames, initials, the full title of the article, abbreviations of journal title based on Index Medicus, year of publication, volume number: page numbers of contribution.
     Arrami M, Garner H. A tale of two citations. Nature. 2008; 451(7177):397-9.
     Only when a work has six or fewer authors, the names of all should be mentioned. In case of more than six authors, the first three authors’ names are followed by et al.
   • Citing a book
     To cite the entire book, observe the following format:
     The authors’ surnames, initials, title of the book, edition number, place of publication, publisher, the year of publication, page numbers of contribution.
     Only when a work has six or fewer authors, the names of all should be mentioned. In case of more than six authors, the first six authors’ names are followed by et al.
     Petrie KJ, Muller JT, Schirmbeck F, Donkin L, Broadbent E, Ellis CJ, et al. Effect of providing information about normal test results on patients’ reassurance: randomised controlled trial. Br Med J. 2007; 334(7589):352-4.
     Citing a contribution in a book: To cite part of a book, the following is the required format:
     The authors’ surnames, initials, the title of contribution, surname of author or editor of publication, title of book, edition number, place of publication (city, country), publisher, year of publication, all page numbers of contribution
     Partridge H, Hallam G. Evidence-based practice and information literacy. In: Lipu S, Williamson K, Lloyd A. (eds.) Exploring methods in information literacy research. WaggaWagga, Australia: Centre for Information Studies; 2007. p. 149-70.
   • Citing E-journals
     The acceptable format is as follows:
     Authors’ surnames, initials, title of article, title of journal (online), year of publication, volume (issue): pages of contribution, location within host. Available from: URL [Accessed Date].
     Arrami M, Garner H. A tale of two citations. Nature. 2008; 451(7177): 397–399. Available from: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v451/n7177/full/451397a.html [Accessed 20th January 2015].
   • Citing websites
     To cite websites, the following format must be observed:
     The authors or editors names, title, URL [Accessed date].
     European Space Agency. Rosetta: rendezvous with a comet. Available from: http://rosetta.esa.int [Accessed 15th June 2015].
   • Citing a thesis
     To cite unpublished thesis, follow the instruction as below:
     Authors’ surnames, initials, title of thesis, designation, place of institution or university to which submitted, name of institution or university to which submitted, year of defense.
     Borkowski MM. Infant sleep and feeding: a telephone survey of Hispanic Americans. PhD [dissertation]. Mount Pleasant (MI): Central Micihigan University; 2002.
     To cite published thesis, please follow the below example:
     Gethin, A. Poor suburbs and poor health: exploring the potential of a locational approach to reducing health disadvantage in Australian cities. PhD [dissertation]. Sydney: University of Western Sydney; 2007. Available from: Australasian Digital Theses Program.
   • Citing conference proceedings
     To cite proceedings, follow the below instructions:
     Author’s surname, initials, title of article, the name of editors or organization, title of proceedings, place of publication, publisher, year of publication, all pages of contribution.
     Khalifa ME, Elmessiry HM, ElBahnasy KM, Ramadan HMM. Medical image registration using mutual information similarity measure. In: Lim C-T, Goh J-C-H (eds.) Icbme2008: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Biomedical Engineering; 2008 Dec 3-6, Singapore. Dordrecht: Springer; 2009. p. 151-5.
   • Citing rules and regulations
     To cite rules and regulations, please do as follows:
     The title of statute, rule or regulation, year of adoption (like blow example)
     Environment Act 1995 (UK), S. 9.
     Health and Social Care Act 2012, c.7.
   • Citing a court case
     Please follow the instruction below:
     Name of the case, date of decision, court, case number
     Pinto v. Brixton Prison Governor, 2004.E.W.H.C. 2986.
   • Citing personal communication
     To refer to the correspondence, fatwa request from Marja, or inquiry from natural/legal persons, please follow the instruction below:
     Name of practitioner, occupation or position, [Personal communication], date when the information was provided.
     Law J. Engineering consultant. [Personal communication]. 26th March 2014.
   • Citing lecture/presentation
     Please follow the instruction below:
     Name of lecturer, presenter, title of lecture/presentation, [Lecture/presentation], name of institution or location, date of lecture/presentation
     Wagner G. Structural and functional studies of protein interactions in gene expression. [Lecture]. Imperial College London. 12th December 2006.
      
7. Figures and tables
   The authors can show their hypotheses or ideas with a chart, table or figure. All tables and figures should be presented at the end of the work. The analyses available in the tables should not be repeated in the text, unless necessary. Images and figures are presented in jpg format. If you use images, tables and figures belonging to other authors, the formal permission from the copyright holder/publisher is required.

Article submission and review

• The prepared manuscript based on the guidelines of the journal is sent to us in both Word and PDF format through our website at http://ijbmle.ir. Further correspondence and manuscript tracking is also through online submission at the website.

• In addition to technical review of the submitted manuscript, the editorial board of the journal is permitted to make necessary corrections in terms of terminologies or ambiguous writing.

• It is requested that, after receiving referee's comments, the authors implement the required changes with a distinctive color in the text. If necessary, in response to the reviewer’s comments, the author(s) may prepare a separate letter to explain and justify their own preferences and upload the letter in the website. Delay in sending the revised articles in due time culminates in rejection for publishing the article.

Essential documents

• All authors must sign a commitment form which includes the conflict of interest statement, intellectual property rights and upload it besides the article in the website.

• In researches conducted with human and animal subjects, providing both informed consent and the approval of the ethics committee of the university or organization concerned is mandatory.

• If the article is the result of clinical trials, obtaining a license from the clinical trial database or other centers permitted to register clinical trials is a must. Clinical trials must be registered before the start of the study; retrospective registration of trials does not meet the standards of our journal.

• If the article is extracted from a thesis or dissertation, the consent and the written permission of the supervisor is required to ensure that the supervisor is aware of the publication process.

• In studies that require the approval of the Medical Ethics Committee, researchers should obtain the approval before conducting the study and refer to it inside the article.

• In researches for which patient information is required, it is essential to observe ethical standards and protect the confidentiality of patient information. In case reports, a patient consent form needs to be attached as well.

1 Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, http://www.icmje.org/index.html