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| Review Process | |
Original articles
These include controlled trials, interventional studies,
studies of screening and diagnostic tests, outcome studies,
cost-effectiveness analyses, and large-scale epidemiological studies.
For reporting of randomised controlled trials, manuscript should be
prepared according to the Consort Statement (http://www.consort-statement.org/).
For observational studies, all cohort and case-controlled studies,
please prepare manuscript according to the Strobe statement (https://strobe-statement.org/index.php?id=strobe-home)
for guide on preparing the manuscript. Manuscript should include the following; introduction, materials and
methods, results and conclusion. The objective should be stated clearly
in the introduction. The text should not exceed 2500 words and
references not more than 30.
General Review/Systematic review/Meta-anaylsis articles
These are, in general, invited papers, but unsolicited
reviews, if of good quality, may be considered. Reviews are
systematic critical assessments of literature and data sources
pertaining to clinical topics, emphasising factors such as cause,
diagnosis, prognosis, therapy, or prevention. Reviews should be made
relevant to our local setting and preferably supported by local data.
The text should not exceed 3000 words and references not more than 40.
Systematic reviews and meta-analysis should be reported and prepared
according to either the Prisma (http://prisma-statement.org/)
or Cochrane (http://handbook-5-1.cochrane.org/)
guidelines.
This section usually consists of invited reports that have significant impact on healthcare practice and usually cover disease outbreaks, management guidelines or policy statement paper.
Audits of relevant topics generally follow the same format as original article and the text should not exceed 1,500 words and references not more than 20.
Case reports
Case reports/case series should highlight interesting rare cases or
provide good learning points and stated as study objectives. Manuscript
should be prepared according to the CARE guidelines (https://www.care-statement.org/).The text should
consists of a short introduction of not more than 500 words or 2
paragraph with a clear study objective, followed by the case report
history with clear chronological reporting, discussion and conclusion, not exceed 1500 words; the
number of tables, figures, or both should not be more than five, and
references should not be more than 15.
Education section
This section includes papers (i.e. how to interpret ECG
or chest radiography) with particular aim of broadening knowledge or
serve as revision materials. Papers will usually be invited but well
written paper on relevant topics may be accepted. The text should not
exceed 1500 words and should include not more than 15 figures
illustration and references should not be more than 15.
Images of interest
These are papers presenting unique clinical encounters
that are illustrated by photographs, radiographs, or other figures.
Image of interest should include a brief description of the case and
discussion with educational aspects. Alternatively, a mini quiz can be
presented and answers will be posted in a different section of the
publication. A maximum of three relevant references should be included.
Only images of high quality (at least 300dpi) will be acceptable.
Research Letter
This includes pilot study or cohort/observational/research studies where the sample size is small. Please prepare studies according to the Strobe statement (https://strobe-statement.org/index.php?id=strobe-home). Manuscript should include the following; introduction, materials and methods, results and conclusion. The objective should be stated clearly in the introduction. The text should not exceed 2000 words and references not more than 20.
This section includes papers looking at novel or new techniques that have been developed or introduced to the local setting. The text should not exceed 1000 words and should include not more than 10 figures illustration and references should not be more than 10.
Editorials/Commentaries
Editorials and Commentaries are invited contributions on papers
published in that particular issue or on issues of current concern.
Length should not exceed 1000 words; tables, figures are allowed only
exceptionally; references should not be more than 20.
Letters to the Editor
Letters discussing a recent article published in the BIMJ
are welcome and should be sent to the Editorial Office by e-mail. The
text should not exceed 250 words; have no more than one figure or table,
and five references.
Manuscripts submitted to the BIMJ should meet the following criteria: the content is original; the writing is clear; the study methods are appropriate; the data are valid; the conclusions are reasonable and supported by the data; the information is important; and the topic has general medical interest. Manuscripts will be accepted only if both their contents and style meet the standards required by the BIMJ.
Authorship information
Designate one corresponding author and provide a complete
address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address. The number of
authors of each paper should not be more than twelve; a greater number
requires justification. Authors may add a publishable footnote
explaining order of authorship.
Group authorship
If authorship is attributed to a group (either solely or
in addition to one or more individual authors), all members of the group
must meet the full criteria and requirements for authorship described in
the following paragraphs. One or more authors may take responsibility
‘for’ a group, in which case the other group members are not authors,
but may be listed in an acknowledgement.
Authorship requirements
When the BIMJ accepts a paper for publication, authors
will be asked to sign statements on (1) financial disclosure, (2)
conflict of interest and (3) copyright transfer. The correspondence
author may sign on behalf of co-authors.
Authorship criteria and responsibility
All authors must meet the following criteria: to have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content; to have made substantial contributions to the conception and de-sign, and the analysis and interpretation of the data (where applicable); to have made substantial contributions to the writing or revision of the manuscript; and to have reviewed the final version of the submitted manuscript and approved it for publication. Authors will be asked to certify that their contribution represents valid work and that neither the manuscript nor one with substantially similar content under their authorship has been published or is being considered for publication elsewhere, except as described in an attachment. If requested, authors shall provide the data on which the manuscript is based for examination by the editors or their assignees.
Financial disclosure or conflict of interest
Any affiliation with or involvement in any organisation or entity with a direct financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript should be disclosed in an attachment. Any financial or material support should be identified in the manuscript.
Consent
All photographs of patients' bodyparts should have consent given for publication and stated in the manuscript. Consents should also be obtained to publish radiographs and stated in the manuscript.
In consideration of the action of the BIMJ in reviewing and editing a submission, the author/s will transfer, assign, or otherwise convey all copyright ownership to the Clinical Research Unit, RIPAS Hospital, Ministry of Health in the event that such work is published by the BIMJ. Please fill in the copyright form, scan and email it to the bimjonline@gmail.com once signed and completed.
Acknowledgements
Only persons who have made substantial contributions but
who do not fulfill the authorship criteria should be acknowledged.
Authors will be informed of acceptances and accepted manuscripts will be sent for copyediting. During copyediting, there may be some changes made to accommodate the style of journal format. Attempts will be made to ensure that the overall meanings of the texts are not altered. Authors will be informed by email of the estimated time of publication. Authors may be requested to provide raw data, especially those presented in graph such as bar charts or figures so that presentations can be constructed following the format and style of the journal. Proofs will be sent to authors to check for any mistakes made during copyediting. Authors are usually given 72 hours to return the proof. No response will be taken as no further corrections required. Corrections should be kept to a minimum. Otherwise, it may cause delay in publication.
DISCLAIMER
All articles published, including editorials and letters,
represent the opinion of the contributors and do not reflect the
official view or policy of the Clinical Research Unit, the Ministry of
Health or the institutions with which the contributors are affiliated to
unless this is clearly stated. The appearance of advertisement does not
necessarily constitute endorsement by the Clinical Research Unit or
Ministry of Health, Brunei Darussalam. Furthermore, the publisher cannot
accept responsibility for the correctness or accuracy of the
advertisers’ text and/or claim or any opinion expressed.
Editing
The final
version of an accepted manuscript should be supplied as electronic
file(s) and sent to the Editorial office via email. The author(s) should
keep a copy of the entire contents of the manuscript. Manuscripts
undergo technical and copy-editing
according to
BIMJ style
and are sent to the authors for approval prior to publication as a
galley proof and page proof. Only minimal changes will be allowed;
substantial changes will required a detail explanation in the covering
letter and the addition of new material may require another round of
peer review. Authors are responsible for all statements made in their
work, including changes made by the copy editor and authorized by the
corresponding author. Any delay on returning the proof will lead to
delay in publication.
Offprint
Contributors will not be given any offprint of their
published articles. Contributors can obtain an electronic reprint from
the journal website.
(1) Authors should refer to a current issue of the BIMJ and to the uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals for guidance on style. Use Arabic numerals for numbers above nine, for designators (eg case 4, day 7, etc) and for units of measure; numbers should be spelled out if below 10, at the beginning of sentences, and for fractions below one. All papers should be written in English, and the spelling should be in British form (eg anaemia, physiological) and conform to the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English Usage.
(2) Manuscripts should be word-processed double-spaced on one side of good quality A4 (212 x 297 mm) paper. Pages should have margins of 1 inch (2.5 cm).
(3) Submissions will only be accepted via email to the Editorial office at bimjcruripas@gmail.com or bimjcruripas@yahoo.com. All submission should be accompanied by a cover letter.
(4) Authors must declare, and submit copies of, any manuscripts in preparation or submitted elsewhere that are closely related to the manuscript to be considered. The manuscript should be accompanied by the following statements, signed by ALL the authors: “No work resembling the enclosed article has been published or is being submitted for publication elsewhere. We certify that we have each made a substantial contribution so as to qualify for authorship and that we have approved the contents. We have disclosed all financial support for our work and other potential conflicts of interests.”
(5) Use Système International (SI) measurements only, except when ‘Dual report’ is indicated in the SI unit conversion table.
(6) Use generic names of drugs, unless the specific trade name of a drug used is directly relevant to the discussion. When generic names are not available, brand names which take an initial capital can be used. In original articles, the maker of the study drug must be given.
(7) Do not use abbreviations in the title or abstract and limit their use in the text. Standard abbreviations may be used and should be defined on first mention in the text unless they are the standard units of measurement. In general, terms should not be abbreviated unless they are used repeatedly and the abbreviation is helpful to the reader.
Manuscript Arrangement
Title page—This page
should contain (1) the title, (2) initials and surnames of authors, with
their degrees [maximum two] and affiliations; if an author’s affiliation
has changed since the work was done, list the new affiliation as well,
(3) the full address, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the
corresponding author, and (4) a short running head of no more than 40
characters. If available, the Chinese names of authors should be
provided.
Abstract—The abstract should not exceed 250 words for structured abstracts (Original articles, Review articles) or 150 for unstructured abstracts (Case reports, Medical practice). The abstract should be concise, summarizing the purpose, basic procedures, main findings (giving specific data and their statistical significance, if possible), and principal conclusions of the investigation. Abstract headings should be as follows: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Conclusion only for original and review articles. No abstracts are required for the other categories.
Key words—At the end of the abstract, authors should provide no more than five key words to assist with cross-indexing of the paper. Key words should be taken from Medical Subject Headings from Index Medicus (MeSH) through the PubMed website.
Introduction—The rationale for the study should be summarized and pertinent background material outlined. The Introduction should not include findings or conclusions. A clear study objective should be included at the end of the introduction stating the purpose of the study. Introduction should not be too lengthy and should be concise and straight to the point.
Methods—These should be described in sufficient detail to leave the reader in no doubt as to how the results are derived. Ethical considerations will be taken into account in the assessment of papers that have experimental investigations of human or animal subjects. Authors should state clearly in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript that institutional review board has approved the project. Those investigators without such review boards should ensure that the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki have been followed. All original research articles should include a section on statistical analysis stating the format of presentation of the data, the statistical analysis used as well as the statistical software package used, the sample size calculation and any subgroup analysis must be state apriori if it is reported in the results section.
Results—These should be presented in logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations; repetitive presentation of the same data in different forms should be avoided. This section should not include material appropriate to the Discussion and should for all purposes do not include references. Results must be statistically analysed where appropriate, and the statistical guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors should be followed. Please avoid submitting manuscript where the results and discussion section are combined.
Discussion—Data given in the Results section should not be repeated here. This section should consider the results in relation to any hypothesis/es advanced in the Introduction. This may include an evaluation of methodology and of the relationship of new information to the existing body of knowledge in that field. For all original research studies, a section of limitation of the studies is highly recommended. Conclusions should be incorporated into the final paragraph and should be commensurate with—and completely supported by—data in the text.
References—Number references in the order they appear in the text; do not alphabetize. References should follow the Vancouver style and should appear in the text, tables, and legends as Arabic numerals in superscript. Journal titles should be abbreviated in accordance with Index Medicus. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references and must verify them against the original documents. List all authors and/or editors up to six; if more than six, list the first three and ‘et al.’ In refereeing journal, the abbreviation of the journal should follow those use in PubMed and the months and volume should be omitted. Referencing books or monograph should be have the authors listed first, followed by the title of book, editors of the books, specific chapter title, book edition, press and finally the pages of the referenced work.
Examples:
Journal: (Authors: all six or first three authors followed by et al. if more than six, title of article, journal, year of publication, volume, pages)
1: Bedossa P, Poynard T. An algorithm for the grading of activity in chronic hepatitis C. The METAVIR Cooperative Study Group. Hepatology. 1996; 24:289-93.
2: Myers RP, Shaheen AA, Fong A, et al. Epidemiology and natural history of primary biliary cirrhosis in a Canadian health region: a population-based study. Hepatology. 2009; 50:1884-92.
Books or monograph: (Authors, title of book, editors of book, title of referenced chapter, edition of book, publisher, year of publication and referenced pages)
1: Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995:465-78.
Tables
and figures
Tables
Type or print out each table double-spaced on
a separate sheet of A4 paper. Do not submit tables as photographs.
Number tables using roman numerals consecutively in the order of their
first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each. Give each
column a short or abbreviated heading. Place explanatory matter in
footnotes, not in the heading. All non-standard abbreviations used in
each table should be defined in the footnotes, in alphabetical order.
Statistical measures of variations such as standard deviation, standard
error of the mean, or confidence interval should be identified in
headings. Vertical rules and horizontal rules should be omitted. Ensure
that each table is cited in the text.
Figures
Illustrations include photographs and
photomicrographs should be supplied as jpg images. Charts and diagrams
can be impregnated into the text (word file) or supplied as jgp images.
The diagram should not lose clarity on reduction; it is generally
simplest to aim for a 50% linear reduction. Titles and detailed
explanations should be confined to legends and not included in
illustrations.
Figure illustrations should be numbered using the Arabic numerals consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text. Photomicrographs must have internal scale markers and include magnification and stain used. Photographs of persons must be retouched to make the subject unidentifiable, and be accompanied by written permission from the subject to use the photograph.
All illustrations require legends, typed or printed on a separate page, double-spaced and with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations. When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, each one should be identified and clearly explained in the legend. Explain the internal scale and identify the method of staining in photomicrographs.
All manuscript submitted will undergo an initial editorial review priori. Any article which are not prepared according to the requirements stated above, or have faulty methodology or is badly written will be rejected or returned to authors for amendments to the appropriate format as required according to the authors' instruction. All manuscript which pass the initial editorial review will then be subjected to a plagiarism check. Any article with more than 30% of its text plagiarised from other published articles will be rejected and return to authors with a warning. Any manuscript with less than 30% plagiarism will be returned to author for amendments and advise to resubmit for review after amending and removing all plagiarised materials. All manuscripts cleared of any plagiarism will be sent out for peer review. The process of review may take 3-4 weeks or longer depending on the reviewers returning their comments in appropriate time. Authors are advised to not write in repeatedly to request for update unless it is more than a month.
