Sri Lanka Journal of Bio-Medical Informatics

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Author Guidelines

The Sri Lanka Journal of Bio-Medical Informatics is the Joint Official Publication of The Health Informatics Society of Sri Lanka and The Post-Graduate Institute of Medicine of The University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

It is an e-Journal. Leading Articles, Original Articles, Short Reports, Current Practice Articles, Review Articles, Personal View Articles, Case Reports and Picture Stories on any aspect of Bio-Medical Informatics could be submitted exclusively via the internet only, through the Sri Lanka Journals OnLine (SLJOL) website. The prospective authors must register with the Journal on SLJOL as an author before submitting an article.

The Journal, from 2011, will be published under four Predominant Themes which will be repeated in each Volume in turn, every year.

The Predominant Themes will be:

Issue 1: Bio-informatics

Issue 2: Public Health Informatics

Issue 3: Information Technology for Health and Medical Education

Issue 4: Telemedicine and m-Health

However, the Editorial Board wishes to reassure authors and readers that these will only be Predominant Themes and that other accepted articles outside the declared theme too will be included in these issues to minimise the turnaround time of accepted articles.

It is envisaged that the total turnaround time from submission to publication would not be longer than six months from 2012.

General                                                                                                  

IT MUST BE STRESSED THAT THESE GUIDELINES SHOULD BE FOLLOWED SCRUPULOUSLY.

FAILURE TO DO SO MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF THE ARTICLE OR "RETURN TO SENDER" FOR MODIFICATION AND RE-SUBMISSION.

Authors must submit a complete copy of the original manuscript in MICROSOFT WORD and NOT in any other word processing software.

The language on the computer in which the manuscript is prepared must be set to "English (U.K.) and NOT English (U.S.). Manuscripts in English (U.S.) may be returned to the author for resubmission.

It is absolutely essential that ANY and EVERY article submitted has an abstract of up to 300 words.

The text should be single spaced and in Times New Roman 12 point font size. The article should start with a Title Page containing the title of the article, author/s' names with all their medical and scientific degrees, current appointments, affiliations and an e-mail address. It is best if the authors are listed one below the other. It should specify the category of the article submitted. This page should include an e-mail address for correspondence along with a telephone number and a fax number for the Principal Author. The entire article should be of a single column format.

A second page certifying that the contents have not been published elsewhere and the paper is not being submitted elsewhere should be included. It should acknowledge any potential conflict of interest and bring to the notice of the Editors any possible overlap with prior publications. Financial support for work, including equipment and drugs, should be listed on this page. In "intervention" studies a statement that an Ethical Review Body has approved the study, with scanned documentary evidence of such approval, together with the Clinical Trials Registry Registration number should accompany the article.

In papers with more than one author a brief statement regarding the contribution of each author to the work reported should be included.

Criteria for authorship
Authors should meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Conceived and planned the work that led to the paper and/or interpreted the evidence it presents.
• Actively involved in conducting the study including data collection.
• Wrote the paper or reviewed successive versions and participated in their revision.
• Corrected and approved the final version.

Every article that is submitted must be accompanied by a certified statement of details of the exact contribution made by EACH author. This should be submitted at the end of the manuscript. Please note that this is an essential requirement and is applicable when there are two or more authors. It is strongly recommended that "Gift Authorship" be avoided at all times.

Original Articles
Papers should contain original work not published elsewhere. Editors retain the right to shorten articles or make changes to conform to the style of the Journal and improve clarity. A structured format is preferred under the headings of Introduction, Setting, Design, Method, Results, Discussion and Conclusions.

Each Submission Abstract should not exceed 400 words and be structured wherever possible. Authors MUST provide a few key words or phrases for the index with their abstracts. The key words MUST be separated by semi-colons (;) and NOT by commas (,), full-stops (.) or colons(:).

All measurements must be in SI units apart from blood pressure measurements, which should be in mm Hg, and drugs in metric units.

Abbreviations should be in parenthesis preceded by words in full before the first appearance.

Generic names should be used for drugs and, if necessary, brand name may follow in brackets.

Full original articles should be less than 5000 words.

Short reports, case reports and picture stories
Length must NOT exceed 2500 words, including tables, illustrations and references. Authors should provide a few key words or phrases for the index. The key words MUST be separated by semi-colons (;) and NOT by commas (,), full-stops (.) or colons (:).

Leading Articles and Current Practice Articles
These may be submitted by authors or may be commissioned by the Editors who welcome suggestions for topics or names of reputed authors. Authors should provide a few key words or phrases for the index. The key words MUST be separated by semi-colons (;) and NOT by commas (,), full-stops (.) or colons (:).

Tables and illustrations
Tables, graphs and illustrations should be inserted into the text as it would appear on the final accepted article. They should NOT be presented separately, not even as supplimentary files. Illustrations should be used only when data cannot be clearly expressed otherwise. Illustrations should be trimmed to remove all redundant areas. Computer graphics, illustrations and photographs will be accepted.

If photographs of patients are used, either the subjects should not be identifiable or their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photographs.

References
References should appear in the text as superscript in parentheses and numbered in order of appearance. They should be listed at the end of the article in the numerical order. They could have the names of up to six authors, followed by initials. If there are more than six authors, first six should be given followed by et al. The names should be followed by the title of the article, full name of the journal, year of publication, volume number in bold print and first and last pages of the quoted article. If a journal carries continuous pagination throughout a volume, issue numbers may be omitted. References for books should give the names of authors and editors, title, place of publication and publisher, followed by year of publication. ACCURACY OF REFERENCES IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE AUTHOR/AUTHORS.

Authors are advised to follow the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals  for the accepted style of documentation of references. Whereever possible, the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for a reference should be included for each reference. This allows the article to be found more easily by readers on the Internet. For more information see the CrossRef website. To look up the DOI for your references, see the Simple Text Query facility on the CrossRef website. The CrossRef look-up will also provide the PubMed ID and the PubMedCentral ID and these should also be included (see the examples below).

All references that have Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) should have the DOIs inserted.

Some examples of typical references are provided below :-

Journal articles

 PLEASE NOTE THAT ONLY THE VOLUME NUMBER SHOULD BE IN BOLD print. The year, issue number and pages are NOT in bold print.

More than six authors
Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitator concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res. 2002; 935(1-2): 40-6. doi:10.1016/S0006-8993(02)02445-9; PMid:12062471

Organization as author
Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin & proinsulin in participants with imp. tolerance. Hypertension. 2002; 40(5): 679-86. doi:10.1161/01.HYP.0000035706.28494.09; PMid:12411462; PMCid:2516377

Both personal authors and an organization as author
Vallancien G, Emberton M, Harving N, van Moorselaar RJ; Alf-One Study Group. Sexual dysfunction in 1,274 suffering from lower urinary tract symptoms. J Urol. 2003; 169(6): 2257-61. doi:10.1097/01.ju.0000067940.76090.73; PMid:12771764

No author given
21st century heart solution may have a sting in the tail. BMJ. 2002; 325(7357): 184. doi:10.1136/bmj.325.7357.184

Volume with supplement
Geraud G, Spierings EL, Keywood C. Tolerability and safety of frovatriptan with short- and long-term use for migraine and in comparison with sumatriptan. Headache. 2002; 42 Suppl 2: S93-9. doi:10.1046/j.1526-4610.42.s2.7.x

Issue with supplement
Glauser TA. Integrating clinical trial data into clinical practice. Neurology. 2002; 58(12 Suppl 7): S6-12.

Issue with part
Ahrar K, Madoff DC, Gupta S, Wallace MJ, Wright KC. Development of a large animal model for lun. Vasc Interv Radiol. 2002; 13(9 Pt 1): 923-8. doi:10.1016/S1051-0443(07)61776-X; PMid:12354827

Issue with no volume
Banit DM, Kaufer H, Hartford JM. Intraoperative frozen section analysis in revision total joint arthroplasty. Clinical Orthopaedics and related research 2002; (401): 230-8. doi:10.1097/00003086-200208000-00026

No volume or issue
Outreach: bringing HIV-positive individuals into care. HRSA Careaction. 2002 Jun: 1-6.

Pagination in Roman numerals
Chadwick R, Schuklenk U. The politics of ethical consensus finding. Bioethics. 2002; 16(2): iii-v. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8519.2002.00272.x; PMid:12083158

Type of article indicated as needed
Lofwall MR, Strain EC, Brooner RK, Kindbom KA, Bigelow GE. Characteristics of older methadone maintenance patients.[abstract]. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2002; 66 Suppl 1: S105.

Books and other monographs
Personal author(s)
Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002.

Editor(s ), compiler(s) as author(s)
Gilstrap LC 3rd, Cunningham FG, Van Dorsten JP, editors. Operative obstetrics. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw 2002.

Author(s) and editor(s)
Breedlove GK, Schorfheide AM. Adolescent pregnancy. 2nd ed. Wieczorek RR, editor. White Plains (NY): Education Services; 2001.

Organization(s) as author
Royal Adelaide Hospital; University of Adelaide, Department of Clinical Nursing. Compendium of nursing practice development, 1999-2000. Adelaide (Australia): Adelaide University; 2001.

Chapter in a book
Weinstein L, Swartz MN. Pathologic properties of invading microorganisms. In: Sodeman WA Jr, Sodeman WA, editors. Pathologic physiology of disease. Philadelphia: Saunders; 1974. p. 457-72.

Conference proceedings
Harnden P, Joffe JK, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour Con Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.

Conference paper
Christensen S, Oppacher F. An analysis of Koza's computational effort statistic for gene tic programming. In: Lutton E, Miller J, Ryan C, Tettamanzi AG, editors. Genetic programming. EuroGP 2002: Proceedings of the Conference on Genetic Programming; 2002 Apr 3-5; Kinsdale, Ireland. Berlin: Springer; 2002. p. 182-91.

Scientific or technical report
Issued by funding/sponsoring agency:
Yen GG (Oklahoma State University, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Stillwater, OK). Health vibration signatures. Final report. Arlington (VA): Air Force of Scientific Research (US), Air Force Research Laboratory; 2002 Feb. Report No.: AFRLSRBLTR020123. Contract No.: F496209810049.

Issued by performing agency
Russell ML, Goth-Goldstein R, Apte MG, Fisk WJ. Method for measuring the size distribution of airborne Rhin Berkeley (CA): Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Environmental Energy Technologies Division; 2002 No.: LBNL49574. Contract No. DEAC0376SF00098. Sponsored by the Department of Energy.

Dictionary and similar references
Dorland's illustrated medical dictionary. 29th ed. Philadelphia: W B Saunders; 2000. Filamin; p. 675.

Unpublished material
In press
Tian D, Araki H, Stahl E, Bergelson J, Kreitman M. Signature of balancing selection in Arabidopsis. Proc Natl A. In press 2002.

Electronic material
CD-ROM
Anderson SC, Poulsen KB. Anderson's electronic atlas of haematology [CD-ROM]. Philadelphia: Lippincott Will 2002.

Journal article on the Internet

Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [seri Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12]; 102(6): [about 3p.]. Available from: http://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/toc/2002/06000

Monograph on the Internet
Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [monograph on the Internet]. Washington Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309074029/html/.

Homepage/Web site
Cancer-Pain.org [homepage on the Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2001-2002 May 16; cited 2002 Jul 9].Available from: http://www.cancer-pain.org/. Accessed on 25-12-2009

Part of a homepage/Web site
American Medical Association [homepage on the Internet]. Chicago: The Association; c1995-2002 [updated cited 2002 Aug 12]. AMA Office of Group Practice Liaison; [about 2 screens].Available from: http://www.anassn.org/ama/pub/category/1736.html  Accessed on 25-12-2009

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.

1. 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).
2. The submission file is in Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
3. Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
4. 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.
5. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
6. If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.

Copyright Notice

• The Journal will NOT hold copyright of the articles published.
• The publishers and the Editorial Board would be quite happy to allow the authors to keep copyrights of the published articles.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.