Instructions for Authors

Focus And Scope

Bioethics and Health Law Journal (BHL) is an international, Continuous, peer reviewed and open access journal compiled by  "Biometrics and Health Law Institute"; "International Think-Tank of Human Dignity"; and "Medical Ethics and Law Research Center", Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran that publishes papers focusing in all fields of bioethics and health law including but not limited to the following fields: Bioethics, Health Law, Medical Ethics, Research Ethics, Nursing Ethics, Midwifery Ethics, Patients' Rights, Nursing Rights, Pharmaceutical Rights, Intellectual Property Rights in the Medicine And Pharmaceutical Fields, Psychiatric Rights, Biotechnology Rights.

Authors are responsible for both their article content and procedures involved from submission to publication of their article. Also it supports the following type of articles:

- Original/Research Article                   - Review Article

- Brief Report                                      - Case-Report

- Letter to Editor

Peer-Review Process

All manuscripts are considered to be confidential. They are peer-reviewed by at least 2 anonymous reviewers. The corresponding author is notified as soon as possible of the editor decision to accept, reject, or require modifications. If the manuscript is completely acceptable according to the criteria set forth in these instructions, it is scheduled for the next available issue.

Submission Procedures

Manuscripts must be submitted only via online submission. Once you have prepared your manuscript according to the instructions below. Please visit the online submission web site.

http://journals.sbmu.ac.ir/bhl

Manuscript Preparation

Submission:  Manuscript must be accompanied by a covering letter to the Editor-in-Chief, including title and author(s) name and declaring that it has not been published or submitted elsewhere and introduce 2 referees. In case the manuscript was earlier submitted to some other Journal and was rejected, the authors must provide full information for proper analysis. Manuscript should be typed double space using Microsoft word with clear margins on both sides. Tables as well as illustrations should be typed and drawn on separate sheets. Do not submit tables as photographs. The figures should be sent in the format of JPEG or GIF which will produce high quality images in the online edition of the journal.

The manuscript should include: Title page; the Abstract; Introduction; Ethical Considerations, Materials and Methods; Findings; Conclusion; Acknowledgement, Conflict of Interest Statement and References.

1. 1.                  The Title Page: The complete title of the manuscript, the name of all the authors with their highest qualifications, their affiliation, address for correspondence with telephone numbers, e-mail, and Fax number.

1. 2.                  Abstract: Articles must accompany a structured abstract up to 250 words. It should be structured as Background and Aim, Materials and Methods, Ethical Considerations, Findings and Conclusion followed by 3 to 6 Keywords. Use terms from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of index medicus. Care must be taken to ensure that the abstract reflects the content of the article accurately.

1. 3.                  Introduction: This should summarize the purpose and the rationale for the study. It should neither review the subject extensively nor should it have data or conclusions of the study.

1. 4.                  Ethical Considerations: Ethical considerations must be addressed before Materials and Methods. 1) Please state that informed consent was obtained from all human adult participants and from the parents or legal guardians of minors. Include the name of the appropriate institutional review board that approved the project. 2) Indicate in the text that the maintenance and care of experimental animals complies with National Institutes of Health guidelines for the humane use of laboratory animals, or those of your institute or agency.

* Clinical trial (RCT) must be signed and recorded in Iranian Clinical Trial Centre (IRCT) and other international clinical trial registered database approved by WHO.

1. 5.                  Materials and Methods: This should include exact methods or observations or experiments. If an apparatus is used, its manufacturer’s name and address should be given in parenthesis. If the method is established, give reference but if the method is new, give enough information so that others are author is able to perform it. If a drug is used, its generic name, dose and route of administration must be given. For patients, age, sex with mean age ± standard deviation must be given. Statistical methods used must be mentioned. The Info system used should be clearly mentioned.

1. 6.                  Findings: It must be presented in the form of text, tables and illustrations. The contents of the tables should not be all repeated in the text. Instead, a reference to the table number may be given. Long articles may need sub-headings within some sections (especially the Results and Discussion parts) to clarify their contents.

1. 7.                  Conclusions: This should emphasize on the present findings and the differences or similarities with other work done in the field by other workers. The detailed data should not be repeated in the discussion again. Emphasize on the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. It must be stated whether the hypothesis mentioned in the article is true, false or no conclusions can be derived.

1. 8.                  Acknowledgement: All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be covered in the acknowledgement section. It should include persons who provided technical help, writing assistance and departmental head who only provided general support. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged. The funding agency should be written out in full, followed by the grant number if available.

1. 9.                  Conflicts of Interest Statement: Authors must acknowledge and declare any sources of funding and potential conflicting interest, such as receiving funds or fees by, or holding stocks and shares in, an organization that may profit or lose through publication of your paper. Declaring a competing interest will not lead to automatic rejection of the paper, but we would like to be made aware of it. 

1. 10.              Tables and Figures: Tables should be so constructed that they, together with their captions and legends, will be intelligible with minimal reference to the text. They should be numbered (1, 2, 3, etc.) as they appear in the text. All illustrations should bear the author's name, the orientation (top, bottom, etc.) and be numbered accordingly. Photographs must be originals of high quality.

1. 11.              References: This Journal accepts references according to a style based on Vancouver style (with some minor changes). Vancouver, a numbered style, follows rules established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Writing references as an ENDNOTE or REFMAN file will be considered as an advantage when submitting a manuscript.

IN-TEXT REFERENCES

In the Vancouver system, the only indication required in the text of a paper is a number, allocated in ascending sequence, and presented in the text either in brackets, some or in superscript. For example:

"Recent randomized controlled trials in primary care showed benefits for patients with depression from increased telephone support, better cooperation between primary care and mental health professionals, and more systematic follow up.7"

If the same source is cited again later in the text, the same number is used once more. If multiple references are cited, use a hyphen to join an inclusive range of numbers thus: 2-5. Use commas without spaces to separate non-inclusive numbers in a multiple citation thus: 2-5,7,10.

; Avoid abstracts and meeting proceedings as references; unpublished observations and personal communications must not be used as references. Accepted manuscripts that have not yet been published may appear in the reference list. Indicate journal name and year in question followed by "in press" in brackets. Articles published online are identified by their DOI (Digital Object Identifier System) reference (http://dx.doi.org/). Electronic material is cited like other literature. References should contain the names and initials of the first three authors only, followed by et al. if necessary, along with the complete title of the work, the abbreviated journal title, the year, volume number, and inclusive page numbers. Journal names should be abbreviated according to the system used in Index Medicus (Pubmed Service "Journals Database").

Examples of the reference format are shown below:

Abbreviations and symbols: Use only standard abbreviations. Avoid using them in the title and abstract. The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement.

Appendix

Conflict of Interest

Bioethics and Health Law Journal (BHL) for Scientific Communication, is committed to apply ICMJE recommendation on “Author Responsibilities—Conflicts of Interest” in Journal for authors’ conflict of interest issues.

Authors should disclose, at the time of submission, information on financial conflicts of interest or other interests that may influence the manuscript. Authors should declare sources of funding for the work undertaken, too. So, completion and signing the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest is necessary for all authors and the articles submission won’t be accepted without filling this form in Journal. 

Article Processing Charges (APC): Publishing in JMUMS is free of charge and no payments are required from the Authors. BHL doesn’t have article submission charges nor article processing charges.

Disposal of material: Once published, all copies of the manuscript, correspondence and artwork will be held for 6 months before disposal.

The Final Checklist: The authors must ensure that before submitting the manuscript for publication, they have taken care of the following:

• Title page should contain title, name of the author/co-authors, their qualifications, designation & institutions they are affiliated with and mailing address for future correspondence, E-mail address, Phone & Fax number.


• Abstract in structured format up to 250 words.


• References mentioned as stated in the Instruction to Authors section.


• Tables should be typed on separate pages.


• Make sure for Headings of Tables, their numbers and Captions of illustrations. Don’t repeat the information in tables if it is covered in the text.


• Photographs / illustrations along with their captions.


• Disclosure regarding source of funding and conflict of interest if any besides approval of the study from respective


• Ethics Committee/Institution Review Board Covering Letter

• Copyright Assignment Form of Undertaking signed by all the authors.