Submissions

Author Guidelines

Ethiopian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences (EJHBS) publishes works dealing with basic and applied research in the areas of health and biomedical sciences. The following types of publications are included:

1. Original articles,
2. Brief communications,
3. Reviews,
4. Case report,
5. Protocols, and
6. Letters to the editor.

In principle, a review article should not generally exceed 6000 words, and an original research article should also not exceed 4000 words, including the abstract, tables, references, and other appendices. Short/brief communication and a case report should not exceed 2000 words, including abstract, tables, and references. Letters should be brief and to the point; tables can be included, but graphs and illustrations will not normally be used. References must be kept to a minimum.

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted through the online submission system. The Journal also accepts manuscripts submitted by e-mail to EJHBS@uog.edu.et. The corresponding author should indicate the following in a covering letter:

1. the manuscript is being submitted for consideration for publication.
2. a manuscript with substantially the same content has not been submitted or published elsewhere.
3. all the authors have made contributions to the study described in the manuscript and are responsible for its content.
4. that all authors have approved the final manuscript.

Language

Manuscripts in English are accepted. Authors who are unsure of proper English usage should have their manuscripts checked by someone proficient in English. The authors should read the journal polices and instructions and strictly follow them before submitting their manuscript.

Form of Manuscript

 Manuscripts should be prepared as Microsoft-word documents in Times New Roman (font size 12) on A4 size leaving the margins of 1 inch on all four sides in a single column. The line spacing should be one and a half –spaced (1.5) including references and tables. Tables and Figures should be in their respective position in the manuscript with the title of Table/Legends of Figure.

Manuscripts should be written concisely: All pages must be numbered consecutively. Manuscripts of original reports are divided into the following sections in this order: Title page, including the title, the author(s) affiliation(s), and corresponding author, Abstract, Key Words, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments, Declarations, and References. The Review, Short Communications, protocols should follow the standard method as a requirement.

Title Page

The title should contain the fewest words that adequately describe the work. The authors' names should be typed in full. The department and institution where the investigation was made, including the complete postal address, should be named. The telephone number, fax number, and E-mail address (if available) of the corresponding author should be indicated.

Abstract

Manuscripts of original papers must begin with a structured abstract of not more than 300 words. It should state the background and purposes of the study or investigation; materials and methods (basic procedures on the selection of study subjects; observational and analytical methods); results (main findings); and conclusions.

Keywords

Below the abstract, 3 to 5 keywords or short phrases that should be sufficient to describe the content of the text should be provided.

Introduction

The introduction outlines the purpose, scope, and methods of the investigation and its relation to other work in the same field.

Methods

This section should clearly describe the selection of the observational subjects; the methods, apparatus (names and addresses of manufacturers in parenthesis), and procedures; references to established methods; references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well-known. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence interval). When reporting experiments on human subjects, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution or the country.

Results

Present the results of your study in logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations. Do not repeat in the text all data in the tables or illustrations, or both: emphasize or summarize only important observations.

Discussion

Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and conclusions that follow from them. Highlight the important/major findings first, then highlight the less-important findings. Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction section or the Results section. Include in the Discussion section the implications of the findings and their limitations, including implications for future research. Relate the observations to other relevant studies. Link the conclusions with the goals of the study, but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by your data. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed. State new hypotheses when warranted, but clearly label them as such. Recommendations, when appropriate, may be included.

Acknowledgments

One or more statement(s) should specify:

1. contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, such as general support by a departmental chairman.
2. acknowledgments of technical help.
3. acknowledgments of financial and material support, specifying the nature of support.
4. financial or other relationships that may pose a conflict of interest.

Tables and Figures

All tabular materials, flow charts, etc. should be typed on separate pages of the same size as the text and should be intelligible by themselves without reference to the text. Headings should be concise, clearly present the subject matter. Footnotes to the tables should be placed below the table and designated by superscripts 1, 2, 3... Graphs, diagrams, drawings, and photographs are considered figures. The original drawings should be no larger than 16 x 22 cm with a resolution of 300 dpi. All drawings must be made with black drawing ink on tracing paper suitable for direct photocopy. Either the original or glossy prints thereof are acceptable. Photographs should be sharp glossy prints with high contrast, and three sets of such prints should be submitted. Tables and figures should be numbered with Arabic numerals, respectively, in the order of appearance in the text. They should be cited in the text as, for example, Table 3 or Figure 3.

Abbreviations and Symbols

Only standard abbreviations should be used. Abbreviations of biological terms, such as culture media, reagents, or laboratory methods, should not be used unless they are well established, or they are of advantage to the reader. Such abbreviations should be defined on their first appearance in the text.

Biological Nomenclature

Scientific names of animals, plants, and microorganisms should be in accordance with the International Codes. The scientific names in the manuscript should be in italics. The generic name is written in full in the title, on its first appearance in the text, and in the summary. Elsewhere, the initial letter of the generic name may be used if no confusion results.

Chemical Nomenclature

The nomenclature of chemical compounds should agree with indexes of Chemical Abstracts.

References

References should be cited by number in parentheses in the text in order of their appearance and listed in numerical order at the end of the manuscript. List all names of authors. References to journals and books should follow “Vancouver Style” and be written as in the following examples:

1. Kassu A, Fujino F, Matsuda M, Nishizawa M, Ota F, Sugiura. Molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 in antiretroviral naïve patients in north Ethiopia. AIDS Res. Hum. Retrovir. 2007; 23: 564-568.
2. Zhang Y, Telenti A. Genetics of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. p. 235-253. In Hatfull G F, Jacob WR, (ed.), Molecular Genetics of Mycobacteria, 2000, ASM Press, Washington, D. C.
3. Assefa S, Berhan W. Health laboratory quality assurance, 2007, Master Printing Press, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Unpublished Data

Unpublished data or personal communications should not be included in the reference list but may be cited in the text, with permission for personal communications.

Short/Brief Communications

Papers in the brief form will be printed in Short/Brief Communications. They should not exceed ten double-spaced pages including figures and tables. Subdivisions of the text by headings should be avoided except for Abstract and References.

Reviews

The Review is intended to review articles dealing with current as well as historical progress made in research and policymaking in health and biomedical sciences. Teaching articles and reviews may be submitted by invitation of the editorial board.

Case Report

Papers dealing with specific clinical observations will be considered and published as case reports.

Letter to the Editor

A letter will provide opinions concerning the articles published in EJHBS. The authors of the original articles will be invited to respond to the letters commenting on their manuscripts. The letter should state the title of the article and the volume and number in which the article was published. Letters should not be divided into sections, nor should they contain a summary, figures, or tables. References (not more than 5) may be included.