About JMSR: Policies, Guidelines & APCs

EDITORIAL POLICIES

FOCUS & SCOPE

“Journal of Medical and Surgical Research” -JMSR- was founded in a National context characterized by the absence of a Moroccan medical journal indexed in international recognized databases which is a limit to an easy spread of local research. The Editorial Board aims essentially to shed light on local efforts in medical research and share local experience of medical practitioners, surgeons and biologists. The promotion of high quality clinical research in health sciences in Morocco and developing countries with limited research resources is our mission and principal goal.

Priority is given to research papers from Morocco, Africa and Asian countries but interesting submissions from other regions are not excluded. If JMSR is serving essentially Developing Countries with Low and Middle Income (LMIC), the journal remains open to worldwide medical authors community with no exclusive approach!

Journal of Medical and Surgical Research is the first Moroccan medical journal to be indexed in Clarivate Analytics/ Web of Science - Thomson Reuters (ESCI)

Journal of Medical and Surgical Research was selected for "Best Journal Awards" in 2019 and 2021. (An event organized by the Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research, the CNRST (National Center for Scientific and Technical research) and Clarivate Analytics- Web of Science Group.)

Journal of Medical and Surgical Research -JMSR- is owned & totally managed by the MSRJGroup. (Conatct E-mail: msrjgroup2014@gmail.com)

Together we can enhance the quality of the medical research in Morocco, in Africa and in LMIC!

SECTION POLICIES

Editorial

Open Submissions

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

JMSR OPEN ACCESS POLICY

Journal of Medical and Surgical Research is a Scholarly peer-reviewed open access journal.

The Journal’s content is immediately available for all researchers and is free of all restrictions on access.

All manuscripts are mandatory considered for a double blind peer-review process by qualified experts. Authors need to prepare their manuscripts in a way that does not give away their identity.

ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGES (APCs):
From 2014 to June 30, 2022,
submissions & publication in “Journal of Medical and Surgical Research” were totally Free of Charges.

JMSR policies for publication has changed and updated in July 22, 2022. Please see all details below:

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
Updates of JMSR Policies Regarding Publication Charges (APCs): Notification for Authors & Reviewers

NB: In respect to the journal's transparency policies, all papers submitted prior to July 22, 2022 (Date of publication of the present announcement) will be freely published if accepted with no APCs charges.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES FOR PUBLICATION & REVIEWING:

Ethical guidelines are very important in JMSR's policies. Non respect of Ethical issues lead to manuscript rejection. Only manuscripts respecting the following International Standards for authors are considered for publication in JMSR: http://publicationethics.org/files/International%20standards_authors_for%20website _11_Nov_2011_0.pdf .
Authors are invited to respect Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research.
Peer-review process is mandatory, objective and double blind. Manuscripts are treated confidentially before publication.
Peer-review is conducted in a total respect of the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer- Reviewers: https://publicationethics.org/files/Ethical_Guidelines_For_Peer_Reviewers_2.pdf

POLICIES ON "CONFLICT OF INTEREST" AND "HUMAN & ANIMAL RIGHTS":

"CONFLICT OF INTEREST" SECTION:

JMSR requires that authors include a statement declaring all relevant competing interests in relation to their research. A “Conflict of Interests” section should be included at the end of all submitted manuscripts listing all competing interests (financial and non-financial).Where authors have no competing interests, authors should mention: “The authors declare that no competing interests exist.” Editors may ask for further information concerning this section. Reviewers are also required to declare -if present- competing interests and will be then excluded from the manuscript’s peer review process.

For submitted papers which benefited of financial support, all sources of funding for the research reported should be declared. Authors with special financial competing interest should be mentioned with sufficient details.

HUMAN & ANIMAL RIGHTS IN RESEARCH:

JMSR Editorial policies aim to ensure protection and proper use of animals and human subjects in all research studies. The following recommendations are mandatory and are applicable to all authors reporting experiments with the involvement of animals and humans:

Each submitted paper should include a statement in the “Methods” section that appropriate approvals were obtained from the licensing authority and /or from the local research ethics committee. The authors should declare that they have conducted all experiments in accordance with relevant guidelines of the committee.
All manuscripts reporting a research study or experiment using human subjects must include a statement confirming that the experiments were realized with prior informed consent (written or verbal, as appropriate) from each participant.
Studies on live vertebrate animals must observe institutional, national, or international guidelines.
Researchers are expected to conduct their animal research in compliance with the U.S. Public Health Service's Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (PHS policy) and the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals which are considered both necessary and sufficient to guarantee high standard of animal care.

In case of non-respect of the universally accepted norms of using animal and human subjects, the manuscript is definitely rejected. The Editor-In-Chief reserves the right to request further clarification from the approving committee.

Researchers have a moral obligation towards the animals and human subjects they use for their research goals and are appealed to treat them with all compassion and consider their well-being as a priority while designing the projects.

JMSR POLICIES ON "INFORMED CONSENT":

JMSR policy for informed patient consent for case reports and studies respects and is strongly following the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and ICMJE guidelines. Written descriptions and photographs leading to possible patient identification should be avoided and will not be considered for publication except when the patients or legal guardian has given written informed consent with an authorization for publication. All identifying details (names, dates of birth, facial features, fingerprint, DNA or other biometrical characteristics or distinguishing information) should be omitted; however, in order to attain anonymity, patient data should not be altered or falsified. An “informed patient consent” statement should be included mandatory as a part of the submission. Informed patient consent for publication should be obligatory obtained if there is any doubt of non-respect of anonymity.

Obtention of informed consent is not necessary:

When the submission does not include images that may identify the person.
For X rays images, laparoscopic images, ultrasound and CT images, pathology slides. They may be generally published with no need for informed consent except when there is evidence of identifying information (-in which case, authors are appealed to obtain that consent),
In case of iùage re-use: If images are being reused from previously published papers, the Publisher will assume that consent were obtained for prior publication. Authors should provide the appropriate attribution for re-publication of images.

For the already available data and/or biologic material, regardless of whether material was collected from patients in live or after death, a prior written consent is required given, by from the family or the guardian if the deceased has not made a pre-mortem decision. Wishes and confidentiality from the deceased should be respected.

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.

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with Authors Guidelines; submissions which do not adhere may be returned to authors for revision.
Any manuscript must be accompanied with a conflict of interest declaration and funding declaration if any.
In case of financial support, the authors should give information about the source of funding and the role of the funders in the present study.
Plagiarism is bannied, In case of plagiarism, the manuscript is definitely rejected: All authors should state that they checked their manuscript for plagiarism before submission. Plagiarism is not tolerated and authors submitting papers with plagiarism (whether intentional or not) may be considered for an Embargo period.
All or part of articles published in JMSR may not be reproduced without the express written consent of the Editor-in-Chief.
Submitting a manuscript for publication in JMSR implies the authors are in agreement with these requirements.
Duplicated submissions are not authorized and are subject to sanctions as detailed in the journal policies and guidelines page.
By submitting their papers, authors confirm that they have consulted and agreed with the journal's policies for Article Processing Charges and authors' malpractices sanctions.
Withdrawal of a submitted paper without the authorization of the Editors and/or during the peer-review process is subject to sanctions as detailed in JMSR policies and guidelines page.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

The journal content is licensed to the scientific community under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivs 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-NC-ND). This license allows others to download the articles and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

Journal of Medical and Surgical research respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects its users to do the same in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. The Journal allows the author(s) to hold the copyright without restrictions. The Journal allows the author(s) to retain publishing rights without restrictions.

ORIGINALITY & PLAGIARISM

Important!! The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

PRIVACY STATEMENT

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

SUBMISSIONS & AUTHORS GUIDELINES

Online Submissions:

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Authors Guidelines :

*General Information

All submissions to JMSR must be made electronically via the online submission and peer review system at the following URL: http://journal-jmsr.net. (E-mailed only submissions will not be accepted).

First-time users must create an Author account, which may be used for submission.

Important note: If you are submitting to JMSR, please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created.

Research articles published in JMSR are freely available online to the entire global research community.

They are available via JMSR website :http://journal-jmsr.net and in the global compaign Health Information for All by 2015 (HIFA vision) website

*Structure of a Manuscript:

Manuscript should be typed double spaced on Microsoft Word. Your manuscript should consist of the following elements:

Title
Abstract and subject keywords
Main Text
Acknowledgments
References
Figures with figure legends (if any)
Tables (if any)

1. Title Page

Manuscript title should be clear and comprehensive without symbols or abbreviations.

The title page must contain: corresponding author contact details (Name and affiliation with telephone number and Fax number if available, and an email address) and co- authors respective names, affiliations and ORCID IDs once available.

The total word count of the manuscript including only Title Page, Abstract, Text should be mentionned. (Without Tables figures and references)

As peer-review is double blind, a second title page should be inserted showing only the title of the manuscript without anything that could indicate the identity of the authors.

2. Name of the author(s) and the name and address of the institution where the work was done must be given.

They should be sent with the title page and separately of the main document.

The corresponding author should be clearly mentioned with all contact details (Full name, affiliation, E-mail address, phone number and ORCID ID if available).

In the cover letter, the corresponding author should state that all authors approved submission of the manuscript in its current form.

3. Abstract: The abstract should summarize concisely the content and conclusions of the paper. For case reports or article correspondence articles, the abstract may be presented as an unstructured single paragraph. For research articles, meta- analysis or synthesis, abstract should be organized in 4 sections with:

An Introduction presenting briefly the aim, the purpose or the context of the study.
Methods with a brief description of research methodology and patients inclusion.
Results with a brief report of the study results.
Conclusion highlighting briefly important findings and possible messages to authors.

4. Keywords: For the purpose of indexing, a maximum of seven subject keywords should be listed after the abstract in alphabetical order and separated by a semicolon.

5. Text: The paper must preferably respect the following structure: Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion.

6. Acknowledgements: may be included in a separate section before the references. Authors should provide details on how cited persons or institutes helped or contributed to the work.

7. References:

The references should be included in the manuscript's text between [ ], and must be in the following form in numerical order as they are appear as a citation in the text:

1- Alfaconte I >>>>>>>>[Up to 20 authors]>>>> et al. Latest issues in the management of HCC. Public Health. 2017; V (5):756-789. (For volumes up to X) or,

2- Tramacere I, La Vecchia C, Negri E. Tobacco smoking and esophageal and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma: a meta-analysis. Epidemiology. 2011; 22(3):344-349.

Following last updates, Authors should cite all authors' names (up to 20 authors) than they can use "et al.". (June 2022)

Authors are encouraged to include the most recent references in their bibliography section.

As “Journal of Medical and Surgical Research” is a Crossref Member, references should preferably include the manuscript DOI.

We strongly recommend citing references form journals with established peer-review process.

8. Tables:

Tables should be prepared using Microsoft Word.

They should be numbered sequentially as they appear in the text, i.e. Table I, Table II, etc.

Tables should be sent in editable form with a legend describing briefly findings or results reported in the table.

If abbreviations used for the first time in the table and not previously defined in the main manuscript, authors should mandatory define all of them in the legend.

9. Figures and Graphs:

Figures may be included within the body of the manuscript or may be submitted as a separate file.

Figures should be numbered sequentially as they appear in the main document, i.e. Figure 1, Figure 2, etc...

Figures with bad resolution are returned to the corresponding author.

All abbreviations and/or symbols must be defined in the legend of the figure.

For graphics downloaded from the Web, the editor may request an authorization of the original author. If not delivered, the graph will not be considered and should be removed from the final version of the manuscript if accepted.

When publishing pictures, patients' privacy must be respected. A consent for publication must be attached to the submitted manuscript and separately sent to the Editor.

10. Cover letter:

Authors should state that paper has not been previously published and that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

The corresponding authors should state that all co-authors approved the submitted version of the manuscript.

Financial issues or other conflict of interests -if any- should be notified.

12. The articles should be submitted electronically through the on-line manuscript submission system: http://journal-jmsr.net , but also though e-mail to the editorial office at the following address: jmsr2014@yahoo.com,

11. Proofs: When your manuscript is received by the Editor, it is considered to be in its final form. One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author, to be checked for type setting/editing. No changes in, or additions to, the accepted manuscript will be allowed at this stage. Proof reading is solely the corresponding author's responsibility.

12. Publication priority is determined by multiple parameters: 1/ date of submission /2/ Editorial priorities (some articles may be considered first as they are meeting the journal’s scope or Editorial line.) /3/ Presentation of the submitted files and their compliance with authors’ instruction /4/ Reviewers availability and peer-review feed-back.

Since peer-review is mandatory before publication in JMSR, It’s important to mention that the peer-review process and delay cannot be influenced the Editorial Team. However, the editorial team is working hard to reduce the delay to “First Editorial Decision”. Authors are encouraged to send separately a list of 04 suggested reviewers who did not contribute to the submitted work, with no conflict of interest and affiliated to an institution other than when the study has been conducted.

12. All manuscripts must be accompanied with a conflict of interest declaration

13. In case of financial support, the authors should give information about the source of funding of the present study.

14. Types of Decisions:

Manuscript unsuitable - the subject matter is inappropriate for JMSR the manuscript lacks novelty or is of insufficient general interest. The manuscript is therefore not sent out for peer review.
Rejection - the peer review process reveals that the manuscript is not acceptable for publication in Journal of Ecology.
Rejection, resubmission invited - the manuscript in its current state is not acceptable for publication, but the referees and editors see the potential of the presented work. Addressing the concerns raised during peer review would alter the manuscript to an extent that makes it unfeasible to predict whether the re-worked paper will reach the desired standard. Authors are therefore invited to make the necessary changes and resubmit their work for further peer review so that the paper’s suitability for publication can be established.
Revision - the comments by reviewers and editors indicate that major or minor changes are required before the manuscript can be considered acceptable.
Further re-revision needed - the comments made by the reviewers and editors have been only partly or insufficiently addressed and further ambiguities remain. Authors are asked to address these concerns in their final version.
Acceptance subject to editing - the manuscript content is of acceptable standard for publication and only editorial changes are required. At this stage, we ask for issues related manuscript typesetting, colour artwork forms and image files of appropriate quality. Manuscript withdrawal is not authorized at this level.
Final acceptance - after a final editorial check, acceptance is confirmed and the manuscript files along with the obtained forms are sent to the publisher.

PERMANENCY OF CONTENT

A unique DOI will be assigned to each manuscript published in Journal of Medical and Surgical Research (JMSR) allowing persistent linking. Published papers are permanently available regardless of the outcome of post publication peer review.
Authors can change and update their papers by publishing revised versions; Changes will appear at the article’s history. Once accepted, the individual versions cannot be altered or withdrawn and will be constantly available on the JMSR website in free access. JMSR participates in the CrossMark scheme. By applying the CrossMark policies, JMSR maintains the published content and alerts readers to all possible occurred changes. Only major changes with significant editorial consequences are deposited. The following are 12 defined types of accepted “update” within Crossmark:

Addendum
Clarification
Correction
Corrigendum
Erratum
Expression of concern
New edition
New version
Partial retraction
Removal
Retraction
Withdrawal

3. Clicking on the CrossMark logo (at the top of each JMSR article) will inform you about the current status of the article and direct you to the latest updates about published version.

JMSR POLICIES IN CASE OF MALPRACTICE REPORT

IN CASE OF MANUSCRIPT DUPLICATION:
- A notification is sent to the corresponding author and then all co-authors.

- A letter is sent to the Editor-in-Chief of the journal where the duplication was detected.

- A notification is sent to authors affiliations and respective universities and institutions.

- The duplicated version of the published paper should be retracted; a notification is published with DOI assigned as both journals are CrossRef members.

- Authors are blacklisted and penalty sanctions are applied [(2000 USD) regularly updated by the Editorial board chairs].
IN CASE OF MANUSCRIPT WITHDRAWAL:
In respect to the efforts of the Editorial and Publishing board and considering the time spent by Reviewers and Editors in the peer-review, a manuscript may be withdrawn only after the approval of the Editor-in-Chief. A letter will address the detailed withdrawal reasons which must be well founded.

Withdrawal of a submitted paper without the authorization of the Editors and/or during the peer-review process is subject to sanctions which may include a penalty charge [(2000 USD) regularly updated by the Editorial board chairs]; future works sent by the authors will not be considered for evaluation for a period of two years.

All submissions to JMSR must be made electronically via the online submission and peer review system at the following URL: http://journal-jmsr.net. (E-mailed only submissions will not be accepted).

First-time users must create an Author account, which may be used for submission.

Research articles published in JMSR are freely available online to the entire global research community via JMSR website: http://journal-jmsr.net and in the Global Compaign Health Information for All by 2015 (HIFA vision) website

POST- PUBLICATION PROCESS FOR HANDLING CASES REQUIRING CORRECTIONS, RETRACTIONS & EDITORIAL EXPRESSIONS OF CONCERN:

Journal of Medical and Surgical Research allows post-publication discussion of published manuscripts through letters to the editor.
Corrections, revision or complete retraction of the article should be immediately proceeded after advising the Editorial board members.
In case of post-publication honest errors, -which are unavoidable even with careful screening-, an immediate correction or retraction must be published once the error is detected. The corresponding author should immediately publish a “corrigendum” or “erratum” available to the Journal’s community with the details of corrections reasons. The Editor-in-Chief will replace the affected article with no delay by the corrected version on a numbered page
In case of scientific misconduct or data falsification, the authors (corresponding and all cited authors) are definitely unauthorized of publication in Journal of Medical and Surgical Research. In case of previously published papers, they will be all considered for re-evaluation and retraction.
The text of the retraction should clearly explain why the manuscript was retracted and include systematically a reference to the article. Retracted articles will be labelled as retracted.

Journal of Medical and Surgical Research is following COPE guidance on retractions and expression of concern; for more details, authors and reviewers can consult the following link: https://publicationethics.org/postpublication

SPONSORING & ADVERTISING POLICIES

All advertisements and commercially sponsored productions are totally independent from the editorial decisions. The journal’s Editorial policies are not compromised by sponsoring, commercial or financial interests and are totally independent of current or potential sponsors and marketing decisions. The results of searches that a reader or an author may conduct on the journal’s website (using keyword or search topic) are not controlled or influenced by advertisers and sponsors. The journal’s Editorial Board will ensure that advertisements and editorial content are clearly distinguishable.
The MSRJGroup reserves the right to decline all advertisements that are damaging to the journals advertising policies or are not appropriate to the journals’ content.
Advertising for all products or services known to be harmful or with established side effects on health (e.g. tobacco and alcohol...) is not authorized.
Exaggerated, indecent & offensive advertisements (in either text or artwork) are not accepted. Also advertisements relating to content of a racial or ethnic discrimination, a sexual orientation, or religious nature are rejected.
After being deployed in the journal’s website, advertisement will be withdrawn at any time if the journal’s Editor-in-Chief or the Publisher judge that removal is indicated.
All advertisements for drug-specific campaigns must respect and adhere to the relevant national legislation in the field. When submitting their request for advertisement, advertisers and sponsors should send a copy of the authorization for product marketing and the summary of product characteristics to the Editor-in-Chief. For drug advertisements, the full generic name of each active ingredient should be clearly stated. Drug specific campaigns should encourage correct and rational use.
If any advertisement is not meeting the MSRJGroup standard advertising policies, a request should be made to the Editorial team who will respond with a decision within ten working days.

Please send any advertisement request, complaints or queries about advertising to: jmsr2014@yahoo.com

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About JMSR: Policies, Guidelines & APCs

EDITORIAL POLICIES

FOCUS & SCOPE

SECTION POLICIES

Editorial

Correspondence Article

Research Article

Mini Review

Case Report

Letter to the Editor

Review Article

Clinical Picture

Historical Focus

Congratulatory Letter

Special Issue

Meta-analysis

Meta-synthesis