Author FAQs

Every submission must include at least one author who is:

• a current medical student enrolled in a recognized primary medical-degree program; or
• a physician within three years of medical-school graduation.

The qualifying author must have made a genuine intellectual contribution and must independently satisfy the Journal’s authorship criteria.

It is calculated from the date of medical-school graduation. It is not calculated from the beginning or completion of internship, residency, fellowship, postgraduate training, licensure, or employment.

Yes. Researchers, clinicians, educators, and students from other disciplines may be coauthors when they satisfy the authorship criteria. The manuscript must still include a genuinely contributing author who meets the Journal’s medical-student or recent-graduate eligibility requirement.

Original Articles, Short Communications, Case Reports, and invited Reviews must involve at least one senior researcher with relevant clinical, scientific, subject-matter, or methodological experience.

The senior researcher should be an author only when the individual independently satisfies the authorship criteria.

An Original Article presents a complete research study with the scope and detail expected for a full report. A Short Communication presents complete original research of narrower scope or more concise presentation.

A Short Communication is not a format for incomplete analyses, fragmented results, or insufficiently described methods.

A systematic review that includes a meta-analysis should be submitted as an Original Article.

A systematic review without meta-analysis is classified as a Review and is considered by invitation only.

Narrative Reviews are considered by invitation only. Do not submit one without prior approval from the Editor-in-Chief.

A Case Report should provide a clear clinical, diagnostic, therapeutic, scientific, ethical, or educational contribution. Rarity alone is not sufficient. The manuscript should explain what readers can learn and how the case contributes to clinical understanding or practice.

No. The template is recommended but not mandatory at initial submission.

The Journal follows a Your Article, Your Way approach. The manuscript may use an existing scholarly format when it is complete, readable, editable, consistently organized, and scientifically and ethically assessable.

Upload two separate editable files:

1. Title Page: identifying, authorship, institutional, correspondence, disclosure, contribution, and administrative information.
2. Masked Manuscript: the complete scholarly content without unnecessary author-identifying information.

At initial submission, tables, figures, and figure legends should remain within the masked-manuscript file. Separate source or high-resolution files may be requested during revision or production.

Remove unnecessary identifying information, including:

• author names and identifying affiliations;
• corresponding-author information;
• ORCID identifiers;
• the About the Author statement;
• named CRediT contributions;
• identifying acknowledgments;
• social-media accounts;
• author names in file properties or file names;
• identifying comments or tracked changes; and
• identifying headers or footers.

Not when the institution or location is necessary to understand the study setting, recruitment, methodology, ethics review, or interpretation. Masking should not make the research scientifically incomplete or misleading.

Yes. Cite it in the same manner as other references. Avoid unnecessarily identifying language such as “our previous study.”

Each author must have made a substantial intellectual contribution to the conception or design of the work; the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data or other scholarly material; or the drafting or critical revision of the manuscript, as applicable to the article type. All authors must approve the final version and accept accountability for their contributions.

Honorary, guest, gift, or eligibility-based authorship is not permitted.

Yes. The statement must identify the contributions genuinely performed by each author and should appear on the title page.

A request to add, remove, or reorder authors must be explained and approved by all affected authors. The Journal may request written documentation and an updated CRediT statement.

Provide an ORCID identifier for each author when available. Authors without one are encouraged to register. Include each available identifier on the title page and in the OJS metadata as a complete web address:

https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000

Individuals who contributed but do not qualify for authorship may be identified in the acknowledgments with their permission.

Identify the approving ethics committee, institutional review board, or equivalent authority in the Methods section. Include the approval or exemption number when one was issued.

State that the study was exempt or did not require review and identify the responsible authority or applicable basis when available.

Consent for publication is required when the patient may be identifiable from clinical details, images, dates, circumstances, or their combination.

The manuscript should state that consent was obtained. The Journal may request supporting documentation.

Prospective clinical trials must be registered in an appropriate publicly accessible registry. Include the registry name, registration number, and accessible record.

They may be uploaded voluntarily or when requested. Do not upload documents containing unnecessary patient or participant identifiers.

No. At initial submission, references may use any complete and consistent scholarly citation style.

Accepted manuscripts must be converted to the Journal’s Vancouver style.

They may remain during initial submission when part of the chosen reference style. In the final IJMS format, do not include DOI or PMID identifiers in journal-article references.

Yes, but every reference must be verified against the original source. Reference managers may produce inaccurate names, titles, dates, journal abbreviations, page ranges, or other errors.

Yes. Tables should use editable text and cells rather than screenshots or images.

Not unless specifically requested. Graphs, charts, diagrams, and other generated figures must remain editable. Separate source files or publication-quality photographs may be requested during revision, after acceptance, or during production.

Authors are responsible for obtaining any required permission to reproduce or adapt figures, tables, questionnaires, scales, photographs, illustrations, or other protected material.

Use the Journal’s online submission system. A manuscript sent only by email is not considered formally submitted.

Yes. The title, abstract, author names and order, affiliations, ORCID identifiers, corresponding author, keywords, and article type must be consistent with the title page and manuscript.

Use the existing manuscript record and contact the Editorial Team through the submission discussion area. Do not create a second submission solely to replace a file unless instructed.

A cover letter is optional.

A reporting checklist is welcome but optional at initial submission unless specifically requested. The Editorial Team may request it during assessment or revision.

The submission is complete when OJS records it as submitted. Retain the manuscript identification number for future correspondence.

No. Every submission undergoes administrative and internal editorial assessment. Only manuscripts selected for further consideration are sent for external review.

The IJMS uses a two-stage, double-masked process:

1. Internal editorial assessment by Student Editors under senior editorial supervision.
2. External peer review by at least two independent experts when the manuscript is selected for further consideration.

No. Reviewers advise the editors. Final editorial authority remains with appropriately authorized editors under the Journal’s governance structure.

No. A request for preliminary, minor, or major revision is not a commitment to accept the manuscript.

Provide a point-by-point response. For every comment:

1. reproduce or summarize the comment;
2. provide the author response;
3. describe the change made;
4. identify where the change appears; and
5. explain the rationale when no change was made.

Yes. Explain the disagreement clearly, respectfully, and using appropriate scientific, clinical, methodological, ethical, or editorial reasoning.

No. Upload revised files through the existing manuscript record unless the Editorial Team instructs otherwise.

Request an extension through the manuscript record before the deadline.

No. Accepted manuscripts must complete final editorial review, reference formatting, table and figure preparation, copyediting, licensing, and proof review.

The corresponding author will ordinarily receive a formatted proof. Check author information, text, data, tables, figures, references, disclosures, and production queries carefully.

No. Proof review is intended to correct production, factual, formatting, and typographical errors. It is not intended for major rewriting, new analyses, substantial new references, or unapproved authorship changes.

No. The Journal does not charge submission fees, article processing charges, or publication fees.

Authors do not pay to publish, and readers do not pay to access published articles.

Authors retain copyright under the applicable publication agreement. Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Submit a withdrawal request through the manuscript record. Identify the manuscript, explain the reason, and confirm that all authors approve the withdrawal.

Do not submit the manuscript elsewhere until the Journal acknowledges the withdrawal.

An appeal should identify a substantive error in the editorial process, factual basis of the decision, interpretation of Journal policy, or evaluation of the manuscript.

Disagreement with a reviewer or disappointment with a decision is not, by itself, sufficient grounds for an appeal.

Use the Contact Us page for concerns involving editorial conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, unreasonable delay, discrimination, harassment, or procedural irregularities.

The corresponding author should ordinarily communicate with the Journal on behalf of the full author group.