Submissions

Author Guidelines

AUTHOR GUIDELINE

ACTA MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES

All editorial communications should be addressed to: Professor Tatang Bisri, Indonesia; E-mail: international.journal@fk.unjani.ac.id

Aims and Scope

Acta Medical and Health Sciences (AMHS) is a scientific journal that publishes research articles, case reports, literature reviews (reviews), and other topics relevant to the field of medicine and health.

Published articles must adhere to the following criteria: The final manuscript must not be a previously published manuscript in other national journals. The manuscript in scientific proceedings may be submitted after gaining clearance from the proceeding’s committee.

Manuscripts

For guidance, the requested size for articles is:

Original Article: up to 3000 words, 40 references, and 6 tables or figures.

Review articles: up to 5000 words, 150 references and 6 tables or figures.

Case reports: up to 1500 words, 15 references and 1 table or figure.

The word count refers to the main body of text, excluding the title page, abstract, references etc. Submissions that do not follow this guidance on word count or numbers of tables and figures may be returned without being reviewed. Authors wishing to submit manuscripts with tables and figures in excess of the recommended number should justify this in the cover letter.

Page Numbers

Case Reports              : 10-12 pages

Research Articles        : 15 pages

Literature Reviews      : 15-20 pages

Letters to the editor    : 1 page

Original Article

Original article should be presented in the "Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion" format

Research articles consist of: Title in Indonesian and English, abstract in Indonesian and English, introduction, subjects and methods, results, discussion, conclusion, and references.

Review Articles

Reviews should be presented in the "Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion" format and must include a structured Abstract.

Literature review consists of title in Indonesian and English, abstract in Indonesian and English, introduction, literature review, conclusion, and references.

Case Reports

Acta Medical and Health Sciences (AMHS) welcomes case reports that describe new clinical problems or new approaches to established clinical problems. Case reports must be novel, important and impactful, and provide a significant learning point for medical and health scientist.

Case reports consist of title in Indonesian and English, abstract in Indonesian and English, introduction, case report, discussion, conclusion, and references.

Submission Declaration and Verification

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis, redundant or concurrent publication for more information), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify originality, the article may be checked by the originality detection service Turnitin Similarity Check.

Authorship

All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted, and 4) all authors must agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Submitting your article

Please submit your article via https://www.editorialmanager.com/bja/default1.aspx.

Preparing Your Manuscript

The standard layout of a manuscript is:

Title page

Abstract including Keywords

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion

Acknowledgements

Declaration of interests

Funding

Appendices (if applicable)

References

Tables (including a title and legend, with any essential abbreviations defined)

Legends to figures

Title Page

Titles should provide a reasonable indication of the contents of the paper. Avoid enigmatic or vague titles such as 'An unusual cause of hypotension'. Titles in the form of a question, such as 'Is propofol epileptogenic?', or which draw conclusions about the research ('Propofol causes seizures') are discouraged. The Editors reserve the right to edit the title. The title page should include the name(s) and institutional affiliation(s) including city and country of all author(s). Note full author names to be spelled out (i.e. please do not initials for your first name). Street addresses are superfluous. It should be made clear which affiliation refers to which author by use of numerical superscripts following each author. Details of the authors' qualifications and post (e.g., consultant, senior lecturer) are not included. An author's present address, if it differs from the address at which the work was carried out, should be given as a footnote on the title page and referenced at the appropriate place in the author list by superscript numbers (1 2 3 etc.). The corresponding author and email should be indicated with an asterisk. A Twitter handle can also be included for the corresponding author.

A short running title containing not more than 50 characters (including spaces) should be included on the title page.

Title in Indonesian and does not exceed 12 words and in English and does not exceed 10 words, authors full name and title, institution, name and address of correspondence, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address. Title of the articles must be brief, informative, and descriptive. Terminologies in foreign language is written in italics.

Abstract

The Abstract will be printed at the beginning of the paper. It should be on a separate sheet, in structured format (Background, Methods, Results and Conclusions). The Abstract should give a succinct account of the study or contents in up to 250 words, with rare exceptions granted by the Editor. The Results section should contain primary outcomes with relevant statistics. Effect sizes and confidence intervals should be included in addition to P values or confidence intervals. Exact P values should be included, unless the P value is <0.001. References are not included in this section. Avoid use of nonstandard abbreviations in the Abstract.

Consists of IMRAD (Introduction, Method, Result, and Discussion). Introduction consists of background and aim of the study. Discussion is followed with conclusion.

Keywords

Five to eight keywords should be included on the title page of all manuscripts under the heading Keywords. They should be in alphabetical order.  Please consider repeating any important terms from the title of the article in both the keywords and in the Abstract, to ensure maximum discoverability of your article online. Avoid keywords that are only one word or are too general (e.g. "anaesthesia"); keywords that are too short will render the search unspecific, whereas keywords that are too long may filter articles to such a great extent that your paper could be excluded.

After the abstract, key words (about 3 – 5) are listed in alphabetical order.

Example of Research Article Abstract

Introduction : Post-operative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a frequently occurring and serious post-surgical complication that may adversely affect quality of life and increase the burden of healthcare of the patient. The aim of this study was to observe the incidence of POCD on patients undergoing elective surgery in GBPT RSU dr. Sutomo and analyze the associated risks for such condition.

Methods: The study consisted of 50 patients aged >40 years that had received elective surgery for more than 2 hours in duration. Several cognitive assessment tests were performed pre-operatively and 7 days after surgery. Attention and memory were assessed. Possible risk factors for POCD were age, education, and duration of surgery.

Results:  The study found impairment of attention, memory, and POCD 7 days after surgery were 30%, 36%, and 52%, respectively. Cognitive tests with significant reduction of scores were repetition test, immediate recall, and paired associate learning. Logistic regression analyses found that age (p = 0.798),aw education (p = 0.921), and surgery duration (p = 0.811) was not significantly correlated with the incidence of POCD. In subgroup analyses (age group), higher percentage of POCD occurred on patients aged ≥50 years, received education for ≤6 years, and surgery duration of ≥180 minutes.

Conclusion: The incidence of cognitive dysfunction in patients receiving elective surgery in GBPT RSU dr. Sutomo were relatively high. Age, education, and surgery duration may be associated with incidence of POCD, although the association was not statistically significant.

Key words: general anesthesia, attention, post-operative cognition, memory

Case Reports Abstract: Consisted of Introduction, case, discussion, and conclusion

Example of Case Report Abstract:

Abstract

Meningoencephaloceles are very rare congenital malformations in the world that have a high incidence in the population of Southeast Asia, include in Indonesia. Children with anterior meningoencephaloceles should have surgical correction as early as possible because of the facial dysmorphia, impairment of binocular vision, increasing size of the meningoencephalocele caused by increasing brainprolapse, and risk of infection of the central nervous system. In the report, we presented a case of a 9 months-old baby girl with naso-frontal encephalocele and hydrocephalus non communicant, posted for VP shunt (ventriculo-peritoneal shunt) and cele excision. Becaused of the mass, nasofrontal or frontoethmoidal and occipital meningoencephalocele leads the anesthetist to problems since the anesthesia during the operation until post operative care. Anesthetic challenges in management of meningoencephalocele, which most of the patients are children, include securing the airway with intubation with the mass in nasofrontal or nasoethmoidal with its associated complications and accurate assessment of blood loss and prevention of hypothermia

Key words: Anesthesia, difficult ventilation, difficult intubation, naso-frontal, meningoencephalocele,  pediatrics

Example of Literature Review:  Consist of introduction, literature review, and conclusion

Abstract

Hemorrhagic stroke is a frightening disease with an equally low survival rate, with only 30% of patients survived 6 months after the stroke. The main etiology of intracranial bleeding are subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) from aneurysms, arteriovenous malformation (AVM), or intracerebral bleeding. The incidence of intracerebral bleeding is frequently associated with hypertension, use of anticoagulant drugs or other coagulopathies, drug and/or alcohol addiction, neoplasms or amyloid angiopathy. The mortality rate in first 30 days is 50%. Hemorrhagic strokes frequently have worse outcomes compared to ischemic stroke, with the latter mortality rate was 10 – 30% in comparison with the former. Hemorrhagic stroke is characterized with severe headache, projectile vomiting, seizures, and wider range of focal neurologic deficits. Hematoma may cause lethargy, stupor, and coma. Neurologic deficit may occur from the onset of headache until coma. Early management is focused on: 1) hemodynamic and cardiac management, 2) airway and ventilation, 3) evaluation of neurologic function and need for monitoring of intracranial pressure or ventricular drainage or both.

Key words: intracranial bleeding, hemorrhagic stroke.

Introduction

The recommended structure for this section is background to the subject, what is known/ unknown about it, hypothesis and aim of your study

As a rule, the Introduction should be covered in a maximum of 1.5 pages double-spaced. The introduction should give a concise account of the background of the problem and the objectives of the investigation. It should state what is known about the problem to be studied at the time the study was started. Previous work with a direct bearing on the present problem should be quoted. The final paragraph should clearly state the primary and, if applicable, secondary aims of the study.

Methods

The Methods section should give a clear but concise description of how the study was conducted. Subjects covered in this should include: Ethics approval / licence (including date and administering institution), Patient population, Inclusion / exclusion criteria, Conduct of the study, Measurements and data handling, Primary and secondary endpoints, Sample size calculation and Statistical analyses

Results

Results should be presented in a logical order related to the aims and design of the study with appropriate statistical reporting and any pertinent negative findings. Description of experimental results should be concise. It is often useful to present the results in the order described in the Methods section. Data should not be repeated unnecessarily in text, tables and figures.

Tables and Figures

Tables and figures are often useful to present either complex or extensive data in a more easily understandable form. However, authors are cautioned against unnecessary use of tables and figures. A useful approach is to prepare the raw data in the form of tables and then decide which data are to be presented in the article. The author should then decide whether the essential data can be presented succinctly in the text. If not, the essential tables and/or figures should be prepared. To illustrate this with examples: a study outcome which compares two measurements in two groups can easily be presented as text, a comparison of arterial pressure and heart rate changes at five time points in two groups would be appropriate as a table and the same measurements in comparing three groups may be better as a figure.

Tables and figures are important communications and should be accompanied by a legend that makes them self-explanatory. However, the legend must not contain experimental details, which should be given in the Methods section.  Please note the limitation given above on the number of figures/tables permissible for each article type. Data should not be duplicated by including it in a table and figure, or presentation in both a table and text.

Graphs

Graphs of quantitative data should be presented as dot plots for small data sets, with the mean and appropriate error bars indicated; or as box and whisker plots, with values defined in the legend (the bounds of the boxes, the lines within the boxes, the whiskers, and any outlying values).

Images

Submissions that contain cropped gels/blots are required to submit a supplementary file that contains the entire unedited gel for all cropped gels in the submission. Each gel should be annotated as "Full unedited gel for Figure X," and the authors should highlight which lanes of the unedited gel correspond to those shown in the cropped images within the manuscript. This file can be provided as Supplemental Data and will be published as full uncut blot data if the submission is ultimately accepted.

The groupings of images from different parts of the same gel or from different gels or fields or exposures must be made explicit by using dividing lines and noted in the figure legend. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or colour balance are acceptable provided they do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original. Nonlinear adjustments (e.g., changes to gamma settings, curves, or input levels) must be disclosed in the figure legend.

Tables

Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Number tables consecutively using Arabic numerals in order of their appearance in the text, and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells. Tables should be presented as individual, completed tables on a single page in the main text file after references. Tables should have brief titles.

Tables

Tables are organized consecutively according to the caption in the manuscript. Each tables must be given an brief and concise description so each table may independently describe different elements of the study. Tables are written in one page (does not overlap over pages). The manuscript must not exceed 6 tables.

Figures

Figures or photograph must be captioned on the bottom of the picture, containing the source of the picture or if the picture was taken independently by the author. Each figure must be given a number according to the order of appearance in the manuscript. The manuscript must not exceed 6 figures in total. If tables are present in the manuscript, the combined amount of both must not exceed 6.

Acknowledgement

Acknowledgement section is written in brief and concise manner to express gratitude on others whom may have aided in the writing of the manuscript without writing the titles of each individual.

Discussion

This is an important part of the manuscript but it should not be too long, usually no more than three pages. The Discussion should normally follow the pattern below:

State main findings - This does not mean a repetition of all the results with their statistics. It should provide a concise overview of the study. Do not repeat data already presented in the Results, figures and tables.

Relation to previous studies - This section should relate directly to the statements made in the Introduction and qualify your findings in relation to previous studies of the subject. Mention any important uncertainties in the methods of measurement. It is quite reasonable to suggest possible explanations for your findings and any differences from previous studies, but the 'missing parts' of such reasoning must be acknowledged.

Additions to knowledge of the subject - Summarise previous sections by pulling together the implications of your main findings, studies by other workers and their combined contribution to our knowledge of the subject.

Weaknesses and strengths in study - This is the most important part of the Discussion. Acknowledge any limitations of your study at this point. Examples here could include the generalisability of the patient population, patients lost to follow-up, limitations of analytical test etc. Authors are advised to be honest but succinct in this section. It is also reasonable to comment briefly on the particular strengths of the study, especially in comparison to comparable studies.

Future studies - Identify future studies that would address some of the potential explanations and limitations discussed earlier. This section should be very brief.

Conclusions - The original contribution to knowledge from the present study should be stated.

Acknowledgements

Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.). The contributors, who do not meet the criteria for authorship, as determined by the ICMJE recommendation (https://www.icmje.org/).

Acknowledgement

Acknowledgement section is written in brief and concise manner to express gratitude on others whom may have aided in the writing of the manuscript without writing the titles of each individual.

Declaration of interests

Each manuscript must contain a declaration of interests from ALL authors. This should include all possible interests in the past five years. This is obviously most common in studies involving new equipment or drugs, but other areas such as advisory bodies are also relevant. For example: 'Dr A has received an honorarium from Company X. Dr B has received a travel grant from Company Y. Prof C is a member of the national advisory committee on Z.'

You are required to declare all authors' interests at the time of submitting your manuscript by completing and uploading the conflict of interest form, available to download here in Word or PDF format, along with your manuscript. Failure to do so will lead to delays in the processing of the manuscript. Please make sure that information from all authors has been included before uploading, even if there are no interests to be declared. A form must be submitted even if there is no conflict of interest. The corresponding author of an article acts as guarantor and must ensure that this criterion is fulfilled and a full conflicts of interest statement is supplied to the Journal. If there are no interests to declare then please state: 'The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest' (if there are multiple authors) or 'The author declares that they have no conflicts of interest' (if it is a single-authored paper). Simply stating 'None' or 'None declared' is not sufficient.

Funding

It is essential to acknowledge all sources of financial assistance, and any potential material benefit expected from publication of the work. Also, please describe the role of the study sponsor, if any, in study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data, writing the report, and the decision to submit the report for publication.

Grant numbers should be complete and accurate and provided in brackets as follows: '[grant number ABX CDXXXXXX]'.

Multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma as follows: '[grant numbers ABX CDXXXXXX, EFX GHXXXXXX]'.

Agencies should be separated by a semi-colon (plus 'and' before the last funding agency).

An example is given here: 'This study was funded by a small project grant from The Royal College of Anaesthetists (07/123) (AB). Equipment was provided by a project grant from Indonesian Journal/RCoA (06/321) (CD).'

References

Except for review articles, long lists of references are usually inappropriate.

References must be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text.

References in text, tables and legends should be identified by Arabic numbers appearing in the text in superscript, for example 5 or 5-7 or 5, 16 for unrelated references.

References in the text. In general, it is not necessary to cite names of the authors of a study in the text (in addition to the identifying number) as it disrupts the flow of the text. If it is felt to be essential, up to two names should be cited (A; B and C). In the case of three or more authors, 'G and colleagues', 'G and co-workers', 'G and others' are acceptable. The expression 'et al. ' should not be used in the text.

Abstracts that are more than three years old should not be used as references.

There should be a list of references at the conclusion of the paper, commencing on a new sheet.

Journals.

Names and initials of six authors (if more than six, list three followed by et al.), title of paper, approved abbreviated title of journal, year of publication, volume number, first and last page numbers:

Myles PS, Chan MTV, Leslie K, Peyton P, Paech M, Forbes A. Effect of nitrous oxide on plasma homocysteine and folate in patients undergoing major surgery. Br J Anaesth 2008; 100: 780-6.

Chapter in a book.

The reference for an article forming part of a book should take the form:

Wildsmith JAW. Local anaesthetic agents. In: Aitkenhead AR, Smith G, Rowbotham DJ, eds. Textbook of Anaesthesia. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier, 2007; 52-63.

Electronic source (web site/web page):

Department of Health. Monthly Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease statistics 2002/0341 2002. Available from http://www.doh.gov.uk/cjd/stats/aug02.htm (accessed 30 March 2010).

Online journal article:

Lander JA, Weltman BJ, So SS. EMLA and amethocaine for reduction of children's pain associated with needle insertion. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2006; 3: CD004236.

Proceedings:

O'Rourke K. Mixed means and medians: a unified approach to deal with disparate outcome summaries. Proceedings of the Symposium on Systematic Reviews: Pushing the Boundaries. Oxford: 2002; 49.

Report:

Royal College of Anaesthetists and Royal College of Radiologists. Sedation and Anaesthesia in Radiology. Report of a joint working party, London, 1992.

Advance access article:

Qiao D, Chen W, Stratagoules E, Martinez J. Bile acid-induced activation of activator protein-1 requires both extracellular signal-regulated kinase and protein kinase C signaling. J Biol Chem Advance Access published on May 19, 2000, doi:10.1074/jbc.M908890199.

References

References are written according to the Vancouver style, given a numbering according to order of appearance in the manuscript. If the authors of the given reference exceeded 6 authors, the seventh author and beyond are termed et al. The number of references must not exceed 20 references and published in the last 10 years at most. References from JAP is recommended. The main source of references are from journals, with 20% at most contain references from textbooks.

Journals

Powers WJ. Intracerebral haemorrhage and head trauma. Common effect and common mechanism of injury. Stroke 2010;41(suppl 1):S107–S110.

Qureshi A, Tuhrim  S, Broderick JP, Batjer HH, Hondo H, Hanley DF. Spontaneus intracerebral haemorrhage. N Engl J Med 2001,344(19):1450–58.

Volume with Supplementaries

Bratton S, Bullock MR, Carney N, Chestnut RM, Coplin W, Ghajar J, et al. Brain trauma foundation, american association of neurological surgeons, congress of neurological surgeons. Guidelines for the management of severe traumatic brain injury. J Neurotrauma. 2007;24(suppl 10):S83–86.

Porter RJ and Meldrum BS. Antiseizure Drugs. Dalam: Katzung BG, Masters SB, Trevor AJ. Basic and Clinical Pharmacology. 11th ed., San Fransisco; McGraw Hill-Lange, 2009,399–422.

Chapters in Books

Ryan S, Kopelnik A, Zaroff J. Intracranial hemorrhage: Intensive care management. Dalam: Gupta AK, Gelb AW, eds. Essentials of Neuroanesthesia and Neurointensive Care.  Philadelphia: Saunders Elsevier; 2008, 229–36.

Rost N, Rosand J. Intracerebral Hemorrhage. Dalam:  Torbey MT, ed. Neuro Critical Care. New York: Cambridge University Press;2010,143–56.

Electronic Articles

Journal Articles in Electronic Format

Lipton B, Fosha D. Attachment as a transformative process in AEDP: operationalizing the intersection of attachment theory and affective neuroscience. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration [Online Journal] 2011 [downloaded 25 November 2011]. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com

Manuscripts authored by a member of Editorial Board

Manuscripts authored by Editors or members of Editorial Board are treated no differently to any other manuscript submitted to the BJA. All possible measures are undertaken to avoid any potential conflict of interest in handling of such manuscripts at all the stages including allocation of handling Editor, selection of reviewers, decision making and, if required, processing for publication.

Misconduct

All manuscripts submitted to the AMHS undergo plagiarism check using commercial software. Based on the findings of the check, Editors may ask authors to address any minor duplication, or similarity, that the contents of their manuscript may have to any previously published work (even though it may be author's own previously published work). However, severe cases of plagiarism amount to 'misconduct', and these cases will be dealt with as such. The reviewers and the Editors initially assume that authors are reporting work based on honest observations. However, if substantial doubt arises about the honesty or integrity of work, either submitted or published, the Editor will inform the authors of the concern, seek clarification. The AMHS adheres to the COPE guidelines for publication ethics (https://publicationethics.org).