Please, carefully read (to understand) every information provided on this page, which guides you through all the steps required in all the stages involved from the submission of your manuscripts to its publication (if accepted). Failure to follow the guidelines may lead to the rejection and loss of your submitted manuscripts.
Publication Guidelines
Manuscripts should be typed on one side of A4 paper in double line spacing and submitted, as a Microsoft Word document, on-line to the journal submission website (www.jomls.org). The order of appearance of materials in articles should be. Title Page, Abstract (Not more than 250 words), Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion and References in separate sheets or Pages. The Abstract, which should not contain cited reference should concisely indicate the purpose and method of research, the results and the conclusion. It is followed by 3-6 key words usually taken from Medical subject Heading of Index Medicus.
Cited reference in the text should be indicated with Arabic numerals and consecutively in the order of citation within the text. The following is an example.
Ojo et al. (1) reported that _________
According to Opara et al. (2), oviposition frequently occurs ___________. The current finding are in agreement with those of earlier author (3,5,6)
Reference should follow Vancouver Referencing/Citation styles or the International Committee of Medical Journal Editor’s recommendations found here (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html).
References must be listed in numerical order in which they appear in the text and should include author’s name(s), full title of the article, name of the Journal (abbreviation), Year of publication Volume, first and last page numbers.
List the first six authors, followed by et al. If there are more than six authors, list the first six authors, followed by et al
1. Bassey EB, Momoh MA, Imadiyi SO, Udofia EB, Miri FS, Anukam KC et al. The trend of pulmonary tuberculosis in patients seen at DOTS clinics in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria. J Public Health, 2005; 119(5): 405-408.
2. Forman MS, Valsamakis A. Specimen collection, transport, and processing: virology, In Versalovic J, Carroll KC, Jorgensen JH, Funke G, Landry ML, Warnock DW (ed), Manual of clinical microbiology, 10th ed, vol 2. ASM Press, Washington, DC. 2011, p 1279-1288.
Table and Figure should be numbered consecutively in accordance with the appearance in the text and inserted into the Main Manuscript at the appropriate pages and positions. Figure legends must be typed on a separate page(s) after the references.
Manuscripts should be submitted with the following documents:
Cover letter: The cover letter should state the significance of the article and contribution to knowledge in biomedical sciences/laboratory science. Mention sources of funding and where the study was carried out and indicate any conflict of interest. Authors are encouraged to suggest at least 3 potential reviewers who are experts in the topic. The suggested reviewers must not be related to the corresponding author and any of the co-authors. Include the names, emails and institutional affiliations of the suggested reviewers or those that you do not want to review the manuscript.
First/Title page: Title of the article, Name(s) of author(s): First name, Middle name or initial and Last Name; Author(s) Affiliations/Email address of all the authors;
Corresponding author affiliation; Contact address, phone number, E-mail address.
Acknowledgements:
Funding Source:
Abstract page: should contain only structured (Objectives/purpose, Methods, Results and Conclusions) abstract not more than 250 words. Running title not more than 50 characters. Key words 3-6.
Manuscript: The main article should contain; Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables with legends, Figures with legends.
On the Manuscript Submission page (which can only be accessed by those registered and logged into the website), only three files need to be uploaded, namely: the Cover Letter, the First page and the Main Article (or Manuscript) without the author's or authors' information. One REQUIREMENT on this Journal's website is that eacjh of these three files MUST be named as Cover Letter, First Page and Main Article respectively - REGARDLESS of what names you may have given them on your computer. You are ALSO REQUIRED to change these names to include the date (of submission in the YYYY-MM-DD format), followed by the primary (that is, the corresponding) author's first and last names, to which you then append the names of these files as they specified in the first requirement above (without spaces). The table below provides an example to illustrate this naming format.
The example in the table below assumes the following:
Remember that the files MUST be submitted as a Microsoft Word document, regardless on what other format of document you used to create it on your computer. Also note that the .doc or .docx extensions of Mucrosoft Word are permissible.
| Type of File | File Name on Computer (Incorrect Format) | File Name for Upload (Correct Format) |
|---|---|---|
| The Cover Letter | COVER LETTER.pdf | 2018-07-01NgoziMohamedCoverLetter.doc |
| The First/Title page | Page One.doc | 2018-07-01NgoziMohamedFirstPage.doc |
| The Main Manuscript | My Manuscript.jpg | 2018-07-01NgoziMohamedMainManuscript.doc |
There is no processing fee. Submission of article for peer-review is free.
Author(s) of accepted articles are required to pay N30,000:00 (Thirty Thousand Naira only) per article for all authors paying in Naira (the Nigerian local currency) or US100.00 dollars for all other authors. Accepted article will not be published without payment. Remittance of publication fee can be done in the following ways:
When paying through a bank draft or inter-bank electronic transfer, please, note that the account to pay into is as follows:
Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of NigeriaAn electronic copy of the journal will be forwarded to the corresponding author (and all other listed co-authors, if applicable) soon after publication of the article. The journal issues will be available in print and online. The hard copies of reprints and journals of published articles would be for sale by the AMLSN. Online copies are free.
All statements and opinions contained in the manuscripts published in this journal belong to the authors and do not necessary express the opinion of the Editor or the publisher. The Editor and Publisher therefore disclaim responsibility or liability for opinions or statements expressed herein by authors.
The review guideline is usually attached with the manuscript. Both the guidelines and the blinded manuscript are sent to three reviewers. Author(s) names, emails, phone numbers and institutional affiliations are expunged from the manuscript before being sent out for peer-review. The reviewers are normally given a window of on or before 14-21 days to return the manuscript with their comments on the form. Also, the reviewers are at liberty to make suggestions on how to improve the quality of the manuscript by using track changes. Most decisions are made based on the recommendations of 2/3 of the reviewers. Author(s) are given a second chance to answer questions or provide rebuttals on the queries raised by the reviewers. When the manuscript is resubmitted, the manuscript will be sent back to the reviewers in order to make sure that the changes or questions they raised have been dealt with. Thereafter, when the reviewers return the manuscript, sectional editors and chief editor will cross-check before they make the final decision. The sectional editor and chief must be in agreement for either rejection or acceptance of any manuscript before final publication.
All authors contributing to the publication of the original manuscript are jointly held responsible for the entire publication. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to secure the consent of all co-authors of the manuscript.
The Journal of Medical Laboratory Sciences expects a high standard of and conformity to ethical practice from each author. Plagiarism will be detected with standard software and perpetrators will be sanctioned. Informed consents and formal approval of the institution where the research was performed must be obtained for studies involving human subjects. Statements of such consent and approval must be indicated in the manuscripts submitted for publication. In addition, a statement of conformity to the international code of Human Treatment in the use of animal models must be expressed in the reports of studies involving the use of animals. JoMLS adheres strictly to 'Standards for Authors" available at COPE https://publicationethics.org
When writing your comments please consider the following: 1) will this paper change clinical practice; 2) is incremental, translational or transformational knowledge provided; 3) is new information, insight or synthesis beyond the existing literature provided; and 4) is the study correctly designed (if nonsurgical intervention was applied in human was a control group used; if surgical intervention was applied was a comparison group used).
Please provide a brief but compelling argument supporting your recommendation. These comments will NOT be sent to the authors but will provide valuable support to the editors when making their decision and, therefore, this section must be completed.
Conflicts of Interest: Please indicate in Comments to Editor if you have reviewed this paper previously for another publication. If your previous or present connections with the author(s) and the author(s)' institution, or your personal financial interests might be construed as creating a conflict of interest, but no actual conflict exists, please disclose this issue. If you feel that you might have any difficulty writing an objective review, please do not review the paper and let us know immediately.
Please answer each of the following questions by placing an X in the space provided.
Is this paper significant? YES___ NO___
New? YES___ NO___
Requires statistical review? YES___ NO___
If major revisions are required and you wish to re-review the manuscript before acceptance, please indicate so here ____.
Should an editorial comment accompany the manuscript? ___YES ___NO
If so, would you be willing to write one? ___YES ___NO