Submissions

Author Guidelines

Journal of Brain and Spine foundation Nepal (JBSFN) receives original material of interest to the practitioners and scientists in Neurosurgery, Neurology and spine related disorder as well as materials from other allied specialties with association to Neurosurgery, Neurology and Spine e.g. Neuropsychiatry, Neuro-ophthalmology, Neuro-otorhinolaryngology etc. The manuscripts should be original, not published or considered for publication elsewhere and author should select the type of article during the submission; however, editorial board will decide the category under which the article will be published.

All Manuscript should be accompanied with following supporting documents which can be downloaded from the following link:

• Cover Letter
• Authorship Declaration Form
• Copyright Transfer Form
• Manuscript

Authors are supposed to send their completed manuscript along with the supporting documents to editor.jbsfn@gmail.com. We request authors to go through the guidelines and stick to it for preparation of their manuscripts. Manuscript not submitted according to instructions will be returned back to the author for correction before beginning the peer review process. JBSFN follows a double blinded peer review policy. Please Mention the author’s details in the title page and try not disclose any sort of identity in the manuscript to ensure double blinded peer review.

General Requirements

• Manuscript should be submitted in Microsoft word file (.doc or .docx format)
• Manuscript should be written in British English
• Manuscript should be prepared in A4 size with margins of 1.5 inches all over the page, double spaced and typed in Times New Roman font of 12 point.
• Each section has to be on separate page and in following order: Title page without author’s identity including abstract and keywords, introduction, methods, results, discussion, acknowledgements, references, tables, figures and legends.
• Number each page consecutively beginning with title page at upper right- hand corner of each page.
• Abbreviations:
  • Avoid using abbreviations in abstract. Abbreviations should be written in brackets along with its full form when used for the first time.
  • Universal abbreviations do not need a full form however, for example; HIV, WHO, e.g., etc.
  • Do not use ‘&’ and ‘@’ in the text. Please do not write in contractions. For e.g. write “do not” instead of “don’t”.
• Numbers and Units
  • Words not number should commence a sentence e.g. “Eighty one of cases were….”
  • Number less than 10 should be mentioned in words e.g. “seven patients…..”
  • Do not use space between number and its percentage sign. Write percentage to two decimal points.
  • Use SI units in the manuscript e.g. mmHg, ^o
• Drugs should always be mentioned in generic form.

Components of Manuscript:

• Title Page:
  • A concise and informative title stating about the subject of the article not exceeding 200 characters.
  • Full names of each author with highest academic degree, designation, affiliation, e-mail address and ORCID iD.
  • Full name with highest academic degree, designation, affiliation, e-mail address, contact number and ORCID iD of corresponding author.
  • Total word counts of abstract, manuscript (excluding abstract, keywords, tables and figures), number of references, number of tables and figures.
  • Short Running Title: Not exceeding 50 characters or 8 words.
  • Source of funding, support or grant and any conflict of interest.
• Manuscript Page
  • Abstract with Keywords: A structured abstract giving a concise idea about the article to the readers should be submitted in a separate paper consisting of Introduction, Methods, Results and Conclusion. The abstract should not exceed 250 words. Abstracts should be followed by 3-6 ‘Key words’ in alphabetical order. Each Key word should be capitalized, separated by comma and not followed by full stop. Key words should be used as indexed in MeSH which can be checked from http://www.ncbi.nlm.gov/mesh.
  • Introduction: Introduction provides a brief context, background, the reason for undertaking the study and the effect the study imparts to the existing scientific literature.
  • Methods: This section should describe in details about planning of the study, study design, type of study, duration of study and the site of study. Sampling methods and sample size should be elaborately described. Inclusion and exclusion criteria, methods of data collection, statistical tools and software used should be described in details. Materials used for studies should be clearly mentioned along with the manufacturer’s name and address. Similarly if any drug is used make sure to write the generic name as far as possible along with the dosage, frequency and route of administration. Whenever applicable ethical approval along with the approving authority (e.g. IRC) should be mentioned. Authors submitting review manuscripts should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data.
  • Results: Results should be clear and easy to understand. It should be in logical order, highlighting the main findings first without any interpretation of the data. Use a mixture of text, tables, and figures, but there shouldn’t be repetition of data. Use both number and percentage while representing data. Provide statistical analyses and its outcome.
  • Discussion: This is the most important section of the manuscript and thus, it should be very carefully constructed. While discussing, it should not merely be a repetition of results section but the objectives of the study should be addressed by the interpretation of results. Compare your results with previous works. Discuss the clinical and scientific (if any) implications of your findings and suggest further research. Whenever possible discuss about the limitations of the study to suggest for future research, the unanswered or unsolved issues and how these could have been overcome according to your perspective.
  • Conclusions: Conclusion should be linked with the title and objectives of the study. Do not make statements not adequately supported by your findings.
  • Acknowledgements: Those who have helped the authors carry out the study and/ or prepare the manuscript but have not made significant intellectual contribution to deserve authorship must be acknowledged. Mention all applicable grants and other funding that supported the work.
  • References: References should be typed double spaced at the end of the manuscript and numbered consecutively in the order in which they are cited in the text (not alphabetical). The journal follows Vancouver System for referencing and the style for referencing are based on the Citation Medicine formats used by U. S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) PubMed/Medline database. The name of journal should be abbreviated in accordance with Index Medicus. If the journal is not listed in Index Medicus then it should be written out in full. Avoid using abstracts and unpublished data as references. Include the last names and initials of the authors (multiple authors: list up to the first 6 authors followed by et al.), title of article, name of journal/publication, year published, volume number, Issue number, and inclusive pages. For help on reference style, read https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7256/. Maximum of 30 most relevant and latest as possible references are recommended. Please provide DOI (Digital Object Identifier) if they have one. Those who do not have both should contain web-link to the page containing that article. In order to generate the DOI just copy and paste your references arranged in order to the space provided- https://apps.crossref.org/SimpleTextQuery, you could get DOI in few minutes.
  • Citation: Only published or in press articles should be cited and included in the reference list. The references in the text should be identified by Arabic numerals as superscript after the punctuation mark (with no word spacing) and in order in which it is cited in the text. If you are citing more than one references, list each reference number separated by a comma, or by a dash for a sequence of consecutive numbers but do not give any space between commas or dashes.
  • Few References examples:
    • Journal Article:
      • Olson M, O’Connor M, Schwartz ML. A 5-Year Prospective Study of 20,193 Wounds at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. Ann. Surg. 1984;199(3):253-9. https://doi.org/10.1097/00000658-198403000-00001
    • Journal Article (more than 6 authors)
      • Hasan K, Bulhan K P, Zafar A, et al. Acute leukemia in children. French-American-British (FAB) classification and its relation to clinical features. J Pak Med Assoc 1992; 4:229-31.
    • Online Journal Article
      • Kanneganti P, Harris JD, Brophy RH, Carey JL, Lattermann C, Flanigan DC. The effect of smoking on ligament and cartilage surgery in the knee: a systematic review. Am J Sports Med [Internet]. 2012 Dec [cited 2013 Feb 19];40(12):2872-8. Available from: http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/40/12/2872 https://doi.org/10.1177/0363546512458223
    • Book and Book Chapter
      • Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002.
      • Dupont B. Bone marrow transplantation in severe combined immunodeficiency with an unrelated MLC compatible donor. In: White H J Smith R, eds. Proceeding of the third annual meeting of the International Experimental Hematology. Houston: International Society for Experimental Hematology, 1974, pp 44-46.
    • In Press
      • Leshner AI. Molecular mechanisms of cocaine addiction. N EngI J Med. In press 1996.
    • Monograph in electronic form
      • CDI, clinical dermatology illustrated [monographs on CD-ROM] Reeves JRT, Maibach H. CMEA Multimedia group, producers 2nd ed. Version 2.0. San Diego: CMEA, 1995.
    • Conference proceedings
      • Kimura J, Shibasaki H, editors. Recent advances in clinical neurophysiology. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of EMG and Clinical Neurophysiology, 1995 Oct 15-19, Kyoto, Japan. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1996.
    • Volume with supplement
      • Shen HM, Zhang QF. Risk assessment of nickel carcinogenicity and occupational lung cancer. Environ Health Perspect, 1994; 102 Suppl 1:275-82. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.94102s1275
    • World Wide Web page
      • Beckleheimer J. How do you cite URL’s in a bibliography? [online] 1994 [ cited 2000 Dec 13]. Available from: URL:http://www.nrlssc.navy.mil/meta/bibliography.html
    • World Wide Web page (no author)
      • Educating America for the 21st century: Developing a strategic plan for educational leadership [online] 1994 [cited 1999 May 15]. Available from: URL: http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/CONF/Edplan.html
    • Tables/Figures
      • Tables should be typed in separate page and should be typed in double space. Tables should not be submitted as photographs or Excel files. Tables should be labeled at the top and numbered consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text. Each table should be supplied with a brief title. Any explanatory matter should be placed in footnotes and should be indicated by symbol (*,**). Tables should also contain statistical measure (for example, P values). If data from another published source are used, obtain written permission from the publisher of the original source and acknowledge fully. If data from an unpublished source are used, obtain permission from the principal investigator and acknowledge fully.
      • Figures should be drawn professionally with “low ink to data ratio” and without “3D” view and preferably in black and white. Color figures and pictures will be accepted as such for online version and if color figures are requested in print version as well, the author will be charged a fee to cover the cost of printing which will be decided by the publication house. Such figures must be submitted in JPEG files with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (dots per inch). Figures should be large enough to read easily and convey only essential information. The preferred typeface in figures is 12-pt Times New Roman. Histogram should be submitted in a simple 2-D form with plain background. Photographs of persons should not be identifiable unless it is accompanied by written permission from the subject. Figures should be numbered consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text.

Types of Manuscripts accepted

• Original Article: Randomized controlled trials, interventional studied, studies of screening and diagnostic test, outcome studies, cost effectiveness analyses, case-control series and surveys with high response rate. Up to 3500 words (excluding references of maximum 30 and abstract of maximum 250 words) are suggested for original articles.
• Review Article: Systemic critical assessments of literature and data sources. Up to 3500 words (excluding references 30 and abstract 250 words) are suggested for review articles..
• Case Report: The journal welcomes interesting case reports with clinical significance or implications. Total word cound allowed for case reports are 1500 words excluding references (up to 10) and abstract (up to 250 words). Use the CARE Case Report Checklist while preparing your case report.
• Short Communication: These are short, peer-reviewed articles focusing on a high-quality, of original research and/or the proposal of a new theory of a new theory or concept based on existing research. They should not be preliminary reports or contain purely incremental data and should be of significance and broad interest to the field of medical sciences. Maximum 2000 words (excluding references of maximum 30 and abstract of maximum 250 words).
• Viewpoint: These articles are personal views and allow you to express you own point of view on any issues relevant to health. We like these to include controversial subjects (maximum 800 words excluding reference up to 5-8).
• Letter to the Editor: It is a short and unstructured article with opinions (including criticism) of articles published in JBSFN. Letter to the Editor will be accepted or edited and published at the Editor’s discretion. The author must refer to the article published in BSFN and address the major subjects he/she wants to comment on regarding the article. Letter to the editor should ideally be sent within four weeks of publication of the referred article. If the author’s response is deemed necessary by the editorial team, the authors shall be notified and response awaited within next fifteen days and both the letter and the author’s comment will be published in the next issue and the website. If no response is received from the author, the letter will be published with a note that author response was not received. The letter should not exceed 1000 words and 10 references.
• Editorial: This is written in each issue by the editor or members of editorial board and is not open for external authors unless invited. It is usually unstructured and has no limits on words and references.

Plagiarism Policy: All manuscripts submitted to the Journal will be checked for plagiarism and if plagiarism is suspected in any published or on review articles, the authors will be sought for a suitable explanation. If the explanation is suitable as decided by the editorial board, the authors will be advised necessary changes before publication. However, if no explanation is received or an unsuitable explanation is received, the editorial board shall decide on a suitable action to be taken which may vary from withdrawal/rejection of the manuscript, debarment of further publication for varied duration according to the offence, a notice to the head of the institute regarding the offence and information regarding the same in upcoming issue.

Copyright: JBSFN is an open access journal and thus the articles are published in .pdf formats in its website which can be freely accessed. However, all the works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License which allows use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Page Proofs: After the acceptance of the manuscript, page proofs will be sent to the corresponding author. If any minor corrections are necessary, we expect the author to revert back to the editorial team with 72 hours.

Erratum/Correction: If authors of a published article subsequently become aware of a significant error in it, they should send a notifying letter to the editor of NJMS as soon as possible. If the mistake is judged significant enough to warrant a published correction, the correction will be made as an ‚erratum‛ if the fault is NJMS’s; ‚correction‛ if the fault is the author’s.

Authorship: The order, addition or deletion of author names will not be changed after submission of the article.

Processing Charge: There is no Processing charge for the journal.

Publication Charge: In order to cover the cost on publishing print as well as online editions, and the cost on distribution, JBSFN has decided to charge a minimal amount of 50 USD to foreign authors and NRS 3500 to Inland authors. The Publication fee is subject to change with time and also can be waived in special circumstances, the decision of which lies solely within the editorial board.

Peer Review Process

Articles are to be submitted to the journal via the official email editor.jbsfn@gmail.com. These articles will then undergo primary review in the editorial office assigned to the members by the Chief or Managing Editor. The articles which fulfil the journal’s guidelines will be checked for plagiarism. Once all the preliminary steps are passed, the articles will be assigned to two peer reviewers who will be blinded about the articles’ authors and their place of study. The peer review will take about 4-6 weeks from the date of submission. The article shall be sent back to the corresponding author if any corrections or explanation is required. Once all corrections are made and resubmitted, the final review will be done by the editorial board (mainly the Chief Editor or the Managing Editor). Once the final decision has been made, the article will be sent for formatting and a pre-print soft copy shall be sent the corresponding author for proof-reading and license to publish the article and their consent shall be taken before sending the article for Print/publishing. The article shall be available both online (open access) and in a print version.