Authors Guidelines

The Iraqi National Journal of Medicine (IqNJM) is an international, double-blind peer-reviewed, open-access medical journal published in English by the Iraqi Association for Medical Research and Studies (IAMRS). The journal publishes clinically relevant and scientifically rigorous work across all fields of medicine, with particular emphasis on research relevant to Iraq and the wider region, while welcoming contributions from authors worldwide.

Detailed information regarding the journal’s aims, scope, editorial policies, and publication standards is available on the journal website.

Language

All manuscripts must be submitted in English and should be written clearly, accurately, and professionally. Authors are responsible for submitting manuscripts in language suitable for peer review and publication. Manuscripts with substantial language or presentation problems may be returned for revision or rejected before peer review.

Aims and Scope

IqNJM publishes scholarly work across all fields of medicine, with particular emphasis on:

clinically relevant medical research
basic and experimental studies
translational and applied medical sciences
research that contributes to medical education and health services

Types of Articles

The journal welcomes submissions including:

original research articles
short communications
review articles
mini reviews
clinical trials
case series
case reports
letters to the editor
other scholarly discussions relevant to the journal’s scope

Original research may include randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, diagnostic and screening studies, outcome studies, cost-effectiveness analyses, cohort studies, and case-control studies.

Open Access, Copyright, and Article Processing Charges

IqNJM is a Diamond Open Access journal. All published articles are made freely and permanently available online immediately upon publication.

There are no fees for manuscript submission, peer review, plagiarism screening, proofreading, or publication.

Authors retain copyright in their published work. Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. This permits non-commercial use, sharing, distribution, reproduction, and adaptation of the published material, provided that the original author(s) and the journal are properly credited and any changes are clearly indicated.

Before Submission

Before submitting a manuscript, authors should ensure that:

the submission falls within the journal’s aims and scope
the manuscript complies with the journal’s Editorial Policies
is not under consideration by another journal or publication
all listed authors meet the journal’s authorship criteria and have approved the submission
all required ethical approvals and permissions have been obtained
the manuscript is prepared in clear English
references are accurate, complete, and formatted according to the journal’s style
figures and tables are of suitable quality and are clearly labeled
all required declarations and policy-related statements are included in the manuscript, where applicable

Manuscripts that do not comply with the journal’s requirements may be returned to the authors or rejected before peer review.

Submission Conditions

Submission of a manuscript to IqNJM confirms that:

the work is original
the manuscript has not been published previously and is not under review elsewhere
all listed authors have approved the manuscript and its submission
all relevant institutional, ethical, copyright, and authorship requirements have been met
the manuscript complies with the journal’s editorial, ethical, and publication policies

Authors should also disclose in the cover letter, where relevant, any related manuscript, prior dissemination, overlapping publication, or other information that may affect editorial assessment.

Submission System

Manuscripts must be submitted through the journal’s online submission system available on the journal website. Authors should follow the instructions provided in the submission system and ensure that all required files and declarations are included at the time of submission.

Submission Files

1. Cover Letter

The cover letter should include:

the title of the manuscript
the name of the corresponding author
the names of all contributing authors
the authors’ affiliations and contact details
a statement confirming that the manuscript is original, has not been published previously, and is not under consideration elsewhere
any additional information relevant to ethical approval, prior dissemination, related manuscripts, or other matters that may assist editorial assessment

2. Title Page

The title page should include:

the type of manuscript
the full title of the manuscript
a short running title, if applicable
the full names of all authors
each author’s highest academic degree
each author’s affiliation
the institution(s) to which the work should be credited
the full contact details of the corresponding author

3. Blinded Manuscript File

To support double-blind peer review, the main manuscript file must not contain:

author names
author initials
affiliations
acknowledgements
other identifying institutional information

The blinded manuscript file should contain the full text of the article from the abstract to the references, including tables and figure legends, but without identifying author information.

Manuscript Structure

Unless the article type requires otherwise, manuscripts should normally be organized as follows:

Abstract
Keywords
Introduction
Materials and Methods / Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusions
Acknowledgements
Conflict of Interest / Competing Interests
Author Contributions
Funding Statement
Data Availability Statement, where applicable
References

For some article types, the structure may vary according to the nature of the submission.

Abstract and Keywords

Where applicable, the abstract should be structured and should normally include:

background
objective or aim
methods
results
conclusions

Authors should also provide appropriate keywords.

Text Formatting

Manuscripts should be prepared in a clear, legible format. Unless otherwise specified in the submission system:

use Times New Roman, 12-point font
use double spacing
number pages consecutively
use clear section headings and subheadings

Authors should use consistent terminology, standard scientific nomenclature, and SI units where appropriate.

Tables

Tables should:

be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first cited in the text
have a short, clear title
be self-explanatory and not duplicate the text unnecessarily
include any explanatory information in footnotes rather than in the title
define all non-standard abbreviations in footnotes
include appropriate acknowledgment and permission where adapted or reproduced from another source

Tables should be cited in the text at the appropriate point.

Figures

Figures should:

be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first cited in the text
be of sufficient quality for review and publication
be uploaded in an appropriate file format, such as JPEG, where required by the submission system
have clear labels, symbols, and legends
be accompanied by figure legends explaining all relevant details

If a figure has been published elsewhere, the original source must be acknowledged and written permission must be obtained where required.

If photographs of identifiable individuals are included, written consent for publication must be obtained.

References

IqNJM uses the Vancouver reference style.

References should be:

numbered in the order in which they first appear in the text
cited in the text using the journal’s required numbering style
accurate, complete, and checked carefully by the authors
limited to sources that are relevant and support the statements made in the manuscript

Authors must avoid excessive, inappropriate, or strategically motivated self-citation and any citation practices intended to influence citation metrics artificially.

Required and Recommended Statements in the Manuscript

Ethics Approval

All original research involving humans, animals, plants, biological materials, protected or non-public datasets, collections, or sites must include a dedicated Ethics Approval statement in the manuscript, where applicable. This statement should identify the approving ethics committee or Institutional Review Board (IRB), provide the approval number or reference where available, and confirm informed consent where relevant.

Research Involving Humans

Research involving human participants must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki and the ICMJE Recommendations. Where applicable, the manuscript must state in the Methods section that informed consent to participate was obtained. Authors should retain the relevant consent documentation and provide it to the journal upon request.

Research Involving Animals

Research involving animals must comply with internationally accepted ethical standards for animal welfare, including the ARRIVE guidelines, together with relevant national and institutional requirements.

Consent for Publication

If a manuscript contains identifiable personal data, images, videos, case details, or any material that could reveal the identity of a patient or participant, authors must obtain written informed consent for publication and include a statement in the manuscript confirming that such consent was obtained.

As part of the journal’s updated policies, written informed consent for publication is required for all new case report submissions, regardless of whether direct identifiers have been removed, because full anonymity cannot always be guaranteed. Every case report manuscript must therefore include a statement confirming that consent for publication was obtained.

Clinical Trial Registration

All manuscripts reporting the results of clinical trials must state that the trial was registered in a public trials registry that conforms with ICMJE requirements and must provide the registry name, registration number, and registry URL.

Author Contributions

All contributors to a manuscript must provide a clear and detailed Author Contributions statement describing their individual contributions to the work. As part of the journal’s updated policies, this statement is required for all new submissions.

Competing Interests

All authors are required to complete a Competing Interests Declaration, which will be published in a dedicated Disclosure section at the end of the article. As part of the journal’s updated policies, this requirement applies to all new submissions.

If no competing interests exist, the following statement should be included: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”

Funding Disclosure

As part of the journal’s updated policies, all new submissions must include a clear funding disclosure statement. Authors must disclose all sources of funding, including financial or material support, and must specify the role of any funder or sponsor in the study design, data collection, data analysis, manuscript preparation, and submission process. If the funder had no involvement in any aspect of the study or publication process, this must be stated explicitly.

Data Availability Statement

As part of the journal’s updated policies, authors are encouraged to include a Data Availability Statement describing whether the underlying data are available, where they can be accessed, and, where applicable, the reasons for any restrictions on access.

Examples include:

Data available in a public repository

“The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the [NAME] repository at: [PERSISTENT LINK/DOI].”

Data available on request
“The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.”

No data available
“No datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.”

Authorship and Acknowledgements

Authorship

Authorship should be based only on substantial contributions to all of the following:

substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data
drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content
final approval of the version to be published
agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all individuals who meet the criteria for authorship are appropriately listed as authors and that no ineligible individuals are included.

Acknowledgements

Contributors who do not meet all authorship criteria should not be listed as authors, but they should be acknowledged appropriately.

Use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies

Authors may use generative AI or AI-assisted technologies solely to improve the language, clarity, readability, or formatting of their manuscripts. These tools must not be used to replace core scholarly activities such as interpreting results, drawing conclusions, or making scientific or clinical judgments.

Any use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in manuscript preparation must be disclosed in the manuscript. The disclosure must identify the name of the tool used and describe the purpose for which it was used.

Artificial intelligence tools must not be listed as authors or co-authors. Full responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the manuscript remains with the authors.

Plagiarism and Originality

All manuscripts submitted to IqNJM must be original and must not contain plagiarism, inappropriate text overlap, unauthorized reuse of material, or undisclosed reuse of previously published work.

All submissions are screened using similarity-detection software such as iThenticate or an equivalent tool. Editorial assessment is based on the nature, extent, and context of any overlap, not on percentage alone. Manuscripts showing problematic overlap may be returned for revision, rejected, or investigated further.

Use of Third-Party Material

Authors are responsible for obtaining all necessary permissions to reproduce or adapt copyrighted material owned by third parties. Such material may include text excerpts, illustrations, photographs, tables, datasets, audio or video recordings, film stills, screenshots, and musical notation.

Where permission is required, it must be obtained before manuscript submission. The original source must always be fully cited, and any required acknowledgment must be included in the manuscript.

Reporting Standards and Reporting Guidelines

Authors are expected to report their research clearly, transparently, and completely. Manuscripts should include sufficient detail to allow readers and reviewers to evaluate the validity of the work.

Authors are encouraged to use recognized reporting guidelines appropriate to the design and type of study submitted. Commonly used guidelines include:

CONSORT for randomized controlled trials
STROBE for observational studies
PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses
SPIRIT for study protocols
STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies
CARE for case reports
ARRIVE for animal research

Authors are also encouraged to consult the EQUATOR Network for reporting-guideline checklists and explanatory resources.

Peer Review

All submissions undergo an initial editorial assessment to evaluate their suitability for the journal’s scope, ethical standards, originality, and submission requirements.

Manuscripts that pass initial screening are sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers under a double-blind peer-review process, in which the identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from each other.

Reviewers’ comments and editorial decisions are communicated to the corresponding author. Final decisions regarding acceptance, revision, or rejection are made by the Editor-in-Chief, with support from the editorial team, based on reviewer recommendations and editorial assessment.

In certain cases, the journal may seek additional expert advice outside the standard peer-review process, particularly where manuscripts raise ethical, legal, biosecurity, safety, or broader societal concerns.

Revised Manuscripts

When revision is requested, authors must submit the revised manuscript within one month, unless an extension is granted by the Editorial Office.

A revised submission should include:

a revised manuscript with tracked or clearly identifiable changes
a clean revised manuscript
a detailed, point-by-point response to all reviewer and editor comments

If authors disagree with a reviewer comment, they should provide a clear scientific justification.

Proofs

Page proofs will be sent to the corresponding author for final review after acceptance. Proofs are provided for checking typesetting, completeness, and accuracy. Substantive changes to the content are not normally permitted at this stage.

Authors are expected to return corrected proofs within one week to avoid delays in publication.

Supplementary Materials

Authors may submit supplementary materials, such as additional tables, figures, datasets, videos, or spreadsheets, for publication alongside the article. Supplementary files should be clearly labeled and should be suitable for online publication. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of all supplementary content.

Special Issues

Submissions to Special Issues are subject to the same editorial policies, author guidelines, and peer-review standards as submissions to regular issues.

IqNJM accepts submissions on a continuous basis and publishes two issues each year, in January and July. A Special Issue may be published as one of the journal’s regular issues rather than as an additional issue, so that the total number of issues published each year remains unchanged.

Educational Resources

IqNJM also provides optional educational resources related to publication ethics, manuscript preparation, and journal policies through its YouTube channel. Please note that these video materials are currently available in Arabic.

Contact Information

For submission-related questions or other editorial inquiries, please contact:

Editorial Office

Haider Mohamed Saleh, Journal Secretary
Address: Alamal Complex, Building No. 15, C3, Basrah, Iraq
Email: contact@iqnjm.com
Phone: +964 783 014 9378

Publisher

Iraqi Association for Medical Research and Studies (IAMRS)
Address: Alamal Complex, Building No. 15, C4, Basrah, Iraq
Email: info@iamrs.edu.iq
Phone: +964 772 166 9983