Submissions

Author Guidelines

The Bangladesh Journal of Medical Biochemists considers reports of clinical and experimental work on all aspects of clinical and biomedical research and related subjects which have scientific merit and represent advanced knowledge in Biological Sciences. The following articles will be considered for publication by the Editorial Board:

Original articles: normally a maximum of twelve printed pages- including references, tables, figures and legends.

Rapid communications: a maximum of five typewritten pages - 1700 words, plus up to ten references and two illustrations (tables and/or figures).

Letters to the Editor: a maximum of 1000 words, including references and one table or one figure.

Reviews: The length of a Review article should be no longer than twelve printed pages including references, tables, figures and legends. Case report: The length section aims to present clinically interesting clinical cases in not more than 600 words, with just one figure or table, no more than five reference, and at most four authors (one of whom must have been in clinical charge of the patients).

Early reports: Early reports may simple be preliminary - the first results from a study where a subsequent analysis in planned, for example, or and incidental interesting observation from a study set up with another purpose - or they may be early in the sense of being well short of changing clinical practice. These papers will tend to be shorter than Articles.

The views and opinions expressed by the authors in their articles or the conclusions drawn by them in their studies published in the Bangladesh Journal of Medical Biochemistry are the sole responsibility of the authors concerned. Publication in the Journal does not imply that these are the official views of the Bangladesh Society of Medical Biochemists or that these have been endorsed by its Editorial Board or by the Bangladesh Society of Medical Biochemists. The Journal does not publish material that has been printed previously or is under consideration for publication elsewhere. In submitting an article, the authors(s) must state in a covering letter that neither the material, nor any part of it, is under consideration for publication, nor has already been published elsewhere in any language or any form (except abstracts of <300 words). These criteria apply particularly to tables and figures and include publication of symposia, proceedings, preliminary communications, books and invited articles. Manuscripts not conforming with the specifications set out below will be returned to the author(s).

Preparation of Manuscript
Three copies of the manuscript (one original typed on one side of the sheet only plus two copies photocopied on one side) together with a covering letter signed by all the authors, should be sent to:

The Editor
Bangladesh Journal of Medical Biochemistry BIHS 125/1, Dar-us-Salam, Mirpur, Dhaka 1216, Bangladesh
Phone: 9010932, 9010952, 8035502-3
Fax: 880-2-8035501
E-mail: editor.bjmb@yahoo.com, liaquat@bihs.edu.bd, lali@dab-bd.org

Before preparing a paper, authors should consult Instruction to Authors. Manuscripts must be typed in double spacing (1 cm between lines), on one side of the paper only and with 3 cm margins on the left-hard side of the page. Pages must be numbered consecutively, beginning with the title page. Page number should be typed in the lower right-hand corner of each page. Manuscripts (with the exception of glossy prints) with not  be returned to authors. Please quote your e-mail and telefax number for all correspondence.

Organize all Manuscripts as Follows

Title page
The title page should carry (a) the title of the article, which should be concise but informative; (b) first name, middle initial, and last name of each author, with highest academic degree(s); (c) name of department(s) and institutions(s) to which the work should be attributed; (e) name and address of author responsible for correspondence about the manuscript.

Abstract page
Provide a separate page with an abstract of not more than 250 words. The abstract should state the purposes of the study or investigation, basic procedures (selection of study subjects or laboratory animals; observational and analytical methods), main findings (gave specific data and their statistical significance, if possible), and the principal conclusions. New and important aspects of the study or observation should be emphasized. It should contain no abbreviations.

Key words: Five to ten key words (suitable for Index Medicus listing) should be provided at the end of the abstract.

Abbreviations: Please list abbreviations used throughout the manuscript, with definition, after the key words.

Text
The text of articles is usually divided into sections with the headings Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, and Discussion. Long articles may need subheadings within some sections to clarify their content, especially the Results and Discussion section. Case reports must be preceded by introductory paragraph. Its discussion should be brief to the point and a review.

Spelling of words should be as per American styles.

a) Introduction: The Introduction should contain a clear statement of the aim and novelty of the study. It should include neither results nor conclusions.

b) Materials and Methods: Sufficient information should be given to permit repetition of the experimental works.

Description of patients: The terms T1DM (Type 1 diabetes mellitus) and T2DM (Type 2 diabetes mellitus) should normally be used. Detailed descriptions should be provided of the patients clinical characteristics upon which the classification into IDDM or NIDDM was made. Note: 'diabetic' should not be used as a noun; ie, diabetic patients (not diabetics).

Informed consent and ethical committee approval: A paper describing experimental work in man must (a) indicate that informed consent has obtained from patients where appropriate, (b) include a statement that the responsible ethical committee has given approval.

Experimental animals: Age, sex, source and, where appropriate, the genetic background or the animals used should be given. the Editorial Board will pay particular attention to the ethical aspects of animal experimentation. The editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the above-mentioned requirements. The author will be held responsible for false statements or for failure to fulfill the above-mentioned requirements.

Abbreviations: Please use abbreviations only when necessary and define them in a separate list given after key words. No abbreviations should appear in the title, short running title or abstract. Endocrine pancreatic cells should be designated as beta cells (not B cells or be cells), alpha cells, delta cells or PP cells.

Equipment: Manufacturer, city and country must be given.

Chemical substances: Must properly identified. Except for standard laboratory chemicals, the source of supply must be given. Drugs must be identified by the generic or official name wherever possible. Proprietary names should be avoided.

Radioisotopes: Isotopically labeled chemicals should be identified by the atomic number and symbol of the isotope and its location in the molecule. The specific activity of the starting material should be given in terms of curies (Ci) or becquerels (Bq: disintegrations/second) per molar weight.

Bioassays and Radioimmunoassays: An appropriate measure of the precision in terms of SD, SEM, Coefficient of variation of 95% Confidence limits should be given, Reference to the original technique should be included.

Buffers and incubation media: Compositions of incubation media should be described, or a reference supplied, together with the pH. Concentrations of solutions should be described in molar terms (mol/I and subunits thereof), equivalents or percentage weight/volume or weight/weight. Mass concentration should be expressed as g/I (or subunits thereof-mg/I or mg/I). It should always be made be made clear whether concentrations in a mixture are final concentrations or those of solutions added. In the case of insulin, mU/I is acceptable.

Units of measurement: Measurement of length, height, weight, and volume should be reported in metric units (meter, kilogram, or liter) or their decimal multiples.

Temperatures should be given in degrees Celcius. Blood pressure should be given in mmHg.

All hematological and clinical-chemistry measurements should be reported in the metric system in terms of the International System of Units (SI). Gas or pressure values should be given as mmHg with kPa in parentheses or vice versa. Where molecular weight is known, the amount of a substance should be expressed in mol or appropriate subunit (mmol). Energy should be expressed in kcal or joules (J).

Statistical analyses: Statistical methods used must be identified. Computer software packages which are used for anything other than widely known standard statistical procedures should be identified by name or acronym, and by author or Organisation of origin. When variability is expressed in terms of the standard error of a mean (SEM) or the standard deviation (SD), the number of observations (n) must also be given. Levels of significance should be expressed as more or less than or equal to a given probability (eg. p<0.01).

Common errors: (1) using one-tailed instead of two-tailed tests, (2) inappropriate use of parametric analyses, and (3) lack of correction (for multiple comparisons). If necessary, professional statistical advice will be sought by the Editor.

The terms 'significant' and 'not significant' must not be used in a statistical sense without providing the level of significant in terms of p.

c) Footnotes: Footnotes should not be used.

d) Results: The results should be stated concisely without comment. The same data should not be presented in both a figure and a table. The desired position of figures and tables and tables should be indicated in the margins of the manuscript.

e) Discussion: The Discussion should deal with the interpretation of the results and not recapitulate them, Tables and Figures should not be directly referred to. It should deal with the relationship of the new information given in Results to the corpus of knowledge in that field and should be pertinent to the data presented. In Rapid Communications the Results and Discussion sections may be combined.

Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements should be as brief as possible. Any grant support that requires acknowledgements should be mentioned. The names of funding organizations should be written in full.

References
In accordance with the Journal's publishing policy, all references should be in the Vancouver style. References to the literature should be in numerical order in the text, the number being in superscript position or the line, and should be typed and numbered in the same order at the end of the manuscript or a separate sheet, or sheets, in double spacing.

Use of abstracts as references should be avoided; unpublished observations and personal communications may not be used as references, although references to written, not oral, communications may be inserted (in parenthesis) in the text. Include amount the references papers accepted but not yet published; designate the journal and add "in press" in parenthesis. Information should be cited in the text as "unpublished observation" (in parenthesis). Examples of correct forms of references are given below:

Articles in Journals
Standard journal article (list all authors, but if the number exceeds six list six followed by "et al":)

You CH, Lee KY, Chey RY, Mengy R. Electrogastrographic study of patients with unexplained nausea, bloating and vomiting. Gastroenterology 1980 Aug; 79(2): 311-4.

No author given
Coffee drinking and cancer of the pancreas [editorial]. BMJ 1981; 283: 628.

Issue with supplement
Gardos G, Cole JO, Haskell D, Mar by D, Paine SS, Moore P. The natural history of tardive dyskinesia. J Clin Psychopharmacol 1988; 8(4 Suppli): 31S-37S.

Type of article indicated as needed
Spargo PM, Manners JM. DDA VP and open heart surgery [letter]. Anesthesia 1989;44;363-4.

Article containing comment
Piccoli A, Bossatti A, Early steroid therapy in IgA nephropathy : still an open question [comment]. Nephron 1988; 48 12-7.

Books and other monographs

Personal author(s)
Olson JH, Armour WJ. Sports injuries and their treatment. 2nd rev ed. London : S Paul, 1986.

Editor (s) or complier (s) as author (s)
Diener HC, Wilknson M (eds). Drug -induced headache, New York : Springer- Verlag, 1988.

Chapter in a book
Weinstein L, Swartz MN. Pathogenic properties of invading microorganisms. In: Sodmean WA Jr, Sodeman WA (eds). Pathologic physiology : mechanisms of disease. Philadelphia; Saunders, 1974:457-72.

Conference proceedings
Weinstein L, Swartz MN. Pathogenic properties of invading microorganisms. In : Sodmean WA Jr, Sodeman WA (eds). Pathologic  physiology : mechanisms of disease. Philadelphia; Saunders, 1974:447-72.

Conference proceedings
Wivian VL (ed). Child abuse and neglect : a medical community response, Proceedings of the first AMA National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect; 1984 Mar 30-31; Chicago. Chicago : American Medical Association, 1985.

Scientific or technical report
Akutsu T. Total heart replacement device. Bethesda (MD) : National Institutes of Health, National Heart and Lung Institute; 1974 Apr Report No: NIH-NHLI-69-2185-4.

Unpublished material

In press
Lillywhite HD, Donald JA. Pulmonary blood flow regulation in an aquatic snake. Science. In press.

The references are the responsibility of the authors. They must be written correctly and be re-checked by the authors in the page proofs. References to abstracts, letters to the editor, congress proceedings, and other non-peer-reviewed publications should be kept to a minimum.

Tables
Each table should be typed in double spaced on a separate sheet and numbered in Roman letters, eg. I,II,III,IV..... Number tables consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each. Do not submit tables as photographs. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain in foot notes all nonstandard abbreviations that are used in each table. For footnotes use the following symbols, in this sequence :

Identify statistical measures of variations such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean.

In the table internal horizontal and vertions such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean.

If data is used from another published or unpublished source obtain permission and acknowledge fully.

The submission of extensive tabular material is discouraged.

See a recent issue of the journal for examples.

Figures
Do not present the same data in both a figure and a table. The back of each figure should bear the figure number, author (s); name and orientation  (eg, 'top').

Graphs and diagrams: See a current issue of Bangladesh Journal of Medical Biochemists for  style and layout. Graphs and diagrams should be submitted as laser  quality computer prints or sharp photographs on white paper. One set of original figures and four copies should accompany the manuscript. Sharp photographs only will be returned to the corresponding author upon request. Line drawings and graphs should be of professional standard. Freehand or typewritten lettering and numbering are unacceptable. Ruled lines, curves and symbols must be sufficiently bold to withstand reduction to one column  width (8.6 cm). Curves should not be drawn beyond the experimental points, nor should experimental points extend beyond the scales of the axes. For scatter diagrams, solid symbols are preferred.

Photographs for half-tone reproduction: Must be on white glossy paper and printed with best possible contrast. Five  unmounted copies should be submitted (photocopies are inadvisable). Whenever possible, prints should be  cropped to be one column width (8.6 cm), or be capable of being reduced to such size. If grouping into plates in desired, the layout should, be indicated as a diagram. For plates, figure, be indicated as a diagram, the layout should, be indicated as a diagram. For plates, figure numbers should be on the lower left -hand corner of the photographs and should out against the background. Numbers, letters and symbols must be large enough to be read easily after  reduction (final size 2 mm or larger for lettering and numbering). Magnification should be indicated in the legend and where appropriate by an  internal reference marker on the photograph itself (as  a  horizontal line at least I mm thick after reduction).

If photographs of patients are used, either the subject should not be identifiable, or the picture must be accompanied by written permission to use the figure. Color illustrations will not be accepted.

Legends for figures
Legends must be informative and comprehensible without reference to the text. They should be typewritten in double spacing on separate sheet (s). Keys to symbols and the statistical analysis should be included in the legend, not in the figure.

Rapid Communications
This section is reserved for reports of clinical and experimental work that is considered to be of immediate interest. The format is similar to that for full papers. Three copies of the complete manuscript should be submitted for publication to the Executive Editor. These papers will be given priority in the reviewing and publication process.

Letters to the Editor
Letters (preferably, but not exclusively) containing critical assessment of papers recently published in Bangladesh Journal of Medical Biochemists will be considered for publication in the Correspondence section. Letters should not exceed 1000 words plus references, one table or one figure. At the Editor`s discretion, a letter may be sent to the authors of the orpinal paper be published together. Letters should be typed in double spacing, should have a heading and should contain no abbreviations. Two copies should be sent to the Executive Editor. For reasons of speed, proofs are not sent to authors unless requested. proof reading will be carried out at the Editorial. Office. Offprints are not available for letters.

Reviews
Reviews are usually solicited, although unsolicited Reviews may be considered for publication. Prospective writers of Reviews should first consult the Edito-in-Chief. The length of a Reviews article should be no longer than twelve printed pages including references, tables figures and legends.

Workshop Reports
Workshop or meeting reports be published in Bangladesh Journal of Medical Biochemists if they do not exceed two printed pages in Bangladesh Journal of Medical Biochemists if they do not exceed two printed pages of text, although one page in the preferred length. Publication costs must be borne by the authors; the fee can be requested from the publisher. Two copies should be sent to the Editor.

Proofs
Two copies of the proofs are sent with the manuscript of the author whose name is given for correspondence. Typographical errors only should be corrected. One corrected proof should be returned immediately with the manuscript to the publisher by express post. If proofs are not returned within 48 hrs, papers will be published without authors confections. Any changes to the text or figures are liable to be charged to the author.

Permissions
Verbatim material or illustrations taken from other published sources must be accompanied by a written statement form the author, and from the publisher if holding the copyright, giving permission to Bangladesh Journal of Medical Biochemists for reproduction.

Review and Actions
Manuscripts are usually examined by the editorial staffs and if necessary it will be sent to outside reviewers. We encourage authors to suggest the name of possible reviewers but we reserve the right of final selection. Only one copy of rejected manuscript will be returned, usually within six weeks. Decision about potentially acceptable manuscript may take longer.