Manuscript Preparation

Page Layout

  • Page size — A4: 8.27" x 11.69" (21 cm x 29.7 cm).
  • Margins: Top = 0.75" (1.905 cm); Bottom = 1.18" (2.9972 cm); Left = Right = 0.51" (1.2954 cm).
  • The body content of the manuscript must be in two-column format with column size 3.5" (8.89 cm) and 0.25" (0.635 cm) spacing.

The Title and Authors

The title should be unambiguous, understandable to specialists in other fields, and reflect the content of the article. Be specific, not general or vague. If relevant, mention in the title the study period and location, the international scientific name of the studied organism or the experimental design (e.g., case study or randomized controlled trial). If your study included human subjects of one sex, it should be stated in the title. Information given in the title does not need to be repeated in the abstract (as they are always published jointly), although overlap is unavoidable.

  • All title and author details must be in single-column format and must be centered.
  • Every word in a title must be capitalized except for short minor words such as “a”, “an”, “and”, “as”, “at”, “by”, “for”, “from”, “if”, “in”, “into”, “on”, “or”, “of”, “the”, “to”, “with”.
  • Title must be in 24 pt Regular font.
  • Author name must be in 14 pt Regular font. Author affiliation must be in 10 pt Regular font and must not show any professional title (e.g., Head of Department), any academic title (e.g., Dr. or M.D., Ph.D.) or any membership of any professional organization (e.g., Secretary General of GEOCIM). An email address is compulsory for all authors. Email address must be in 10 pt Regular font.

Abstract

The abstract briefly explains why you conducted the study (BACKGROUND), what question(s) you aimed to answer (OBJECTIVES), how you performed the study (METHODS), what you found (RESULTS: major data, relationships), and your interpretation and main consequences of your findings (CONCLUSIONS).

The abstract must reflect the content of the article, as for most readers it will be the major source of information about your study. You must use keywords within the abstract, to facilitate on-line searching for your article by those who may be interested in your results (many databases include only titles and abstracts). In a research report, the abstract should be informative, including actual results. Only in reviews and other wide-scope articles should the abstract be indicative, i.e., listing the major topics discussed but not giving outcomes. Do not refer in the abstract to tables or figures, as abstracts are also published separately. References to the literature are also not allowed unless they are absolutely necessary (but then you need to provide detailed information in brackets: author, title, year, etc.). Make sure that all the information given in the abstract also appears in the main body of the article.

The abstract must be in single-column format and in 9 pt Regular font, with the following components:

  • BACKGROUND: the point of the research — why should we care about the study? This is usually a statement of the big problem that the research helps to solve and the strategy for helping to solve it. It prepares the reader to understand the specific research question.
  • OBJECTIVES: the specific research question — the basis of credible science. To be clear, complete and concise, research questions are stated in terms of relationships between the variables that were investigated. Such specific research questions tie the story together — they focus on credible science.
  • METHODS: a precise description of the methods used to collect data and determine the relationships between the variables.
  • RESULTS: the major findings — not only data, but the relationships found that lead to the answer. Results should generally be reported in the past tense, but the authors’ interpretation of the factual findings is in the present tense.
  • CONCLUSIONS: the consequences of the answers — the value of the work. This element relates directly back to the big problem: how the study helps to solve the problem, and it also points to the next step in research.
  • KEYWORDS: key words or phrases in alphabetical order, separated by semicolons.

Body Content

The body content of the manuscript must be in two-column format with column size 3.5" (8.89 cm) and 0.25" (0.635 cm) spacing, and in 10 pt Regular font. The components of the body content depend on the type of the manuscript (see Article Types).

Figures and Tables

  • Place figure captions above the figures in 8 pt regular font. If a figure has two parts, include the labels “(A)” and “(B)” as part of the artwork.
  • Use the abbreviation “Fig.” even at the beginning of a sentence.
  • Place table titles above the tables in 8 pt regular font.
  • Please verify that the figures and tables you mention in the text actually exist.
  • If the size of a figure or table is more than the column size, it may be adjusted to single-column format without disturbing the rest of the content.

References

  • Use 8 pt Times New Roman font.
  • Do not use “et al.” in references.
  • Typical citation styles in medicine are: American Medical Association (AMA), National Library of Medicine (NLM) and Vancouver.
  • AMA style is strongly encouraged.

AMA book citation format: Author last name Initials. Book Title: Subtitle. Publisher; Year.
Example: Conrad P, Gallagher EB. Health and Health Care in Developing Countries: Sociological Perspectives. Temple University Press; 1993.

AMA journal citation format: Author last name Initials. Article title. Journal Name. Year;Volume(Issue):Page range. DOI or URL.
Example: Shim P, Choi D, Park Y. Association of blood fatty acid composition and dietary pattern with the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in patients who underwent cholecystectomy. Ann Nutr Metab. 2017;70(4):303–311. doi:10.1159/000475605.

AMA website citation format: Author last name Initials. Page title. Website Name. Published Month Day, Year. Accessed Month Day, Year. URL.
Example: Murphy B. 5 tips to survive first-year anatomy lessons in medical school. American Medical Association. Published August 24, 2022. Accessed September 2, 2022.

Other Recommendations

  • SI units are strongly encouraged.
  • Use one space after periods and colons.
  • Use a zero before decimal points: “0.25”, not “.25”.
  • Use “cm3”, not “cc”.
  • Indicate sample dimensions as “0.1 cm x 0.2 cm”, not “0.1 x 0.2 cm2”.
  • Do not mix complete spellings and abbreviations of units: use “kg/m2” or “kilograms per square meter”, not “kilograms/m2”.
  • When expressing a range of values, write “2 to 7” or “2-7”, not “2~7”.
  • Periods and commas must be within quotation marks, like “this period.” Other punctuation must be “outside”!
  • Avoid contractions; for example, write “do not” instead of “don’t”.
  • The serial comma is preferred: “A, B, and C” instead of “A, B and C”.