Authors should endeavour to address all items recommended by the guidelines (as a minimum). Adherence to recommended reporting guidelines will increase the probability of manuscripts acceptance for publication.
The EQUATOR website provides a central repository of up-to-date reporting guidelines and other resources that assist authors to prepare a good research manuscript.
The journal requires authors to adhere to the ethical standards required of researchers and scientific writing. Specifically, the journal requires all authors to adhere to the ethical standards as prescribed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers (STM).
Authorship
Inclusions of a person who do not meet authorship requirement as specified by the editorial policy or the exclusion of a person who meets the requirement is a violation of ethical requirements of the journal.
Plagiarism
The journal considers plagiarism a serious offense. Submitted manuscripts should be the original works of the author(s). The journal will follow COPE guideline in suspected cases of plagiarism.
to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
to use (another's production) without crediting the source
to commit literary theft
present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source
The journal is committed to eliminating manuscripts with possible cases of plagiarism from its review and publication process. The journal uses the iThenticate plagiarism detection application to check each manuscript for possible cases of plagiarism. Plagiarism check is the first step in the manuscript review process. Manuscripts that are found to contain unacceptable level of similarity with other published works are immediately rejected. See Peer Review Policy.
Duplicate manuscripts
It is unethical for authors to submit a manuscript to the Journal of Clinical Pathology and Forensic Medicine and at the same time, submit the same manuscript to another journal either within Academic Journals or any other publisher. This includes the submission of manuscripts derived from the same data in such a manner that there are no substantial differences in the manuscripts. Duplicate submission also includes the submission of the same/similar manuscript in different languages to different journals.
Fabrication and falsification of data
Fabrication, manipulation or falsification of data is a violation of this publication ethics. The journal shall employ the COPE guidelines in suspected cases of fabrication and falsification of data.
Citations manipulation
Authors should use only citations that are relevant to their manuscripts. Addition of references which are not relevant to the work is strongly discouraged. Similarly, irrelevant self-citation to increase one’s citation is unethical.
The Journal of Clinical Pathology and Forensic Medicine employs a rigorous peer review system. All submitted manuscripts undergo a double-blind peer review process before publication. See Peer Review Policy
Before submission, ensure that the manuscript falls within the scope of the journal. See Aims & Scope above.
All submissions must be written in good English. Poorly written submissions will be rejected at the point of submission.
Manuscripts should be prepared in single-line spacing of not more than 25 pages.
Headings, subheadings, sections and subsections should not be numbered. Major headings should be indicated in bold and block text (e.g INTRODUCTION). Subheadings should be indicated in normal text and title case.
The use of footnotes is not accepted.
The International System of Units (ISI) and other accepted conventions and nomenclature should be followed.
Title
The title phrase should be brief.
List authors’ full names (first-name, middle-name, and last-name). Academic titles such as Prof., Dr., Assoc. Prof. etc should not be included. Clearly state the affiliations of all authors (Department, Faculty, institution and Country). Provide e-mails and phone numbers for each author.
Abstract
The abstract should be less than 300 words. The keywords should be less than 10.
Abbreviations
Standard abbreviations should be used all through the manuscript. The use of non-standard abbreviations should be kept to a minimum and must be well-defined in the text following their first use. An abbreviations section should be provided in the case of extensive use.
The Introduction
The statement of the problem in addition to the background of the study should be clearly and concisely stated.
Materials and methods
Materials and methods should be clearly presented to allow the reproduction of the experiments.
Results and discussion
Results and discussion maybe combined into a single section or presented separately, where necessary.
Tables and figures
Table use should be kept to a minimum.
Tables must have a short descriptive title positioned at the top-left corner of the table.
Tables should be presented in modified text organized in Microsoft Word or Excel spreadsheet and not as pictures.
The unit of measurement used in a table should be stated.
Tables should be numbered consecutively.
Figures/Graphics should be prepared in GIF, TIFF, JPEG or PowerPoint.
Figures/Graphics must have a short descriptive caption placed immediately at the bottom-left of the figure.
Tables and Figures should be appropriately cited in the manuscript.
Disclosure of conflict of interest
Authors should disclose all financial/relevant interest that may have influenced the study.
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgement of people, funds etc should be brief.
References
References should be listed in alphabetical order at the end of the paper. DOIs links to referenced articles should be stated wherever available. Names of journals should be presented in full and not abbreviated.
Examples:
Rachel G, Naomi W, Kennedy M (2017). The heterogeneity and distribution patterns of ABO and RH D phenotypes in the voluntary blood donors of Kenya. Journal of Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology Research 8(1):1-7. https://doi.org/10.5897/JCIIR2017.0082
Mishra A, Mishra SC (2001). Cost-effective diagnostic nasal endoscopy with modified otoscope. Journal of Laryngology and Otology 115:648-649.