Information for Authors

We need you to confirm by email (to admin@southernsudanmedicaljournal.com) that you have read and agree to the terms in these notes before we can publish original articles. See also the checklist at the end of this document.

 

SSMJ welcomes articles (e.g. primary research, clinical guidance, reviews) and letters and news items from health professionals working in South Sudan  or with an interest in the country. Please note:

  • The opinions, information and figures given in signed articles are the responsibility of the author/s and do not necessarily represent the views of the South Sudan Medical Journal. The author, not SSMJ, is responsible for any clinical guidance published.
  • Copyright: Materials published on this website are the copyright of SSMJ. They can be freely downloaded and shared for educational and non-commercial purposes. If republished, text and pictures should be credited and fully referenced to SSMJ and a hyperlink made to the SSMJ website. Materials of other copyright holders cannot be republished without their permission.
  • For clinical research articles you may need to get ethical permission to publish. For research carried out in South Sudan, see ‘Guidance for undertaking research in the Republic of South Sudan’  Lako and Baba 2011 South Sudan Medical Journal 4 (3):66. In some cases you may need patients’/clients’ permission.
  • Original articles must not be submitted simultaneously to other publications and should not have been accepted for publication elsewhere.
  • Original articles are peer-reviewed by independent reviewers/ health professionals.
  • Send articles you want us to consider for publication to admin@southernsudanmedicaljournal.com. Note that it takes about 4 months or more between the date of submission to the date of publication – depending partly on how much editing is needed.
  • The Editorial team reserves the right to decide in which issue of the journal articles are published – although we try to publish as soon as possible after articles are peer reviewed and finalised.

Submission of articles

  • Send articles you want us to consider for publication to admin@southernsudanmedicaljournal.com. Note that it takes about 4 months or more between the date of submission to the date of publication – depending partly on how much editing is needed.
  • The Editorial team reserves the right to decide in which issue of the journal articles are published – although we try to publish as soon as possible after articles are peer reviewed and finalized.

Preparing your article

Articles must be short – not longer than 1000-1500 words. We like boxes, tables and images to break up the text.

The journal is for all levels of health professionals. So please make your article ‘reader-friendly’ by using short sentences, avoiding passive verbs, and explaining technical terms or acronyms that some readers may not know. The Editorial team can help prepare articles and reserves the right to edit and shorten them. Edited articles are always shown for approval to the original author before publication.

 

Title: should be short, attract the interest of readers and contain key words that will identify your paper when people are searching databases.

 

Authors: give names but no titles; add 1-2 qualifications/degrees if wanted; include affiliations/addresses and email address for the author to whom correspondence should be sent.

 

Tables: Make sure each table has a number and title and is mentioned in the text. Do not use shading and keep formatting simple.

 

Images: We like to include a limited number of photographs, graphs and other images. Please send these as separate files in uncompressed .jpg format (not Word or ppt). Make sure each image has a number and caption and is mentioned in the text.  The captions must say to whom the images should be credited. If the image is not your property make sure that you have permission to use it. If the images are from another organisation (e.g. WHO) we may ask to see this permission. 

 

References: Do not write these as ‘endnotes’. Use the "author-date" method of referencing:

  • In the main text of the article give a reference as ‘author family name’ + ‘year of publication’ (e.g. Tavodova 2012). Use et al if there are more than 2 authors (e.g. Atem et al 2010)
  • In the list of references, write each reference alphabetically by main author’s family name.

For each reference list:

  • the authors (family name and initial/s);
  • year of publication;
  • title of the paper/article/book/website;
  • source:
    • if a journal give the name, volume number, issue number, pages.
    • if a book give the title, authors/editors, place of publication, publisher.
    • if a website give the name of the website and its URL and date accessed.

Examples:

  • Tavodova M. 2012. Dengue fever.  S Sudan med J;  5 (1): 13-16.
  • Atem N, Lagu J, Christo M, Kur L. 2010. The cyclists helmet study in Juba, Southern Sudan. S Sudan med J; 3 (3):69-71.
  • Zasler ND, Martilli MF. 2003. Mild traumatic brain injury: Impairment and disability assessments caveats. Neuropsychol Rehabil ; 13 (1):31-42.
  • WHO. 2008. Anti-tuberculosis drug resistance. WHO/HTM/2 Geneva: World Health Organisation.
  • King M. 1999. Medical care in developing countries. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • WHO. Undated. Global tuberculosis control. Available at www.who.int/tb/

Note that SSMJ will change your references to a numbered system to save space during editing.

 

Hyperlinks/Website: please make sure these are opening correctly.

 

Include as necessary: Declarations of conflict of interest from all authors; sources of funding; ethical permission to publish clinical research; acknowledgements.

Useful publications

Publications to help you prepare your article are:

 

 

Checklist: Please complete this checklist and return a copy to admin@southernsudanmedicaljournal.com   

 

Item

Yes

Not relevant

Original article not submitted to another journal/publication

 

 

Copyright of original work is given to SSMJ

 

 

Author accepts responsibility for contents of article including clinical guidance

 

 

Ethical permission obtained for clinical research

 

 

Patient consent obtained if relevant

 

 

Word count does not exceed 1500 (unless more has been previously agreed)

 

 

A short title covering key words

 

 

For each author: given and family names, affiliations/address; email of corresponding author

 

 

Each table numbered, titled and mentioned in text

 

 

Each image numbered and mentioned in text, captioned, and credited. Permission obtained if not your property.

Sent as uncompressed jpgs.

 

 

All hyperlinks are opening correctly.

 

 

References written in correct style (and not formatted as ‘endnotes’ or ‘footnotes’)