Author Guidelines
The Asian Journal of Internal Medicine's mission is to achieve the supreme standards of holistic patient care by dissemination of high quality scientific knowledge related to Internal Medicine in the whole of Asia and Sri Lanka. AJIM is an open access, peer-reviewed journal.
Ethical Responsibilities
All authors must read the Ethical Responsibilities of the journal before submitting their articles.
Conflict of interests
The Asian Journal of Internal Medicine requires that all authors declare any relevant financial and non-financial conflicts of interest and the journal publishes those that might influence a reader's perception of the paper alongside the paper. The Asian Journal of Internal Medicine requires that all funding sources of the research are declared and published and the role of the funding source in the conception, conduct, analysis and reporting of the research is stated and published.
Types of articles
The AJIM publishes a wide variety of articles which have relevance to medicine and allied sciences. It publishes articles in the categories of Editorial/leading articles, review articles, perspectives and hypotheses, original research articles, audits, case reports, series, clinical images, CME Quiz, ethics, and humanities. We want to encourage academic writing among the clinicians and academics in the field of Internal Medicine.
Editorial
Editorials are solicited by the editors or experts on invitation and comprised of expert opinions on current topics or commentaries on other papers published in the AJIM. They do not usually exceed 1500 words and 20 references. Tables and illustrations are usually not included in the editorial.
Leading article
Leading articles are solicited by the experts on invitation and those are usually composed of expert opinions or current concepts on ethics, professionalism, humanity etc. They do not usually exceed 2500 words and 20 references. It can have up to 3 figures/tables and only one leading article is published in an issue.
Review Article
Review articles summarise the current understanding on a topic of interest and evaluate the previously published articles. It should not exceed 2500 words, 5 tables and should include an abstract of 250 words. It needs to have more than 20 references.
Perspectives
The AJIM also welcomes essays expressing opinions, presenting hypotheses, broaching controversial issues, clarifying recent advances in the basic sciences, and essays pertaining to medical education, history of medicine, and health policies. They should not have more than 1500 words and 10 references.
Original research articles
Original research articles report the results of original research, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Observational studies (cohort, case-control, or cross-sectional designs) must be reported according to the STROBE statement. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses must be reported according to PRISMA guidelines. Reports of randomised trials must conform to CONSORT 2010 guidelines. Diagnostic accuracy studies must report according to the STARD guidelines. The guidelines on reporting sex and gender information (SAGER) should also be considered. Original articles should have less than 2500 words, maximum of 5 tables/illustrations and should include a structured abstract of less than 250 words.
Clinical audits
Clinical audit report should have less than 2000 words and more than 10 references. Clinical audit projects focus on improving the outcome of the patient care, safety and wellbeing of patients and health care workers against explicit audit criteria or standards.
Brief reports
These can include preliminary reports, novel patient management methods and reports which highlight the importance of clinical reasoning in resource poor settings. They should be limited to 750 words and 2 tables/illustrations. It should include more than 5 references and an unstructured abstract of less than 100 words.
Case reports/case series
Acceptance of case reports is based strictly on originality and whether there is an important new lesson to be learnt or a new message from the report. It should not contain more than 1200 words and one table/illustration. It should include more than 5 references and an unstructured abstract of less than 100 words. Authorship should be limited to five. Case reports must be prepared according to the Consensus-based Clinical Case Reporting (CARE) guidelines.
Clinical Images
Clinical images showcase the rare physical signs, radiological imaging and investigation reports etc. (e.g., poisonous animals and plants). Clinical Images may be accepted as contributions to the picture-story series (not more than 300 words of text, 3 references and 5 high-quality colour photographs).
Ethics and Humanities
AJIM accepts articles on ethical principles, ethical dilemmas, medico-legal perspectives, and cultural influences which are encountered in the medical practice. It also welcomes articles on ancient and modern languages, literature, philosophy, history, archaeology, anthropology, human geography, law, politics, religion, and art in relation to medicine. It should contain less than 2000 words.
SLCIM quiz
The SLCIM quiz, a CME quiz which highlights the importance of systematic discussion of a clinical vignette, will facilitate the undergraduate and post graduate training. Maximum number of questions for the quiz is five. Each stem should contain four/five-responses either “single-best” or “true-and-false”. All the questions in one quiz should be in one format.
Ethical responsibilities
Criteria for authorship
Only persons who contributed to the intellectual content of the paper should be listed as authors. According to the ICMJE recommendations authorship should be based on the following 4 criteria:
- Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
- Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
- Final approval of the version to be published; AND
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work he or she has done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.
All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Contributors who meet fewer than all 4 of the above criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors, but they should be acknowledged.
Submitting Manuscript
The following documents should be submitted to the journal portal or mailed, with adequate protection to the Editors, Asian Journal of Internal Medicine (AJIM) (email- ajim.slcim@gmail.com)
- Full manuscript (including title page with author details, figures and tables appearing in the relevant parts the text) - Word Document
- Full manuscript (including title page with author details, figures and tables appearing in the relevant parts the text) - PDF Document
- Full manuscript (including title page WITHOUT author details, figures and tables appearing in the relevant parts the text) - Word Document
- Authors’ Declaration Form in PDF Format
- Figures/illustrations/photographs in JPG or PNG format as supplementary files
- Tables in Word Document format as supplementary files
- Other relevant documents (eg: Ethical clearance certificate, Questionnaires, Data extraction tools, etc.) as supplementary files.
*Authors’ Declaration Form
Manuscripts should be submitted with the completed Authors Declaration in the PDF format.
Download form
Editorial correspondence (address all editorial correspondence to)
The Editors, Asian journal of Internal Medicine (AJIM),
Sri Lanka College of Internal Medicine,
PGIM new building,
85 Rodney Street, Borella, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka.
Preparation of manuscript
The AJIM will consider all manuscripts prepared in accordance with the uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. A summary of these and the requirements of the AJIM are given below.
Manuscript typing
The language used should be English (UK). Font size 12, Font style Calibri.
Arrange components in the following order: title page, abstract, text, references, tables in numerical sequence, and figures in numerical sequence. Begin each component on a separate page.
Number all pages consecutively, starting with the title page.
Style
The authors are recommended to refer to previous issues of the journal at https://ajim.sljol.info/ as a guide to style, clarity of presentation and conciseness.
Name of drugs and instruments
Generic (nonproprietary) names should be used for all drugs. When proprietary brands are used in research, include the brand (proprietary or trade) name and the name of manufacturer in parentheses after the first mention of the generic name in the Methods section. Thereafter the generic name should be used.
Instruments may be referred to by proprietary name, giving the name and location of the manufacturer in the text in parentheses.
Abbreviations and symbols
Use only standard abbreviations; use of nonstandard abbreviations can be confusing to readers. Avoid abbreviations in the title of the manuscript. The spelled-out abbreviation followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis should be used on first mention unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measurement.
Units of Measurement
Measurements of length, height, weight, and volume should be reported in metric units (meter, kilogram, or litre) or their decimal multiples.
Temperatures should be in degrees Celsius. Blood pressures should be in millimeters of mercury.
Headings in text
Use only two levels of headings in the text. Clearly indicate the levels of headings by using different typographic conventions. Keep headings short.
Title page
The title page should contain the following:
- Main title, running title (less than 50 characters) and a maximum of 5 keywords.
- Authors listed in the order in which they are to appear in the published article. List authors’ names as surnames and initials.
- Institutional affiliation for each author and e-mail address. The institutions listed should reflect the current affiliations of the authors and not those at the time of the study, if they differ.
- Name, designation, official address, e-mail, and telephone number of author responsible for correspondence.
- A statement at the end of the title page whether the Declaration Form has been duly completed and attached with the manuscript on submission.
- The number of words in the manuscript, exclusive of the abstract, acknowledgments, references, tables, figures, and figure legends.
Abstract
The articles that belong to the categories of: Case reports, Case series, Original research, Audits, Reviews and Research letters are required to have an Abstract.
The abstract should provide the context or background for the study and should state the study's purpose, basic procedures (selection of study participants, settings, measurements, analytical methods), main findings (giving specific effect sizes and their statistical and clinical significance, if possible), and principal conclusions. Clinical trial abstracts should include items that the CONSORT group has identified as essential. Clinical trials should give a clinical trial registration number at the end of the abstract. Authors are recommended to consult the SAGER guidelines for the reporting of sex and gender information.
Abstract should include the sub-headings: Introduction, Objectives, Methods, Results and Conclusions. Number of words should be less than 250 words. Brief Reports should have an unstructured abstract limited to 100 words.
Preamble
Articles that belong to the categories of: Editorial, Leading article and Perspectives are required to have a preamble.
A preamble is an introductory and expressionary statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy.
Main text
The text should contain the following categories: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Limitations, Conclusions and recommendations (where relevant), References, Tables and Figures.
N.B.: Acknowledgements, conflicts of interest and other relevant information should be duly filled in the Declaration Form and attached to the manuscript on submission.
References
These should conform to the NLM/Vancouver style. The reference in the text should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals in parentheses (round brackets) in the same line of the text in the order in which they appear. List the names and initials of the first three authors if there are three or fewer; otherwise list only the first three authors and add ‘et al.’
Sample references below are in the style required by the AJIM.
Journal articles
- Aryal KK, Mehata S, Neupane S, et al. The burden and determinants of non communicable diseases risk factors in Nepal: findings from a Nationwide STEPS survey. PLoS One. 2015;10(8):312-18.
- Boutayeb A, Boutayeb S. The burden of non communicable diseases in developing countries. Int J Equity Health. 2005;4:2–2.
Books
- Eisen HN. Immunology: An Introduction to Molecular and Cellular Principles of the Immune Response. 5th ed. New York: Harper and Row, 1974.
Websites
- Roberts EM, English PB, Van den Eeden SK, Ray GT. Progress in pediatric asthma surveillance I: the application of health care use data in Alameda County, California 2008.
http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2006/jul/05_0186.htm. (Accessed on March 21, 2019)
Tables
All tables must be typed double-spaced. Tables should be numbered with Arabic numerals, in the order in which they are cited in the text. A table title should describe concisely the content of the table. All abbreviations should be explained at the bottom of the table even if explained in the text.
Figures and illustrations
Figures and illustrations should be submitted in high resolution (>300 ppi) JPG or PNG format. Any text associated with them should be in “Calibri” font style. Photomicrographs should have scale markers that indicate the degree of magnification.
Legends for figures
Reduce the length of legends by using partial sentences. Explain all abbreviations and symbols on the figure, even if they are explained in the text. Stain and magnification should be given at the end of the legend for each part of the figure where relevant.
Pre –submission checklist
- Author information: Have you provided details of all of your co-authors?
- Does it use a 12-point Calibri font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses)?
- Have you checked that your manuscript doesn’t exceed the requirements for word count, number of tables and/or figures, and number of references?
- Have you provided your abstract in the correct format?
- Have you supplied any required additional information for your article type?
- Tables: Have they been cited in the text?
- Have you provided appropriate table legends?
- Figures: Have you uploaded any figures separately from the text? Have they been supplied in an acceptable format and are they of sufficient quality? Have the files been labelled appropriately? Have the figures been cited in the text? Have you provided appropriate figure legends?
- References: Have all of the references been cited in the text? Is it in the correct style required for the AJIM?
- Supplementary files and appendices: Have you supplied these in an acceptable format? Have they been cited in the main text?
- Statements: Have you included the necessary statements relating to contributorship, conflicts of interests, data sharing, clinical trial registration and ethical approval? The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
- Research reporting checklists: Have you either provided the appropriate statement for your study type, or explained why a checklist isn’t required?
- Permissions: Have you obtained from the copyright holder to re-use any previously published material? Has the source been acknowledged?
- Reviewers: Have you provided the names of any preferred and non-preferred reviewers?
- Revised manuscripts: Have you supplied both a marked copy and a clean copy of your manuscript? Have you provided a point-by-point response to the reviewer and editor comments?
Contact information:
Co-editors AJIM
Dr N M Hettiarachchi
Email: nmhettiarachchi@gmail.com
Tel: +94 773725179
Dr S R Manilgama
Email: srmanilgama@gmail.com
Tel: +94 773772535
