Author guidelines

Aims and Scope

AAM is a quarterly journal committed to publishing original research and review papers, clinical case reports and commentaries on all aspects of the biomedical sciences. The wide range of topics covered by the AAM ensures a broad readership that includes academic personnel, physicians, paramedical personnel, medical and sciences students. The journal prioritizes papers related to clinical and basic research studies specific but not exclusive to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other African countries. Papers are edited, peer-reviewed and accepted for publication on the basis of the scientific excellence of their content.

Ethics and misconduct

The journal

The Annales Africaines de Médecine editorial committee agrees to provide authors and scientific editors with all necessary information concerning the writing, evaluation and editing of articles.

It remains autonomous in terms of its editorial policy, in order to prevent any conflicts of interest, whether they are of a scientific or financial nature.

It undertakes and agrees to improve the scientific quality of the journal, in order to ensure that research findings and information are published related to health.

Academic quality of publications

The Annales Africaines de Médecine journal guarantees the academic quality of its publications.

It is under the scientific patronage of the faculty of Medicine’s University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN: www.facmed-unikin.net) and the partnership of African Journal Partnership Program (AJPP: www.ajpp.org).

Articles published in the Annales Africaines de Médecine are recognized by the African and Malagasy Council for Higher Education for the promotion and advancement of lecturers and researchers (CAMES: www.lecames.org).

The reading committee is composed of members of various Congolese and international institutions.

Authors

The principal author is the corresponding author. In order to avoid receiving complaints from co-authors who were not consulted when a manuscript was submitted for editing, each co-author receives a copy of the acknowledgement of receipt (thus, emails of all co-authors are required before submission). Only co-authors who express their written disagreement will not appear in the final version of the article published in the Annales Africaines de Médecine.

When an article is submitted, the author and co-authors certify their contribution to the conduct of tests, interpretation of results or editing of the manuscript.

Manuscripts must be previously unpublished and must not have been simultaneously submitted for publication in another scientific journal.

The editorial committee evaluates the quality, relevance of the manuscript and plagiarism before appointing scientific editors.

The editorial committee reserves the right to reject any article that fails to meet the journal’s requirements.

If an article is rejected or changes are requested, the reasons are sent to the corresponding author.

Authors must propose three internationally renowned scientific reviewers when the article is submitted.

The selection of one or more scientific reviewers remains the responsibility of the editorial committee.

Fraud, plagiarism and double publications

All items submitted to Annales Africaines de Médecine are checked using anti-plagiarism software.

When plagiarism is detected, we follow the recommendations of Committee on Publications Ethics (COPE, https://publicationethics.org/) or available here. The level of plagiarism is assessed and, depending on its severity, the following sanctions may be applied:

1. You and your co-authors receive an email informing you of the detection of plagiarism and its definition. You are asked to correct your article according to the principles of good practice.
2. We inform you that in the event of plagiarism detected during a subsequent submission, it will be directly rejected without the possibility of amendment. This is a matter for all authors of the original manuscript.
3. In case of severe plagiarism, and depending on the evaluation of the authors’ intention, the submission will be rejected, the authorities of the authors’ parent institutions may be informed, and the Annales Africaines de Médecine also reserve the right to no longer accept publication from the main author, or even co-authors, for a period of up to four years.

1. Double publications and papers with self-plagiarism are also affected by these rules, as well as data fraud (data fabrication, data manipulation and data falsification).

If an article has been published, which contains biased data or errors, an erratum will be published in a subsequent edition, in order to inform the reviewers.

Reviewers

The Annales Africaines de Médecine reading committee is composed of voluntary reviewers who are members of the international scientific community and specialized in all fields linked to health.

The scientific editors sign a charter, which specifies their commitment with regard to the evaluation of the Annales Africaines de Médecine manuscripts submitted to them. They are invited to help by providing useful advice and proof reading the modified version, if necessary.

In order to avoid any conflict of interest, the authors remain anonymous to the reviewers.

Conflict of interest

The Annales Africaines de Médecine journal reserves the right to require authors to indicate who sponsored their research, in order to avoid any conflict of interest with regard to the source of funding or affiliation of the author.

The editorial committee ensures that articles are not sent for evaluation to reviewers who helped write them or funded the research.

The authors may mention these organizations in their acknowledgements.

Criticisms, complaints and feedback

The editorial committee considers any criticisms and complaints that it receives.

If authors judge that decisions taken by the reviewers are not justified, they are entitled to contact the arbitration body formed by the journal, which will make the final decision concerning their complaint (see arbitration).

The editorial committee accepts suggestions from scientific editors or third parties, in order to improve the quality of the Annales Africaines de Médecine.

Confidentiality

In order to ensure confidentiality, the authors remain anonymous to the reviewers.

The reviewers also remain anonymous to the authors.

The Annales Africaines de Médecine journal can only provide information from its database if the relevant parties give their consent.

Arbitration

The editorial committee, which is chaired by the editor in chief, will settle any disputes between readers, the authors and the journal.

Submission of the articles

Authors are encouraged to submit their manuscript directly on the AAM online submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/anafrimed) or through the journal’s website (www.anafrimed.net). However, alternative routes of submission exist and include emailing (address: annalesmedecine@yahoo.fr) or mailing the manuscript to the Editor-in -chief (Annales Africaines de Médecine, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Kinshasa, BP 834, Kinshasa XI, RD Congo). Authors must follow the recommendations to authors when writing papers to be submitted to AAM. These recommendations can be found on the journal’s website (www.anafrimed.net) and updated when required.. All authors take responsibility for the entire content of the manuscript submitted to AAM. A letter signed by all authors must describe the contributions of each author and guarantee that the manuscript was not published previously or is not being considered for publication elsewhere. Upon submission of the manuscript, authors are allowed to hold the copyright of the article. During the whole process, the authors are not aware of the identity of the Associate Editor and the reviewers. In return, the reviewers do not know the identity of the authors (double blind peer review). Note that the Afican Annals of Medicine does not charge for article submission or processing.

Categories of papers

Manuscripts are written in French or English according to the Vancouver guidelines for the format of manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals (www.icmje.org) or available here… Authors should opt for one of the following categories of articles according to EQUATOR guidelines which are available, here:

Original paper

An original paper reports data obtained from a clinical or laboratory study and should not contain more than 5000 words, 30 references, 5 tables and/or figures. It is organized based on the following structure: i) the title (in French and English); ii) the names of the author and coauthors including their affiliations and E-mail address. The corresponding author should be indicated including his contact details; iii) an abstract (in French and English) that should not exceed 250 words; iv) up to 5 keywords (in French and English); v) the main text of the manuscript that is written in French or English and contains the following sections: introduction, methods (including ethical approval), results and discussion; vi) statement on potential conflicts of interest; vii) contributions for authors, viii) acknowledgments; ix) references.

Clinical cases

Reports of clinical cases briefly are well-documented clinical observations on one to three patients or a single family mainly for teaching purpose according to CARE guidelines. The text is limited to 2000 words, a maximum of 2 tables and/or figures and up to 10 references. The report is signed by no more than 5 authors. It is structured as follows: i) the title (in French and English); ii) the names of the author and coauthors including their affiliations and E-mail address. The corresponding author should be indicated including his contact details; iii) an abstract (in French and English) that should not exceed 250 words; iv) up to 3 keywords; v) the main text of the manuscript that is written in French or English; vi) statement on potential conflicts of interest; vii) contributions for authors, viii) acknowledgments; ix) references. The main text of the manuscript contains the following sections: introduction, methods (optional), observations and discussion. The introduction should be short, emphasizing the interest of the case. The discussion should be brief and aim at the main points raised by the observations. Extensive reference to the existing literature on the topic is not necessary.

Editorial

An editorial provides commentary about an article in the issue of the Journal in which this article is published. An editorial may also comment on an important medical issue currently making news. An editorial is limited to 1500 words, with up to 15 references and may include 2 figures and/or tables.

Review article

Review articles are usually solicited by the editors to one or several experts in a topic. However, the solicitation may also come from the authors themselves. A review article undertakes a deep analysis of recent developments on a particular subject. Literature search on the subject should only include papers published less than 5 years ago with the exception of seminal papers. A review article is limited to 10.000 words and 100 references. It is structured as follows: i) the title (in French and English); ii) the names of the author and coauthors including their affiliations and E-mail address. The corresponding author should be indicated including his contact details; iii) up to 5 keywords; iv) the main text of the manuscript that is written in French or English; v) statement on potential conflicts of interest; vi) contributions for authors, vii) acknowledgments; viii) references. The main text of the manuscript contains the following sections: introduction, chapters on various aspects of the topic addressed by the review and conclusion.

Brief Report

A brief report publishes in a short format, the results of original studies for which it is not necessary to write a full-length original paper. The manuscript abstract has no more than 50 words. The main text is limited to 1.000 words, 5 references, 2 tables and/or figures. A brief report is authored by no more than 5 persons. The introduction, methods, results and discussion are presented in a single section, which may be divided in paragraphs.

Letter to the Editor

A letter to the Editor represents a forum for readers to comment or to provide an opinion about articles recently published in the Journal. This type of article is limited to 1000 words and 5 references and should be authored by no more than 3 persons.

Technical note

A technical note publishes a critical analysis of new medical equipments, a new method of measurements. It may also report technical incidents encountered while using medical equipments. A technical note is limited to 3000 words, 20 references, 4 tables and/or figures. It has no more than 5 authors and is structured as follows: i) the title (in French and English); ii) the names of the author and coauthors including their affiliations. The corresponding author should be indicated including his contact details; iii) an abstract (in French and English); iv) up to 5 keywords; v) the main text of the manuscript (in French or English); vi) statement on potential conflicts of interest; vii) contributions for authors, viii) acknowledgments; ix) references. The main text of the manuscript contains the following sections: introduction, chapters on various aspects of the critical study and conclusion.

Organization of the manuscript

Sections of original articles are organized in the following order:

• Title of the article
• Names of authors and their affiliations (plus E-mail address)
• Name of corresponding author and his contact details
• Résumé (in french, contexte et objectif, méthodes, résultats et conclusion)
• Summary (in english, context and objective, methods, results and conclusion)
• Keywords
• Introduction
• Methods (including ethical approval)
• Results
• Discussion
• Conflits of interest
• Contributions for authors
• Acknowledgments
• References
• Tables
• Legends to figures
• Figures
• Title of the article

The title should be concise, contain no abbreviations and not exceed 20 words. It should reflect as precisely as possible the work content.

• Names and affiliations of authors

Full names of authors should be provided starting with the first name and then the family name. Examples: Bienvenu Lebwaze¹, Georges Mvumbi². Authors wishing to include an additional name (postname or middlename) can do so between the first name and the family name. Examples: Nazaire Mangani Nseka¹, François Bompeka Lepira^1,2 or Nazaire M. Nseka¹, François B. Lepira ^1,2. Superscript numbers following the author’s names refer to information about author affiliations and current addresses. Example: 1. Service of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kinshasa University Hospital, University of Kinshasa, DR Congo. An author or coauthor of an article is a person involved in one or several of the following tasks: design, experiments, data collection, data analysis (that may include statistical analysis), result discussion, manuscript redaction.

• Corresponding author

The corresponding author is the one acting on behalf of all authors as the primary correspondent with the editors during the review process and later with the readers on all article-related matters. His name is written in full including his affiliation, phone number and email address. Example: Ernest Kiswaya Sumaili, Service of Nephrology, Kinshasa University Hospital, DR Congo, Tel. (+243) 999908223, Email: sumailiernest2015@gmail.com or ernest.sumaili@unikin.ac.cd

• Summary

Abstract of an original paper summarize the article and should be structured in the following sections: context and main objectives; the methods; the results; and the conclusion.

• Keywords

A maximum of 5 keywords should be included mainly for use in the index.

• Main text
• The main text should be structured in the following sections: Introduction-Methods (including ethical approval)-Results-Discussion.
• Ethical approval: Approval from an appropriately constituted research ethics committee is mandatory for all studies involving people, medical records, and anonymized human tissues. When study participants are unable to give fully informed consent, the research protocol should adhere closely to international guidelines, such as those of the Council for International Organisations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS).
• Style: The style of the text should be clear, concise and precise while avoiding informal, nonstandard and expansive language. When writing in French, the use of French words if available and explicit is preferable rather than the English equivalent.
• Verb tenses: Past events including the procedures, the results or the observations of the study are reported in the simple past tense or the past perfect tense depending on the context.
• Citation: Citing authors by use of their names should be avoided in the main text as this may constitute a waste of space.
• Abbreviation: When used for the first time in the text, terms to be abbreviated are written in full next to their abbreviation, which is inserted in parentheses.
• Digits and numbers: With the exception of quantitative data, digits and numbers are in full.
• Taxonomic names: Latin taxonomic names are written in italic. The names of the genus start with a capital letter and the names of the species with a small letter. Example: Saccharomyces boulardii. When appearing for the first time in the text, Latin taxonomic names are written in full. In the subsequent uses, the names of the species are written in full whereas the names of the genus appear in initials. Example: boulardii.
• Conflict of interest

Any manuscript submission should include a statement on conflict of interest. There is a conflict of interest when authors have personal relationships or activities that give the impression of potentially influencing the author’s judgment during the redaction of the manuscript. The main conflicts of interest include financial interests, clinical trials, familial relationships…

• Contributions for authors

Authorship credit should be stated and based only on substantial contributions to the following: – conception and design or analysis and interpretation of data, and – drafts of the article or critical revisions for important intellectual content; and – final approval of the version to be published

• Acknowledgments

This section is used to thank any physical or juridical persons who contributed substantially to the work reported in the manuscript (Examples: financial support, data collection, analysis, translation and writing or editing assistance) but who do not fulfill the criteria of being listed as author or coauthor. The specific contributions of these persons should be mentioned.

• References

Publications appearing on the reference list should relate to the article content. The reference list does not need to be exhaustive. In the main text of the manuscript, references are indicated by Arabic numerals in a consecutive and increasing order. References from a journal article are written in the following order: the name of the author followed by the initials of his first and middle names, the title of the article, the name of the journal in italic and shortened based on Index Medicus, the year of the publication, the volume number written in bold characters, the first and last pages of the article. Example: Lepira FB, M’Buyamba-Kabangu JR, Kayembe PK and Nseka NM. Clinical correlates of left ventricular hypertrophy in black patients with arterial hypertension. Cardiovasc J South Afr 2006; 17: 7-11. For references with more than 6 authors, the first 6 authors will be cited followed by et al. References from a book are presented in the following order: the name of authors, the initials of their first and middle names, the title of the book, the publishing company, the city where the company is located, the year of the publication. Exemple: Spilker B. Guide to clinical trials. Raven Press, New York, 1991. References from a book chapter are written in the following order: the name of authors, the initials of their first and middle names, the title of the article, the title of the book preceded by In, the editor’s name, the publishing company, the city where the company is located, the year of the publication, the first and last pages of the article. Example: Beverley SM and Clayton CE. Transfection of Leishmania and Trypanosoma brucei by electroporation. In: Methods in Molecular Biology of Parasites, Eds: Hyde E, Humana Press Inc., Totowa, USA, 1993, 333-348. References to personal data, theses, memoires, submitted manuscrits or in preparation are not accepted on the reference list. However, they may appear in parenthesis in the main text if deemed too important. Example: (Lepira FB, personal communication). References to accepted but not yet published articles may be included on the reference list as presented on Medline with their Digital Object Identifiers (D.O.I.).

• Tables

Tables are numbered with Arabic numerals, have a brief title and may include a concise legend explaining abbreviations. They are preferably prepared using Microsoft Word.

• Legends to figures

The information from a legend should be enough to understand the figure even without reading the manuscript text. The details of the experimental methods should be included in Methods section rather than in the figure legend, with the exception of special methods, which may be briefly mentioned in the legend (1 or 2 sentences). Any symbols and abbreviations appearing on the figure should be defined in the legend.

• Figures

Each figure (graphic, cartoon, pictures…) is numbered with Arabic numerals. The units used are explicitly mentioned in the legend. The drawings and images must be of the highest quality and be preferably prepared using a graphic application. The authors should not reproduce figures from another work or publication without a written permission from their authors and publisher.

The AAM support a large diffusion and respect of the Vancouver guidelines (www.icmje.org) to help authors, editors and other actors of the peer-review process et the medical redaction to publish and disseminate articles with precise, clear, reproducible and unbiased content.

Editorial board

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