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BORNO MEDICAL JOURNAL (BOMJ)

About the Journal

The Borno Medical Journal (BOMJ) is a biannual peer-reviewed open access journal that is jointly published by the Borno State chapters of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN). It welcomes any contribution that advances/illuminates medical science or practice extending to all aspects of medicine. Contributors are advised to follow the uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biochemical journals. Articles may be in the form of original articles, review articles, case reports, clinic practice materials, letters to the editor, short communications, commentaries, viewpoints, and review of books, clinico-pathologic conferences and medical education materials. The BOMJ also publishes articles on socio-economic, political and legal matters related to medical practice; conference and workshop reports and medical news. The interval between submission of a well-written original manuscript and the final decision is about 2-3 months. Authors are required to read this guide carefully and adhere to the instructions strictly. 

Aims

BOMJ was created to serve as an international avenue of communication
among medical scientists, clinicians and other related professionals. The Journal provides an opportunity for exchange of novel and significant ideas to promote competence and professionalism within the scientific community.

To provide a medium for the dissemination of the results of Medical, Dental and Basic Medical Science Research.

To serve as a forum for the dissemination of general information and report of conferences of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria/Nigerian Medical Association among members and other health workers.   

Abstracting and Indexing

The journal is indexed with African Index Medicus and registered with ‘crossref’.

Editorial Process

Manuscripts will be assigned manuscript numbers once they are received by the Editorial Office and subsequent communications between BOMJ and corresponding author must bear these numbers. The Editor-in-Chief will do editorial review to ascertain conformity with BOMJ instructions and will assign BOMJ-conformed manuscripts to appropriate Assistant Editor-in-Chief. The Deputy Editor confirms that the manuscripts are worth consideration for publication and he/she assigns the manuscript to 2 or 3 independent reviewers with expertise in the focus of the manuscript. Usually, the editorial process may take 2-3 weeks depending on the number of manuscript and availability of reviewers. The outcomes of the review process will be communicated to the Editor-in-Chief who in turn relay same to the authors through the corresponding author. Please note BOMJ-non-conformed manuscripts will be immediately returned to the authors for re-submission following required corrections. All manuscripts received will be treated with absolute confidentiality and will be shared only with individuals directly involved with the publication processes

Manuscripts preparation

Manuscripts are reviewed for publication on the understanding that none of the material has been published previously and none is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. Each of the following sections should begin on a new page: abstract, introduction, materials and methods, ethics, statistics, results, discussion, references, tables, legends to figure(s) and illustration(s). Manuscripts should be submitted online via: www.bornomedicaljournal.com

Title page

This should bear the following

             i.          The title of the paper, should be clear, descriptive and not more than 25 words.

           ii.          Full names, initials and qualification(s) of each author;

         iii.          The corresponding author should be addressed and the present address(es) of author(s) if different from that at which work was done;

          iv.          Keywords (should not be more than six) and should represent the main content of the article

            v.          A running title: Use of abbreviations should be avoided in the title 

Case reports, grand rounds and short communications

These should not exceed 1500 words with no more than 10 references, 2 illustrations and tables. The number of authors should not exceed five for case reports and short communications.

Letters to the Editor

Letters should contain a maximum of 1,000 words, 2 illustrations/tables and 10 references. The content may be clinical observations or other relevant matters related to medicine or comment on material published in BOMJ. 

Abstracts

An abstract should not exceed 250 words. For original articles, it should be structured into background, objectives, methods, results and conclusions. For short communication and case reports, it should state the objectives, methods and main result and conclusion of the study. For review articles, it should state the purpose, data source, study selection, data extraction, results and conclusions.

Introduction
This section provides the background to the study including existing facts, statement of the research problem and the novelty or significance of the article.

Materials and Methods

This section should be structured to include a clear and concise description of all the processes. It should include the study area, study design, subject enrolment, sample collection, clinical and laboratory procedures, ethical issues and statistical analyses.

Results
There must be a clear and orderly presentation of the important findings in texts, tables or figures as appropriate, presentation of the same findings in different formats should be avoided.

Discussion
The discussion section is expected to provide logical explanations to the findings in context of the existing knowledge/literature. In addition, the strength(s) and limitation(s) of the study should be stated.

Conclusion
This section should provide a concise summary of the general finding

Writing Styles

i. The manuscript should be prepared in Microsoft word using Times New Roman with font size 12 except where otherwise specified.

ii. Use double line spacing (2.0) except for the list of references.

iii. Main headings should appear in bold upper cases (e.g., MATERIALS AND METHODS) while sub-headings should appear in bold sentence cases (e.g., Study area).

iv. Insert page number at the centre bottom of each page.

v. Use simple and clear English expressions, preferably British spellings.

vi. All abbreviations must have been written in full where they first appear in the text.

vii. All measurements should be in SI Unit

Tables and illustrations

Tables should be doubled–spaced and numbered consecutively within the text. Areas of insertion should be indicated. All illustrations are to be considered as figures and numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. Abbreviations used should be clearly defined at the bottom of each table/figure.
Photographs should conceal the subject’s identity and/or be sent with the written consent of the subject. If an illustration has been published previously, full credit to the source must be given in the legend.

Figures must appear with a figure per page, numbered in Arabic numerals in the order by which they are cited in the text. A legend for the figure should be written in sentence case below each figure. The white space in the figure should be aesthetic and minimal.  Figures may be presented in TIFF, JPEG, BMP, PNG and may preferably be sent as separate file attachments but not as PowerPoint and should not exceed 10MB in size.

Abbreviations and Nomenclature

Non – standard abbreviations contained in the manuscript (excluding references) should be listed in alphabetical order with definitions after keywords. Generic drug nomenclature is preferred to proprietary (trade) names. 

Authors’ Contribution

In line with the recommendation of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), authors are required to clearly state their individual contributions (Available at: http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf or http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/)

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments of general support, grants, technical assistance, e.t.c should be indicated.

Conflict of Interest

Authors must declare all financial and non-financial conflicts of interests if any and where there is none, it must be clearly stated.

Other Reporting Templates

In line with international best practices, authors are required to prepare their manuscripts using the appropriate standards of reporting relevant to the study design used (Available at: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/pages/authors/).

For instance:

STROBE (https://www.equator-network.org/index.aspx?o=1032) for observational, case control and cross-sectional studies.

PRISMA (www.prisma-statement.org) for a systematic review of controlled trials.

MOOSE (https://www.equator-network.org/index.aspx?o=1032) for systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.

CONSORT (www.consort-statement.org) for randomized controlled trials.

TREND (https://www.cdc.gov/trendstatement/) for quasi-experimental/nonrandomized studies.

STARD (https://www.equator-network.org/index.aspx?o=1032) for a study of diagnostic accuracy and assessment scale.

SPIRIT (www.spirit-statement.org) for study protocols

The Equator Network (Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research) provides additional comprehensive list of reporting guidelines to guide the author.

Acknowledgment of receipt

For every article received, an automated acknowledgement would be sent to the corresponding author.

References

Journal articles

This should be in Vancouver style and should be numbered in the order in which they appear in the text. A list of authors should be given except when they exceed 6, in which case 6 should be given followed by et al. References should be up to date.

The author’s name should be followed by title of the article, title of the journal abbreviation according to the style of Index Medicus, year of publication, the volume and the first and the last page numbers e.g Salawu AK. Tropical Neurology: the UMTH. Edington Lecture, 2001. Rev. Neurol. Dis. 2002; 14: 132-133. However, the journal with abbreviations not yet cited in Index Medicus should be written in full. Article in press should be designated as such in parenthesis. 

Textbooks

Authors of a book

The surname and initials of all authors should be followed by the title of the book, edition (except if first), place of publication, publisher, year and pages e.g Pindiga UH, Audu B, Yusuph H, Ahidjo A. Pathologic study of the causes of mortality in UMTH: A handbook. Maiduguri. Gaza Medical publishers, 2003: Pp 212 – 221

Author(s) of a chapter in a book

The surname and initials of all authors of the particular chapter should be followed by the title of the chapter, editor(s) of the book, title of the book, edition (except first), place of publication, publisher, year and pages e.g Abubakar AM. Childhood congenital defects in UMTH. In: Madziga AG, Chama C, Kagu MB (eds). Nggada textbook of pathology, 2^nd edition. Maiduguri, Gaza Press, 2001: Pp. 231 – 242.

Online Publications (e.g. journals and books)

Ley P. Patient satisfaction. Association of Psychotherapists. Available at: http://www.cms/unimaid.edu.ng (Accessed 25th May 2021).

Conference Proceedings

Abdulwahab YA. Risk factors of pre-eclampsia among patients seen at University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. In: Lee BC, Ji A (eds.) Proceedings of the 10th International Conference of the Nigerian Medical Association, 10-14 January, 2020, Abuja, Nigeria. London: Taylor & Francis; 2020. p.110-115.

Reports

Taylor F. Malaria burden in Africa. World Health Organization. Report number: 20, 2018.

Web Page/Website

World Health Organization. Malaria indicators. Available at: http://www.who.com (Accessed 12th March 2018).

Personal Communication

Stone AC. Consultant-Physician. Personal communication. 23rd April 2019.

Lectures/Presentations

Ibrahim MA. Pharmacotherapy of bipolar disorders. (Lecture or Presentation).

University of Maiduguri, Nigeria. 10th May 2019.

Dissertations

For dissertation, the author(s)’ name should be followed by the title of dissertation, the fellowship, the name of college, month and year e.g Garbati MA. Evaluation of serology as a diagnostic tool in tuberculosis. FMCP Dissertation. National Postgraduate Medical College. May, 2003

Unit of Measurement

All measurements should be expressed in SI (System International) units.

Peer Review

All articles selected for publication except for the items such as viewpoints are sent to two or more consultant physicians and scientists who are experts in the fields of medicine under focus. The model of peer review use is the Double-blind model (Available at: (https://publicationethics.org/files/Who_owns_peer_reviews_discussion_document.pdf). Manuscripts are also subject to editorial revision by BOMJ and the final decision rests with the Editor-in-Chief. Those considered worthy of publication but requiring changes or condensation will be returned to the corresponding author.

Plagiarism Check

In line with COPE principles, all manuscripts submitted BOMJ will be subjected to plagiarism

check during the editorial process. Manuscripts with at least 75% originality will be considered

for further editorial review. Thus, authors are encouraged to consider using Cross Check

(http://www.crossref.org/crosscheck.html) to determine the originality of their manuscripts prior

to submission to BOMJ.

Revised Manuscripts

Should be submitted online via: www.bornomedicaljournal.com

Proofs

Galley proofs will be sent to the corresponding author via the email address
provided. They are required to proofread the documents as a form of certification and return the same to the Editor-in-Chief within 72 hours. They are particularly advised to ensure that the names and addresses are written correctly as at that point in time. At this stage, authors should not introduce new information into the accepted manuscript or make changes except where mistakes are made while generating the galley proof. Any request for significant alteration to content not otherwise specified may warrant rejection of the article.

Copyright

On acceptance, the copyright of the paper will be vested in the journal and publisher. BOMJ subscribes to the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license to the work we
publish to make articles legally available for reuse, without permission or fees.
Therefore, articles published in BOMJ can be copied, distributed, or reused as long as
the author and original source are properly cited.

Ethical Consideration

Authors should comply with relevant research ethics as applied to their work including ethics governing the use of human subjects, human tissues and medical records and experimental animals. BOMJ takes Issues of research misconduct seriously and are handled according to COPE principles (Available at: https://publicationethics.org/misconduct). Evidence of ethical approval from the appropriate authority must be sent with the manuscript as an attachment. BOMJ urges authors to adhere to best practices in their publications (http://publicationethics.org).

Reprints

These are not free and will be sent to the author (s) on request. Reprint may be ordered by the author(s).

Advertisement

At very modest rates, we offer a wide range of advertising services including major products advert, classified adverts, announcements, vacancies e.t.c and a directory for the supplier/services. All enquiries for advert should be made to the Editor-in-Chie