Manuscripts submitted must be based on original work and not have been published, submitted or accepted for publication elsewhere. The Journal accepts the following kind of manuscripts:

	Original Studies
	Case Reports
	Reviews (by invitation from the Editorial Board, or papers received of exceptional merit)
	Editorials (by invitation from the Editorial Board, or papers received of exceptional merit)
	Book reviews
	Interesting Medical Images
	Letters to the Editor

Copyright of the accepted manuscripts will transfer from the authors to the Journal.

Journal Language
The Journal publishes papers in English, with title, author names and abstracts in Arabic and English. Where none of the authors are Arabic speaking, an abstract translation service is provided. British English spelling and punctuation are used.

Preparing the Manuscript
Manuscripts should be produced to fit A4 paper, with approximately 3-cm margin on all sides. The length should not exceed 30 pages (double spaced and single sided), less for case reports and book reviews. Use the Times New Roman font, 12 point in Microsoft Word. Word processed text should preferably be in Rich-Text Format (RTF).
Use minimum formatting, since most formatting will be removed before typesetting. Restrict formatting to superscripts and subscripts and what is absolutely essential to reveal various heading levels. Use true superscripts and subscripts and not “raised/lowered” characters. For symbols, use the standard “Symbol” fonts on Windows or Macintosh. Using strange symbol fonts may give unpredictable results while printing, even if the fonts are supplied by the author

Soft Copies
Submit one soft copy of the manuscript as an email attachment. It should contain the text of the paper, graphs and charts if any and, wherever possible, photographs and drawings. The label of the diskette (or CD ROM) should mention the title of the paper, the author(s) and the date.

Covering Letter
All manuscripts must be accompanied by a covering letter, signed by all the authors. See the end of this Guidelines for a form of covering letter. The letter can be scanned and sent as an email attachment.

Title Page
This must contain only (a) the title of the paper, (b) the full names of all the authors, and (c) their affiliations and addresses, including the email address of the corresponding author. The email address is vital to facilitate effective communication. Original studies should also include on this page the name and address of the institution and department where the research was performed, as well as the period of the research and source of funding.

Abstract
As the most widely read part of a paper, the abstract demands meticulous attention from the author. Editorial manuscripts, Letters to the Editor, Book Reviews and Interesting Medical Images do not need an abstract. Abstracts of Clinical & Basic Research papers should be clearly divided into four Sections: Objectives, Methods, Results and Conclusion. Review articles and Case Reports should have a narrative abstract in a single paragraph. Abstracts must be as brief as possible, not exceeding 250 words. It is the authors’ responsibility to submit abstracts in both Arabic and English. If none of the authors is Arabic speaking, a translation service is provided by the Journal.

Keywords
Below the Abstract, provide three to ten key words for indexing purposes, as far as possible using words from the heading list of Index Medicus. To obtain these access the PubMed site (www.pubmed.gov) and in the PubMed Services section select the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) Database and then the MeSH browser.

Style
The modern trend to simplify has also affected scientific writing. Avoid long sentences, jargon and clichés. When tempted to use a difficult word or complex sentence, see if it can be replaced by simpler one. Always write for the generalist, rather than the specialist.

Sections

		Original Studies The manuscript should be divided into the following 7 major sections: 1)Advances in Knowledge (how the paper contributes to this, max. 250 words); 2)Application to Patient Care (how the paper contributes to this, max. 250 words) 3)Introduction, 4)Methods, 5)Results, 6)Discussion and 7)Conclusion. The Methods section should include sufficient details of method and equipment so that another individual could repeat the work. Clearly mention the period of research and the institution where it was conducted. Papers covering research on human or animal subjects should contain a statement, in the Methods section, indicating patient permission and clearance by the institute research or ethics committee or animal experimentation committee.
		Reviews The above sections are not necessary for these kinds of manuscripts. They should have a sequence of logical sections related to their content and purpose.
		Editorial The above sections are not necessary for these kinds of manuscripts. They should have a sequence of logical sections related to their content and purpose.
		Case Reports These should have the following four sections: Introduction, Case Report, Discussion, Conclusion
		Book reviews The following sections are required: Title and publishing data; Author information; Background to the book; Overview of contents; Likely readership; Appropriateness of content to target readership; Comprehensiveness of the content; Organization of the content; General comments on quality of content and production.
		Interesting Medical Images These need a brief Introduction to the image/s and a detailed Caption for each one, followed by a Comment section of maximum 250 words.

Abbreviations & System of Units
Since abbreviations tend to make the text difficult to read, avoid them except when essential. In the Abstract, avoid all but the most standard abbreviations. In the text, define each abbreviation when first used, eg. Coronary artery disease (CAD) and thereafter use the abbreviation alone without further explanation. Avoid beginning sentences with abbreviations. Abbreviations must be expanded in titles, subtitles and captions.

Use abbreviations, rather than words, for units and percentages. (e.g., km, mm, kg, l, ml, % etc). SI units are used in this Journal. The corresponding units may be included in parentheses.

Citation and references
Details already available in the literature should not be included in the manuscript, but numbered sequentially in the manuscript, for example: “The Omani Ministry of Health has prioritized eye care in its next 5 year plan“.2, 3 The reference number must be in superscript after a comma or full stop. In the Reference section, list all the references in numerical order.  Within a reference list all authors up to a maximum of six. If there are more than 6 authors then write “et al.” after the sixth author. The Journal uses a variation of the Index Medicus style of referencing. Please adopt the exact style as shown in the examples below, including punctuation and abbreviations of journal names, which should be as per Index Medicus (see Journals Database section in PubMed)

Review Process
The Editorial Office of the Journal checks each submitted manuscript for general quality, suitability and whether it conforms to the accepted format. If found prima facie acceptable, the manuscript will be sent out for review, typically to 2 reviewers. Substantial delays can be avoided if authors comply with these guidelines. Comments and suggestions from the reviewers are conveyed to the authors. The amended manuscripts resubmitted by the authors may once again be subjected to expert review, if necessary. The final decision as to acceptance or rejection lies with the Editor-in-Chief, with advice from the SQUMJ Editorial Board and the University Academic Publications Board.

Editing
Papers selected for publication are edited by the Editorial Office of the Journal for brevity, clarity, grammar, spelling and style. When the editing is extensive, with consequent danger of altered meanings, the manuscript is returned to the author for approval.

Proofs and Reprints
One set of galley proofs will be provided to the corresponding author, in the form of a portable document file (PDF), for typographical checking only. It should be returned within 48 hours of receipt.

The corresponding author will be provided with one copy of the issue per author of the manuscript. Since high quality PDF reprints are downloadable from the web site of the Journal, physical reprints will not be issued.

CHECKLIST FOR AUTHORS
•  Cover letter signed by all authors included?
•  Active e-mail address provided?
•  Abstract is max 250 words and has all 4 required sections?
•  Key words included?
•  Manuscript conforms to the Journal’s style and number of sections?
•  Arabic translations of title, author-names and abstract provided? (essential if one authors is Arabic speaking, but can be provided later)
•  References in the Journal’s exact style?
•  Tables, drawings, charts and photographs separate from the text and in editable format?
•  Softcopy included/emailed?
•  Have all sources been acknowledged and copyright issues resolved?

(For any clarification on the above, please e-mail mjournal@squ.edu.om or ring (+968) 2414 3457)

FORM OF COVER LETTER

The Editor-in-Chief,
SQU Medical Journal
College of Medicine & Health Sciences
Sultan Qaboos University
Post Box 35, Postal Code 123
Al-Khod
Sultanate of Oman.

Date……………………….
Dear Sir

Please find enclosed my/our paper titled …………………………. Please consider it for publication in the Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal.

I/we certify that this paper has neither been published, nor has been submitted for publication elsewhere and will not be submitted for publication elsewhere without written permission from you. Upon acceptance of this manuscript the copyright will transfer to SQUMJ.

Yours faithfully,

1st author: Name
Organisation:
Contribution to this work:
Signature:

PLEASE PROVIDE THE SAME INFORMATION FOR EACH CO-AUTHOR

Address of Corresponding Author....................................................................
E-mail address for correspondence..................................................................