Author Guidelines

The Journal of Medical Sciences (JOMS) is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by Sebha University, Libya. It publishes original work in all fields of the medical and health sciences, in English or Arabic, from authors worldwide. There are no submission or publication fees. Authors retain copyright, and all articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence. Please read these guidelines carefully before preparing your manuscript; submissions that do not follow them will be returned to the authors before review.

1. Article types

Article type Main text (words) Abstract References Tables + figures
Original Research Article up to 5,000 structured, up to 250 words up to 50 up to 8
Review Article up to 7,000 unstructured, up to 250 words up to 100 up to 8
Short Communication up to 2,500 unstructured, up to 150 words up to 20 up to 3
Case Report up to 2,000 unstructured, up to 150 words up to 15 up to 4
Methodology Paper up to 4,000 structured, up to 250 words up to 40 up to 6

Word counts exclude the title page, abstract, references, tables and figure legends. Editorials and commentaries are by invitation.

2. Language

  • Manuscripts may be written in English or Arabic.
  • For English manuscripts, American or British spelling is acceptable, but not a mixture of the two.
  • Arabic manuscripts must include an English title, English abstract and English keywords. References must be given in Roman script; Arabic sources should be transliterated, with the English translation of the title in square brackets.
  • Authors whose first language is not the language of the manuscript are encouraged to have it edited before submission. Language editing is optional and does not affect editorial decisions.

3. Manuscript templates

Please prepare your manuscript using the journal template: English template (.docx) · Arabic template (.docx).

4. Files to submit

JOMS uses double-blind peer review. Please submit the following as separate files:

  1. Title page, containing all identifying information (see Section 5).
  2. Anonymised manuscript (.docx), with no author names, affiliations, acknowledgements, funding details or identifying self-citations, and with author details removed from the file properties.
  3. Figures, as separate high-resolution files.
  4. Cover letter, explaining the importance of the work and confirming that it is not under consideration elsewhere.
  5. Supplementary files, if any, such as a completed reporting checklist (CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA, CARE, etc.).

5. Title page

  • Full title (concise, specific, without abbreviations) and a short running title (up to 50 characters).
  • Full names of all authors, with each author's department, institution, city and country.
  • Corresponding author: name, full postal address and institutional e-mail address.
  • ORCID iD of every author (required for the corresponding author).
  • Acknowledgements.
  • All declarations listed in Section 8.

6. Structure of the manuscript

Title. Repeat the full title at the top of the anonymised manuscript.

Abstract. Original Research Articles and Methodology Papers require a structured abstract with the headings Background, Methods, Results and Conclusions. The abstract must be self-contained, contain no references, and report the main numerical results.

Keywords. Three to six keywords, preferably from Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).

Introduction. The background to the study, the gap in current knowledge, and a clear statement of the aim or hypothesis in the final paragraph.

Materials and Methods. Sufficient detail to allow the work to be repeated, including study design, setting and period, participants or samples, inclusion and exclusion criteria, sample size calculation, procedures, and the name of the manufacturer (with city and country) of key reagents and equipment. State the ethics approval and consent here (Section 8). End with a Statistical analysis subsection naming the tests and the software with its version, and the significance level used.

Results. Present the findings in logical order without interpretation. Do not repeat in the text all the data shown in tables and figures. Report exact p values (e.g. p = 0.032; p < 0.001) and, where appropriate, 95% confidence intervals.

Discussion. Interpret the main findings, compare them with previous studies, and explain their implications. Include a paragraph on the strengths and limitations of the study.

Conclusions. A short statement of the main conclusions, supported by the results.

References, Tables and Figure legends follow, in that order.

Review Articles may use descriptive headings in place of Methods and Results, but should describe how the literature was searched and selected. Case Reports should follow the CARE guidelines, with the headings Introduction, Case Presentation, Discussion and Conclusions.

7. Style and format

  • Use the journal template. Number all pages and use continuous line numbering.
  • Define abbreviations at first use in the abstract and again in the main text.
  • Use SI units. Give generic names of drugs. Write scientific names of organisms in italics, in full at first mention (Staphylococcus aureus) and abbreviated thereafter (S. aureus).
  • Tables must be editable (created with the table tool, not inserted as images), numbered consecutively, cited in the text, and given a title above and explanatory notes below.
  • Figures must be numbered consecutively and cited in the text. Submit them as TIFF, JPEG or PNG at a minimum of 300 dpi (600 dpi for line art). Figure legends go at the end of the manuscript. Patient-identifying features must be removed.
  • Third-party material: figures, tables or text reproduced from other sources require written permission from the copyright holder, and the source must be cited in the legend. Because JOMS articles are published under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, the permission should allow reuse under that licence; otherwise, state in the legend that the item is excluded from the article's licence.

8. Required declarations

The following statements must appear on the title page, and again at the end of the manuscript after acceptance:

  • Author contributions, using the CRediT taxonomy. See the Authorship and Contributorship policy.
  • Funding: each funder and grant number, or "This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors."
  • Conflicts of interest: all relevant interests, or "The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest." See the Conflicts of Interest and Funding Disclosure policy.
  • Ethics approval and consent: the name of the ethics committee, the approval number and date, and how informed consent was obtained; or a statement that approval was not required, with the reason. See the Research Ethics policy.
  • Data availability: where the data can be accessed. See the Data Availability policy.
  • Use of generative AI: any use of AI tools beyond grammar and spelling correction, naming the tool and describing its use. See the AI Policy.

9. References

JOMS uses the Vancouver (NLM) reference style, in line with the ICMJE Recommendations and the NLM's Citing Medicine.

  • Number references consecutively in the order in which they are first cited in the text.
  • Cite them in the text with Arabic numerals in square brackets, before the full stop: [1], [2,3], [4-6].
  • List the first six authors, followed by et al. when there are more than six.
  • Abbreviate journal titles according to the NLM Catalog.
  • Include the DOI for every reference that has one.
  • Check every reference against PubMed or the original publication. Unverifiable references will be queried.

Journal article
1. Mohammed AA. Retrospective descriptive study of postpartum hemorrhage at Central Sebha Hospital, Libya, 2004–2006. J Med Sci (Sebha). 2026;21(2):1-4. doi:10.51984/0n7rw506

Journal article with more than six authors
2. Author AA, Author BB, Author CC, Author DD, Author EE, Author FF, et al. Title of article. Abbreviated Journal Title. Year;Volume(Issue):Pages. doi:10.xxxx/xxxxx

Book
3. Kumar V, Abbas AK, Aster JC. Robbins and Cotran pathologic basis of disease. 10th ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier; 2020.

Book chapter
4. Author AA, Author BB. Title of chapter. In: Editor AA, Editor BB, editors. Title of book. Edition. City: Publisher; Year. p. xx-xx.

Website or report
5. World Health Organization. Title of webpage or report [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; Year [cited Year Mon Day]. Available from: URL

Reference in Arabic
6. Author AA, Author BB. Transliterated title [English translation of the title]. Abbreviated Journal Title. Year;Volume(Issue):Pages. Arabic.

10. Research and publication ethics

Submission implies that the work is original, has not been published before and is not under consideration elsewhere, and that all authors have approved it. All submissions are screened with Turnitin. Please read the journal's Policies before submitting, in particular the Publication Ethics, Plagiarism and Peer Review policies.

11. After acceptance

12. Submission checklist

Before submitting, please confirm that:

  • the manuscript has not been published before and is not under consideration by another journal (or an explanation is given in the cover letter);
  • the manuscript is prepared in the JOMS template, in Microsoft Word format, and follows these guidelines;
  • the manuscript file is fully anonymised, and the title page is uploaded as a separate file;
  • all authors meet the authorship criteria and have approved the submission;
  • the ORCID iD of the corresponding author is provided;
  • references follow the Vancouver (NLM) style and include DOIs where available;
  • all required declarations (Section 8) are included;
  • figures are uploaded as separate files of at least 300 dpi, and tables are editable;
  • permission has been obtained for any reproduced material;
  • all authors agree to publication under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.

Submit your manuscript