​​The Editorial Process

The Eastern Heartland Journal of Medicine is committed to a fair, transparent, and efficient review system. Our editorial process follows international best practice (COPE, ICMJE) and is designed to support both scientific rigor and constructive engagement with authors.

• Principles and Governance
  • Editorial independence is maintained at all times.
  • Decisions are based on quality, relevance, and integrity, not commercial or personal interests.
  • Editors adhere to COPE and ICMJE recommendations.
• Submission and Initial Checks
  • Submissions are screened for scope, completeness, and compliance with ethical and reporting standards.
  • Trial registration numbers must be included in abstracts where applicable.
  • Data and code should be made available whenever possible.
• Editorial Assessment
  • A Senior Editor or the Editor in Chief evaluates all manuscripts.
  • Suitable papers are assigned to an Academic Editor with subject expertise.
  • Editors may decline with feedback at this stage if the work is clearly unsuitable.
• Peer Review Model
  • Default: Double anonymized review (authors and reviewers remain anonymous).
  • Reviewers may sign their reports if they wish.
• Reviewer Selection and Expectations
  • At least two independent expert reviewers are invited.
  • Reviewers are asked to provide constructive, evidence-based feedback within two weeks.
  • Conflicts of interest are carefully managed.
• Editorial Decisions
  • Decisions include: accept, minor revision, major revision, or reject.
  • Clear reasons are provided for all outcomes.
• Revisions
  • Authors submit a detailed response to each reviewer comment.
  • Revised manuscripts may be returned to reviewers at the editor’s discretion.
• Appeals and Complaints
  • Appeals must be supported by a reasoned letter.
  • Appeals are reviewed by a senior editor not involved in the first decision.
  • Concerns about published work or editorial conduct are addressed in line with COPE flowcharts.
• Research Integrity
  • Issues such as plagiarism, data fabrication, image manipulation, or undisclosed conflicts are investigated thoroughly.
  • Where necessary, institutions and funders are contacted.
• Authorship and Contributorship
  • Authorship must meet ICMJE criteria.
  • A CRediT contributorship statement is required.
• Conflicts of Interest and Funding
  • All financial and non-financial relationships must be declared by authors, editors, and reviewers.
• Editors as Authors
  • Submissions from editors or board members are handled independently.
  • The submitting editor has no role in the decision-making process.
• Data, Materials, and Code
  • Authors are encouraged to deposit data and code in trusted repositories.
  • Editors may request access during review.
• Reporting Standards and Registration
  • Authors should follow discipline-appropriate reporting guidelines.
  • Clinical trials must be registered before enrollment.
• Open Research Options
  • Preprints are permitted if disclosed at submission.
  • Authors may choose to publish peer review history alongside the article.
• Artificial Intelligence Tools
  • Any use of AI tools must be disclosed with a clear description of their role.
• Production and Publication
  • Accepted manuscripts move through copyediting, typesetting, proofing, and publication.
  • Metadata include contributions, funding, conflicts, ethics approvals, and data availability.
  • Authors are kept informed throughout the process.

Authorship Criteria

Eligibility as an Author

Eastern Heartland Journal of Medicine follows the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) for eligibility to be considered as an author for submitted papers. The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following four (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.

Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship. General supervision of the research group is not sufficient for authorship. Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content of the manuscript. The order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor towards the study and writing of the manuscript. Once submitted, the order cannot be changed without the written consent of all the contributors. Authors should ensure compliance with the above guidelines, as manuscripts considered to have a gift or unjustified authorships will be rejected.

Contributors should describe contributions made by each of them towards the manuscript. The description should be divided into the following categories, as applicable: concept, design, the definition of intellectual content, literature search, clinical studies, experimental studies, data acquisition, data analysis, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, manuscript editing, and manuscript review. One or more authors should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole from inception to published article and should be designated as “guarantors”.

Conflicts of Interest/Competing Interests

All authors must disclose all conflicts of interest they may have with the publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or is important to the outcome of the study presented. Authors should also disclose conflicts of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript.

Informed Consent, Human and Animal Rights Policy

Research manuscripts submitted for publication must be approved by an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board. Compliance with ethical considerations such as informed consent and respect for privacy must be ensured in the conduct of research and presentation of materials for publications, including images related to individual participants. Research involving human subjects, human material, or human data must have been performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS) bioethics policies, and other relevant national regulations. In the conduct of research involving animals, authors must also fulfil institutional, national, or international guidelines and codes. The editor may reject and/or contact the author(s)’ ethics committee if there was suspicion of any work that was not carried out within an appropriate ethical framework.

Submission of Manuscripts

All manuscripts must be submitted online through the website. First-time users will have to register at this site. Registration is free but mandatory. The submitted manuscripts that are not as per the "Instructions to Authors" would be returned to the authors for technical correction before they undergo editorial/peer review. Generally, the manuscript should be submitted in the form of three separate files and other supplementary materials (e.g., images, etc.):

Title Page/First Page File/Covering Letter

This file should provide:

• The type of manuscript (original article, case report, review article, Letter to editor, Images, etc.), title of the manuscript, running title-fired, names of all authors/contributors (with their highest academic degrees, designation, and affiliations) and name(s) of the department(s) and/or institution(s) to which the work should be credited. All information that can reveal your identity should be here. Use text/RTF/doc files. Do not zip the files.
• The total number of pages, the total number of photographs, and word counts separately for the abstract and for the text (excluding the references, tables, and abstract), word counts for introduction and discussion in case of an original article.
• Source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or all of these.
• Acknowledgement, if any. One or more statements should specify 1) contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, such as general support by a departmental chair, acknowledgements of technical help, and acknowledgements of financial and material support, which should specify the nature of the support. This should be included in the title page of the manuscript and not in the main article file.
• If the manuscript was presented as part of a meeting, the organization, place, and exact date on which it was read. A full statement to the editor about all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as redundant publications of the same or very similar work. Any such work should be referred to specifically and referenced in the new paper. Copies of such material should be included with the submitted paper to help the editor decide how to handle the matter.
• Registration number in case of a clinical trial and where it is registered (name of the registry and its URL). In the case of a systematic review, the evidence of protocol registration stating the name of the registry, the URL, and the number where appropriate.
• Conflicts of Interest of each author/contributor. A statement of financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest, if that information is not included in the manuscript itself or an author's form.
• Criteria for inclusion in the authors’/contributors’ list.
• A statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, that the requirements for authorship as stated earlier in this document have been met, and that each author believes that the manuscript represents honest work if that information is not provided in another form.
• The name, address, e-mail, and telephone number of the corresponding author, who is responsible for communicating with the other authors about revisions and final approval of the proofs if that information is not included in the manuscript itself.

Blinded Article File

The main text of the article, beginning from Abstract till References (including tables) should be in this file. The file must not contain any mention of the authors' names or initials or the institution at which the study was done, or acknowledgements. Page headers/running titles can include the title but not the authors' names. Manuscripts not in compliance with the Journal's blinding policy will be returned to the corresponding author. Use RTF/doc files. Do not zip the files. Limit the file size to 1 MB. The pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the first page of the blinded article file.

Non-Blinded Article File

With the full contents inclusive of names and institutions at which the study was done or acknowledgements.

Images

Submit good-quality colour images. Each image should be less than 4 MB in size. The size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep it up to 1800 x 1200 pixels or 5-6 inches). Images can be submitted as jpeg files. Do not zip the files. Legends for the figures/images should be included at the end of the article file.

Referencing Guide

The Eastern Heartland Journal of Medicine follows the Vancouver style of referencing. It is a numbered referencing style commonly used in medicine and science and consists of: citations to someone else's work in the text, indicated by the use of a number and a sequentially numbered reference list at the end of the document providing full details of the corresponding in-text reference. It follows the guidelines provided in the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text (not in alphabetic order). Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in superscript after the punctuation marks. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered following the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of cited references, and these should be checked before the manuscript is submitted. The Journal names should be abbreviated according to the style used in the Index Medicus. Use the complete name of the journal for non-indexed journals.

Articles published as abstracts only should not be used as references; Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as "unpublished observations" with written permission from the source and should not be in the reference list. Avoid citing a "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text.

All references must be verified by the author(s) against the original documents. List all authors when six or fewer; when seven or more, list only the first six and add et al. Examples of correct forms of references are given below:

Example References

Journals

Standard journal article (for up to six authors): Parija S C, Ravinder PT, Shariff M. Detection of hydatid antigen in the fluid samples from hydatid cysts by co-agglutination. Trans. R.Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg.1996; 90:255–256.

Standard journal article (for more than six authors): Roddy P, Goiri J, Flevaud L, Palma PP, Morote S, Lima N. et al., Field Evaluation of a Rapid Immunochromatographic Assay for Detection of Trypanosoma cruzi Infection by Use of Whole Blood. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2008; 46: 2022-2027.

Books and Other Monographs

Personal Author(s): Goodman NW, Edwards MB. 2014. Medical Writing: A Prescription for Clarity. 4th Edition. Cambridge University Press.

Chapter in Book: McFarland D, Holland JC. Distress, adjustments, and anxiety disorders. In: Watson M, Kissane D, Editors. Management of clinical depression and anxiety. Oxford University Press; 2017: 1-22.

Corporate Author: World Health Organization, Geneva. 2019. WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation. Report on the scientific basis of tobacco product regulation: seventh report of a WHO study group. WHO Technical Report Series, No. 1015.

Institute for Public Health. National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2017: Adolescent Health Survey 2017. Jaraban: Institute for Public Health, Ministry of Health Jaraban; 2017.

Agency Publication: National Care for Health Statistics. Acute conditions: incidence and associated disability, United States, July 1968 - June 1969. Rockville, Me: National Centre for Health Statistics, 1972. (Vital and health statistics). Series 10: data from the National Health Survey, No 69). (DHEW Publication No (HSM) 72 - 1036).

Online Articles

Webpage: Ministry of Health and Population Eberia. Press Release: Status of preparedness and response by the ministry of health in and event of an outbreak of Ebola in Eberia 2014 [cited Dec 2014]. Available from: http://www.moh.gov.my/english.php/database_stores/store_view_page/21/437.

Kaos J. 40°C threshold for 'heatwave emergency' Jalabad: The Star Nalaysia; [updated 18 March 2016, cited March 2016]. Available from: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/03/18/heatwave-emergency-threshold/.

Other Articles

Newspaper Article: Panirchellvum V. 'No outdoor activities if weather too hot'. the Sun. 2016; March 18: 9(col. 1-3).

Magazine Article: Thirunavukarasu R. Survey - Landscape of GP services and health economics in Yerian. Securitas MMA. 2016; March: 20-1.

Tables and Illustrations

Roman numerals should be used for numbering tables (e.g., Table I, Table II, Table III). Arabic numerals should be used when numbering illustrations and diagrams (e.g., Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3). Illustrations and tables should be kept to a minimum.

All tables, illustrations, and diagrams should be fully labelled so that each is comprehensible without reference to the text. All measurements should be reported using the metric system.

Tables

Tables should be self-explanatory and should not duplicate textual material. Tables with more than 10 columns and 25 rows are not acceptable.

• Number tables, in Arabic numerals, consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each.
• Place explanatory matter in the footnotes, not in the heading.
• Explain in the footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table.
• Obtain permission for all fully borrowed, adapted, and modified tables and provide a credit line in the footnote.
• For footnotes, use the following symbols in this sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, **, ††, ‡‡
• Tables with their legends should be provided at the end of the text after the references. The tables, along with their number, should be cited at the relevant place in the text.

Photographs of Patients

Proof of permission and/or consent from the patient or legal guardian must be submitted with the manuscript. A statement on this must be included as a footnote to the relevant photograph.

Illustrations (Figures)

Upload the images in JPEG format. The file size should be within 4 MB in size while uploading. Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text.

• Labels, numbers, and symbols should be clear and of uniform size. The lettering for figures should be large enough to be legible after reduction to fit the width of a printed column.
• Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background and should be marked neatly with transfer type or by tissue overlay and not by pen.
• Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends for illustrations not on the illustrations themselves.
• When graphs, scattergrams, or histograms are submitted, the numerical data on which they are based should also be supplied.
• The photographs and figures should be trimmed to remove all the unwanted areas.
• If photographs of individuals are used, their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph.
• If a figure has been published elsewhere, acknowledge the source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. A credit line should appear in the legend for such figures.
• Legends for illustrations: Type or print out legends (maximum 40 words, excluding the credit line) for illustrations using double spacing, with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations. When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, identify and explain each one in the legend. Explain the internal scale (magnification) and identify the method of staining in photomicrographs.
• Final figures for print production: If the uploaded images are not printable quality, the publisher’s office may request higher resolution images which can be sent at the time of acceptance of the manuscript. Send sharp, glossy, un-mounted, colour photographic prints with a height of 4 inches and width of 6 inches at the time of submitting the revised manuscript.
• The Journal reserves the right to crop, rotate, reduce, or enlarge the photographs to an acceptable size.

Protection of Patients' Rights to Privacy

Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, sonograms, CT scans, etc., and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian, wherever applicable) gives informed consent for publication. Authors should remove patients' names from figures unless they have obtained informed consent from the patients. The journal abides by ICMJE guidelines:

• Authors, not the journals nor the publisher, need to obtain the patient consent form before the publication and have the form properly archived. The consent forms are not to be uploaded with the cover letter or sent through email to editorial or publisher offices.
• If the manuscript contains patient images that preclude anonymity or a description that has an obvious indication of the identity of the patient, a statement about obtaining informed patient consent should be indicated in the manuscript.

Abbreviations

Use only standard abbreviations. The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the abstract, article text, tables, and figures unless it is a standard unit of measurement. Abbreviations shall not be used in the Title. Abbreviations should be kept to a minimum.

Formatting of Text

Numbers one to ten in the text are written out in words unless they are used as a unit of measurement, except in tables and figures. Use single hard returns to separate paragraphs. Do not use tabs or indents to start a paragraph. Do not use the automated formatting of your software, such as hyphenation, endnotes, headers, or footers (especially for references). Submit the Manuscript in plain text only, and remove all 'field codes' before submission. Do not include line numbers. Include only the page number.

Sending a Revised Manuscript

The revised version of the manuscript should be submitted online like that used for submission of the manuscript for the first time. However, there is no need to submit the "First Page" or "Covering Letter" file while submitting a revised version. When submitting a revised manuscript, contributors are requested to include the 'referees' remarks along with point-to-point clarification at the beginning of the revised file itself. In addition, they are expected to mark the changes as underlined or coloured text in the article.