Instructions for Authors
The West Indian Medical Journal is in an advanced stage of recovery from the impact of COVID-19 and will be accepting new manuscripts very soon. We thank you for your support.
The Instructions for Authors are being revised and will be published soon.
West Indian Medical Journal is international in scope, with author and editorial contributions from across the globe. The focus is on clinical and epidemiological aspects of tropical and infectious diseases, new and re-emerging infections, chronic non-communicable diseases and medical conditions prevalent in the Latin America-Caribbean region, and of significance to global health, especially in developing countries. The Journal covers all medical disciplines, as well as basic and translational research elucidating the pathophysiologic basis of diseases or focussing on new therapeutic approaches. The Journal publishes original scientific research, reviews, brief communications, commentaries, viewpoints, proceedings of clincopathological conferences, continuing medical education sections, dental forum, case reports, and letters. Unless expressly stated, the Editorial Board does not accept responsibility for authors’ opinions.
All papers on submission are reviewed by a subcommittee. Those deemed worthy for review are sent to two or three reviewers (one of the three might be a statistician if necessary). The returned papers with reviewer comments are reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief. Papers may be rejected, accepted or sent back to authors for revision. Resubmitted papers from authors are reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief and may be sent back to reviewers or a final decision made by Editor-in-Chief. The decision of the Editorial Board is final with regards to rejected articles. Rejected articles will not be returned to the authors. The editorial subcommittee has the right to return sub-standard manuscripts to the authors, rather than passing them on to the reviewers. This implies outright rejection of the manuscript.
In 2013, the Journal transitioned to online-only and hard copies are no longer printed.
Open Access
West Indian Medical Journal is now an open access journal (2018). Please visit our About page for more information.
Procedures of submitting a manuscript
A non-refundable processing fee of US$60.00 per manuscript is required for consideration of publication in the West Indian Medical Journal. Payment may be made by cash, cheque or credit card at our office or online by clicking here.
Ensure that your manuscript complies with the formatting requirements and instructions below.
Submit your manuscript and proof of payment directly to wimj@uwimona.edu.jm. Please note that any manuscripts that are not in compliance will be returned.
Authors are asked to provide the names of a maximum of three reviewers. When submitting your manuscript, please send their names, email addresses, affiliations and area(s) of specialty. The Journal reserves the sole and final right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers will review your manuscript.
Authors’ professional and ethical responsibilities
Authorship
Only those persons who contributed directly to the intellectual content of the paper should be cited as authors. They should meet all of the following criteria:
(a) conceived and planned the work that led to the paper or interpreted the evidence it presents, or both;
(b) wrote the paper or reviewed successive versions and took part in the revision process;
(c) approved the final version.
Authors submitting papers for publication must confirm and disclose which of the authors meet each or all the above criteria.
Conflict of interest
Disclosure must be made of any financial or personal interests or other dual commitments or competing interests that represent, or are perceived to represent, actual or potential conflicts of interest for any of the authors that might bias or be seen to bias their work. The Journal reserves the right not to publish (or if published, withdraw) an article on the grounds of any actual or potential conflict of interest.
Informed consent
Actual or potentially identifying information or facial/body features should not be included in the manuscript, whether in the form of text, images, figures or photographs, unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and unless the patient (or parent or legal guardian) has provided written informed consent for publication. In case of doubt, informed consent should be obtained. The Journal reserves the right not to publish (or if published, withdraw) an article on the grounds that informed consent has not been obtained.
Ethical responsibilities
The Methods section in the manuscript must include a statement confirming review of the study by the appropriate local Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board and indicating that material relating to human investigations and animal experiments conforms to standards currently applied in the country where the study is based. (If no formal ethics committee is available, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the WMA Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects.) Where appropriate, this statement should also indicate the procedure used to ensure adherence to ethical guidelines on informed consent and should affirm that such consent was obtained. (See above on Informed Consent.) Evidence of such consent must be submitted with the manuscript. The Journal reserves the right not to publish (or if published, withdraw) an article on the grounds that ethical or experimental standards have not been reached and/or informed consent has not been obtained.
Corrections, retractions and editorial expressions of concern
Cases requiring corrections, retractions or editorial expressions of concern will be brought to the attention of the editorial sub-committee chaired by the Editor-in-Chief and communicated with the authors. Further changes are reviewed by members of the editorial sub-committee or the respective peer reviewers before a final decision is made.
Cover letter
Each manuscript must be accompanied by a cover letter which includes:
statements concerning authorship and informed consents (see above);
disclosure of interest (see above);
confirmation that the contents of the manuscript have not been published or are not being submitted for publication elsewhere;
confirmation that the contents of the manuscript are original and that there is no plagiarism;
the full name (surname in capital letters), full mailing address, telephone number, fax number and email address of the author responsible for correspondence on the paper (unless otherwise requested by the corresponding author, his or her fax number and/or email address will be published); and
the full names (surnames in capital letters) and signatures of all authors.
Click sample cover letters below:
Cover letter 1
Cover letter 2
Acceptance
All manuscripts reaching the office of the Editor will be acknowledged, and at the conclusion of the review procedure, the author(s) will be notified of acceptance, rejection or the need for revision of the paper. The decision of the editorial board is final with regards to rejected articles. Rejected articles will not be returned to the authors. The editorial-subcommittee has the right to return sub-standard manuscripts to the authors, rather than passing them on to the reviewers. This implies outright rejection of the manuscript.
Copyright
Authors of papers accepted for publication in West Indian Medical Journal must agree to transfer copyright to the Faculties of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, publishers of the Journal.
Assembling and submitting the manuscript
Manuscript format and style
Manuscripts should be arranged as follows: title page, abstract, text, acknowledgements, list of references. Each component should begin on a separate page and all pages should be numbered sequentially starting with the title page. Figures and tables, if included, should be inserted into the manuscript wherever they are first mentioned. Authors are urged to seek guidance on grammar, punctuation and scientific writing.
Manuscripts should not exceed 12 typed pages (including abstracts and references) and be double spaced throughout with left and right margins of 2.5 cm.
Text should be typed, using Times New Roman at 12 font. The manuscript must be submitted in Microsoft Word via e-mail to the following address: wimj@uwimona.edu.jm.
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https://www.mona.uwi.edu/fms/wimj/instructions-authors
