Articles shall be received in English and will only be published in English.
Each manuscript must have a single corresponding author who is accountable for the research and reporting. He/She assumes primary responsibility for communication with MEJA during the manuscript submission, peer review and publication process, and ensures that all journal's policies and administrative requirements, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration, and the gathering conflict of interest forms, are properly completed. Upon submission, the corresponding author is required to attest to the validity and legitimacy of the data and interpretation, on behalf of all authors (who are also responsible for the validity and legitimacy of the data and interpretation). The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all authors meet the criteria for authorship, have reviewed and approved the manuscript and have completed the conflict of interest disclosures. The corresponding author must also be available after publication to respond to critiques of the work and to cooperate with any requests from the journal for data or additional information should questions about the manuscript arise after publication.
Each author must disclose all potential conflicts of interest based on the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Conflicts of interest and/or sponsorship/funding sources must be stated on the title page of the submitted manuscript. Authors must disclose commercial associations that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the work submitted. Consultancies, equity interests, or patent licensing arrangements should also be noted at submission. Click here.
Each author must complete and submit the journal's copyright transfer agreement prior to publishing of the manuscript. Click here.
At submission, please disclose any applicable funding sources that require open access publication.
Scientific misconduct include falsification of data, plagiarism, improper designations of authorship, duplicate publication, misappropriation of others' research, failure to disclose conflict(s) of interest, and failure to comply with applicable legislative or regulatory requirements. In general, MEJA follows the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) when working to address allegations of misconduct. Involved parties generally will be contacted to provide an explanation of the situation. As needed, MEJA may also contact the institution at which the study was conducted and any other involved journals. At the end of investigation, the Editor-in-Chief will respond with an appropriate action.
Human experimentation must conform to ethical standards and be approved by the appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB). A statement concerning IRB approval and consent procedures must appear at the beginning of the Methods section of submitted manuscripts. On occasion, the Editor-in-Chief may request a copy of the approved IRB application from the corresponding author.
Experimental work on animals must conform to the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, which is available from the National Academy of Science. Adherence to all relevant regulations and/or approval of the appropriate institutional animal care committee or governmental licensure of the investigator and/or laboratory must be obtained. A statement concerning such approval must be included at the beginning of the Methods section of the submitted manuscript.
All manuscripts should be submitted via the journal's e-mail address (meja@aub.edu.lb). Manuscripts that do not satisfy minimum submission requirements will be returned to authors for correction. All submissions require a title page. Manuscripts must be double-spaced with wide margins (1.5 inches or 3.8cm for all margins). Fonts should be 10 point or larger. Number pages consecutively at the upper right corner. Numbers should start with the title page. Manuscripts may be submitted as a single Word document file, including title page, references, figure legends, figures, and tables.
A. Cover Letter
All submissions must be accompanied by a cover letter, signed by all authors and stating that:
- All authors have contributed intellectually to the manuscript and the manuscript has been read and approved by all authors
- The manuscript has not been published previously in total or in part, is not accepted for publication or under consideration by another journal
B. Title page
All submissions require a title page with the following information on the first page(s) of the manuscript file:
1. Article title (concise and informative with no abbreviations);
2. Authors listing first name, middle initial and last name of each author, and institutional affiliations with superscripts denoting the academic degrees and institution;
3. Corresponding Author: Name, mailing address, phone number, and e-mail address;
4. The name of the department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed;
5. Clinical trial number and registry URL, if applicable;
6. Prior Presentations: Note any presentations of the work at conferences for meetings; include name, exact date, locations;
7. Acknowledgments: List individuals or organizations to be acknowledged, if any.
8. Abbreviated title (Running Head): State the essence of the article (50 characters maximum) for all article types except Letters to the Editor;
9. Funding Statement: Disclosure of all financial support for the work, including departmental or institutional funding/support.
10. Conflicts of Interest: Any conflicts of interest for any or all authors within the 36 months of submission. If no competing interests, please add the following statement: “The authors declare no competing interests."
C. Abstract
Abstract should follow the title page. Original Investigations require a structured abstract. It should be limited to 350 words. The structured abstract should contain four labeled paragraphs: Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Other article types require an unstructured, one-paragraph summary of the key points of the article of 250 words or fewer.
D. Body Text
1. Introduction (new page): Provides a background on the nature of the problem and its significance. States the specific aim(s) or research objectives or hypothesis tested. Provides only pertinent references and does not include data or conclusions from the work being reported.
2. Materials and Methods (new page): Includes, as relevant, statements about informed consent, animal care, IRB approval, and/or clinical trial registration. Includes selection and description of participants while clearly including eligibility and exclusion criteria. Should identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses) and procedure(s) in sufficient details to allow others to reproduce the results. Provides references to established methods. Identifies precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration. Extra or supplementary materials and technical details can be placed in an appendix. A subsection entitled "Statistical Analysis" should appear at the end of the Materials and Methods section when appropriate. Whenever applicable, a power analysis should be provided. All statistical methods used in representing and analyzing the data should be described. The computer software used for data analysis should be provided. The level of statistical significance should be provided;
3. Results (new page): Results should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and figures giving the main or most important findings first. Do not repeat all the data in the tables and figures in the text;
4. Discussion (new page): The discussion should focus on the findings in the current work.
5. Abbreviations should be spelled out completely when first used in the manuscript. The use of abbreviations is discouraged in the title.
E. References
Number references (as superscripts Arabic numerals) in the sequence they appear in the text. If there is punctuation adjacent to reference superscripts, references should be placed after punctuation marks. List all authors when there are six or fewer; when there are 7 or more, list only the first six and add “et al". Use abbreviated titles of the medical journals as they appear in Index Medicus (see http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html). Include only references accessible to all readers. Sites on the World Wide Web (URLs) may be used as references. Abstracts are acceptable as references only if published within the previous 3 years. Manuscripts in preparation or submitted for publication are not acceptable as references. Use the following reference formats:
Journal
Carli F, Mayo N, Klubien K, Schricker T, Trudel J, Belliveau P. Epidural analgesia enhances functional exercise capacity and health-related quality of life after colonic surgery: Results of a randomized trial. Anesthesiology 2002; 97:540-9. DOI documentation is recommended for all journal articles. DOI is required for online only published papers.
Book
Barash PG, Cullen BF, Stoelting RK: Clinical Anesthesia, 3rd edition. Philadelphia, Lippincott-Raven Publishers, 1997, pp 23-4
Book Chapter
Blitt C: Monitoring the anesthetized patient, Clinical Anesthesia, 3rd edition. Edited by Barash PG, Cullen BF, Stoelting RK. Philadelphia, Lippincott-Raven Publishers, 1997, pp 563-85
Webpage
Mendeley JA, Thomson M, Coyne RP. How and when to reference. 2017. Available from https://www.howandwhentoreference.com. Accessed on: June 2018.
It is the sole responsibility of the authors to ensure the completeness and presentation of the references. Any paper that does not provide a well-revised and completed list of references will be returned to the authors for revision and resubmission.
F. Tables
Number tables consecutively in order of appearance (Table 1, Table 2, etc.). Each table must have a title and include footnotes when appropriate. Make sure any symbols and abbreviations used in the tables are defined. Tables must be word processing document format (e.g., .doc). Do not submit tables as image files.
G. Figure Legends
Supply a legend/caption for each figure, on the last page of the manuscript file.
H. Figures
If a single figure contains more than one panel, each panel must be identified alphabetically (e.g., A, B, etc.) and should read left to right in presentation. The figures must be cited in the text in the same, consecutive numeric order. Each Figure should be clearly labeled with the figure number (Figure1, Figure2, etc.). Make sure that any special symbols used in a figure (e.g., asterisk, double asterisk) are explained in the legend/caption.
Format: Acceptable graphics formats are .tiff, .eps, .jpg, or .pdf.
Resolution: Photographic or halftone figures should be saved at 300 ppi resolution, with image sizes no smaller than 4 x 6 inches, approximately 1200 to 1800 pixels wide. Line-art, graphs, charts, diagrams must be 1200 ppi, approximately 4800 pixels wide, minimum.
Review Process
The review process will take approximately 4-6 months. Upon receipt of a manuscript, it will be assigned to be evaluated by 2-3 reviewers expert in the field. Each of these items will be reviewed:
a. Abstract clearly and accurately states the study objectives/hypotheses and clearly describes data analysis and study findings
b. Study objectives and/or hypotheses clearly stated
c. Study design is appropriate for the stated aims
d. Primary and secondary outcomes clearly identified and defined
e. Sample size justified (Power analysis well defined and provided)
f. Statistical methods appropriate and clearly described (e.g. p-values appropriately reported)
g. Missing data appropriately described and handled
h. Results section follows clearly from the study objectives and statistical methods
i. Treatment effect estimates and their variability reported
j. Confounders are carefully addressed for observational studies
k. Tables and Figures clear and self-explanatory
l. Limitations of design and statistical methods clearly described
m. Conclusions and Interpretations justified by the design and results
Editorial Decisions and Appeals Process
Decisions on manuscripts submitted to MEJA are final. Rejected manuscripts are not allowed to be resubmitted as new manuscripts. If an author wishes to appeal an editorial decision, the appeal must be based on strong evidence. Appeals should be provided by the corresponding author. Decision whether to consider or accept an appeal is made by the Editor-in-Chief.
I. Additional Information
1. Units of Measurement
Use metric units. The units for pressures are mmHg or cmH2O. Use diagonal slashes for units, e.g., mg/kg or ml/kg/min.
2. Abbreviations
Do not use jargon or nonstandard abbreviations to represent time or time points. Do not abbreviate single words.
3. Drug Names and Equipment
Use generic names. If a brand name must be used, insert it in parentheses after the generic name. Provide manufacturer's name, city, state, and country.
4. Data Reporting and Statistics
Detailed statistical methodology must be reported. Describe randomization procedures and the specific tests used to examine each part of the results; do not simply list a series of tests. Describe the power analysis (whenever appropriate) used to justify the number of patients needed in the study.
5. Patient Identification
Do not use patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers. An individual must not be recognizable in photographs unless written consent of the patient or legal guardian has been obtained and is provided at the time of submission. Authors should obtain consent forms from the relevant institution(s).
J. Permissions
Permission is needed to publish any figure, abstract, portion of text, or table that has been previously published or copyrighted. Written permission must be obtained from the copyright holder. Authors are responsible for obtaining any needed permissions from the copyright holder upon submission of their manuscript.
K. Acknowledgments
They should be brief. Individuals named must be given the opportunity to read the manuscript and approve their inclusion in the acknowledgments.
Advertising
For advertising and Commertial Reprints information, please contact us on Meja@aub.edu.lb or see the contacts below.
Mrs. Dania Machaka
Clinical Department Administrator
Email: dm20@aub.edu.lb
Mrs. Ghinwa Ghali
Administrative assisstant
Email: gg18@aub.edu.lb