Author Instructions
Papua New Guinea Medical Journal is a peer-reviewed international journal that publishes articles relevant to public health and the practice of medicine in Papua New Guinea and other countries in the South Pacific. It encourages the submission of papers on new research from scientists, clinicians and managers, especially those early in their careers, and reports of projects that demonstrate better ways of delivering care.
The journal publishes original research, reviews, clinical methods, case reports and other articles all on aspects of medicine and public health.
- Publishing Policies
- Peer review
- Authorship
- Licence to Publish
- Open Access
- Preparation of Manuscripts
- Summary text for Table of Contents
- Use of inclusive language
- Sensitivities statement
- Submission of manuscripts
- Manuscript Categories
- Acknowledgements
- Data Availability Statement
- Conflicts of Interests
- Ethics Approval
- Declaration of Funding
- Supplementary Files
- Page Proofs
Publishing Policies
Submission of an article implies that it has not been previously published, is not being considered for publication elsewhere, and that the contents are original. If a submitted article overlaps considerably with previously published articles or articles submitted elsewhere, copies of these should be included with the submitted manuscript.
Peer review
All manuscripts will be sent out for referees’ comments as part of the peer review process.
The PNGMJ is a peer-reviewed journal that uses a single-anonymised peer-review. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible to maintain high-quality peer-review of papers submitted to the journal and works together with the Associate Editors to ensure a thorough and fair peer-review and the highest scientific publishing standards. All submissions undergo preliminary assessment by the Editor-in-Chief, who may reject a paper before peer review when it is outside the journal’s scope or is of insufficient quality. Associate Editors select reviewers and after at least two review reports are received, they make the decision whether to accept/reject or send a manuscript for revision. The final decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief.
Under our single-anonymised policy, reviewers’ names are not disclosed to the authors. To increase transparency, reviewers may choose to sign their reports. We ask reviewers and authors not to directly contact each other while the manuscript is under consideration, rather keep all communication through ScholarOne with the Editor’s involvement.
Authorship
Criteria for authorship should follow the principles published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE); a brief statement of the role of each author in the study should accompany submission of the manuscript. For more information see https://www.publish.csiro.au/mj/PublishingPolicies.
Licence to publish
For details regarding copyright, please see Copyright/Licence to Publish.
Open Access
The Papua New Guinea Medical Journal is a fully open access journal. All articles:
- may be viewed immediately after publication by anyone with an internet connection anywhere in the world without the need for a subscription;
- may be uploaded to any personal, institutional or public repository subject to acknowledgement of the author and journal in accordance with the related licence type;
- may be downloaded, shared, copied, or redistributed in any medium or format provided the terms of the appropriate Creative Commons licence are followed.
Articles may be published under a CC BY, CC BY-NC, or CC BY-NC-ND licence type.
There are currently no article processing charges (APC), nor subscription or submission charges for The PNGMJ.
Preparation of manuscripts
All sections of the manuscript, including text, references, tables and legends should be in double spacing. Manuscripts should not be right justified. Each paper should include an Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and References. The title page should include the title, full names of all authors, names and addresses of institutions where the work has been done and full present address of the first or corresponding author.
Tables and Figures
Tables and figures should be prepared on separate pages. Figures should be sent as separate jpeg or tiff images. Do not paste the images into Word. Photomicrographs should have internal scale markers. Each table should have a heading and footnotes which make it understandable without reference to the text. Each figure should have a legend; figure legends should be typed together on a separate sheet.
Abbreviations
Standard abbreviations and units should be used.
Drug Names
Generic names of drugs should be used.
Orthography
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary is followed.
References
References should be in the Vancouver style and include all authors. All references should be checked against the original source. Sample references are shown below:
3 Garner PA, Hill G. Brainwashing in tuberculosis management. PNG Med J 1985; 28: 291-293.
4 Cochrane RG. A critical appraisal of the present position of leprosy. In: Lincicome DP, ed. International Review of Tropical Medicine. New York: Academic Press, 1961: 1-42.
Summary text for the Table of Contents
For Original Articles, Reviews, and Case Reports and Brief Communications authors are asked to provide a three-sentence paragraph of 50 to 80 words. This text will be included with your title in the table of contents that is available online; it is an opportunity to encourage people to read your article. Your first sentence should engage the reader, convincing them that this is an important area (i.e. what is known about the topic?). The second sentence should introduce the problem addressed in the paper and state your main discovery (i.e. what does the paper add?). The final sentence should describe how the results fit into the bigger picture (i.e. implications or impact of the discovery). It should be written for interested non-experts, such as journalists, teachers, government workers etc. The text should be free from scientific jargon and abbreviations (except for a few that are self-explanatory and universally understood, e.g. HIV/AIDS) and written at the level of an article in a science magazine. No references should be included. Colloquial terms and local details should not be included, and nor should the paper's country of origin (unless that is essential, pertinent information). Instead the statements should be framed globally.
Use of inclusive language
These guidelines should be used to assist in identifying appropriate language, but are by no means exhaustive or definitive. Inclusive language comprises carefully chosen words and phrases that are respectful and promote the acceptance and value of all people. It is language which is free from words, phrases or tones that demean, insult, exclude, stereotype, or trivialise people on the basis of their membership of a certain group or because of a particular attribute. As such, inclusive language should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader, and contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on any grounds including but not limited to: age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition. We encourage the use of plural nouns (e.g., 'they' as default wherever possible instead of 'he/she'), and recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes, unless there is scientific or clinical relevance. For further guidance on inclusive language see Inclusive language | Style Manual.
Sensitivities Statements
The PNGMJ supports the integration of diverse histories, knowledge and perspectives in our publications as well as representing traditional practices and voices of First Nations peoples. We encourage authors to consider working with co-authors from diverse backgrounds or experiences to provide different perspectives and authentic experience that will enrich their work.
To provide context or assist understanding, authors may occasionally use photographs or quotes to represent historical context. This content might include language that is now considered offensive to some readers or photographs and names of deceased First Nations peoples that require sensitivity warnings.
Submission of Manuscripts
Submit the original with a virus-free electronic copy or send by email to the Editorial Office.
Manuscripts and other editorial communications should be forwarded to: The Editorial Assistant, email: pngmedj@pngimr.org.pg.
Manuscript Categories
Original Articles
Reports of original and new investigations or contributions.
Case Reports and Brief Communications
Contents similar to that of original articles but text should be no more than 4 Journal pages including figures and tables.
Reviews
Critical analysis of previously collected and published information.
The journal also publishes Editorials and Letters. Other types of manuscript may be accepted for publication at the Editor’s discretion. Submitted manuscripts should conform to the instructions set out in these guidelines.
Acknowledgements
The contribution of colleagues who do not meet all criteria for authorship should be acknowledged. Anyone included in the Acknowledgements section should have granted permission to be listed. Sources of financial support should be acknowledged in a separate ‘Declaration of Funding’ rather than here.
CSIRO Publishing encourages authors to share the research data underlying their papers to support transparency and reproducibility of research. A Data Availability Statement must be included at the end of the manuscript indicating whether the data used to generate the results in the paper are available and, if so, where to access them. For more information on CSIRO Publishing’s data sharing policy and for examples of what to include in the data availability statement please see our Publishing Policies.
Authors can get credit for their work by citing their research data in the reference list of their article. Citations should include at a minimum: all authors, year of publication, title of dataset, record ID, publisher. DOI or URL if available. Examples of how to cite research data:
1 Wang L, Edwards D, Bailey A, Carr L, Boreham C, Grosjean E, Anderson J, Jarrett A, MacFarlane S, Southby C, Carson C, Khider K, Palu T, Henson P. Well log data analysis and interpretation on the pre-Carboniferous succession in Waukarlycarly 1, Canning Basin, Western Australia. Record 2021/003 [Dataset]. Canberra: Geoscience Australia; 2021. Available at http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/144547
2 Fiddes S, Pepler A, Saunders K, Hope P. Southern Australia’s climate regions (Version 1.0.0) [Dataset]. Zenodo; 2020. doi:10.5281/zenodo.4265471
3 Digital Earth Australia. Wetlands Insight Tool Queensland Wetlands Polygons. Version 1.0.0 [Dataset]. Canberra: Geoscience Australia; 2021. Available at http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/144795
Conflicts of Interest
Under a subheading ´Conflict of Interests´ at the end of the text all authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with organisations or people that could inappropriately influence their work. If there are no conflicts of interest, authors should state that none exist.
Ethics approval
For studies involving people, medical records, and human tissues, the PNGMJ requires authors to document that a formally constituted review board (Ethics committee or Institutional Review Board) has granted approval for the research to be done.
If the study is judged exempt from review, a statement explaining the reason for exemption is required. Informed consent by participants should be sought when appropriate. If this is not possible, an institutional review board must decide if this is ethically acceptable.
All investigators should follow the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki regarding human experimentation, and make a statement attesting that these principles were followed while conducting the research.
Authors must make their statement about ethics approval or waiver in the methods section of all original scientific papers, including date and name of the ethics review board. CSIRO Publishing also follows CSIRO’s own guidelines on ethical human research.
Declaration of Funding
Under a subheading 'Declaration of Funding' at the end of the text authors are required to declare all sources of funding for the research and/or preparation of the article, and the inclusion of grant numbers is recommended. Authors should declare sponsor names along with explanations of the role of those sources if any in the preparation of the data or manuscript or the decision to submit for publication; or a statement declaring that the supporting source had no such involvement. If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the following sentence: "This research did not receive any specific funding".
Supplementary files
Additional tables, figures and checklists may be uploaded as supplementary files. These files are not sub-edited, so please ensure that they are clearly and succinctly presented, labelled and that the style conforms with the rest of the paper.
Page proofs
We will send page proofs to the corresponding author as PDF files. They must be returned to the production editor within three days of receipt to ensure timely publication of the journal and your research. Major alterations to the text and illustrations are accepted only when absolutely necessary.
