Author Guidelines

Manuscript Preparation

Format

Manuscripts must be submitted in Microsoft Word (.docx) or LaTeX format. Use 12pt Times New Roman or Arial font, double-spaced, with 2.5 cm margins. Line numbers must be enabled. Pages must be numbered.

Structure

Original Research articles should follow the standard IMRAD structure:

• Title page (title, authors, affiliations, corresponding author)
• Abstract (structured: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions)
• Keywords (3–8 terms)
• Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion
• Conclusions
• Ethics statement, Conflict of interest, Funding
• References, Tables, Figure legends

References

References must be numbered consecutively in order of appearance and formatted according to Vancouver style. DOIs must be included for all references that have one.

Figures and Data

Figures

All figures must be submitted as separate high-resolution files (minimum 300 dpi for photographs, 600 dpi for line art). Accepted formats: TIFF, EPS, or PDF. Figures embedded in Word documents are not accepted for production. Each figure must have a descriptive legend.

Data Availability

Authors are strongly encouraged to make all underlying datasets publicly available in a recognised repository (e.g. Zenodo, Dryad, figshare, GEO, NCBI). A Data Availability Statement is mandatory in the manuscript.

Statistical Reporting

Report all relevant statistical tests, sample sizes, effect sizes, and confidence intervals. P-values alone are insufficient. CONSORT, STROBE, or TRIPOD checklists should be completed and uploaded as supplementary material where applicable.

Ethics

All human studies must include IRB/ethics committee approval number and a statement of informed consent. All animal studies must comply with the ARRIVE 2.0 guidelines and report institutional approval.