e-ISSN: 2147-673X
Authors :
Title :
Summary :
Full Text :
DOI :
Keyword :
Instructions to Authors

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

1. Mediterranean Journal of Infection, Microbes and Antimicrobials (MJIMA) is the official journal of the Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology Specialty Society of Turkey (TÜRKİYE-EKMUD www.ekmud.org.tr).

2. Aim of the journal: To present and improve collective scientific knowledge regarding infectious diseases, microbiology, vaccinology, infection control and hospital epidemiology, infectious diseases/microbiology related branches of public health, science and medicine via any type of research article, experimental and clinical studies, systematic reviews and/or meta-analysis, reviews, case reports, short communications, letter to the editors, editorials, perspective papers-clinical implications of basic research-practical implications of clinical research papers, clinical videos and clinical images. to improve the collective medical and scientific knowledge.

3. MJIMA accepts and publishes manuscripts in English.

Anatomic terminology should be based on Latin nomenclature. Medical terms, in daily use, should be written according to English spelling rules. The words required to be written in their original language by the author should be written within quotation marks. When first mentioned in the text, microorganism names should be written with the full Latin names of the genus and the species. Both the genus and species names should be italicized. Later, the first letter of the genus should be capitalized and the species name should be written in lower case letters (e.g. Streptococccus pneumoniae……. S. pneumoniae).

As of 2024, the publication language of the journal is English, and the translation services provided between 2017-2023 will no longer be offered.

4. The abbreviation of the Mediterranean Journal of Infection, Microbes and Antimicrobials is MJIMA, however, it should be denoted as “Mediterr J Infect Microb Antimicrob” when referenced.

5. MJIMA does not charge any article submission or processing or publication fee from authors.

6. The Editorial Policies and General Guidelines for manuscript preparation specified below are based on “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals” (ICMJE Recommendations)” by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (2016, archived at http://www.icmje.org/).

7. All manuscripts should comply with “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals” (http://www.icmje.org/about-icmje/faqs/icmje-recommendations/) produced and updated by the International Committee of Medical Journals Editors (www.icmje.org).

8. MJIMA executes compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki Principles (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/). All manuscripts concerning human subjects should contain a statement in the “Materials and Methods/Patients and Methods” section, indicating that the study was approved by the Institutional Review Board. There should also be a statement of declaration about informed consent obtained from research subjects, and it should be placed in the “Materials and Methods/Patients and Methods” section.

Usage of any image media that can expose patients’ identity, requires obtaining permission for publication from the patients or their parents/guardians.

All manuscripts dealing with animal subjects must contain a statement indicating that the study was performed according to “The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals” (www.nap.edu/catolog/5140.html) with the approval of the Institutional Review Board, in the “Materials and Methods” section. The Editor may ask for a copy of the approval document.

9. A manuscript will be considered only with the understanding that it is an original contribution that has not been published elsewhere. Proceedings which has been presented in congresses may be published in the journal on condition that is mentioned.

10. During manuscript submission MJIMA differentiates between the requirements for new/first and revised submissions. Authors may choose to submit their manuscript as a single Word file to be used in the refereeing process. Only when the manuscript is at the revision stage, will authors be requested to put it in to a 'correct format' for acceptance and provide the items required for the publication of the article.

11. The author and the co-authors should sign the copyright transfer form declaring acceptance of full responsibility for the accuracy of all contents in accordance with the order of authors, the manuscript is an original work that has not been previously published, and is not currently submitted to any other journal. Copyright transfer form also includes contributions and responsibilities of each author, and whether there is a conflict of interest regarding manuscript. If there is no conflict of interest it should also be stated. In case of any financial contributions, the sponsors should also be denoted in the copyright transfer form. The form should be submitted concurrently with the manuscript during online submission. Copyright transfer form is available in www.mjima.org.

12. All manuscripts submitted to the journal for publication are scanned with the non-biased editors and reviewers’ expertise using Crossref Smilarity Check powered by iThenticate software and internet search engines for plagiarism. Submissions may be rejected according to the result of this scan. If plagiarism is detected, relevant institutions may be notified. In this case, the authors might be asked to send raw data of their studies to relevant institutions.

13. Manuscript Submission Process

13.1. Manuscripts can only be submitted through Manuscript Manager online submission system “https://mjima.manuscriptmanager.net/”. Submissions through direct emails are not accepted. The ORCID(Open Researcher and Contributor ID) number of the correspondence author should be provided while sending the manuscript. A free registration can be created at http://orcid.org

13.2. Requested informations must be completed by following the instructions on the Manuscript Manager system.

  • a) Title page file (article title, running title, all authors institutions with their e-mail addresses.)
  • b) Manuscript (without author details). All submitted articles should be line numbered (using continuous line numbers). To do this in Word, use File, Page Setup, Layout, Line Numbers and select continuous line numbering.
  • c) Images, tables, graphics and figures must be uploaded as separate files to the online manuscript system.

13.3. Copyright Transfer Form which also include Authorship Contribution Form, and ICMJE Conflict of Interest Form must be filled out in full and sent to MJIMA.

13.4. The first decision of manuscripts are completed within average 35-50 days.

14. The Review Process

14.1. Manuscripts sent to MJIMA for publication are firstly evaluated in terms of plagiarism.

14.2 After check for plagiarism, it is evaluated regarding quality for sending to peer review by the editorial board.

14.3. The papers approved for reviewer evaluation are sent to at least two selected reviewers as blinded-manuscripts.

14.4. The Editorial board has the complete authority regarding reviewer selection and decision for publication. The reviewers are mainly selected from Editorial Advisory Board. The Editors may decide to send the manuscript to other independent reviewers according to the subject.

14.5. After being evaluated by at least two reviewers, editorial board decides for publication or revision or rejection in conjunction with the reviewers’ reports.

14.6. After redaction, manuscripts are sent to the corresponding author for final approval and informed from the Manuscript Manager system via e-mail.

14.7. Accepted manuscripts are published in their provisional version within seven work days after acceptance.

14.8. The final version of manuscripts are published online on www.mjima.org after their all proof controls are completed. The dates of submission and acceptance of the manuscript are stated at the end of the published manuscript.

14.9. All sent, accepted or published manuscripts’ rights belong to MJIMA.

14.10. MJIMA must be informed about the manuscripts which are requested to be withdrawn including the justifications. The decision is made in accordance with the editorial policies.

15. Manuscript Preparation

15.1. General Format: The manuscript text should be written in “Times New Roman” font, 12 point-type, double-spaced with 2 cm margins on the left and right sides. The article should be prepared in Microsoft Office (minimum Word 98 version). The pages should be arranged in numerical order beginning from the initial page, and the numbers should be at the bottom right corner of every page.

All submitted articles should be line numbered (using continuous line numbers). To do this in Word, use File, Page Setup, Layout, Line Numbers and select continuous line numbering.

15.2. Title page: Title page of the manuscript should include Title, Author(s), Institution(s) and Address for Correspondence with e-mail address, fax and phone numbers. Authors should indicate on this page whether the study was presented previously as an abstract in any congress or symposium.

15.3. Abstracts should be prepared for all manuscripts except “Editorials”, “Letter to the Editor” “Perspective”, “Obituary”, “Clinical Implications of Basic Research”, “Practical Implications of Clinical Research” paper, “Clinical Images”, “Clinical videos” and “Video in clinical practice”. Abbreviations should be avoided in abstracts. References, tables and citations should not be used.

15.4. The main text should not contain any information regarding author(s)’s name and affiliation. All the entities that provide contribution to the technical content, data collection and analysis, writing, revision etc. of the manuscript and yet do not meet the criteria to be an author should be mentioned in the acknowledgement part.

15.5. Keywords: There should be 2-5 keywords complying with the Index Medicus Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) (www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html).

15.6. Abbreviations: They should be internationally accepted and defined accordingly in the text in parenthesis when they are first mentioned in the text.

15.7. Cover Letter: The corresponding author should submit the cover letter concurrently with the manuscript during online submission. If the study was presented as a congress abstract (poster/oral), the corresponding author should state in the cover letter,

15.8. In any paper relevant with microbiological identification or other serological or molecular testing, method should be detailed such as (Name of Firm, City, Country) like (bioMerieux Inc, Marcy L’Etoile, France).

15.9. For antibacterial susceptibility results, method should be detailed. In addition criteria (such as CLSI, EUCAST etc) used for susceptibility testing should be mentioned and cited with relevant references in the manuscript properly.

16. References

Data and manuscript that have not yet been published should not be cited as reference. These should be stated in the main text as “author(s), unpublished data, year”.

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. Identify references in the text, tables and legends at the end of the sentences in superior brackets (Such as [3]). MJIMA referencing style may be found in Endnote and Zotero (see www.mjima.org). List all authors. Journal names should be abbreviated as listed in “Index Medicus”. Note the following examples:

16.1. Journal articles: The names of all authors, title of the article, abbreviated title of the journal, the year of publication, numbers of the volume and relevant page numbers/numbers of the article.

E.g. Dizbay M, Fidan I, Kalkanci A, Sari N, Yalcin B, Kustimur S, Arman D, High incidence of Candida parapsilosis candidaemia in non-neutropenic critically illpatients: epidemiology and antifungal susceptibility. Scand J Infect Dis.2010;42:114-20.

16.2. Supplement: The names of all authors, title of the article, abbreviated title of the journal, the year of publication, numbers of the volume, numbers of supplement in brackets and relevant page numbers of the article.

E.g. Reade MC, Angus DC. The clinical research enterprise in critical care: What’s right, what’s wrong and what’s ahead? Crit Care Med 2009;37(Suppl 1):S1-S9.

16.3. Book; The names of all authors, title of the book, numbers of the volume, the city, the publisher, the year of publication.

E.g. Sherlock S. Diseases of the Liver and Biliary System. 7th ed. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1989.

16.4. Book chapter; The names of all authors, title of the article, the editors, title of the book, numbers of the volume and the issue if existing, the city, the publisher, the year of publication and the relevant page numbers of the article.

E.g. Jubran A. Pulse oxcimetry. In: Tobin MJ (ed). Principles and Practice of Intensive Care Monitoring. 1st ed. New York: Mc Graw-Hill, 1998:261-87.

16.5. Congress presentation; The names of all authors, title of the presentation, the editors, title of the congress book, title of the congress, date of the congress, the city, the country, the publisher, the year, the relevant page numbers.

E.g. Bengtsson S, Solheim BG. Enforcement of data protection, privacy and security in medical informatics. In: Lun KC, Degoulet P, Piemme TE, Reinhoff O, editors. MEDINFO 92. Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Medical Informatics; 1992 Sep 6-10; Geneva, Switzerland. North-Holland; 1992. p. 1561-5.

16.6. Journal published electronically; The names of all authors, title of the article, abbreviated title of the journal, year of the publication, numbers of the volume, the relevant page numbers/article number,.

E.g. Arman D, Ağalar C, Dizbay M, Güzel-Tunçcan ÖG, Tozlu-Keten D, Aygün D, Tünger Ö, Demirtürk N, İnan D, Özakın C, Bayındır Y, Akbulut A, Bakır M, Köksal İ, Özinel MA, Öztoprak N, Aktaş E, AlpayY. Community acquired lower urinary tract infections in primary care: causative agents and antimicrobial ausceptibility. Mediterr J Infect Microb Antimicrob 2012;1:10.

16.7. Web site; The name of the web site. Last accessed date. Available from: Address of the web site.

E.g. World Health Organization (WHO). Last accessed date: 2017 Jul 9. Available from: http://www.who.int

16.8. Thesis; The names of the authors. Title of the thesis. The city: The university or institution; the year.

E.g. Bardak-Özcem S. Daptomycin versus vancomycin in the therapy of experimental methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) meningitis. (thesis). Izmir: Ege University, Faculty of Medicine; 2012.

17. Scientific and legal responsibilities pertaining to the paper belong to the authors. The ideas and recommendations mentioned in the articles and accuracy of the references are the responsibility of the authors. The owner of copyright of the accepted manuscript is Türkiye-Ekmud. After acceptance of the manuscript, a copyright transfer form must be filled, signed by all the authors, scanned and sent through manuscript submission system (https://mjima.manuscriptmanager.net/). There is no royalty payment to the authors.

18. Images, Tables, Graphics And Figures

Images, Tables, Graphics And Figures should be numbered consecutively within the text. Each item should be cited in the text.

18.1. Images, figures and illustrations: Digital images of manuscript illustrations should be submitted in a suitable format for print publication. Most submission systems have detailed instructions on the quality of images and check them after manuscript upload. For print submissions, figures should be either professionally drawn and photographed, or submitted as photographic-quality digital prints.

For radiological and other clinical and diagnostic images, as well as pictures of pathology specimens or photomicrographs, send high-resolution photographic image files (300-600 dpi). Before-and-after images should be taken with the same intensity, direction, and color of light. Since blots are used as primary evidence in many scientific articles, editors may require deposition of the original photographs of blots on the journal's website.

Letters, numbers, and symbols on figures should be clear and consistent throughout, and large enough to remain legible when the figure is reduced for publication. Figures should be made as self-explanatory as possible. For recognizable photographs of patients, informed consent of the patient or of his/her legal representative should be enclosed; otherwise, patient names or eyes must be blocked out to prevent identification.

When the author(s) has/have used a figure or table from another source, permission of the author and publisher must be obtained, the necessary printing permission document must be provided and the source must be referred in the text.

18.2. Tables: Each table should be prepared with double spacing on a separate page. Tables should have a brief title. Authors should place explanatory matter in footnotes not in the heading. Explanations should be made for all non-standard abbreviations in footnotes. The following symbols should be used for abbreviations, in sequence: *,†,‡,§,||,¶,**,††,‡‡. Each table should be cited in the manuscript.

19. Manuscript Categories

19.1. Research Articles: Research Articles should include; Title, structured abstract (Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Conclusion, limited within 250-300 words), and keywords.

Main text should include; Introduction, Materials and Methods/Patients and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgement-funding (Stating the funding of the study financial contributions, the sponsors etc if no funding is used it should also be stated)-Conflict of interest and References.

Systematic reviews or meta-analysis should be sent in the form of research article.

19.2. Case Reports: Case reports should include; Title, abstract and keywords, Introduction, Case presentation, Discussion, Acknowledgement-Funding-Conflict of interest and References. Case reports should have an unstructured abstract within 250words as one paragraph.

Case report and review of literature papers should include; Title, abstract and keywords, Introduction, Case presentation, Review of literature, Discussion, Acknowledgement-Funding-Conflict of interest and References. These manuscripts should have an unstructured abstract within 250words as one paragraph.

19.3. Reviews: The reviews should include; Title, unstructured abstract and keywords and the main text section [introduction, main text (with subtitles), conclusion], acknowledgement-funding (stating the funding of the study financial contributions, the sponsors etc if no funding is used it should also be stated)-conflict of interest and references. Limit the abstract within 250 words.

Medical Practice: These are evidence-based reviews of topics relevant to practicing specialists. Papers in this series should include the following sections: Title, unstructured abstract (within 250-300 words) and keywords and the main text section [introduction with the clinical problem, strategies and evidence, guidelines from professional societies, areas of uncertainty, and the authors’ conclusions and recommendations]-acknowledgement-funding (stating the funding of the study financial contributions, the sponsors etc if no funding is used it should also be stated)-conflict of interest and references..

The Editor’s approval is required before submitting a review/medical practice article although submitted reviews can be considered for peer-review process by the editorial board.

19.4. Short communications: Representing a significant contribution in the related field may be submitted as a short communication. The maximum length of a short communication is 1500 words. Short communications should include title, an unstructured abstract (with 250-300 words) and 2-5 key words. The main text should include a maximum of one figure and two tables. Number of references should not exceed 10. Acknowledgement-Funding (Stating the funding of the study financial contributions, the sponsors etc if no funding is used it should also be stated)-Conflict of interest should precede references.

19.5. Letter to the Editor: The letters to the Editor are for letters that are addressing issues or exchanging views on topics arising from published articles (in MJIMA or other scientific journals) or uncommitted subjects without original research interest. It should not exceed 1000 words and not include an abstract. The number of references should be restricted to 10.

19.6. Editorials: Editorials are short papers regarding the journal, society or for important articles published in the MJIMA. Editorials may be written by the editorial board or may be requested from other authors. It should not exceed 1000 words and not include an abstract. The number of references should be restricted to 10.

Perspective: This type of manuscripts are brief, accessible pieces covering a wide variety of timely topics of relevance to healthcare and medicine/infectious diseases and clinical microbiology practice. Perspectives should be in the form of Editorials. No abstract is required.

Obituary: This type of manuscripts should be in the form of Editorial. We invite suggestions from MJIMA readers for people whom we should feature. No abstract is required.

Clinical Implications of Basic Research: This type of manuscripts discuss single papers from preclinical journals/studies or MJIMA. The purpose is to explain the findings and comment on their possible clinical applications in the form of Editorials. No abstract is required.

Practical Implications of Clinical Research: This type of manuscripts discuss single papers from clinical journals/studies published in MJIMA or other journals. The purpose is to explain the findings and comment on their possible effect on clinical practice in the form of Editorials. No abstract is required.

Hypotheses: A hypothesis paper describes a substantial change in thinking that is theoretically testable but readers will guess why somebody did not do until now. New data are not part of a hypothesis, but authors must include a section how to test the idea. The paper should be in the form of Editorials. No abstract is required.

The Editor’s approval is required before submitting a Perspective, Obituary, Hypothesis, Clinical Implications of Basic Research or Practical Implications of Clinical Research paper although submitted papers can be considered for peer-review process by the editorial board.

19.7. Clinical Images: The images dealing with related subjects. The title should not contain more than eight words. The legend should not exceed 200 words. The legend to the image should briefly present relevant clinical information, including a short description of the patient's history, relevant physical and laboratory findings, clinical course, response to treatment (if any), and condition at last follow-up. All labeled structures in the image should be described and explained in the legend. No abstract is required.

19.8. Consensus reports or guidelines: Corresponding authors should communicate with the Editor in Chief before submission of consensus reports or guidelines.

19.9. Clinical video: These are videos dealing with related subjects. The title should not contain more than eight words. The legend should not exceed 200 words. The legend to the image should briefly present relevant clinical information, including a short description of the patient's history, relevant physical and laboratory findings, clinical course, response to treatment (if any), and condition at last follow-up. All labeled structures in the video should be described and explained in the legend. No abstract is required.

19.10. Video in clinical practice: These are videos dealing with clinical subjects or clinical interventions. The title should not contain more than eight words. A text overview of the intervention or subject provided in the video, should be accompannied by the video. No abstract is required.

19.11. Special Reports are miscellaneous solicited articles of special interest to the infectious diseases/ clinical microbiology community, from the TÜRKİYE-EKMUD or its members. These manuscripts should have an unstrucutured abstract within 250 words.

19.12 Medicine and Society articles cover a range of social aspects of infectious diseases and clinical microbiology area and healthcare, including associations with medical sociology, anthropology, history, public health and ethics. These solicited manuscripts should have an unstrucutured abstract within 250 words.

20. Copyright All rights of the published items in MJIMA belongs to the TÜRKİYE-EKMUD. All contents are available free of charge without restrictions from the journal's website at: http://www.mjima.org/. However, manuscripts, figures and tables published in MJIMA should not be reproduced, archived in a retrieval system or used for advertising purposes without prior written permission from the TURKEY-EKMUD. Quotations may be used in scientific articles but must be referred. The responsibilities of the content of the advertisements published belong to the related company.

EKMUD Contact

Mediterranean Journal of Infection Microbes and Antimicrobials

Address: Bükreş sok 3/7 Kavaklıdere-ANKARA

Phone: +90 312 467 67 45

Fax: +90 312 467 67 46

E-mail: [email protected]

Web page: www.mjima.org