Author Guidelines

About the Journal

Journal of Medicine UST (JMUST) is the official publication of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and Santo Tomas University Hospital of the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines. It is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal.

Editorial Office and Contact Information

Address:

Room 213, Journal of Medicine UST Office
St. Martin de Porres Building
University of Santo Tomas
Espana, Manila
Philippines

Submissions and communications:

Prof. Raymond L. Rosales, MD, PhD
Editor-in-Chief
Journal of Medicine UST

journal.med@ust.edu.ph

Submission

Submission should only be made online at https://author.jmust.org/.

You will be required to register at https://author.jmust.org/register to submit your manuscript.

You will need the following information to complete the manuscript submission:

  • The complete title of the paper/article

  • Brief description of the paper

  • Intention for publication

  • Significance of the study

  • List of authors with their names and emails

  • Paper / article in MS Word format (*.docx)

  • High-quality images of figures

  • Tables should preferably be in word format itself in the manuscript (if you have included tables as images/pictures in your manuscript, please upload high-quality images of the tables also)

 

Please ensure that,

  • all authors that have contributed to the research undertaking, have reviewed the manuscript, and have agreed to the publication of the paper

  • the manuscript has not been published elsewhere

  • you only submit entirely original works and will appropriately cite or quote the work and/or words of others. Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work should also be cited.

 

Types of Papers

JMUST accepts qualitative and quantitative original research papers, review articles, commentary, letters to the editor, research on medical education, and approved research proposals. All submitted manuscripts must indicate proof of Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval.

 

Publication Fees

JMUST does not charge any fees for the submission of articles for review. However, we charge a small Open Access processing fee for articles that have been selected for publishing/inclusion in a JMUST issue. Please check JMUST Fees Schedule for more details.

 

General Instructions

For the whole manuscript, except for legends and references, we recommend at most 6000 words, with a maximum of 5 tables, 5 figures, and 30 references, except for a review.

The manuscript must have the following:

  • title page (start of manuscript, title of the manuscript, authors with academic titles and addresses, correspondence, running title, five keywords, number of words, number of tables, and number of figures; we recommend 8-10 tables and figures combined)

  • abstract (maximum 250 words)

  • article body (see detailed instructions below)

 

Detailed Instructions

In order to proceed, it is best that you please write/re-write the manuscript based on the JMUST specifications. It is recommended that you read previously published JMUST articles, so as to be guided on writing style. JMUST adheres to the Guidelines/Uniform Requirements of ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors), and at JMUST’s end, we have some important considerations, prior to uploading your manuscript, and these are:

  1. Although embedded in the JMUST platform too (see details), a PLAGIARISM Check be performed by the Author prior to submitting your manuscript;

  2. In the TITLE, abbreviations are not encouraged; Also, if you state "USTH,” or any University, please do not give the name of the Institution and therefore revise it to "…University Hospital…;

  3. AUTHOR Academic degrees (e.g., MD, MHPEd) be necessary but not in regard to status in societies (e.g., FPCP, etc); and A CORRESPONDING AUTHOR, with contact email, be necessary; Terms like “primary or co-investigator or resident or consultant or adviser, etc” aren’t needed; each and every author will have an email address for notification of submission. The co-authors will be individually asked for consent for submission and eventual publication;

  4. KEY WORDS are mandatory; at most 5 words;

  5. The ABSTRACT should be Structured, except if Case Report; Abbreviations be spelled in ABSTRACT; references and citations are ideally not included in the abstract;
    Structured Abstract must be written in paragraph as:
        Introduction
        Methodology
        Results
        Discussion
        Conclusion

  6. Review of literature should not be a sub-heading, should not be bulleted, and should be part of INTRODUCTION; Same is true for Presentation of Objectives and Significance of Study, and are therefore made in paragraph form (rather than numbered); These are correspondingly placed in the tail-end of the INTRODUCTION;

  7. METHODS should have fewer sub-headings; Sample size estimation, equations, and Statistical Applications be part of METHODS;

  8. Ethical consideration and Institutional Review Board approvals should be shortened to two to three sentences and incorporated in the METHODS;

  9. RESULTS, coming in paragraphs be encouraged, and with fewer sub-headings; Results can be beefed up by Tables and Figures, thus reducing redundancy in statements;

  10. CONCLUSIONS should be short; Recommendations should not be a separate heading, instead, they should be incorporated as statements after the CONCLUSION in that paragraph;

  11. DECLARATION OF COMPETING INTERESTS (or Conflict of Interest/COI) be necessary after the CONCLUSION; This includes Sources of FUNDING (partial, total, pharmacological) or a declaration of No source funding;

  12. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, if there are, should follow after the Declaration of COI; Ensure that those individuals/entities acknowledged, agree specifically to be in the Acknowledgment list;

  13. AUTHOR'S CONTRIBUTIONS, to be included in the submission and clearly specified. Here is an example.
    1. Research Project: A. Conception, B. Organization, C. Execution; 2. Statistical Analysis: A. Design, B. Execution, C. Review, and Critique; 3. Manuscript Preparation: A. Writing the First Draft, B. Review and Critique. As an example for each author, Author: N.A.A: 1A, 1B, 1C, 3A; M.G-E.: 1B, 1C, 3B;

  14. TABLES and FIGURES are supposed to be numbered. TABLES that are lengthy need to be compacted together, and a maximum of 5 Tables be all needed; Footnotes be encouraged, if necessary; Ensure that each Table and Figure is likewise alluded to in the content of the manuscript;

  15. FIGURES should be clear, as some are being submitted as ‘copy-paste;’ Labelling of TABLES and FIGURES should be clear and must relate to the manuscript submitted, e.g., Cases, demography, etc. but aptly stated;

  16. The VANCOUVER REFERENCING style should be strictly followed (see more details below); Please ensure that all cited references are accounted for in the BIBLIOGRAPHY and numbered as these appear in the text with brackets (e.g. [1]); BIBLIOGRAPHY should also follow Vancouver style;

 

Reference Citation – more details

Vancouver style must be used for reference citation and reference writing. In the manuscript, the citing of references must be as follows:

In brief, the citation numbers in Arabic must be in line with the text (separated with a comma if more than one citation, e.g., “….in the review [1,5,6] or ….in the review [2-6,11,16],” and cited chronologically as they appear in the manuscript (however, not alphabetical), without parenthesis/brackets. In the Bibliography/List of References, the numbering is based on the order of articles cited in the manuscript. Author(s) appearance/s will be as follows:

 

If there are 1 to 3 authors, include all.

Viar JR, Cunanan EC. The Association of Antenatal steroids and hypoglycemia in preterm neonates. J Med UST. 2021;5(1):604–10. 

If there are 4 to 6 authors, only the first 3 authors will be cited, followed by “et al.”

Sy MG, Calimag MM, de Sagun RQ, et al. We got to move it, move it: The lived experiences of family carers of youth with chronic neurodevelopmental disorders as they enter into adult health care. J Med UST. 2020;4(2):486–99. 

If there are 7 or more authors, only the first 6 authors will be cited, followed by “et al.”

Regino JM, Mercado VF, Gonzalez-Suarez CB, Aguinaldo JB, Yu MJ, Oquinena MT, et al. Videotape instruction vs brochure on the effectiveness of unsupervised home exercise program in patients with knee osteoarthritis. J Med UST. 2017;1(1):43–56.

 

Figure and Tables – more details

Use Arabic numerals for Tables and Figures. Both Tables and Figures are placed at the end of the manuscript. Tables must be in Word format with a descriptive title related to the data being presented. Figures, charts, and images must be in high resolution in JPEG format.  Legends will be separately placed after the references.

Click here to download these instructions.