Articles published in MJZ are Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
About the Journal
The Medical Journal of Zambia is an open access peer-reviewed quarterly journal intended for the publication of papers from all specialities of medicine (Internal Medicine, Surgery, Paediatrics and Obstetrics & Gynaecology) and their subspecialties, basic sciences, public health, social medicine and medical politics.
The journal also welcomes contributions from experienced individuals describing the way they deal with particular problems (i.e. intended to pass on the art of medicine).
Publication Frequency and Open Access Policy
The Journal is published quarterly in a year and provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Author Guidelines
Table of Content
General
Submission of a paper
Organization of a full-length research paper
Case reports
Case series
Short communication
Systematic Reviews, Meta-Analyses Templates. Get templates
Letters to the Editors.
Editorial
Opinion
Perspective
Obituaries
Revised manuscripts
Permissions
Copyright
Publication and peer review processes
Online submission Requirements
Article Processing Charges
MJZ peer review process
MJZ record retention policy (CrossMark Policy)
MJZ retraction policy
MJZ correction policy
Permanent archiving of content
Authors conflicts and complaints resolution
MJZ Research Ethics Policy
The Medical Journal of Zambia (MJZ) is an open access peer-reviewed quarterly journal intended for the publication of papers from all specialities of medicine (Internal Medicine, Surgery, Paediatrics and Obstetrics & Gynaecology) and their subspecialties, basic sciences, public health, social medicine and medical politics.
The journal also welcomes contributions from experienced individuals describing the way they deal with particular problems (i.e., intended to pass on the art of medicine).
Short reports will include case report, commentary, conference proceedings, editorials, viewpoints, and letter to the editors. Short Communications should be no longer than 1500 words. They must have an abstract and references, but the main body of the text does not have to follow the original research´s format. We give privilege to invited reviews and encourage prospective authors of systematic reviews to discuss the project with the editorial office before development.
Manuscripts will be initially screened by an editor for adherence to the journal´s instructions or identification of gross deficiencies. At this stage, the corresponding author can be contacted by the editorial office for clarification or the manuscript can be rejected. Once this initial screening is completed, manuscripts are sent to two-three referees; if appropriate, a statistical reviewer is involved. On average, we will report back to authors within 6 weeks with a first decision. Authors should however note that the average duration from submission to publication is roughly 3 months (1 - 6 months). We encourage authors not to contact the editorial office less than 6 weeks after the initial submission. We discourage and will ignore requests by authors to speed up the publication process for a particular manuscript.
Manuscripts must be submitted by one of the authors of the manuscript, and should not be submitted by anyone on their behalf. The submitting author takes responsibility for the article during submission and peer review.
Language of publication is English only. Poor English does not prevent acceptance provided the paper's content is of high scientific quality; we however strongly encourage authors to have their manuscript reviewed by a fluent English speaker and writer to improve its language contents prior to submission. All accepted manuscripts are copy-edited.
To facilitate rapid publication and to minimize administrative costs, MJZ accepts only online submission. The submission process is compatible with all the latest browsers. Ensure that javascript is enabled in your browser.
Files can be submitted as a batch. The submission process allows the authors to interrupt it at any time, and continue where they left off at their return on the site.
During submission you will be asked to provide a cover letter. Use this to explain why your manuscript should be published in the journal and to elaborate on any issues relating to our editorial policies detailed in the instructions for authors.
The Journal is published quarterly in a year and provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
MJZ content licensing: Articles published in MJZ are Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Online submission
MJZ Journals only accept online submissions. Click here to access the Online Manuscript Submission System. Simple onscreen instructions are provided. If you experience problems with the online submission system, send an email to editor@mjz.co.zm . Do not send your manuscript to that email address, it will be ignored.
Conflicts of interest
Will be mentioned in the manuscript as "Authors declared they have no conflicts of interest".
Organization of a full-length research paper
Maximum length: 4000 words in main text (i.e., excluding abstract, references, legends, tables and figures), 4 tables/figures maximum, and a structured abstract of 250 words plus up to 50 references.
Title page - This page should state: a) The title of the paper (include the study design if appropriate; for example: A versus B in the treatment of C: a randomized controlled trial; X is a risk factor for Y: a case control study), b) Authors names (full name - no qualification, no abbreviations). Strictly follow this order: First Name, Middle name (if ever), Last Name. E.g.: Peter Naloli Nawa), c) institution(s) of origin, d) Corresponding author plus his/her address, e-mail address.
Abstract - The abstract of the manuscript should not exceed 250 words and must be structured into separate sections: Background: the context and purpose of the study; Methods: how the study was performed and statistical tests used; Results: the main findings; Conclusion: brief summary and potential implications. Please minimize the use of abbreviations and do not cite references in the abstract.
Keywords. Up to ten keywords should be provided at the end of the Abstract. The keywords should be Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®) Terms. Use the MeSH on Deman Tool to help suggest keywords.
Abbreviations a list of abbreviations is not accepted. Define abbreviations the first time they are used in the text and use them thereafter. No abbreviations in the abstract except for vary know ones.
Background The background section should be written from the standpoint of researchers without specialist knowledge in that area and must clearly state - and, if helpful, illustrate - the background to the research and its aims. Reports of clinical research should, where appropriate, include a summary of a search of the literature to indicate why this study was necessary and what it aimed to contribute to the field. The section should end with a very brief statement of what is being reported in the article.
Methods Sufficient information should be given to permit repetition of the experimental work. This should include the design of the study, the setting, the type of participants or materials involved, a clear description of all interventions and comparisons, and the type of analysis used, including a power calculation if appropriate.
Results - The Results should be stated concisely without discussion and should not normally contain any references. The same data should not be presented in figures and tables. Do not repeat all the data that is set out in the tables or figures in the text; emphasize or summarize only important observations.
Discussion - The Discussion should deal with the interpretation of the results and not recapitulate them. We encourage authors to write their Discussion in a structured way, as follows: a) statement of principal findings; b) strengths and weaknesses of the study; c) strengths and weaknesses in relation to other studies; d) discussion of important differences in results; e) meaning of the study; f) unanswered questions and future research.
Limitations - Always acknowledge the potential the limitations of your study that and how they impact or influence the interpretation of the findings from your research, the generalizability, applications to practice, and/or utility of findings.
Conclusion - The conclusion should provide a brief summarize of the key findings, potential implications and the way forward.
What is already known on this topic: include a maximum of 03 bullet points on what is already known on this topic.
What this study adds: include a maximum of 03 bullet points on what your study adds.
Acknowledgements - Please acknowledge anyone who contributed towards the study by making substantial contributions to conception, design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, or who was involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content, but who does not meet the criteria for authorship. Please also include their source(s) of funding. Please also acknowledge anyone who contributed materials essential for the study. The role of a medical writer must be included in the acknowledgements section, including their source(s) of funding. Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those mentioned in the Acknowledgements. Please list the source(s) of funding for the study, for each author, and for the manuscript preparation in the acknowledgements section. Authors must describe the role of the funding body, if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Competing interest - Authors are responsible for recognizing and disclosing conflicts of interest that might bias their work. They should acknowledge in the manuscript all financial support for the work and other personal connections. Authors are required to complete a declaration of competing interests. All competing interests that are declared will be listed at the end of published articles. Where an author gives no competing interests, the listing will read 'The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests'. When completing your declaration, please consider the following questions:
Financial competing interests
Non-financial competing interests
Authors' contributions - In order to give appropriate credit to each author of a paper, the individual contributions of authors to the manuscript should be specified in this section. The Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (URM) of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME) recommends the following criteria for authorship (Learn more about the URM on Authorship and Contributorship):
References - References must be numbered consecutively, in ssuperscript (like this human Simplex virus1, or this AIDS2,3 or even this HPV4-8, in the order in which they are cited in the text, followed by any in tables or legends. Reference citations should not appear in titles or headings. Each reference must have an individual reference number. Preferably, limit the number of references to 50. If automatic numbering systems are used, the reference numbers must be finalized and the bibliography must be fully formatted before submission. We encourage authors to use a recent version of EndNote (version 5 and above) or Reference Manager when formatting their reference list, as this allows references to be automatically extracted.
Examples of the MJZ reference style which is Vancouver style are shown below. Please take care to follow the reference style precisely; references not in the correct style may be retyped, necessitating tedious proofreading.
We strongly advocate the use of Zotero, a free and open-source reference management software which is a very good alternative to expensive software like Reference Manager or EndNote.
Manuscripts not formatted according to the MJZ style will be returned to the authors
For books, names and initials of all authors, the full title, place of publication, publishers, year of publication and page numbers should be given.
NB: Note the use of dots to separate the sections of the book reference.
Formatting web references: Use the format below to reference a web page or a web site. Author of the page. Name of the source (if any). Year of data. url. Date link accessed
NB: Note the use of dots to separate the sections of the web
Authors should personally verify the accuracy of every reference before submitting the paper for publication and should ensure that the listed references correspond exactly to those in the text.
When finalizing your research manuscript, ask yourself the following questions:
The STROBE Checklists provide good guidance on how to report observational research well.
Download the MS Word version of the STROBE checklists. Include the completed form as an annex to your submission.
Case reports represent an important fraction of paper published in medical journals and are an important source of learning and experience sharing for clinicians.
The case reports that we will consider for publication should be:
The MJZ follows the CARE guidelines (for CAse REports) to support accuracy, transparency, and usefulness of case reports. Authors of case reports should ensure that their submission follows the CARE Check list.
The CARE checklist is available for download here: CARE Checklist . Follow the link to the care-statement to see examples of case reports formatted according to the CARE guidelines. Additional resources for authors are available from the CARE guidelines authors page.
A case series is a group or series of case reports involving patients who were given similar treatment. Reports of case series usually contain detailed information about the individual patients. This includes demographic information (for example, age, gender, ethnic origin) and information on diagnosis, treatment, response to treatment, and follow-up after treatment [Definition of a case series]. A case series should include:
Case-series should follow the STROBE guidance for cross-sectional studies.
A maximum of 1500 words in the main text (i.e., excluding abstract, references and legends) plus up to ten references and normally no more than two illustrations (tables or figures or one of each). Otherwise in the same format as full-length original papers (see above).
Download short communication templates to help format your manuscripts. Get templates
Contrary to what it seems, review articles are some of the most challenging to write. Articles submitted to the MJZ as systematic reviews and meta-analyses should adhere to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.
A maximum of 5000 words in the main text (i.e. excluding abstract, references and legends) plus up to 100 references. Reviews are usually solicited, although unsolicited Reviews may be considered for publication. Prospective writers of Reviews should first consult the Editors.
Several PRISMA extensions exist that we invite prospective authors of reviews to consult and adhere to.
In addition, the PRISMA Website provides key documents for authors. Kindly ensure that your review follows these important guidelines
Comment briefly on findings of Journal articles or other noteworthy public health advances (up to 800 words in main text, no abstract, limited to 10 references). Please note that word counts refer exclusively to the main text and do not include abstract, references, or acknowledgments.
Up to 2500 words in main text, 2 tables/figures, and an unstructured abstract of 120 words.
An editorial is an article written by or on behalf of the editors that gives an opinion on a topical issue. Editorials are usually solicited. Contact the editorial office if you wish to submit an editorial to the journal.
The structure of an editorial typically includes:
An opinion piece is a short article providing the personal opinion of the author on a subject of interest. Opinion article may be solicited or not. The following structure applies to an opinion piece: Abstract, Opinion, Competing interests, References (not more than 5 references). Contact the editorial office if you wish to submit an opinion piece. Download the opinion template Get templates
A perspective essay is an essay where the author is asked to voice their opinion on a given topic. The topic chosen to provide a personal perspective about should be of clinical or public health interest to MJZ readership. A perspective should not be based on the opinions of others, but should explicitly express the author's perspective or views. In the process of writing a perspective, the author should help readers understand how they form their opinion. A perspective is typically a non-technical document, easily understandable to a wide non-technical audience, so avoid using jargon. Use the first person (I, or we if more than one author). Use details and examples to illustrate your point.
Obituaries acknowledge the work of a significant and recently deceased professional. Contact the editorial office if you wish to submit an obituary.
If you are asked to revise your manuscript you will be expected to provide a covering letter that responds in detail to each point raised by reviewers or editors, and to highlight new material in the text using a different colour (do not use the 'track changes' mode of Word). If a manuscript returned to the authors for revision is not returned to the Editorial Office within the stipulated time-period (usually 4 weeks), it will be treated as a new manuscript.
An email is sent to the corresponding author. Typographical errors only should be corrected. The corrected proof should be returned within 48 hours. Failure to comply with this deadline will delay publication.
Verbatim material or illustrations taken from other published sources must be accompanied by a written statement from the author, and from the publisher if holding the copyright, giving permission to MJZ for reproduction.
It is condition of publication in the journal that the authors assign copyright to the Medical Journal of Zambia. To this effect all accompanying letters must contain the following statement. The authors being the sole and legitimate holder of the copyright hereby transfer it to Medical Journal of Zambia.
Plagiarism check
We take the issue of plagiarism very seriously. All manuscripts submitted to the MJZ are checked for plagiarism various tools and services including Ithenticate (through our partnership with CrossRef), Google search, and independent reports of suspected plagiarism. Suspected and reported instances of plagiarism will be investigated thoroughly, according to the COPE guidelines. Manuscripts confirmed with plagiarism can be removed from consideration for publication in the journal; actions against all the manuscript authors can also be considered. If the plagiarism is identified post-publication, the article can be retracted with a retraction notice published.
Editorial policies
Any manuscript or substantial parts of it, submitted to MJZ must not be under consideration by any other journal. The manuscript should not have already been published in any journal or other citable form, with that exception that the journal is willing to consider peer-reviewing manuscripts that are translations of articles originally published in another language. In this case, the consent of the journal in which the article was originally published must be obtained and the fact that the article has already been published must be made clear on submission and stated in the abstract. Authors who publish in MJZ retain copyright to their work. Correspondence concerning articles published in MJZ is encouraged.
Submission of a manuscript to MJZ implies that all authors have read and agreed to its content, and that any research that is reported in the manuscript has been performed with the approval of an appropriate ethics committee. Research carried out on humans must be in compliance with the Helsinki Declaration, and any experimental research on animals must follow internationally recognized guidelines. A statement to this effect must appear in the Methods section of the manuscript, including the name of the body which gave approval, with a reference number where appropriate. Informed consent must also be documented. Manuscripts may be rejected if the editorial office considers that the research has not been carried out within an ethical framework, e.g. if the severity of the experimental procedure is not justified by the value of the knowledge gained.
Generic drug names should generally be used. When proprietary brands are used in research, include the brand names in parentheses in the Methods section.
We ask authors of MJZ papers to complete a declaration of competing interests, which should be provided as a separate section of the manuscript, to follow the Acknowledgements. Where an author gives no competing interests, the listing will read 'The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests'. To learn more about competing interests the following articles provide some background:
For all articles that include information or clinical photographs relating to individual patients, written and signed consent from each patient to publish must also be mailed or faxed to the editorial staff. The manuscript should also include a statement to this effect in the Acknowledgements section, as follows: "Written consent for publication was obtained from the patient or their relative."
Manuscript is submitted through the MJZ online Submission Portal. You will need the following to complete the submission of your manuscript:
MJZ is an Open Access Journal and does not charge any article Processing charge/ Fee. It is currently being supported Zambia Medical Association. We do not charge article submission or publication fees.
MJZ uses online peer review (Open Journal System) to speed up the publication process. Submitted manuscripts, where applicable, will be sent to peer reviewers, unless they are either out of scope or below the language or scientific threshold for the journal as determined by the editor-in- chief, a science editor or an associate editor.
The MJZ follows a single blind peer review process whereby, reviewers know who the authors of the manuscripts are but authors do not know who the reviewers are.
Manuscripts submitted to the MJZ will go through three type of review process:
The ultimate responsibility for any decision lies with the Editor-in-Chief, to whom any appeals against rejections should be addressed.
To guide the peer-review process, the MJZ provides a checklist adapted from the Review Criteria for Research Manuscripts 2nd Edition (AAMC). the Reviewers are asked whether the manuscript is scientifically sound and coherent, how interesting it is and whether the quality of the writing is acceptable. Where possible, the final decision is made on the basis that the peer reviewers are in accordance with one another, or that at least there is no strong dissenting view. In cases where there is strong disagreement either among peer reviewers or between the authors and peer reviewers, advice is sought from a member of the journal's Editorial Board. The journal allows a maximum of two revisions of any manuscripts.
Reviewers are also asked to indicate which articles they consider to be especially interesting or significant. These articles may be given greater prominence and greater external publicity.
Material and records created during the submission process will be archived. Once archived, these materials will no longer be accessible to the submitting author through the journal panel. The duration of retention of records created during the submission process is as follow:
Authors willing to access these materials would have to contact the editorial office of the journal.
We work closely with authors to make what we publish error-free.
When an article is published, the corresponding author receives an email and a correction request sheet which can be used to submit corrections to our online proof checking system if necessary. In each case, we make sure that corrections are handled as soon as possible.
All corrections are handled by the editor assigned to the article.
All other changes requested will be reviewed by the editorial team for appropriateness.
We publish corrections in Erratum and Corrigendum articles as soon as we can.
Once a manuscript is published, authors can request changes for; grammatical and orthographic errors, errors in the spelling of author names or affiliation, invalid or non-readable characters.
After a manuscript is published, MJZ editors will not accept requests to change the order of authors, add new authors or remove authors.
Requests to make intensive changes anywhere in the text will be declined.
Retractions are considered by the MJZ editorial office after assessing evidence of unreliable data or findings, plagiarism, duplicate publication, and unethical research practices.
The MJZ editorial office may consider an expression of concern notice if an article is under investigation.
When a retraction notice is published in MJZ, the retracted article and the PDF are watermarked with “retracted article” before the notice is submitted for indexation on article databases where MJZ content is deposited
Depending on the nature of the retraction, authors may also be banned from publishing in MJZ for up to five (5) years.
The MJZ is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and follows the international standards for editors and authors and COPE guidelines on investigating scientific misconduct.
CrossMark is a multi-publisher initiative from CrossRef to provide a standard way for readers to locate the current version of a piece of content. By applying the Crossmark logo Publisher Name is committing to maintaining the content it publishes and to alerting readers to changes if and when they occur. Clicking on the Crossmark logo will tell you the current status of a document and may also give you additional publication record information about the document.
MJZ participates in CrossMark, therefore, all published articles will display the CrossMark logo similar to the one below. By Clicking on the CrossMark logo you will get the current status of an article and will be directed to the latest published version.
CrossMark Logo
All articles published in MJZ from 1st April 2022 will receive a DOI. The contents of MJZ are archived on Africa Journal Online, Publons
Whenever a published article needs to be corrected, the correction or retraction policies above will apply.
Conflicts and disagreements between authors themselves or between authors and the editorial team are inevitable. All conflicts will be handled according to the Committee on Publication Ethics Guidance. Authors are free to bring their grievance against the journal to COPE. As a member of the COPE, some issues between authors or between authors and the journal can be posted on COPE website as case studies, in accordance with COPE editorial policies.
All research articles submitted for consideration to the MJZ should abide to basic research ethics as guided by international bodies such as:
The basic principles underpinning the ethical conduct at all stages of research are summarized below:
Contact/ Address
Medical Journal of Zambia
Unit 2 Brentwood Court
Stand No. 6458
Los Angeles Boulevard, Longacres,
Lusaka Zambia
Principal Contact
The Editor
Phone+260950698199
Support Contact
Phone+260964113263
Phone+260 979 192 450
It is condition of publication in the journal that the authors assign copyright to the Medical Journal of Zambia. To this effect all accompanying letters must contain the following statement. The authors being the sole and legitimate holder of the copyright hereby transfer it to Medical Journal of Zambia.
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.
Articles published in MJZ are Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
MJZ is available on:
___________________________________