Author guidelines and Scope

Welcome to the Electronic Physician author guidelines. Please review the following instructions carefully prior to preparing and submitting your manuscript to ensure a smooth review and publication process.

1. Scope & Editorial Priorities

Electronic Physician (ISSN: 2008-5842) is a peer-reviewed open access journal publishing original research across all areas of basic medical sciences, clinical medicine, and public health.

We welcome:

• Original Research Articles
• Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
• Randomized Controlled Trials
• Case Reports & Case Series
• Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and Commentaries

Priority Research Designs

To maximize scientific impact and clinical relevance, priority is given to submissions featuring:

1. Meta-Analyses
2. Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs)
3. Prospective Cohort Studies
4. Systematic Reviews with high policy or clinical practice relevance
5. Matched Case-Control Studies
6. Unique or Rare Case Reports with significant educational value

2. Open Access Policy & Licensing

Electronic Physician is an Open Access journal. All published articles are immediately and permanently free for everyone to read, download, copy, and distribute.

• License: Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License.
• Permitted Use: Readers may share and redistribute the work in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited, used for non-commercial purposes, and left unmodified.

3. Research Reporting Guidelines & Templates

Authors are strongly encouraged to adhere to international reporting standards according to study design:

Study Design	Standard / Checklist	Download Template
Randomized Controlled Trials	CONSORT 2010	Download CONSORT Checklist
Observational Studies (Cohort, Case-Control, Cross-Sectional)	STROBE Statement	Download STROBE Checklist
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses	PRISMA Checklist	Download PRISMA Checklist
Meta-analyses of Observational Studies	MOOSE Guidelines	Download MOOSE Checklist
Case Reports	CARE Checklist	Download CARE Checklist
Diagnostic Accuracy Studies	STARD Checklist	Download STARD Checklist
Clinical Trial Protocols	SPIRIT Statement	Download SPIRIT Checklist

• Download Official Manuscript Template (Includes formatting guidelines, typography, author lists, and section structure)

4. Manuscript Preparation & Formatting

Electronic Physician incorporates the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts (URM) established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Reference Guidelines

• Reference Style: References must strictly follow NLM Style (Citing Medicine, 2nd edition).
• Journal Abbreviations: Use official NLM / ISSN journal title abbreviations (LTWA List).
• Identifiers: Include PMID / PMCID for articles listed in PubMed and direct DOI URLs (https://doi.org/...) where available.
• Tip: You can use the CrossRef Simple Text Query Tool to retrieve missing DOIs.

5. Research & Publication Ethics

Electronic Physician adheres to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and maintains zero tolerance for scientific misconduct.

Zero-Tolerance Misconduct Policies

• Plagiarism (all submissions are screened via iThenticate)
• Duplicate or Salami Publication
• Data Fabrication or Falsification
• Ghost, Guest, or Gift Authorship
• Fake Peer Reviewer Nominations

Ethical Approvals & Human/Animal Rights

• Human Rights: Studies involving human subjects must conform to the Declaration of Helsinki and be approved by an institutional Human Research Ethics Committee / IRB.
• Informed Consent: Authors must obtain written informed consent from all participants (or legal guardians in pediatric research). Identifiable personal data must not be published without explicit written consent.
• Clinical Trial Registration: Clinical trials must provide a valid registration ID from a recognized primary registry (e.g., ClinicalTrials.gov, WHO ICTRP).

6. Language & English Editing

All manuscripts must be written in clear, grammatically correct English.

• Mandatory Language Editing: Accepted manuscripts are required to undergo advanced language proofreading by native English editors (e.g., AJE, Editage, or MehrPub).
• Final Review Stage: Language editing acts as the final quality control step prior to layout and pre-publication gallery proofing.

7. Submission Requirements & Peer Review

• Conflict of Interest (COI): All authors must complete and upload the official ICMJE Conflict of Interest form with their submission.
• Download Conflict of Interest (COI) 
• Peer-Review Timeline:
• Routine Submissions: Initial decisions and reviewer comments within 3 to 6 months.
• Fast-Track Submissions: Initial decisions within 3 to 10 weeks (subject to reviewer availability).

8. Article Processing Charges (APC) & Fee Waivers

• Low & Middle-Income Countries: Publishing is completely free of charge for authors from low- and middle-income countries (covering >90% of our authors).
• High-Income Countries: Authors from high-income nations may apply for 20% to 80% discounts/waivers.
• Read more about our Publication Fee Waiver Scheme

9. Withdrawal Policy

Submitting authors agree to the journal's withdrawal terms upon cover letter sign-off:

• Pre-Review (Within 3 Days): Requests to withdraw prior to peer review initiation will be granted immediately without penalty.
• During Peer Review: Withdrawal requests require compelling, documented ethical or scientific justification and mutual agreement from the editorial board.
• Post-Acceptance / In Press: No withdrawals are permitted after acceptance or pre-publication galley proof creation. Unethical withdrawal after acceptance to submit elsewhere wastes editorial and peer-review resources and is strictly prohibited.