Author Guidelines
Author Guidelines
Multidisciplinary Cancer Investigation (MCI) considers the following types of article for publication: original article, review article, case report and series, letter to the editors and short communication.
All contributions must be written in English. Papers must be as short as is consistent with providing a focused message, with a few crucial figures or tables. They must be submitted on the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis) and are not currently under consideration by another journal. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that the article has been approved by all the other coauthors.
Online Submission
Manuscripts should be submitted and tracked to final decision at www.mcijournal.com. The instructions for authors should be closely followed. Manuscripts that do not comply with these instructions will not be sent for external review.
Preparation of manuscripts
Sections of the manuscript
Papers should be divided into the following sections: (1) Title page, (2) Abstract (3) Keywords, (4) Introduction, (5) Methods, (6) Results, (7) Discussion, (8) Acknowledgements, (9) Conflict of Interest, (10) Ethics Approval, (11) References, (12) Figure legends, (13) Tables and (14) Figures.
General format
Please prepare your manuscript text using Word processing software (in .doc or .docx format). Submissions of text in the form of PDF files are not accepted. Manuscripts should be double-spaced, including text, tables, legends and references.
Number each page. Please avoid footnotes; instead, and as sparingly as possible, use parentheses. Enter text in the style and order of the journal. Use the TAB key once for paragraph indents. Number lines. Where possible, use Times New Roman size 12 for the body, size 12 bold for subheadings, size 14 for headings and size 14 bold for the title and use Symbols for the Greek and special characters.
Authors must include line numbering restarting in each page on all the manuscript pages; (in word 2013: page set up/ layout/ line numbers/ add line numbering/ restart each page).
1) Title page
The title page should include:
- Full title
- Complete names of the all authors and their affiliations;
- Corresponding author’s name should be followed by an asterisk;
- Mailing address and e-mail for correspondence.
2) Abstract
- Abstracts may not contain more than 150-250 words for different type of manuscripts;
- Do not cite references in the abstract;
- The abstract should be self-explanatory without reference to the main text;
- Limit use of acronyms and abbreviations;
- The structure includes Introduction, Methods, Results and Conclusions.
3) Key Words
- Provide 3 to 5 key words for indexing purposes. Keywords found in the Medical Subject Headings List (MeSH) of Index Medicus (see www.nlm.nih.gov) are preferable.
Note that the keywords should not duplicate all words used in the title of the article, which will be automatically indexed.
4) Introduction
- State clearly the aim and objectives of the study;
- Should indicate the main reasons for doing the work;
- A detailed review of the literature is not recommended;
- The content should be accompanied with relevant references.
5) Methods
- Mention the type of the study;
- Describe the methods, tools, and procedures employed with sufficient details to allow others to reproduce the results without the need to communicate with the authors;
- Describe the intervention and control groups;
- Mention the type of statistical tests used;
- Describe rationale for use of specific statistical tests, when it would be necessary;
- State statistical significance when appropriate;
6) Results
- State findings of the study in the text, tables, or figures and not repeat the same findings in tables and figures and the text;
- Be precise and do not include material that is appropriate for the discussion e.g. explanation of findings;
- Units, quantities, and formulas should be mentioned according to the System International (SI units);
- All measurements should be presented in metric units.
7) Discussion
- State the original and important features of the study. Do not repeat all the finding presented within the results section;
- Contain the significance of the findings and the relevance to previously published studies;
- State only the conclusions that are supported by the study.
8) Acknowledgments
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship as defined in Authorship should be listed in acknowledgements section. Examples include a department chairperson who provided only general support, a person who provided purely technical help or writing assistance. Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those mentioned in the Acknowledgements section.
State all funding sources, and the names of companies, manufacturers, or external organizations providing technical or equipment support in this part.
If you do not have anyone to acknowledge and have no Funding support, please write "Not applicable" in this section.
9) Conflict of Interest
Authors must disclose whether or not they have any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. If you do not have any competing interests, please state that authors have no competing interests.
10) Ethics Approval
All manuscripts reporting the results of experimental investigations involving human subjects should include a statement confirming the informed consent was obtained from each subject or their guardians. All animal or human studies should be used after approval of the experimental protocol by a local ethics committee.
If your manuscript does not report on or involve the use of any animal or human data or tissue, please state “Not applicable” in this section.
11) References
- Accuracy of reference details is the responsibility of authors;
- Personal communications, unpublished observations, and submitted manuscripts are not accepted references;
- In the main text, references should be entered consecutively by superscript Arabic numerals. The reference list should be organized in numerical order according to the order appearing in the text. Examples of acceptable reference formats are as follow:
Cite references in the text, tables, and figures with numbers in brackets. Number references consecutively according to the order in which they first appear in the text. The first six author authors should be mentioned. The journals name should be abbreviated and in italic. At the end of the references which are indexed in PubMed the pubmed link must be added. Below there are examples of MCI style for references.
Article:
You LM, Aiken LH, Sloane DM, Liu K, He GP, Hu Y, et al. Hospital nursing, care quality, and patient satisfaction: cross-sectional surveys of nurses and patients in hospitals in China and Europe. Int J Nurs Stud. 2013;50(6):154-61.
Book:
Murray RK, Granner D, Mayes P, Rodwell V. Harper's biochemistry: Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey; 1990.
Website:
Marc Beishon. Bridging the gap in metastatic breast cancer 2016. Available from: http://www.cancerworld.org/Articles/Issues/70/January-February-2016/Spotlight-on/758/Bridging-the-gap-in-metastatic-breast-cancer-.html
- If there are 7 or more authors, list the first 6 ones and then insert "et al."
12) Figure legends
Each figure should have a concise caption (legend) describing accurately what the figure depicts. Figure legends should be mentioned at the end of the manuscript file and not in the figure file. Figure legends should begin with the term Figure in bold type, followed by the figure number also in bold type (e.g. Figure 1).
13) Tables
Tables should be presented in a separate file. For each table, a short descriptive title should appear above. Please make sure that each table is cited in the text and is numbered using Arabic numerals. For previously published material as tables, indicate the original source in the form of a reference at the end of the table caption. Asterisks (*) for significance values and other statistical points should be included beneath the table body.
14) Figures
Figures should be limited to the number necessary for clarity and must not duplicate data given in tables or in the text. Any number exceeding this should be designated as supplementary material for online access only. Figures must be suitable for high quality reproduction and should be submitted in the desired final printed size so that the quality of the figure would not be affected after being printed. Figures should be no larger than 125 (height) x 180 (width) mm (5 x 7 inches) and should be submitted in a separate file from that of the manuscript. Figures should be saved in TIFF format at a resolution of at least 300 pixels per inch at the final printed size for colour figures and photographs, and 1200 pixels per inch for black and white line drawings. Although some other formats can be translated into TIFF format by the publisher, the conversion may alter the tones, resolution and contrast of the image. Therefore, PDF is not acceptable as a source file for figures and illustrations.
- Original article
Original articles must not exceed 4,500 words (excluding abstract, references, figure legends and tables) and include an structured abstract of 250 words or fewer. The body of an original manuscript should include: title page, abstract, keywords, introduction, methods, results, discussion, acknowledgements, conflict of interests, ethics approval, references, figure legends, tables and figures. The number of tables, figures and references should be appropriate to the manuscript content and they should not have more than 8 total display items (figures and tables) and no more than 60 references. Authors whose first language is not English are requested to have their manuscripts checked carefully before submission.
- Short Communication
A small-scale study that includes important new information may be published as a short communication. It usually carries an abstract up to 250 words, text up to 1500 words, up to three tables or figures, and essential references (up to 20).
- Letters to the Editor
Letters commenting on articles published recently (within the past 4 issues) of Multidisciplinary Cancer Investigation (MCI) or expressing views on relevant topics will be considered for publication. Letters must not exceed 1,500 words including references and should cite no more than 15 references. No abstract is required.
- Case Report and Series
Case reports include case report/studies of patient(s) that describe a novel situation or add important insights into mechanisms, diagnosis or treatment of a disease. Case reports are limited to 2,000 words (excluding references) and they have up to 4 display items (figures and/or tables). The body of a case report manuscript should include: title page, structured abstract (including: Introduction, case presentation, conclusion), key words, introduction, case presentation, discussion, acknowledgments, conflict of interest, ethics approval, references and illustrations (if applicable). Case reports allow maximum 200 words for abstract and up to 30 references.
- Review Article
Review articles are limited to 5,000 words not including references and should include the following sections: title page, abstract (not structured), main text, conclusions, acknowledgments, conflict of interest, ethics approval (If applicable), references, figure legends, tables and figures. Reviews should not contain more than 250 words for abstract and more than 100 references. Reviews should have no more than 8 display items (figures and/or tables).
Authors are encouraged to contact the Editor-in-Chief (kmajidzadeh@mcijournal.com) before preparing an unsolicited review article to avoid duplication of other works already in progress.
- Commentary
Commentries, the short articles, take one of these forms: The first form is a discussion of an article or trial that is interesting enough to warrant further comment or explanation and the second form covers an aspect of an issue that is relevant to the journal's scope. This type of Commentary could be a discussion of the impact of new technology on research and treatment, or an other interesting issue.
Commentaries should not exceed 10 manuscript pages. They do not include an abstract and their references are limited to 25 (only essential citations). No abstract is required.
