Types of papers:
Multidisciplinary Cancer Investigation (MCI) welcomes the following article types: Original/Research Articles, Review Articles, Case Report and Series, Letters to the Editor, Short Communications, Editorial, and Commentary Articles.
All the submitted manuscripts must be written in English. Articles should be concise and appropriately addressing the research question or topic. Main data should be presented through a few tables or figures. By submitting to MCI, authors confirm that the work is original and has not been published or submitted elsewhere, except an abstract or part of a thesis/dissertation. The corresponding author verifies that all co-authors have approved the submission.
Original /Research Articles
Original research articles should describe original research work that has not been previously published. They should provide a complete oeiginal research article, which should not exceed 5000 words (excluding abstract, references, figure legends and tables) and include a structured abstract of 250 words or less (Abstract should summarize the background, methods, results, and conclusions). 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 contain more than total 8 demonstrating items (i.e. figures and tables). Manuscripts are adviced to include no more than 60 references. Authors whose first language is not English are requested to have their manuscripts checked carefully before submission.
Review Articles
Review articles aim to summarize latest insights and advancements within cancer-associated research areas covered by Multidisciplinary Cancer Investigations. Review articles are usually commissioned from recognized experts in a particular field. However, unsolicited review submissions within the journal's scope from authors across various disciplines are also welcomed. Authors are asked to provide a logical and balanced overview of the field rather than focusing solely on their own work or those of their colleagues. Review articles should not exceed 5000 words in length and the abstract should not exceed 250 words and need to be structured by a background, main body, and a short conclusion section. No more than 100 references and 8 display items (figures and/or tables) are allowed. Authors are recommended to contact the Editor-in-Chief (kmajidzadeh
mcijournal.com) before preparing an unsolicited review article to avoid duplication of works already in progress.
Case Report and Series
Case reports are detailed individual reports of clinical cases that are instructional, novel, or historically significant. Case series present multiple cases from one institution that share common features. The report should include Introduction - brief background and purpose for reporting the case(s), Case Presentation - relevant medical history, examination findings, diagnostic assessment, treatment, and outcome, Discussion - arguing about points or novel findings, comparison with previous cases, limitations, and Consent - confirmation of patient consent for publication where applicable. Case reports are limited to 2,000 words (excluding references). They contain up to 4 display items (figures and/or tables). Case reports allow maximum 200 words for the abstract and up to 30 references.
Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor should foster discussion around articles published in the MCI journal within the last four issues. Topics include discussion of methodological issues, interpretation of results, potential applications or implications for practice or research. Letters may also rectify factual errors or address issues raised by a previous publications. Letters will be subjected for the editing and peer review to evaluate the appropriateness for the journal. Letters must not exceed 1500 words, including references, and should cite no more than 15 references. No abstract is required.
Short Communication
Short Communications are intended for preliminary or confirmatory findings that merit urgent publication due to their high significance. The text should be organized with a brief introduction, materials/methods, results, and discussion sections. They should not exceed 1500 words with a structured abstract of up to 150 words. A maximum of 3 displaying items (i.e. tables/figures) and 20 references are allowed.
Editorial
Editorials are authored by the editor(s) or editorial board members to comment on issues relevant to the journal or a field. Editorials express their opinion or perspective on a topic to spark discussion or debate. Written pieces undergo internal review by other editors. The selected topics will be those deemed important to the experts or with the potential to move the discipline forward. Also the length should be 1000-1500 words with no abstract or displaying items required. Up to 10 references may be included.
Commentaries provide an individual perspective on a topic relevant to the journal's scope. They typically take the form of discussing or explaining an interesting published article or trial in greater detail, or covering an emerging aspect of an issue in the field. Commentaries should be 1500 words or fewer, with an optional short abstract, and include no more than 25 references and 2 display items. This short article format allows experts to share insights, critique research, and debate controversies to stimulate discussion on topics likely to interest readers. Commentaries undergo editorial review to ensure any claims relating to published studies are supported by evidence.
Submission checklist:
Ensure that the following items are present:
-One author must be designated as the corresponding author and their contact details (email address and full postal address) must be provided.
-The manuscript must include keywords to aid in searching and indexing.
-All figures must be included with relevant captions.
-All tables must be included with titles, descriptions, and footnotes.
-Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided.
-All references mentioned in the Reference List must be cited in the text, and vice versa.
-Permission has been obtained for the use of any copyrighted material from other sources.
-A competing interest statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare.
-The journal's policies and submission guidelines have been reviewed.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Please see our information on Ethics in publishing.
Use of inclusive language
Authors should aim to use language that acknowledges diversity among readers and conveys respect for all people. Assumptions about readers' beliefs, commitments or implying that some individuals are superior to others based on attributes like age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability, or health status should be avoided. The content should remain sensitive to differences among people and promote equal opportunities. It is recommended to employ gender-neutral terms wherever possible instead of "he/she." When using coding terminology, offensive terms such as "master/slave" should be avoided and more appropriate alternatives like "primary/secondary" used instead of "blacklist/whitelist." These guidelines provide a point of reference to help identify language that is fully inclusive and respectful of diversity. However, it is recognized that this guidance is not exhaustive, so careful consideration of terminology used is advised.
Human and animal rights
Researchers are encouraged to consider integrating analyses of sex and gender factors (SGBA) into their study design when applicable. Authors must address any relevant sex or gender dimensions within their findings and discuss limitations if sex/gender cannot be included and how this impacts generalizability. Definitions of key terms like sex and gender should be explicitly stated to strengthen rigor, reproducibility and avoid ambiguity or conflation between concepts. The Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and checklist provide systematic guidance for appropriately including and reviewing sex and gender information during various study stages from design to data analysis to outcome reporting and interpretation. While SAGER offers a useful framework, it is important to note there is no single agreed upon standard for defining sex and gender across all research contexts.
Author contributions
Corresponding authors must provide details on co-author roles using the 14-item CRediT taxonomy. The CRediT roles are: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Writing - original draft; Writing - review & editing. Not all roles may apply to each manuscript. Authors may have contributed through multiple roles.
Changes to authorship
Authors should carefully consider the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript, providing the definitive authorship list at the time of original submission. Any changes to the authorship list, including additions, deletions, or rearrangements, should only be made before the manuscript is accepted and with the approval of the journal editor. The Editor will only consider adding, deleting, or rearranging authors after manuscript acceptance in exceptional circumstances. Once the manuscript has been published online, no modifications can be made.
Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will receive an email to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement'. If the article includes excerpts from copyrighted works, it is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain written permission from the copyright owners and properly credit the source(s) in the article.
Role of the funding source
Please provide information about any financial support received for conducting the research and/or preparing the article. Briefly describe any role sponsors had in the study design, data collection/analysis/interpretation, report writing, or deciding to submit the article. If funders were not involved in these areas, please indicate this.
Open access
Please visit our Open Access page for more information.
Language
Authors should write in clear, consistent English (American or British, not mixed). If accepted, the editorial office will edit manuscripts for grammar, spelling, and proper scientific style.
Submission
Our online submission system walks authors through the process step-by-step. You will enter article details and upload files. Editable files (e.g. Word, LaTeX) are required for typesetting the final published article. All correspondence, such as editorial decisions and revision requests, are sent via email.
PREPARATION
Peer review
For details about our peer review process, please visit the relevant page.
General format
Please prepare your manuscript text using Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx format). PDF submissions are not accepted. Follow the journal's style and order. Double space all content, including text, tables, figure legends, and references. Authors must ensure line numbers, restarting on each page, to facilitate peer review and editing. For fonts, use Times New Roman size 12 for the body text. Use size 12 bold for subheadings. Use size 14 for headings and size 14 bold for the title. Include Greek and special characters as symbols rather than text where possible. Carefully proofread to check formatting and English language usage before submission. Please contact the editorial office if you require any clarification on the manuscript guidelines. Proper preparation helps ensure efficient processing.
Sections of the manuscript
Papers should be divided into the following sections: Title page, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, Conflict of Interest, Ethics Approval, References, Figure legends, Tables and Figures.
Essential title page information
Title. Write concise, informative titles. Avoid abbreviations and formulas if possible.
Author names and affiliations. Please provide the given and family names of all authors, checking for accurate spelling. List the affiliation address where each author conducted their work under their name. Include the full mailing address for each affiliation with country.
Corresponding author. Please clearly designate an author to handle correspondence throughout the peer review process, publication, and post-publication periods. This person will respond to any future inquiries regarding methodology and materials. Ensure their email address is provided. The corresponding author must keep their contact information up-to-date.
Abstract
The abstract is one of the most important elements of your manuscript, as it will be the first exposure many readers have to your work. Take care to craft the abstract as a standalone section understandable without reference to the main text. Limit use of acronyms and abbreviations and do not cite references in the abstract. Please refer to the Types of Papers section for the maximum allowed word numbers for different article types.
The abstract must involve the following structure:
1. The context and importance of the study
2. The specific research questions or objectives
3. The methods used
4. Major quantitative and qualitative results
5. Conclusions and limitations
Keywords
Below the abstract, maximum 6 keywords should be mentioned that accurately reflex the key topics and concepts addressed in the paper. Use American spelling and singular nouns where possible. Avoid overly general, plural, or compound terms (e.g. "and", "of"). Abbreviations can be used only when they are frequently repeated within the passage. keywords should not overlap with the title. The keywords will provide indexing and searching for the paper.
Introduction
The introduction should clearly define the aims and research question/hypothesis of the study. It should briefly justify the need for the work by referencing relevant previous studies and identifying gaps or issues that warrant further investigation. The background provided should be concise and focused on only the most pertinent literature, rather than an exhaustive review.
Methods
The methods section should specify the type of study conducted and describe the procedures, tools, and methods used with enough detail to allow replication. Any intervention and control groups should be defined, including their sizes. The statistical tests used to analyze data should be stated along with the threshold for statistical significance.
Results
The results section should present the key findings of the study by reporting outcomes and measurements through the text, tables, and figures, without repetition. Precise language should be used to communicate what was found without interpretation or explanation of meaning. All units, quantities and formulas must be expressed using correct SI units. Statistical analysis should be included where appropriate, indicating the level of statistical significance.
Discussion
The discussion section should interpret the key results in relation to relevant theories and past research, discussing any meaningful patterns observed. The original contributions and limitations of the study should be stated without repeating all findings. The significance of the results and their relevance to previous literature should be addressed. Only conclusions supported by evidence should be drawn. The discussion analyzes the meaning and importance of outcomes, identifies areas for future work, and considers the study's implications, with citations to specific results as needed.
Acknowledgements
This section should recognize contributions from individuals who supported the work but do not meet authorship criteria. All funding sources supporting the study must be identified here, including grant numbers, if applicable. Technical support, materials, or equipment provided by companies/organizations should also be acknowledged. If no contributors or funding require acknowledgement, state "None" or "Not applicable".
Conflicts of Interest
Authors must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest that may influence or be perceived to influence the submitted work. This includes financial, personal, or other relationships with individuals or organizations within three years of beginning the work. If there are no conflicts of interest, state "The authors declare no competing interests." Clearly reporting any relevant conflicts or their absence promotes transparency and integrity.
Ethics Approval
For studies involving human subjects or data, confirm informed consent was obtained and provide the approval number of the institutional review board or ethics committee. For studies involving animal subjects, provide the approval number of the ethics committee that reviewed the experimental protocol. If the manuscript does not report on research involving human or animal subjects, data or tissues, state "Not applicable" in this section.
References
All references cited in the text must be included in the reference list, and vice versa. Authors are encouraged to use a reference management software like Mendeley or EndNote. Please check each reference for accuracy and completeness.
Accuracy of reference details is the responsibility of authors. References should be listed and numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text using Arabic numerals in the superscript. References cited in tables or figure legends should be included in sequence at the point where the table or figure is first mentioned in the text. Personal communications, unpublished observations, and submitted manuscripts are not accepted references. List all authors if there are six or fewer; otherwise list the first three followed by et al. References must follow the "Vancouver" style; journal titles should be abbreviated according to common standards like MEDLINE. Some examples are given below:
Web references
Web references should be included in the reference list. Please use the following format for web references. Web pages often won't have a clearly identified author; in this case, you can usually name the organization that produced the source as the author. If there is no clear organization–for example, a wiki that is created and updated collaboratively by users–you can begin your reference with the title instead. The date used is the year when the website was last updated. The date in square brackets is when you accessed the site:
x. Author(s). Title [Internet]. Year [cited Date]. Available from: URL.
Example: Cancer Research UK. Current research into breast cancer [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2020 Feb 14]. Available from: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/our-research/our-research-by-cancer-type/our-research-into-breast-cancer/current-breast-cancer-research
Reference to a journal publication
Van der Geer J., Hanraads J.A.J., Lupton R.A., J. Sci. Commun. 2000, 163, 51–59.
For articles with no page numbers, put the article identifier number instead.
Example: Rohrmann S., Overvad K., Bueno-de-Mesquita H.B., Jakobsen M.U., Egeberg R., Tjønneland A., et al., BMC Medicine, 2013,11, 63.
Reference to a book
Thun M., Linet, M. S., Cerhan, J. R., Haiman, C. A., Schottenfeld, D., Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, 4th ed. New York: Oxford Academic; 2017.
Reference to a book chapter
Verma, M., The Role of Epigenomics in the Study of Cancer Biomarkers and in the Development of Diagnostic Tools. In: Scatena, R., editors. Advances in Cancer Biomarkers. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 867, Dordrecht: Springer, 2015. p. 59–80.
Nomenclature and Units
Please follow internationally recognized standards and guidelines when reporting measurements and values. Use the International System of Units (SI) in your manuscript. If non-SI units are included, also provide the equivalent SI values.
Figures
Figures should use consistent lettering and text sizing throughout, and figure captions should be submitted separately from the actual figure files. Figures must be numbered in the order they appear in the text. Authors can put figures and their captions in the manuscript text where they want them to appear or at the end of the manuscript, at a size close to the final dimensions for printing. Authors are encouraged to submit figures as separate files as well. Formats accepted are those that will have sufficient resolution for printing. PDF is not an acceptable file format for submitting figures and illustrations. When finalizing your electronic figures, please save or convert them to one of the following recommended formats to ensure high-quality reproduction:
- Line drawings must be at least 1000 dpi resolution
- Halftones (color or gray scale photos) must be a minimum of 300 dpi
- Line/halftone combinations must be a minimum of 500 dpi
- Formats accepted are EPS, TIFF, JPEG, and Microsoft Office files
Tables
Tables should be presented with a short descriptive title appearing above each one. Please make sure that each table is cited in the text and is numbered using Arabic numerals. For previously published material used as tables, indicate the original source as a reference at the end of the table caption. Asterisks (*) for significance values and other statistical points should be included beneath the table body. Careful consideration should be given to the layout of tables to allow readers to easily comprehend the significance of the results at a glance. Table headings should aid understanding without needing to refer back to the main text.
Video
MCI accepts video material to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to provide them as supplementary materials for publication.
Supplementary materials
Supplementary materials like applications, images, and audio/video clips can be published alongside the article to enhance it. Supplementary items are directly published in the format received (e.g. Excel, PowerPoint). Please submit all supplementary materials with the initial manuscript submission. Include a brief but descriptive caption for each file. If any supplementary materials need to be updated, replace the entire file rather than annotating directly on a previous version. Ensure 'Track Changes' is disabled in any Microsoft Office files to avoid changes appearing in the published article.
AFTER ACCEPTANCE
Proof correction
To facilitate timely publication, we kindly request that authors complete proof corrections within a week of receipt. Prompt attention to proofs helps expedite production and publication of the final article.