Information For Authors

Afghan Medical Journal

Instructions for Authors

General Information

The Afghan Medical Journal (AMJ) is a peer-reviewed, open-access medical journal committed to publishing high-quality scientific research in medicine, public health, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, allied health sciences, and biomedical sciences.

Manuscripts submitted to AMJ must be original, scientifically sound, and must not have been previously published or simultaneously submitted to another journal.

All manuscripts should comply with the latest recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts comply with the journal's ethical, scientific, and technical requirements before submission.

 

Types of Manuscripts

Article Type

Maximum Word Count

Abstract

References

Tables/Figures

Original Research

5,000

250–300 words

Up to 40

Maximum 6

Review Article

6,000

250–300 words

Up to 80

Maximum 8

Systematic Review & Meta-analysis

6,500

250–300 words

No limit, as appropriate

Maximum 8

Short Communication

2,500

Up to 200 words

Up to 20

Maximum 3

Case Report

2,000

150–200 words

Up to 20

Maximum 4

Editorial

1,500

Not required

Up to 15

Maximum 2

Letter to the Editor

800

Not required

Up to 10

Maximum 1

Word count excludes the abstract, references, tables, and figure legends.

The Editor-in-Chief may consider exceptions to word limits when scientifically justified.

 

Manuscript Preparation

Manuscripts should be prepared in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx).

Formatting Requirements

  • Font: Times New Roman
  • Font size: 12 pt
  • Line spacing: 1.5
  • Margins: 2.5 cm on all sides
  • Page numbering: Continuous page numbering
  • Line numbering: Continuous line numbering is recommended
  • Units: Use SI units throughout the manuscript.
  • Abbreviations: Define abbreviations at their first appearance and use them consistently thereafter.
  • Scientific names: Scientific names should be written in italics.
  • Use clear and consistent English throughout the manuscript.

 

Manuscript Structure

Unless otherwise appropriate for the article type, manuscripts should be organized in the following order:

  1. Title Page
  2. Abstract
  3. Keywords
  4. Introduction
  5. Materials and Methods
  6. Results
  7. Discussion
  8. Conclusion
  9. Acknowledgments
  10. Authors' Contributions
  11. Funding Statement
  12. Conflict of Interest
  13. Ethical Approval
  14. Informed Consent, if applicable
  15. Data Availability Statement
  16. References
  17. Tables
  18. Figure Legends
  19. Figures

 

Title Page

The title page should include:

  • Full article title (maximum 20 words)
  • Running title (maximum 50 characters)
  • Full names of all authors
  • Institutional affiliations
  • ORCID IDs, if available
  • Corresponding author's name
  • Postal address
  • Telephone number
  • Email address

The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal during submission, peer review, and publication.

 

Abstract

For Original Research, Review Articles, Systematic Reviews, and Meta-analyses, the abstract should generally contain 250–300 words.

For Original Research, the abstract should be structured under the following headings:

  • Background
  • Objective
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Conclusion

The abstract should:

  • Clearly reflect the main content of the manuscript.
  • Not contain references.
  • Not contain tables or figures.
  • Avoid unexplained abbreviations.
  • Present important numerical findings where appropriate.

 

Keywords

Authors should provide 3–6 keywords.

Keywords should preferably be selected from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

 

Introduction

The Introduction should generally be 400–700 words for Original Research Articles.

It should include:

  • Background of the study
  • Current knowledge
  • Relevant previous research
  • Knowledge gap
  • Rationale for the study
  • Study objective(s) or research question(s)

The Introduction should be concise and should not contain unnecessary details.

 

Materials and Methods

The Materials and Methods section should generally be 700–1,200 words for Original Research Articles.

Authors should provide sufficient information to allow the study to be understood and, where appropriate, reproduced.

The section should include:

  • Study design
  • Study setting
  • Study period
  • Study population
  • Eligibility criteria
  • Sample size calculation
  • Sampling method
  • Data collection procedures
  • Variables
  • Outcome measures
  • Statistical analysis
  • Ethical considerations

Authors should clearly identify the statistical software used, such as SPSS, Stata, R, SAS, or other appropriate software.

Statistical methods should be described with sufficient detail to allow assessment of their appropriateness.

 

Results

The Results section should generally be 700–1,200 words for Original Research Articles.

Results should be presented logically and objectively without interpretation or repetition of information already presented in tables and figures.

Tables and Figures

  • Maximum 6 tables and 6 figures for Original Research Articles.
  • Tables and figures must be cited in the text.
  • Tables and figures should be numbered consecutively according to their first appearance in the text.
  • Each table and figure should have a clear and informative title or legend.
  • Data should not be unnecessarily duplicated between the text, tables, and figures.
  • All abbreviations used in tables and figures should be defined in the corresponding footnotes or legends.

 

Discussion

The Discussion should generally be 800–1,200 words for Original Research Articles.

It should include, where appropriate:

  • Interpretation of the principal findings
  • Comparison with previous studies
  • Possible explanations for similarities or differences
  • Clinical or public health implications
  • Strengths of the study
  • Limitations of the study
  • Recommendations for future research

The Discussion should not simply repeat the Results.

 

Conclusion

The Conclusion should generally be 150–300 words.

It should provide a concise statement of the principal findings and their implications without unnecessarily repeating detailed results.

Recommendations should be directly supported by the findings of the study.

 

Acknowledgments

Individuals who contributed substantially to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship may be acknowledged.

Written permission should be obtained from individuals who are named in the Acknowledgments section when appropriate.

 

Authors' Contributions

All authors should have made meaningful contributions to the work and should meet accepted authorship criteria.

The specific contributions of each author should be stated clearly, for example:

  • Conceptualization
  • Methodology
  • Data collection
  • Data analysis
  • Investigation
  • Writing – original draft
  • Writing – review and editing
  • Supervision

 

Funding Statement

Authors should disclose all sources of financial support for the research and publication.

If there was no external funding, authors should state:

This research received no external funding.

 

Conflict of Interest

All authors must disclose any financial or non-financial relationships or activities that could influence, or appear to influence, the work.

If there is no conflict of interest, authors should state:

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

 

Ethical Approval

Research involving human participants must include information regarding approval from the relevant institutional or ethical review committee.

The manuscript should provide:

  • Name of the approving committee/institution
  • Approval number, when available
  • Date of approval, when applicable

Research involving animals should comply with applicable institutional and international ethical standards.

 

Informed Consent

For studies involving human participants, informed consent should be obtained when required.

For case reports or identifiable patient information, appropriate written informed consent for publication should be obtained.

Authors should not include identifying information unless it is essential and appropriate consent has been obtained.

 

Data Availability Statement

Authors should provide a statement describing whether and how the data supporting the findings can be accessed.

Examples include:

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

or

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

 

References

References must follow the Vancouver/ICMJE reference style based on the National Library of Medicine (NLM) standards.

ICMJE recommends that references follow the standards summarized in the NLM Sample References and detailed in Citing Medicine.

General Reference Requirements

  1. References must be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first cited in the text.
  2. The same reference must retain the same number throughout the manuscript.
  3. References should be identified in the text, tables, and figure legends using Arabic numerals in parentheses, for example (1), (2), (3).
  4. The reference list must follow the same numerical order as the citations in the text and must not be arranged alphabetically.
  5. Authors should cite original research articles whenever possible.
  6. References should be accurate and should directly support the statements for which they are cited.
  7. Authors should verify references using reliable bibliographic databases such as PubMed/MEDLINE or the original publication.
  8. Authors should avoid citing retracted articles except when specifically discussing the retraction.
  9. Journal titles should be abbreviated according to MEDLINE/PubMed/NLM journal-title abbreviations.
  10. DOI should be included whenever available.
  11. Authors should provide accurate author names, article title, journal title, publication year, volume, issue, and page/article number.
  12. References to unpublished or inaccessible material should be avoided whenever possible.
  13. Preprints, when cited, must be clearly identified as preprints.
  14. AI-generated material should not be cited as a primary scientific source.

Journal Article

Standard journal article:

1.      Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Title of article. J Med Sci. 2025;10(2):100-105.

Journal article with DOI:

2.      Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Title of article. Afghan Med J. 2026;2(1):15-22. doi:10.xxxx/xxxxx

Book

3.      Park K. Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine. 27th ed. Jabalpur: Banarsidas Bhanot; 2023.

Chapter in a Book

4.      Author AA. Title of chapter. In: Editor AA, editor. Title of book. 2nd ed. City: Publisher; 2025. p. 100-115.

Website

5.      World Health Organization. Title of webpage. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2025 [cited 2026 Sep 7]. Available from: URL

Reference Verification

Authors are responsible for checking every reference for accuracy before submission. References should be checked against the original article or a reliable bibliographic database such as PubMed.

 

Reference Management Software

Authors are strongly encouraged to use reference-management software to organize and format citations and references.

The following applications may be used:

  • Zotero
  • Mendeley Reference Manager
  • EndNote
  • Paperpile
  • Other compatible reference-management software

Authors should select the Vancouver/ICMJE or NLM-based Vancouver style within their reference-management software.

The use of reference-management software is recommended but is not mandatory.

Authors remain responsible for checking the accuracy and completeness of automatically generated references.

 

Reporting Guidelines

Authors should use the appropriate reporting guideline according to the study design.

Examples include:

  • CONSORT – Randomized controlled trials
  • STROBE – Observational studies
  • PRISMA – Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
  • STARD – Diagnostic accuracy studies
  • CARE – Case reports
  • COREQ – Qualitative research
  • CHEERS – Health economic evaluations

Authors are encouraged to consult the EQUATOR Network for the appropriate reporting guideline. ICMJE also recommends the use of appropriate reporting guidelines according to study design.

 

Tables

  • Tables should be numbered consecutively.
  • Each table must be cited in the text.
  • Each table should have a concise and descriptive title.
  • Tables should be understandable without referring extensively to the main text.
  • Abbreviations should be defined in table footnotes.
  • Do not duplicate information unnecessarily between tables and text.

 

Figures

  • Figures should be numbered consecutively.
  • Each figure must be cited in the text.
  • Figure legends should be clear and self-explanatory.
  • Images should be of sufficient resolution for publication.
  • Patient-identifying information must be removed unless appropriate consent has been obtained.

 

Submission and Technical Requirements

Before submission, authors should ensure that:

  • The manuscript is prepared according to the AMJ Instructions for Authors.
  • The manuscript is submitted in Microsoft Word format.
  • All authors have approved the final version.
  • The corresponding author has been identified.
  • Ethical approval information is provided when applicable.
  • Informed consent is provided when applicable.
  • Funding and conflicts of interest are disclosed.
  • References follow the Vancouver/ICMJE–NLM style.
  • All references cited in the text appear in the reference list.
  • All references in the reference list are cited in the text.
  • Tables and figures are numbered and cited correctly.
  • The appropriate reporting guideline has been followed.
  • The manuscript has not been simultaneously submitted to another journal.

 

Editorial and Peer-Review Process

All manuscripts are subject to editorial assessment and, where appropriate, peer review.

The editorial office may return manuscripts to authors before peer review if they do not comply with the journal's technical, ethical, formatting, or reference requirements.

The editorial decision may include:

  • Accept
  • Minor revision
  • Major revision
  • Reject

The final decision regarding publication rests with the editorial team of the Afghan Medical Journal.

 

Important Note

Authors should consult the latest ICMJE Recommendations and NLM reference guidelines, as these standards may be updated periodically. The AMJ may update its Instructions for Authors when necessary to maintain alignment with international publishing standards.