Author Guidelines

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS AND GUIDELINES

The Nigerian Journal of Medical Rehabilitation is the official journal of the Medical Rehabilitation Therapists Board of Nigeria and publishes original research articles, case report, review articles and short communications of outstanding research findings in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, audiology, osteopathic medicine, chiropractic medicine, prosthetics and orthotics, physical medicine and rehabilitation.  The Nigerian Journal of Medical Rehabilitation, an interdisciplinary journal, publishes evidence-based information on the therapeutic utilization of physical and pharmaceutical agents in providing comprehensive care for persons with disabilities and chronically ill individuals.

Authorship

Authorship is reserved only for persons who have participated sufficiently in the conception and design of this work and the analysis of the data (where applicable), as well as the writing of the manuscript, to take public responsibility for its content. If any individual (or group of individual) listed as author/authors cannot verify substantial contribution, such individual's name should be moved to the acknowledgment section. If requested, authors shall produce the data on which the manuscript is based for examination by the journal or its assignees.

All authors must have read the submitted manuscript and vouch for its accuracy. All authors must warrant that the manuscript is original and its essential substance, tables, or figures have not been previously accepted for publication, published in part or in whole, or presently under review by any other publisher. Authors must warrant that the manuscript will not be submitted for publication elsewhere until a decision has been made on its acceptability for publication in The Nigerian Journal of Medical Rehabilitation. 

EDITORIAL PROCESS

All manuscripts must be submitted through the journal's online system (https://njmr.mrtb.gov.ng). The review process will not begin until authors have complied completely with the submission requirements.

Cover Letter

Each submission must be accompanied by a cover letter indicating the type of article based on the information below. The letter must also explain the purpose of the study and state if there is any duplication or overlap in content with a previously published article. The letter should identify any commercial interest of the authors relevant to the subject of the manuscript, or state that no such conflict of interest exists.

Abstracts

Each submission must have an abstract section. This section should contain no more than 250 words and include Background, Objective, Methods, Results, and Conclusion. At the end of this section, authors should identify maximum of five (5) key words relevant to the study for indexing purposes.

Original Research Articles

Full-length original research articles should have Abstract (250 words at most), Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion sections. The word count of the manuscript excluding abstracts, tables, figures, and references must not exceed 4,000. Tables and figures combined should not exceed six (6), and References should not exceed 40.

Review Articles

Review articles should have Abstract (250 words at most), Introduction, Methods (to include data sources and search, study selection and data extraction, and data analysis), Results, Discussion, and Conclusion sections. The word count of the manuscript excluding abstracts, tables, figures, and references must not exceed 5,000. Tables and figures combined should not exceed six (6), and References should not exceed 75.

Brief Communications and Case Reports

These must contain no more than 1000 words, 10 references, and 2 figures or tables. They should include an abstract, but subdivision into Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion is optional.

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor should be a comment or comments on a published article.  Letters to the Editor may also be a short report on a pertinent clinical issue supported by relevant evidence. The Editor-In-Chief may also solicit the view or opinion of experts on a topic of interest. Letters to the Editor is limited to 500 words, 1 table, and no more than 5 references.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

All submissions must contain: (1) Title Page (with manuscript title, names and academic titles of all authors, institutional affiliation of all authors, address of corresponding author, and financial disclosure), (2) Abstract Page, (3) Text, (4) References, (5) Figure Legends, and (6) Table and Figures. Manuscripts must be prepared in Microsoft Word, must be double-spaced throughout, in standard 12-point Times New Roman type, and only the left side justified. Number the pages of the text consecutively. Put the page number in the center of the bottom of each page.

References must be accurate, complete, and of utmost importance and relevance. The references should be presented using the Harvard System, i.e. authors’ names followed by the date in the text e.g. Nwuga (1995), and listed alphabetically (last name of first author) at the end of the article in the reference section. When referring to more than one paper, arrange the papers in order of dates of publication e.g. Nwuga (1990), Owoeye (1992) and Olaogun and Sanya (1995). When there are 2 authors of a paper, mention both e.g. Amosun and Enwemeka (2003), but when there are 3 or more, mention only the principal author and follow with et al e.g. Balogun et al, (1998).

Reference list should appear at the end of the paper alphabetically (last name of first author). The names of all authors must be written out completely and not et al e.g. Odia G.I, Mogbo P, Akinpelu A. (2002) Abdominal Muscle Strength and some Respiratory Function Indices in Subjects of varying parity Status. Journal Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy. 14(2): 35-39.

BOOKS: The formats illustrated in this example should be followed. Nwuga VCB. ( 1976) Manipulation of the Spine. Baltimore Williams and Wilkins, 82-95.

 Review Process

All submissions will be screened by the Editor-In-Chief. The corresponding author will receive a letter within 2 weeks with a manuscript number (JMRTB-YYYY- #) to confirm that the manuscript was received and has been assigned to an Editorial Consultant with expertise in the domain of the manuscript. The letter could also a letter of rejection, if the Editor-In-Chief considers that the paper did not meet the new standard of articles to be published in Journal or not in conformity with the above guidelines.

The Editorial Consultant will assign the manuscript to at least 2 reviewers and request that the review using a standard format be completed in a maximum of 14 days. The Section Editor will communicate the outcome of the review process to the Editor-In-Chief within a month of assignment of the manuscript to the Section Editor. The first decision of the Journal regarding any submitted manuscript will be made available to the corresponding author within 8 weeks of submission and further progress will be dependent on the corresponding author’s ability to respond favorably to reviewers’ comments. All Editorial Board’s decisions are final.

Letters to the editors and editorials will usually be evaluated by Editor-In- Chief and one or two Editorial Consultants. When necessary, external reviewers will be used.

It is anticipated that the journal will publish two editions per year to contain a minimum of 6 or maximum of 10 quality papers. If it is difficult to prepare 6 quality papers for publications within 5 months of any year, the Journal will publish only one major edition that year.

 Revisions

When submitting a revised manuscript, please include a document, separate from your cover letter, itemizing your response to each of the suggested revisions and any other changes you have made. In addition, highlight each change in the revised manuscript. All documents should be uploaded online.

If revisions are not received within the time specified in the decision e-mail, the manuscript file will be closed. A revision received after a file has been closed will be handled as a new submission. An extension beyond the deadline may be granted at the Editorial Board's discretion, but only in extenuating circumstances, given the editors' commitment to prompt publication.

Manuscripts accepted for publication are subject to editing during the production process. The manuscript will be typeset and the designated corresponding author will receive page proofs for approval. Proofs must be returned by the corresponding author within 48 hours of receipt, as outlined in the e-mail instructions accompanying the proofs.

All accepted manuscripts become the permanent property of The Nigerian Journal of Medical Rehabilitation and may not be published elsewhere without written permission from the Medical Rehabilitation Therapists Board of Nigeria.