The Iranian Biomedical Journal (IBJ) takes pride in its leadership, comprising a wide range of disciplines in the field of Biomedicine. IBJ is proud to offer a receptive medium for rapid, peer-reviewed publication of original articles (full-length and short communications), as well as expert scientific reviews. It strives to maintain a dynamic growth in the quality of its publications, and welcomes submissions in the following fields:
❖ IBJ does not accept purely bioinformatics papers without experimental proof ❖
Open Access
IBJ is an open-access journal. In other words, all content is publicly available free of charge. Since January 2020, all articles published in IBJ are under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Derivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-ND 4.0), which allows users to read, download, copy, distribute, and print.
Copyright
All authors must sign the ‘Copyright Transfer Agreement Form’ before the article can be processed. This transfer agreement enables IBJ to protect the copyrighted material and provides IBJ with the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article, including reprints, photographic reproductions, microform, or any other reproductions of a similar nature and translations. It also includes the right to adapt the article for use in conjunction with computer systems and programs, including reproduction or publication in machine-readable form and incorporation in retrieval systems. Readers and authors are responsible for obtaining permission from the copyright holder (IBJ) to reproduce any and all figures covered by copyright.
Manuscript Preparation
Article types accepted by IBJ are as follows: editorials, case reports, letters to the editor, original research (full-length and short communication), and descriptive or systematic review articles. Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” proclaimed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
Language
Manuscripts should be in American English. The past tense should be used throughout the text in describing the results. The present tense, however, must be used when referring to previously published materials. Authors who are unsure of the correct English usage should have their manuscript checked by those proficient in the language; manuscripts that are deficient in this respect will be returned to the authors for language polishing, prior to scientific review of the submitted manuscript.
Article Types and Requirements
| Article type | Max word count (excluding references) |
No. of references |
Total no. of tables and figures |
Format |
| Review Article/Systematic Review | 9000 | 150 | 6 | Link |
| Biography Papers | 6000 | 100 | 5 | Link |
| Full Length/Original Article | 6000 | 50 | 8 | Link |
| Perspective | 4500 | 80 | 4 | Link |
| Mini Review/Meta-Analysis | 4500 | 70 | 4 | Link |
| Short Communication | 3500 | 25 | 4 | Link |
| Brief Report | 2500 | 25 | 3 | Link |
| Case Report | 800 | 20 | 4 | Link |
| Commentaries | 800 | 10 | 1 | Link |
| Letter to the Editor |
800 |
10 |
2 |
Link |
General Arrangement of Papers
Title: The title must be concise and informative, with a maximum of 15 words.
Authors’ names and affiliations: The title should be followed by the authors' full (first, middle, and last) names and their affiliations, annotated by Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, ...), in superscript format, next to the authors’ names. The authors’ ORCID ID should also be included, as well. The name and full postal address, telephone/fax, and E-mail address of the corresponding author should be provided in the footnote.
Running title: A running title of no more than 50 characters (including spaces) should be provided.
Abbreviations: A list of abbreviations should be defined for non-standard abbreviations used three or more times, including those used in the Figures and Tables.
Abstract: The abstract should follow the title on the second page, without authors’ names. Inclusion of references must be avoided in the abstract.
Keywords: Three to five keywords should be included at the foot of the abstract for indexing purposes. All keywords should be chosen from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms, labeled as “MeSH Headings,” not “Entry Term”.
Introduction: This section should contain a description of the problem under investigation and a brief survey of the existing literature on the subject, ending with the purpose of the study.
Materials and methods: Sufficient details must be provided to allow for the complete reproduction of the work. Complete and accurate names of materials, including chemicals and organisms, should be specified, followed by the suppliers’ information, including the name of the manufacturer, city, and the country (in parentheses). International System of Units (SI) and internationally accepted symbols must be used in the manuscript, particularly in this section.
Results: This section should concisely describe the details of the investigation and its outcomes. Data should not be replicated in the text, tables, or figures. This section should not be mixed with Discussion.
Discussion: This section should relate the results to the previous pertinent studies and provide potential interpretations and recommendations. This section should not be mixed with Results.
Conclusion: This section should state the final result and recommendation that the author(s) has/have reached. Such results and recommendations should be derived from the researcher’s own study, and the results of other studies should not be stated in this section.
Acknowledgments: This section must include an expression of gratitude towards contributors who are not included in the authors’ list. Authors should disclose in the acknowledgement whether they have used artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies (such as ChatGPT, Large Language Models [LLMs], chatbots, or image creators) in the production of submitted work.
References: References should be numbered sequentially in the order of their citation in the text. The list of references should appear at the end of the manuscript and follow the order of their citation in the text. For manual preparation of references, authors should follow the Vancouver style. In order to use EndNote software, please apply the Thomson Reuters reference output style for Vancouver.
Tables and figures: Tables and Figures should be numbered (1, 2, 3, ...) in the order they appear in the text. Tables and Figures, together with their legends, must be provided at the end of the manuscript in separate pages. The style of Tables should be as simple as possible, with a left-to-right text direction. Also, Figures should be of high quality (≥ 300 dpi), and the size intended for publication should not exceed 9 × 12 cm. All Figures should preferably be in the form of JPG (.jpg). However, other formats, including Encapsulated PostScript (.eps), PowerPoint (.ppt), Photoshop (.psd), TIF (.tiff), PNG (png), are also acceptable. In case the figures are not original, authors should mention the original source of the Figures, plus permission from the copyright holder.
Illustrations: Please note that for every illustration used in the manuscripts, IBJ mandates a declaration of ownership. In other words, they are either created by the authors or used with the “permission” of the copyright owner, which should be noted accordingly.
Ethical Concerns
Conflict of interest: Secondary (e.g., personal, financial, commercial, political, and academic) associations that may influence judgments on a primary decision or what is published can be perceived as a conflict of interest. All authors and members of IBJ, including the Editorial Board, should disclose any conflict of interest upon submission. External peer reviewers should also disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could bias their opinions of the manuscript, and should thus disqualify themselves from reviewing such manuscripts. In addition, the reviewers should not use knowledge of the work before its publication to further their own interests. In case of any doubt about conflicts of interest, please contact the IBJ Office at iranianbiomedicalj@gmail.com.
Funding/support: All sources of grants and other forms of support, including funds received from contributors, institutions, and commercial sources, should be provided in the “funding/support section” of the manuscript.
Human and animal subjects: Authors must provide the ethical approval information in the “Ethical Statement” Section of the manuscript. Animal and human experimental studies must follow the relevant international and national guidelines and regulations where the research is carried out. Providing appropriate approval of the institutional ethics committee and the pertinent “ethical code” is essential for all submissions, including information regarding humans (and/or their medical records) and animals. Human experimental studies should have been conducted in conformity with the Declaration of Helsinki provided by the World Medical Association. Experiments on humans must be performed provisional to obtaining signed written informed consent from the subject or their guardians. The completed consent forms should be stored by authors or their respective institutions, in line with institutional policies. Consent forms should be available upon request from the editor or editorial office, during the review process, or post-publication. IBJ reserves the right to reject the submission if the required documents are not available.
Data availability: Authors are required to make their “minimal data set” (underlying the findings described and used to reach the conclusions of the manuscript) available to any qualified researchers. The data should be findable, accessible, interpretable, and reusable by interested researchers. In case of any legal, ethical, or privacy restrictions, authors should clearly report these limitations in the “Data Availability Section” of the manuscript. In this section, all necessary information needed to request access to the datasets should be included.
Authorship
Author contributions: The authors’ contributions statement is required for every manuscript submitted in order to provide appropriate credit to all authors and assign responsibility and accountability for a published work. This section should state who has contributed what to the planning, conduct, and reporting of the work described in the article. Each author's name must be written only by the first letter of the given name and surname, without a full stop, but separated by commas (e.g., AA, performed the laboratory assessment; JS and SH, collected samples; AO, ME, and OS, analyzed the data).
Corresponding author
A corresponding author is the person who takes primary responsibility for all communications with IBJ during the manuscript submission, peer review, and the publication process, while ensuring adherence to all administrative requirements. The corresponding author should also be available throughout the process to respond to any and all editorial queries, as well as after publication to respond to any critiques and/or comments.
Add, remove, or change the author’s name
Any changes in the list of authors are not accepted after acceptance. For all submissions to the Iranian Biomedical Journal (IBJ), requests for authorship change during the review process and before acceptance should be made to the Editorial Office of IBJ (see the form authorship change agreement).
Publication ethics
Republishing
IBJ does not accept manuscripts that have already been published elsewhere, even in languages other than English.
Plagiarism
All submissions to IBJ are screened for textual overlap by the software CrossCheck, powered by iThenticate, at two levels: prior to the review process and also at the issuance of the acceptance letter. Plagiarized articles will be immediately rejected.
Duplication
Manuscripts submitted to IBJ must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part.
Fabrication and falsification
Neither the fabrication of data or images (i.e., fake or made-up data) nor the falsification of data or images (i.e., the intentional misrepresentation or deceptive manipulation of data) is allowed in IBJ. In case of fabrication and falsification, COPE's guidelines are followed.
Image manipulation
Retraction policy
As a member of the COPE, IBJ uses 'COPE flowchart for the retraction' of a published article to determine whether a published article should be retracted.
Policy for using artificial intelligence (AI) or AI-assisted tools
At IBJ, we recognize that AI and AI-assisted tools are increasingly part of the writing process. Authors may use these tools to improve the clarity, grammar, and overall readability of their manuscripts.
However, AI must not be used to generate original scientific content, perform data analysis, or provide clinical recommendations. The responsibility for scientific accuracy, interpretation, and conclusions rests entirely with the authors.
For images, the policy is stricter: AI tools may not be used to alter or manipulate scientific figures, including adding or removing features. Only basic adjustments—such as brightness, contrast, or color balance—are acceptable, and even then, the integrity of the original data must remain intact.
Whenever AI tools are used, authors must clearly document this in their manuscript. Please specify:
Declaring the use of AI fosters transparency and builds trust among authors, reviewers, editors, and readers. It also ensures compliance with the terms of use of the relevant AI tool.
Review Process
When a manuscript is submitted to the Journal, it is given a reference code for future communication with the corresponding author.
All manuscripts are read by the editors and at least two qualified external reviewers to ensure both accuracy and relevance. Reviewers are asked to be objective in their evaluations and to judge primarily the novelty and soundness of the information presented.
Authors are encouraged to suggest 3 to 5 appropriate reviewers, although the actual selection of referees will be made by the EIC. Authors may also indicate specific individuals whom they would like to be excluded as reviewers.
In the review of any manuscript, the identity of the reviewers and authors, and also information contained in the manuscript, is considered confidential.
Online tracking of the review process is possible through the corresponding author’s private page on the IBJ website.
Reviewers
Editor-in-Chief
Associate Editor
Associate Editor has an advisory role for the EIC and takes on any and all tasks assigned by the EIC.
Preprint
IBJ does NOT accept manuscripts posted to a preprint server. Furthermore, authors are not allowed to submit their manuscript to any related preprint server during the publication process.
Revision
Papers may be returned to the authors for modification of the scientific content and/or for shortening and language corrections.
The revised version of the manuscript and a point-to-point response to the reviewers’ comments must be submitted to the Editor.
The editor’s suggestion regarding resubmission of the revised version of the manuscript does not imply that it will be ultimately accepted.
If the revision is not received within the allotted time, it will be regarded as having been withdrawn, and any further submissions will be treated as new ones, unless otherwise agreed upon.
Authors who resubmit a paper that has been previously rejected must provide the original manuscript and a letter explaining in detail how the paper has been modified.
Proofs
Proofs will be sent to the corresponding author to be checked for typographical errors and other essential yet minor changes. Proofs must be returned to the journal within one week of receipt.
Page charges
IBJ does not charge any publication fees (such as membership, submission, article processing, etc.) and provides free access to all its publications.
Submission Procedure
All submissions to IBJ should be conducted via the online submission platform, which provides easy tracking access for both the authors and the reviewers.
The complete manuscript, including Figures and Tables, should be sent together with the following items:
For more information, please contact iranianbiomedicalj@gmail.com