Submissions

Author Guidelines

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Publication frequency:  The Journal of Medical Laboratory Science and Technology of South Africa (JMLSTSA) is published three times annually..

Open access policy – JMLSTSA provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Abbreviation – The correct abbreviation for abstracting and indexing purposes is JMLSTSA.

ISSN – The international standard serial number (ISSN) for The Journal of Medical Laboratory Science and Technology of South Africa is ISSN 2664-2549

SUBMISSION POLICIES

Original research articles, review articles, technical reports, book reviews, case reports and letters to the editor are invited and should be submitted online at https://jmlstsa.smltsa.org.za/index.php/JMLSTSA.  

Manuscripts are submitted on the understanding that they have not and will not be published elsewhere. The Editor retains the right, to modify the style and length of the submitted manuscript and to decide the time of publication. The JMLSTSA publishes all material on the understanding that the design of the work has been approved by a relevant ethics committee and/or it conforms to the professional standards and legislation currently applied in the country of origin.

Authors are requested to read the following guidelines carefully and to adhere to the requirements herein. Failure to comply may lead to delay in publication. Copyright on all published material belongs to the Society of Medical Laboratory Technology of South Africa (SMLTSA). It is understood that all proprietary rights other than copyright are reserved to the authors, as well as the right to reproduce original figures and tables from this item in their future works, provided full credit is given to the original publication Journal of medical Science and Technology of South Africa ISSN 2664-2549.

In consideration of the reviewing and editing done by the editors of JMLSTSA, the author/s are required to transfer, assign, or otherwise convey all copyright ownership world-wide, in all languages, to the Society of Medical Laboratory Technology of South Africa in the event that this manuscript is accepted for publication. If the manuscript has been commissioned by another person or organisation, or if it has been written as part of the duties of an employee, full authorization must be given by the representative of the commissioning organisation or employer before the manuscript is published in the Journal of Medical Laboratory Science and Technology of South Africa.

ETHICS POLICY

Manuscripts reporting on research that involve human participants or animals must include a statement confirming that the investigations were carried out according to internationally recognised standards which include  Declaration of Helsinki; US Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects; or European Medicines Agency Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice.

All articles published in the JMLSTSA must have been approved by a recognised institutional ethics committee and the approval number should be included in the text. In studies which have recruited human participants, informed consent must have been obtained, and this must be stated in the manuscript. Confidentiality and anonymity of participants must be maintained and a brief description of how this was achieved must be included

CONTENT TYPES

An original research article

The article should be no longer than 4000 words and the layout should follow the following order: title page, abstract and keywords, main text, discussion and conclusion, acknowledgements and references. Ethics committee approval must be included in the methods section of the article.

The title page should include a short title, authors’ names including initials, qualifications, address, telephone and the email address of the corresponding author to whom the proofs and requests would be directed. The title should not contain any abbreviations. The title page should also include, the ORCID ID of each author, and a declaration of conflict of interest and sources of funding.

The abstract, comprising a summary of not more than 250 words, should highlight the design and objective of the investigation/research, results and conclusions. The abstract should be followed by a list of not more than five (5) keywords, which should not appear in the main title.

Review articles

Suitable review articles may be submitted to the Editor for consideration. Articles should be no longer than 5000 words, contain no more than 60 references, six figures/tables and include a non-structured summary of up to 250 words.

Case Reports –

Case reports should consist of a title page, a short abstract and keywords, the case report and a brief discussion of the relevant literature. Case reports should not exceed 2000 words with not more than ten (10) references. Figures and images must be included in the text.

Technical Reports –

The title page should include details of author/s as above. The text should include an introduction, main points in the report, concluding remarks, references, and acknowledgements. Not more than two images/diagrams to be included in the report.

Correspondence –

Letters to The Editor intended for publication are encouraged, particularly letters referring to a paper already published and correspondence on pertinent original topics. The style of references is the same as manuscripts. Figures should be included only when absolutely necessary. Anonymous letters will not be accepted without the name and address of the author, however this will remain confidential and will not be published.

Book Reviews –

Book reviews relevant to the profession of medical laboratory science and technology, including education, are encouraged. Reviews intended for publication should be in the following sequence: reviewer’s name (with initials, affiliations, departmental address, telephone and, e-mail address), title of book, edition, publisher, place, date, ISBN number, price of the book (if available) and total number of pages. The review should clearly cover the main theme of the book, mentioning the layout, quality of print and its suitability for medical laboratory technologists /scientists and other medical laboratory professionals.

REFERENCES

References cited in the text should be given as superscript numbers in order of citation (e.g. ¹ or ^4-7.  References cited more than once should retain the first number throughout the text.

References should be listed in numerical order at the end of the article using the following format:

1. Moreno I, Martin G, Bolufer P et al. Incidence and prognostic value of FLT3 internal tandem duplication and D835mutations in acute myeloid leukaemia. Haematologica 2003; 88(1):19-24.

2. World Health Organisation, 2005. URL: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs297/en/index.html

3. Schnittger S, Schoch C, Kern W, Hiddemann W, Haferlach T. FLT3 length mutations as marker for follow-up studies in acute myeloid leukaemia. Acta Haematol. 2004; 112(1-2):68–78. doi:10.1159/000077561

The doi numbers if available, as cited in example 3, must be included at the end of each reference.

It is the responsibility of the author(s) to ensure that references quoted in the text are included in the list of references and vice versa. The accuracy of the references is the responsibility of the author(s).

FIGURES, TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Contributors are responsible for obtaining permission to publish any figures or illustrations that are protected by copyright, including figures published elsewhere and pictures taken by professional

photographers. Images cannot be published if downloaded from the Internet without appropriate permission. All images downloaded from the Internet must conform to size and resolution specifications.

Tables –

Each table must be numbered with the legend placed above the table. Column headings should be brief with units of measurements in parenthesis.

PREPARING THE MANUSCRIPT FOR ONLINE SUBMISSION

Papers must be in English and spelling should conform to South African or United Kingdom English.  Material for potential publication must be submitted in MS WORD format and, tables, graphs and illustrations/images must be included in the document.

When quoting specific materials or drugs, authors should give their approved names with proprietary names in parenthesis and the name of the manufacturer. Abbreviations should be unambiguous and the full name/words written out when they are first introduced. Measurements of height, length, mass (weight) and volume should be given in metric units (metre, kilogram, litre) or their decimal multiples. Temperatures should be given in degrees Celsius and blood pressure in mmHg. Other measurements including laboratory measurements should be reported in the metric system in terms of the International System of Units (SI).

PLAGIARISM and SIMILARITY CHECKS

All manuscripts will undergo a similarity check before being accepted for publication.

HOW TO SUBMIT ONLINE

Online submissions

Manuscripts should be sent to us via our online submission system https://jmlstsa.smltsa.org.za/index.php/JMLSTSA. Registration and logins are required to submit items online and to check the status of current submissions. Once registered, the system will guide authors through the easy submission process.

Authors can upload manuscript files and check on the status of manuscripts during the review process.

The manuscript should be submitted fully blinded, i.e. with no identifying information.

The title page with all the author information should be uploaded as a supplementary file with the following information included:

Authors’ details, including qualifications, department, current place of work, email addresses and ORCID IDs of ALL authors as well as the declarations – conflict of interest statement, funding source, ethics committee approval information.

Continuing professional development (CPD)

Authors are requested to compose 5 multiple-choice questions related to the article for the CPD questionnaire - ethics section. The questions should be straightforward and educational, not obscure or trick questions. They are simply to test whether the reader has read and understood the article.

Content of the MCQ questionnaire:

1. MCQ must be based on the accompanying reading material which should be published evidence based material of no older than 5 years.
2. It must contain a minimum of 5 MCQ questions
3. Each MCQ question must contain a minimum of 4 options
4. MCQ’s may be of the ‘single-correct answer’ or ‘multiple-correct answer’ formats
5. Should contain no commercial product promotion and satire
6. Maximum of 20% of the questions may contain True or False answers

SUBMISSION CHECK LIST

This document outlines the preparation/requirements needed for article submissions to the Journal of Medical Laboratory Science and Technology of South Africa.

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PEER REVIEW PROCESS

Original articles are first reviewed by an editor or sub editor who will assess the suitability of the manuscript for the journal. If suitable, the manuscript will be referred for a double blinded review. JMLSTSA obtains: (a) two reviews on ALL MATERIAL except case reports in which one review from an expert in the field is required.

Reviewers consider the material in terms of the following:

• Whether it contains new and relevant information for the field of study.
• If appropriate methods and statistical analyses were used.
• Ethical clearance and the use of good ethical practice.
• Scholarly and scientific writing including grammar, clarity of meaning
• Relevance and accuracy of tables and figures
• Relevance and suitability of references
• Areas in need of improvement.

Reviewers are not expected to correct grammatical and spelling errors and articles may be referred back to the authors if English editing has not been performed prior to submission. Reviewers advise the editor whether to accept reviewed material for publication. The JMLSTSA uses a grading system for peer reviewers and reviewed material should be returned to the editor within fourteen (14) days. After changes and corrections have been made to the manuscript it is sent out for a second round of review. Persons who are experts in their fields and who have published material are invited to review manuscripts on a voluntary basis. Interested persons are welcome to volunteer to review material and are invited to register on the website.

CONTACT THE JOURNAL

The Society of Medical Laboratory Technologists of SA (SMLTSA)

Tel: +27 (0) 21 531 1231

Postal Address:

PO Box 505,

Howard Place,

7450,

South Africa

The Editor: Dr Francois Smit (francois.smit@pathcare.net)
Office Manager: Yuleen Carelse (administrator@smltsa.org.za)
Technical Support: BFF-IT (info@b-f-f.co.za)

Principal Contact
SMLTSA - Office Manager
The Society of Medical Laboratory Technology of South Africa
Phone: +2721 5311 231
Email: administrator@smltsa.org.za

Support Contact:
BFF-IT
Phone: +27765821882
Email: info@b-f-f.co.za

Publisher:   MedPharm ;  Journal Manager, Robyn Marais robyn@jesser-point.co.za