editor_physiotherapy@ijmhr.org
ISSN 2321-1822 (Online)ISSN 2321-8975 (Print)
Int J Physiother Res
International Journal of Physiotherapy and Research · IJPR
Open Access Bimonthly Follows COPE Guidelines ICMJE-Aligned OASPA Principles WAME Standards
  1. Home
  2. Journals
  3. IJPR
  4. Author Guidelines
  5. Author Guidelines 2
Author Guidelines

Manuscript Preparation Guidelines

Part 2 of 4 — the required sections of a manuscript, from title page through acknowledgements, and what each section should contain.

Preparing the Main Manuscript Text

Manuscripts for Research Articles submitted to IJPR should be divided into the following sections, in this order:

  1. Title page
  2. Abstract
  3. Keywords
  4. Background
  5. Methods
  6. Results and discussion
  7. Conclusions
  8. List of abbreviations used (if any)
  9. Competing interests
  10. Authors' contributions
  11. Acknowledgements
  12. End notes
  13. References
  14. Illustrations and figures (if any)

Title Page

The title page should provide the title of the article; list the full names, institutional addresses, and email addresses of all authors; and indicate the corresponding author. Abbreviations within the title should be avoided.

Abstract

The abstract should not exceed 350 words and must be structured into separate sections: Background — the context and purpose of the study; Results — the main findings; and Conclusions — a brief summary and its potential implications. References should not be cited in the abstract.

Keywords

Three to ten keywords representing the main content of the article.

Background

The Background section should be written to be accessible to researchers without specialist knowledge of the area. It must clearly state — and, if helpful, illustrate — the background to the research and its aims, and should end with a brief statement of what is being reported in the article.

Methods

The Methods section should describe the design of the study, the type of materials involved, a clear description of all comparisons made, and the type of analysis used, in enough detail to enable replication.

Results and Discussion

Results and discussion may be combined into a single section or presented separately, and may be broken into subsections with short, informative headings.

Conclusions

This section should clearly state the main conclusions of the research and explain their importance and relevance. Summary illustrations may be included.

List of Abbreviations

Abbreviations used in the text should be defined at first use. A list of abbreviations may also be provided, preceding the Competing Interests and Authors' Contributions sections.

Competing Interests

A competing interest exists when your interpretation of data, or presentation of information, may be influenced by your personal or financial relationship with other people or organizations. Authors must disclose any financial competing interests, and should also reveal any non-financial competing interests that could cause embarrassment were they to become public after publication. Authors are required to complete a declaration of competing interests; all declared interests are listed at the end of the published article. Where an author has none, the listing reads: "The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests."

Authors' Contributions

To give appropriate credit to each author, the individual contribution of every author to the manuscript should be specified in this section. An "author" is generally someone who has made a substantive intellectual contribution to a published study. To qualify for authorship, a contributor should: (1) have made a substantial contribution to conception and design, or to acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; (2) have been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and (3) have given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the relevant portions of the content — acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not justify authorship.

Contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should instead be listed in the Acknowledgements section — for example, someone who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chair who provided only general support. A scanned copy of the completed Author's Contribution form should be provided along with the manuscript.

Acknowledgements

Please acknowledge anyone who contributed to the article through substantial contributions to conception, design, acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data, or who was involved in drafting or critically revising the manuscript, but who does not meet the criteria for authorship. Please also include the source(s) of funding for each author and for manuscript preparation, describing the role of the funding body, if any, in the study's design, in data collection, analysis, and interpretation, in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to submit it for publication. Anyone who contributed materials essential to the study should also be acknowledged, as should any language editor who made significant revisions, where possible by name. Authors should obtain permission to be acknowledged from everyone named in this section.

Endnotes

Endnotes should be indicated in the text with a superscript lowercase letter, with all notes — and their corresponding letters — collected in the Endnotes section, formatted as a paragraph rather than a list.

Last updated on