Submission Declaration and Verification
Scientific and Initial Screening
Requirements for Different Types of Articles
Women’s Health Bulletin (WHB) is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing original contributions that advance the health and well-being of adolescent girls and women. As women and girls comprise half of the world’s population, safeguarding and promoting their health remains a major priority for policymakers and researchers alike. WHB facilitates the exchange of research not only on clinical issues but also on physical, mental, and emotional health. WHB, which benefits from an international editorial board, is published quarterly by Health Policy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran and publishes Review Articles, Research articles, Short Communications, Editorials, Commentaries, and Letters to the Editor.
Moreover, all submissions to the WHB undergo a fair, supportive and double anonymized peer review process. We follow the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, issued by International Committee for Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), as well as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) code of conduct for editors.
The editor-in-chief and managing editor as well as the reviewers of Women’s Health Bulletin are completely independent from the publisher and free to make decisions without any interference from the owners of their journals or their publisher.
This journal has no article submission or peer review processing charges and also does not charge authors for accepting articles.
Since Women's Health Bulletin does not have article processing charge and publication fee, the authors are asked to transfer the copyright of accepted manuscripts and also publishing right to the Journal.
The journal accepts manuscripts only through the online submission system, easy to use and easy to track, thus the submission will be done rather faster by electronically submission.
Submission Declaration and Verification
By submitting an article, you ensure that your work has not been published previously, except in the form of a conference abstract or as part of a published lecture or thesis for an academic qualification. This implies that the manuscript is not under consideration for publication elsewhere and its submission is approved by all authors and responsible authorities where the work was carried out. It is highly important that if an acceptance is offered, your work will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other languages, including electronically without the written consent of the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences as the Publisher. Authors should not submit the same manuscript, in the same or different languages, simultaneously to more than one journal (For further information please visit ICMJE Recommendation).
Scientific and Initial Screening
WHB staff would check the structure and content of manuscripts to ensure compliance with standard structures (based on the type of study), the journal’s scope, standard guidelines, quality, novelty, and adherence to ethical issues. In this step, articles would be screened and triaged in the shortest possible time. As a result, such screening would assist the editor in making fair final decisions on articles and ultimately improve the final quality of published articles.
At once after submission, the author will be notified of the both submission process via the email and the follow-up ID code. It is recommended to save the sent ID code for all the next correspondence regarding each article, separately.
• All submitted manuscripts are subjected to external peer review and editorial approval.
• Articles will be sent to at least 3 independent reviewers in the related field.
• Women's Health Bulletin uses double anonymized review, which means that both the reviewer and author identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process.
• Authors are usually notified within 2-3 months about the acceptability of their manuscript.
• Reviewers are selected based on their expertise within the topic area of the submission, and their purpose is to assist the authors and the journal by providing a critical review of the manuscript. To apply as a reviewer in our journal, please send your request with your resume to womenshealth.bulletin@gmail.com. The editorial board of the journal will review your resume and will be in contact with you.
• After receiving the reviewers’ comments, authors are requested to send the revised article and a copy of their reply to the reviewers including the comment and explaining the replies to the questions and the changes made to the revised version. The communication regarding a specific manuscript will be done only between the journal and the designated corresponding author.
The journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). COPE’s flowcharts and guidelines are approached in confronting any ethical misbehavior. The journal also follows the guidelines mentioned in the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
Each author should have participated significantly and sufficiently in the work to take responsibility for the whole content. According to the ICMJE, authorship credit should be based only on:
1) Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work;
2) Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content;
3) Final approval of the version to be published; and
4) Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Conditions 1 to 4 must all be met. All who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors and their names should be included in the Title Page.
In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work he or she has done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their coauthors. All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Those who do not meet all four criteria should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Participation solely in the acquisition of funding, the gathering of data, technical help, writing assistance, and general supervision of the research group does not warrant authorship. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged. Please guarantee that anyone stated in the Acknowledgements section has granted its clearance for permission to be listed.
Role of the Corresponding Author
The corresponding author is the individual who takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal office during the manuscript submission, peer review, and publication process. The corresponding author typically ensures that all the journal’s administrative requirements, such as providing details of authorship, ethics committee approval, and disclosures of relationships and activities, are properly completed and reported, although these duties may be delegated to one or more coauthors.
The corresponding author will check the proof edition, if the manuscript is accepted for publication, although a copy of conversations will be sent to all co-authors. The corresponding author should be also available after publication to respond to critiques of the work and cooperate with any requests from the journal for data or additional information should questions about the paper arise after publication.
This statement concerns the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship of submitted manuscripts as described below:
During the peer-review process if any change/s in the authorship is requited, the corresponding author should send a request to add or remove an author, or to rearrange the author names of the submitted manuscript. The corresponding author must include: (a) the reason the name should be added or removed, or the author names rearranged and (b) a signed WHB Change to Authorship Form by all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. Requests that are not sent by the corresponding author will be forwarded by the Journal Managing Editor to the corresponding author, who must follow the procedure as described above. No authorship change is allowed after acceptance and publication of the manuscript.
Manuscripts submitted to Women's Health Bulletin with co-first authors, will be processed only when the following conditions are met:
a) The manuscript should be original.
b) Authors have to decide on the order of the two first authors (e.g. alphabetically).
c) All contributing authors should qualify for authorship, and should have sufficient participation in the work. (Authorship credit should be met.)
d) The dimensions of work require several authors with different specialty, who provide the same or equal contribution(s) to the research work.
e) With regard to the corresponding Author, WHB accepts only one corresponding author, who is responsible for all the correspondence with the journal, both before and after the publication of the manuscript.
Authors' contribution should be stated for every manuscript submitted and should state who has contributed what to the planning, conduct, and reporting of the work described in the article. Please find more information by visiting the ICMJE recommendations. Women's Health Bulletin decided to publish the authors' contribution from the issue of July 2023.
The potential for conflict of interest and bias exists when professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such as patients’ welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain). Perceptions of conflict of interest are as important as actual conflicts of interest. General institutional support for an author's time on the work should be distinguished from direct overall funding of the work. An appropriate funding statement might be: “This study was funded by A; Dr. F's time on the work was supported by B.” Thus, the lead corresponding author should complete the Disclosure Form to demonstrate a commitment to transparency and helps to maintain trust in the scientific process. Financial relationships (such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership or options, honoraria, patents, and paid expert testimony) are the most easily identifiable, the ones most often judged to represent potential conflicts of interest and thus the most likely to undermine the credibility of the journal, the authors, and science itself.
Other interests may also represent or be perceived as conflicts, such as personal relationships or rivalries, academic competition, and intellectual beliefs. Authors should avoid entering in to agreements with study sponsors, both for-profit and nonprofit, that interfere with authors’ access to all of the study’s data or that interfere with their ability to analyze and interpret the data and to prepare and publish manuscripts independently when and where they choose. Policies that dictate where authors may publish their work violate this principle of academic freedom. Authors may be required to provide the journal with the agreements in confidence. Purposeful failure to report those relationships or activities specified on the journal Disclosure Form is a form of misconduct.
**Note: If a manuscript is authored by a member of the editorial board, that member is not involved in the peer-review and decision-making processes for that manuscript. The non-author oversee the peer review process for that paper. This statement is also declared in the Conflict of Interest section of the manuscript.
If a manuscript contains any previous published image or text, it is the responsibility of the author to obtain authorization from copyright holders. The author is required to obtain and submit the written original permission letters for all copyrighted material used in his/her manuscript.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public and supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Women's Health Bulletin uses the COPE's flowchart for retraction of a published article to determine whether a published article should be retracted.
Women's Health Bulletin responds promptly to complaints and ensures there is a way for dissatisfied complainants to take complaints further by sending an email to editor-in-chief of the journal. We follow the COPE's guidelines and flowcharts for handling complaints against the journal, its staff, editorial board, or publisher.
Contributions should be in either American or British English. The text must be clear and concise, conforming to accepted standards of English style and usage. Non-native English speakers are advised to seek professional help with the language. The editorial office reserves the right to edit the submitted manuscripts in order to comply with the Journal’s style. In any case, the authors are responsible for the published material.
Requirements for Different Types of Articles
Editorial are mostly commissioned and discuss any important issues in Women's Health. The title should be short and not descriptive. Between 700-900 words and up to 10 references can be stated. Only one co-author is permitted. Abstract is not required for the editorial.
Among the different types of the review article, just systematic review and Meta-analysis are welcomed.
Authors should report systematic reviews and meta-analyses in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement. Systematic Reviews maximum number of references is 40, the maximum number of illustrations/Tables is 6. For Systematic Reviews, both abstract and text of the manuscript should be subdivided into the following sequential sections:
1) Context: Provide a sentence or two explaining the importance of the review question. Also, state the precise primary objective of the review. Indicate whether the review emphasizes factors such as cause, diagnosis, prognosis, therapy, or prevention and include information about the specific population, intervention, exposure, and tests or outcomes that are being reviewed.
2) Methods: Succinctly summarize data sources, including years searched. Include in the search the most current information possible, ideally conducting the search several months before the date of manuscript submission. Then, describe inclusion and exclusion criteria used to select studies for detailed review from among studies identified as relevant to the topic. Under details of selection include particular populations, interventions, outcomes, or methodological designs. Specify the method used to apply these criteria (for example, blinded review, consensus, multiple reviewers). State the proportion of initially identified studies that met selection criteria. Also, describe guidelines used for abstracting data and assessing data quality and validity (such as criteria for causal inference). State the method by which the guidelines were applied (eg, independent extraction by multiple observers).
3) Results: State the main results of the review, whether qualitative or quantitative, and outline the methods used to obtain these results. For meta-analyses, state the major outcomes that were pooled and include odds ratios or effect sizes and, if possible, sensitivity analyses. Accompany numerical results by confidence intervals, if applicable, and exact levels of statistical significance. For evaluations of screening and diagnostic tests, include sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios, receiver operating characteristic curves, and predictive values. For assessments of prognosis, summarize survival characteristics and related variables. State the major identified sources of variation between studies, including differences in treatment protocols, protocols, co-interventions, confounders, outcome measures, length of follow-up, and dropout rates.
4) Conclusions: Clearly state the conclusions and their applications (clinical or otherwise), limiting interpretation to the domain of the review.
Systematic reviews should be critical assessments of current evidence covering a broad range of topics of concern to those working in the specific field of journal. Systematic reviews abstracts to be structured as above. N.B. For advice on writing systematic reviews consult: The Cochrane Reviewers' Handbook
A meta-analysis of observational studies: A MOOSE checklist is required for the meta-analysis of observational studies.
Research Articles also are called “Original Articles”, which are considered as the common types of articles. Each manuscript should clearly state an objective or hypothesis; the design of study and methodology (including study setting, research participants, inclusion and exclusion criteria, sampling and data source); data analysis and interpretations; the main results of the study, discussing the results; addressing study limitations and the conclusion. For all original articles, a structured abstract is required. Authors should include the Ethical Issues/Statement in the main manuscript under the method section.
Abstract: A structured abstract is required including these headings:
Full Text:
For the original research, traditional sections are required including:
In the full text of an original article, the maximum number of:
You can submit your manuscript using the Sample Word Template provided here.
Clinical trials: The format is similar to original articles. However, the CONSORT flow diagram should be added as a figure. RCTs should be registered at any RCT Registry approved by the WHO and their registration number should be mentioned in the title page and method section of the manuscript. RCTs done in Iran must be registered at https://irct.behdasht.gov.ir/
Brief reports are short articles (mini original articles) that present original and important preliminary findings that do not warrant publication as a full-length article but are still worthy of publication. The main text should be sub-divided into background, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion, but should be written as concisely as possible. Also, it should be noted that:
Abstract:
Abstracts must not exceed 200 words and should be a single paragraph with no subheadings (non-structured abstract).
Full text:
For the Brief Reports, the following sections are required:
In the full text of a Brief Report, the maximum number of:
A case report is a case study, case report, or other description of a case that should contain a structured abstract. In the other meaning, clinical presentations may be followed by evaluative studies that eventually lead to a diagnosis. Case reports should optimally be accompanied by relevant figures to document findings. Informed consents should be obtained from the patients to report their cases. The Journal keeps the right to ask for original signed informed consents.
Abstract of Case reports should comprise the below sections:
Full text of a case report includes:
Commentaries include position papers, viewpoints, point-counterpoint papers, analyses of current or controversial issues, and creative, insightful, reflective treatments of topics related to health of women. Between 1500-2000 words and up to 15 references can be stated. Abstract is not required for commentary.
Letters will undergo peer review and will be edited for clarity.
In the full text of Letter to the Editor, the maximum number of:
Discussion, such as an opinion or perspective piece will present the views of the author on a specific topic through discussion of existing studies or logical reasoning. The discussion should follow the sections including Introduction, Arguments, and Conclusions.
A meeting report is created to give information about the discussion that transpired on a particular meeting. Only invited authors are permitted to submit a meeting report for the journal.
The basic structure of a meeting report contains:
Names and affiliations of key speakers should be presented in supplemental information, not as a part of text.
Please visit our full ethics guidelines in the Publication Ethics page.
Manuscripts must be written in English. Authors whose native language is not English are recommended to seek the advice of a native English speaker, if possible, before submitting their manuscripts.
Submission to this journal occurs online. Manuscripts submitted via email are not processed. Women's Health Bulletin only considers the materials submitted in electronic form via the journal's online submission system. The editorial office reserves the rights to return manuscripts that are not in accordance with the WHB instructions for authors. Once you have prepared your manuscript according to the journal instructions, you can then submit your work via our online submission platform.
During the online submission process, authors are asked to provide:
1) Manuscript Type: please see the details from here.
2) Manuscript Title: authors need to insert the main and running title.
3) Authors' Information: please enter the name and details of all authors who contributed to the work reported in your manuscript.
4) Abstract: please see the details from here .
5) Keywords: please see the details from here.
6) Suggested Reviewers: authors can provide the names, email addresses, and mobile number of potential reviewers. Please note that the editors retain the right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are invited
7) Attach Files: authors MUST upload the following three mandatory files and forms:
8) Cover Letter: Cover letter should contain the rationale of performing the research and a statement that you will not resubmit your article to another journal until the reviewing process will be completed. Also please indicate whether the authors have published or submitted any related papers from the same study. The file is available by referring to this link.
9) Finish Submission: authors need to review the submission before clicking the submit button.
All manuscripts submitted to the WHB are checked by the editorial office for conformance to the WHB instructions. Non-conforming manuscripts are returned to authors.
Note: All incomplete submissions will be automatically deleted after 90 days.
Note: All correspondence, including editor's decisions, revision requests, and etc., is sent to the lead corresponding author.
The title page should include:
- The sentence should begin with: ‘This work was supported by …’.
- Grant numbers should be complete and accurate and provided in brackets as follows: ‘[grant number ABX CDXXXXXX]’
Authors' Contribution: Authors' contribution should be stated for every manuscript submitted and should state who has contributed what to the planning, conduct, and reporting of the work described in the article. Please find more information by visiting the ICMJE recommendations. Women's Health Bulletin decided to publish the authors' contribution from the issue of July 2023.
You can submit your title page using the Sample Word Template provided here.
File Format
Acceptable manuscripts' file formats include Microsoft Word. Please do not submit your manuscripts in PDF format.
Text Style
Use A4 size. Text should be left-justified. Use 12-point font size. Use preferably Times and New Romans font. Use 1.5 line spacing. Use page number. Use Initial Upper Case for Title, Headings and Subheadings, Keywords. Make the titles, headings and subheadings bold.
Main Manuscript Sections
The manuscript should follow through these sections: Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, and References.
- Abstract
Include a structured abstract of no more than 250 words for original articles and reviews. The abstract should state briefly and clearly the purpose and setting of the research, the principal findings and major conclusions, and the article's contribution to knowledge. Abstracts should be prepared in WHB style including background, methods, results, and conclusions. For other manuscript types include an unstructured abstract of no more than 250 words that summarizes the objectives and background, main points and conclusions of the article. Abstracts are not required for editorial, commentary, and letters to editor. The abbreviations should preferably not be mentioned in the abstract.
- Keywords
Authors need to add up to 5 keywords separately into the online system during submission, and should accurately reflect the content of the article. Abbreviations/acronyms should be used with their expansions. The keywords will be used for indexing purposes.
Please prepare the keywords according to the following instructions:
Introduction should provide a context or background and specify the purpose or research objective of the study or observation.
Methods must indicate clearly the steps taken to acquire the information. Be sure that it includes only information that was available at the time the plan or protocol for the study was written. It should be detailed (including controls, inclusion and exclusion criteria, etc) and be separated into subsections of Design, Selection and Description of Participants, Sample Size Determination, Data Collection and Measurements, Procedure, and Data Analysis. Repeating the details of standard techniques is best avoided. The software used for statistical analysis and description of the actual method should be mentioned. Authors who used AI technology to conduct the study should describe its use in the methods section in sufficient detail to enable replication of the approach including the tool used, version, and prompts where applicable.
Note: Reporting guidelines such as STROBE, STARD, PRISMA, and SAGER (guidelines for reporting of sex and gender information in study design) would help you report high quality research and to provide all required information and evidence for related methodology. EQUATOR Network website would help you in using these guidelines.
Human Rights and Informed Consent
Research involving human subjects, human material, or human data, must have been performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and must have been approved by an independent local, regional or national review body (e.g., ethics committee, institutional review board), and be prepared to provide documentation when requested by editors. Editors reserve the right to reject papers if there is doubt whether appropriate procedures have been used.
Results should be presented in a chronological sequence in the text, table, and illustration. Organize the results according to their importance. They should result from your own study. In the results section, please first talk about the participants, inclusion and exclusion criteria and then talk about the demographic characteristics of the participants.
Tables
Figures/illustrations
Discussion should emphasize the new and important aspects of the study. Possible mechanisms or explanations for these findings should be explored. The following points should be considered in writing Discussion section:
Conclusion should be written separately with no reference.
- Link the conclusions with the goals of the study but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not adequately supported by the data.
- Insert recommendation (if any) in the conclusion section.
Supplementary Materials such as movie clips, questionnaires, etc may be published on the online version of the journal.
Acknowledgement: Any technical help, general, financial, and material support or contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, can be cited at the end of the text as Acknowledgments. Also, if the research is extracted from a thesis or dissertation of a student, please write it in the acknowledgment section). Use of AI for writing assistance should be reported in the acknowledgment section.
References should be complied numerically according to the order of citation in the text in Vancouver style. The numbers of references should preferably not exceed 10 for commentary, 40 for Original Articles, 15 for Brief Report, 15 for Commentary and 10 for Letter to the Editor. Two references are cited with a comma and space. Three or more consecutive references are cited in a range with comma. References should be made to published articles rather than to abstracts whenever possible.
References should optimally be prepared with EndNote software. Women's Health Bulletin has its own EndNote style. Authors are advised to prepare their references based on this style.
For the references credited to more than 6 authors please provide the name of the first six authors and represent the remaining authors by the phrase “et al.”
Listed below are sample references. Moreover, WHB has its own EndNote style. Authors are advised to prepare their references based on this style. This style is available at this link.
Journal Article:
• Gaydess A, Duysen E, Li Y, Gilman V, Kabanov A, Lockridge O, et al. Visualization of exogenous delivery of nanoformulated butyrylcholinesterase to the central nervous system. Chem Biol Interact. 2010;187(1):295-8. doi: 10.1016/j.cbi.2010.01.005. PubMed PMID: 20060815; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2998607.
Complete Book:
• Guyton AC. Textbook of Medical Physiology. 8th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders; 1996.
Chapter in Book:
• Young VR. The role of skeletal muscle in the regulation of protein metabolism. In Munro HN, editors. Mammalian protein metabolism. Vol 4. San Diego: Academic; 1970. p. 585-674.
Organization as the author
• Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002;40(5):679-86.
No author is given
• 21st century heart solution may have a sting in the tail. BMJ. 2002;325(7357):184.
Article not in English
Article with published erratum
Note: Referencing AI-generated material as the primary source is not acceptable.
The corresponding author should submit the revisions via the WHB website according to the following instruction:
Please go to your profile (Author section)--"Submissions Needing Revision" section--Click on your manuscript ID--Upload the correct version and delete any old versions (you can change all information eg, title, abstract, etc.)--and push the "submit" button.
Please Do NOT start a New Submission and Do NOT send the revisions via email.
The journal team will provide the proof to authors via email and the corresponding author is responsible to check the PDF proof for accuracy and respond to author queries, and return an annotated PDF to the journal office in a timely manner. Adobe Acrobat Reader or Foxit Reader software, which are freely available, are needed to open the PDF file.
It is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in a single email. Please note that rephrasing sentences, additions, or omissions are not allowed at the proof stage. Not meeting the deadline for checking the PDF proof could lead to significant delays in the publication. Please note that no further edits/corrections are accepted after publication and authors MUST check the PDF proof very carefully.
The names and email addresses entered in the Journal's website will be used exclusively for the stated purposes and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.
For further information, please contact the Editorial Office:
Postal address: Health Policy Research Center, Building No.2, 8th Floor, School of Medicine, Zand Avenue, Shiraz, IR Iran