Articlo
Format a manuscript

Golestan University of Medical Sciences

Prepare your manuscript for Medical Laboratory Journal.

Review the checklist, choose your article type, and turn your draft into a cleaner submission package.

Checked 2026-07-15
Check readiness freePrepare this manuscript

Article types

Research Article
Review
Systematic Review
Case Report
Clinical Trial

Readiness requirements

Review the key details below, or download the complete checklist with every stored source-backed requirement.

Abstract length

  • Provide an author-written abstract of no more than 300 words.
  • Abstract: A concise and factual abstract is required for all manuscripts (maximum 300 words).
Show 5 more
  • Keywords: Immediately after the abstract, 3-6 relevant keywords should be included and separated by semicolons.
  • The abstract must be structured (i.e., Background and objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusion).
  • Keep abbreviations to a minimum and avoid using abbreviations and/or symbols in the title and the abstract.
  • The abstract should describe the main objective(s) of the study, explain how the study was done, including any model organisms used, without methodological detail, and summarize the main results and their significance.
  • "Abstract" and following "keywords" should be placed at the top of the "main document" after the "title".

Keywords

  • Provide up to 3 keywords chosen by the author.
  • Keywords should be selected according to MeSH.

Reference style

  • Articlo formats your supplied references in Vancouver style and checks that citations match the reference list; source validity is not verified.
  • All references, including URLs, must be numbered consecutively, in parentheses (e.g., ‘’ several studies indicated the increasing rate of antibiotic resistance (26)’’), in the order in which they are cited in the text, followed by any in tables or legends.
Show 12 more
  • References should meet the format of the journal ( Standard Vancouver style ) and be cited using a reference manager, such as EndNote or Mendeley.
  • All figures and tables should be included in the text, after the reference list, and cited properly in the main document.
  • References and non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided in this section.
  • References must be listed at the end of the manuscript and numbered in the order of their appearance in the text.
  • In references, the journal titles should be in their complete form and not ISO or NLM abbreviations.
  • Authors are responsible for the accuracy of cited references, and these should be checked before the manuscript is submitted.
  • All tables should be placed after the reference list and cited properly in the main document.
  • All figures should be placed after the reference list and cited properly in the main document.
  • If materials, methods, and protocols are well established, authors may cite articles where those protocols are described in detail, but the submission should include sufficient information to be understood independent of these references.
  • Manuscripts reporting studies involving human participants, human data, or human tissue must include: The name of the ethics committee that approved the study and the committee’s reference number if appropriate (The Code of Ethics).
  • The MLJ uses the numbered citation (citation-sequence) method and the first six authors, et al. References should be in Vancouver style (download the Vancouver style here ) and meet the following: Articles.
  • Published conference abstracts, numbered patents, and preprints on recognized servers may be included in reference lists, but text, grant details, and acknowledgments may not.

Figure and table rules

  • Keep every figure and table numbered, captioned, and cited in the manuscript.
  • Attention should be paid to the matter of significant figures and tables.
Show 7 more
  • The same data should not be presented in more than one figure or in both a figure and a table.
  • Tables should be designed as simply as possible, with clear borders and not in the form of an image.
  • Cite tables in ascending numeric order upon first appearance in the text.
  • Cite figures in ascending numeric order upon first appearance in the manuscript file.
  • This section should be written in the past tense and include the findings of the study as well as the results of statistical analysis, either in the text, tables, or figures.
  • If your manuscript contains any person’s data in any form (including individual details, images, or videos), consent for publication must be obtained from that person or, in the case of children, their parent or legal guardian.
  • Place legends, footnotes, and other text below the table.

Funding statement

  • Ethical approval (for human or animal subjects), Funding resources, and Conflicts of interest should be stated.
  • All sources of funding for the research reported should be declared.
Show 1 more
  • The role of the funding body in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, and in writing the manuscript should be declared.

Competing interests

  • Add or confirm the author-written Competing interests statement; Articlo flags it if author input is still needed.
  • All financial and non-financial competing interests must be declared in this section.
Show 2 more
  • Please use the authors’ initials to refer to each author's competing interests in this section.
  • If you do not have any competing interests, please state "The authors declare that they have no competing interests" in this section.

Data availability statement

  • Add or confirm the author-written Data availability statement; Articlo flags it if author input is still needed.
  • All manuscripts must include a data availability statement under the 'Declarations' section.
Show 1 more
  • This statement should specify where the data supporting the findings can be found, including links to publicly archived datasets, or explain the reasons for any restrictions on data sharing.

Ethics statement

  • Add or confirm the author-written Ethics statement; Articlo flags it if author input is still needed.
  • Studies on humans or animal models and/or tissue or field sampling must include required Ethics statements from the relevant local or national authority.
Show 4 more
  • They should also include a statement that informed consent was obtained for any experimentation with human subjects.
  • Studies involving animals must include a statement on ethics approval.
  • Manuscripts reporting studies involving human participants, human data, or human tissue must include: A statement on ethics approval and consent (even where the need for approval was waived).
  • Please use initials to refer to each author's contribution in this section, for example: "SM analyzed and interpreted the patient data regarding the hematological disease and the transplant.

Cover letter

  • Provide the claims and editor-specific context for the cover letter; Articlo creates an editable companion without inventing content.
  • A cover letter stating the novelty of the paper must be included in the submission process.
Show 5 more
  • · Submitted manuscripts to the journal should not be under consideration for publication elsewhere, which should be stated in the cover letter.
  • Authors should obtain permission from all those mentioned in the Acknowledgements section to acknowledge them.
  • Manuscripts should be submitted through the Online Submission System.
  • Manuscripts should be submitted only through the Online Submission System (hyperlink here).
  • In order to accelerate the publication process, the journal requires that manuscripts be submitted online using the Online Submission System facility of the journal.

Title page and author information

  • Authors’ information: Full names (First, Middle, and Last) for all authors of an article should be included and specified with the superscript number(s) for the affiliation(s) (e.g., Saeed Mohammadi 1 ).
  • Name of the corresponding author(s) should be specified with an asterisk before the name (e.g., Saeed Mohammadi* 1 ).
Show 8 more
  • Affiliation: The affiliation of all authors should be specified with a number before the address (e.g., 1).
  • Running title: A very short running title (no more than 50 characters) should be contained on the title page.
  • Full research papers that present original high-quality research should be prepared accordingly: Title Page.
  • ORCID IDs of the first and corresponding authors should be included in the relevant affiliations.
  • Full address, telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code), and email of the corresponding author(s) should be stated.
  • The main document of the manuscript should include "title", not the "title page", at the top.
  • Therefore, author names should not be provided in the main document.
  • Email addresses of all authors should be mentioned on the title page as well as in the Online Submission System.

Article structure and word limits

  • Successive subsections should be written with 2 fonts smaller.
  • · All manuscripts must be typed double-spaced, single-column, in size 12 Times New Roman font with adequate margins.
Show 21 more
  • Use double line spacing and include line and page numbering.
  • Case Report: A case report must make a distinct, novel contribution to the understanding of the etiologic agents, their clinical manifestations, and/or their diagnosis or treatment.
  • Authors should refer to at least three of their previous publications on the same topic.
  • · Line and page numbers should be included.
  • Lengthy systematic names and complicated/numerous chemical formulas should, therefore, be avoided if possible.
  • Review: It should define the problem addressed and why it is important in the form of a brief literature review.
  • The last paragraph should address the main objectives of the work.
  • The company’s name, city, and country of the manufacturer of the major equipment, and catalog number, when appropriate, should be given.
  • Unexpected hazards faced during the experimental work should be noted.
  • The origin of the cell lines used should be stated.
  • For each accession number cited in an article, authors should type the accession number in capital letters.
  • Clinical Trial: Please note that clinical trials should be registered in either a national (e.g., IRCT) or international (e.g., clinicaltrials.gov) repository.
  • The grant code and the grant holder should be stated clearly.
  • Case Report: All presentations of case reports must have consent for publication.
  • Do not cite unavailable and unpublished work.
  • All values of quantities should be given appropriate units with a solidus presentation (mg/ml).
  • Authors should ensure that papers conform to the scientific instructions and the aforementioned style.
  • Generic drug names should generally be used.
  • Submission of sequence data to databases: Novel nucleotide or protein sequence data must be deposited in the GeneBank, EMBL, or DDBJ databases and an accession number obtained before the paper can be accepted for publication.
  • Submit the form directly to the journal.
  • Manuscripts should be prepared and submitted in one of the following formats.

Reporting guidelines

  • Include or confirm the reporting guidelines required by the journal. Articlo checks this item and flags anything that still needs author input.

Statistical reporting

  • This section should also contain the type of statistical analysis used, including a power calculation if appropriate.

Preprints and prior publication

  • Include or confirm the preprints and prior publication required by the journal. Articlo checks this item and flags anything that still needs author input.

Artificial intelligence disclosure

  • Any use of AI tools must be declared transparently in the manuscript.
  • Generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors, as they cannot meet ICMJE criteria for authorship.

Submission forms

  • Include or confirm the submission forms required by the journal. Articlo checks this item and flags anything that still needs author input.

Study reporting guidelines

  • Review: These types of publications should report a clear narrow research question and a reproducible methodology including: a replicable comprehensive search protocol [syntax of the search in each database should be included in metadata] to obtain published and unpublished researches, screening process based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, PRISMA flow diagram, quality assessment process of studies and assessment of risk of bias, unbiased reasons for exclusion of studies, verified quality assessment tools used in the review, data extraction tools, and qualitative and quantitative analysis (meta-analysis) methods.

Language and text style

  • · The manuscript should be written in good English.
  • Use standard abbreviations if they appear at least three times in the text.
Show 1 more
  • Standard abbreviations such as RNA and DNA should not be defined.

Manuscript structure

  • · The main sections and subsections (italicized) of the manuscript must be in bold.
  • Each heading should appear on a separate line.
Show 12 more
  • This section should include Background and objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusion.
  • The introduction should provide background and objectives of the study, which allows readers outside the field to understand the purpose and significance of the study.
  • This section should provide enough details that allow other skilled investigators to fully reproduce the study.
  • Specific information and/or protocols for new methods should be included in detail.
  • Results should be brief, clear, and descriptive.
  • Discussion, speculation, and data interpretation should be included in the discussion section and not in the results section.
  • This section should discuss the implications of the findings in relation to previous related studies and point out limitations of the study.
  • Authors should explain how the results relate to the hypothesis or objective of the study (without repeating them).
  • This section should provide the main conclusions and explain the importance and relevance of the study.
  • The individual contributions of authors to the manuscript should be specified in this section.
  • All manuscripts submitted to the MLJ must contain the following sections under the heading 'Declarations' (If any of the sections are not relevant to your manuscript, please include the heading and write 'Not applicable' for that section): Acknowledgments.
  • If you do not have anyone to acknowledge, please write "Not applicable" in this section.

Article type and manuscript length

  • Other information: The number of figures and tables used in the submitted manuscript, word count, and number of references should also be stated clearly.

Authorship and originality

  • This section should include the names of individuals who contributed to the study or the article but do not meet the criteria for authorship (please read the authorship criteria from ICMJE here ).
Save journal and get updates Download complete checklist

What your package checks

Abstract: 300 words
Paper: 300 words
Keywords: Up to 3 keywords
References: Vancouver
Cover letter: requested
Declarations: Data availability, Competing interests, Ethics
Format: Times New Roman, double spacing

Source transparency

This preparation guide uses published journal-specific author requirements. Journal instructions can change, so authors should complete a final review before submission.

Open official guideline source