Author Guidelines

1. Manuscript preparation

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their
submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions
may be returned to authors who do not adhere to these guidelines.
Submission is only acceptable via the Journal
website: http://npt.tums.ac.ir.

Authors should kindly note that submission implies that the content has
not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere except as a
brief abstract in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium.

Parts of the Manuscript

The manuscript should be submitted in separate files: Title Page; Cover

Letter; and Main Text file including Tables & Figures.

Title page

The title page should contain:

1. A short informative title (max. 20 words) containing the major

keywords. The title should not contain abbreviations;
2. A short-running title of fewer than 40 characters;
3. All authors' full names (please put the last names in bold);
4. All authors' institutional affiliations;
5. Acknowledgments.
6. Conflict of Interest Statement
7. Funding Statement

1. Main text based on types of manuscripts

Original articles:

These include randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, studies

of screening and diagnostic tests, outcome studies, cost-effectiveness
analyses, observational studies (including cross-sectional, case-control
and cohort), qualitative studies, and mixed methods.

A structured abstract (with the subheadings title, Background and aim,

methods and materials, results, and conclusion) should appear on the first
page of the manuscript and should not exceed 250 words. An abstract
should be followed by 3 - 5 appropriate keywords. Use terms from the
Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) list of Index Medicus
(http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html). Authors need to be
careful that the abstract reflects the content of the article accurately. The
abstract should not include references or abbreviations.

The text of original articles amounting to a maximum of 4000 words

(excluding Abstract, References, and Tables), four figures and/or tables,
and 30 references, and should
include Title; Introduction; Methods; Results; Discussion;
Conclusion; Acknowledgment; Conflict of Interest, References,
Tables and Figures.

Important notice
Original research papers that report a randomized controlled trial, should
comply with the guidelines provided by the Consolidated Standards of
Reporting Trials (CONSORT) group. Also, supplying the manuscript
with a CONSORT flowchart diagram is highly encouraged. Researchers
who would like to publish their clinical trial reports in NPT should
register their studies in a registry of clinical trials proposed by the World
Health Organization (WHO) As an option, the Iranian Registry of
Clinical Trials (IRCT) is recommended.

Review Articles:

Review articles on any area of research relevant to nursing and midwifery

practice are welcomed. Narrative reviews should be written by authors
considered experts on the subject; they should be balanced accounts of all
aspects of a particular subject including the pros and cons of any
contentious or uncertain aspect. Review articles must include an abstract
of no more than 250 words, the main text between 5000 words (excluding
abstract, tables, figures, and reference list), and up to 6 tables and/or
figures. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are more welcomed and
they should respectively follow the PRISMA and MOOSE guidelines.
The main text should be structured as follows: Introduction, Methods,
Results, Discussion, Conclusion, and Relevance to Clinical Practice.

Short Communications:

Short communications are brief reports of research works containing new

findings, which do not exceed 2500 words from introduction through
references. Short Communication consists of an Abstract, the main body
including an Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion,
Acknowledgement, References, Tables, and Figures.

Case Reports:

Case reports are only considered if they are of extraordinary interest to

readers. The case report consists of an Abstract (unstructured),
Introduction, Case Report, Discussion, Acknowledgement, and
References. Case reports must not exceed 1,000 words, 15 references, and
a reasonable amount of tables and/or figures.

Letters to the Editor:

Letters to the Editor have a flexible format and may be published on

occasion, where comments on a paper published in NPT or an important
issue in the field are of broad interest to the readership.

Perspective Pieces:

Perspectives Pieces present a new and unique viewpoint on existing

problems, fundamental concepts, or prevalent notions on a specific topic,
propose and support a new hypothesis, or discuss the implications of a
newly implemented innovation. Perspective pieces may focus on current
advances and future directions on a topic and may include original data
and personal opinions.
Perspectives should be prepared in a maximum of 3000 words (including
abstract, main text, references, and figure legends). They should have a
short title, an abstract of 250 words or less, no more than 30 references,
and 1 or 2 figures (with figure legends) or tables.
Commentaries:

Commentaries are short (~2500 words) articles covering a contemporary

issue that is relevant to the journal's scope. They are usually
commissioned by the journal, but we do on occasion consider and peer
review unsolicited submissions.

Commentaries are not mini-reviews and generally take one of two forms:

The first form is editorial in nature, grounded in the relevant literature,

and covers an important aspect of implementation research practice and
or seeks to move the field forward in some way.
The second form is a commentary on a study or review that was recently
published or that is soon to be published, and that is interesting enough to
warrant further comment or explanation. This type of commentary
discusses specific issues within a subject area rather than the whole field,
explains the implications of the article, and puts it in context. Opinions
are welcome as long as they are factually based.

They are allowed to include a maximum of 20 references and one or two

tables and figures. NPT doesn’t require abstracts for commentaries.

Other:

Guest Editorial is solicited by the Editorial Board. National Reports or

similar cases are accepted based on confirmation by the Editorial Board.
Editorials are shorter, up to 1500 words and 16 references, and give the
judgment of the author based on published data.
Authors are encouraged to use the Standard Reporting Guidelines in
preparing manuscripts. According to the type of study, you can use
the following links.

Type of Study Guideline

Clinical Trials CONSORT

Observational STROBE

Systematic reviews and meta-analysis on clinical trials PRISMA

Meta-analysis of observational studies MOOSE

Diagnostic accuracy STARD

Qualitative research COREQ

Others See here…

1. In preparation for the main text please consider these basic

criteria:

Introduction: This should summarize the literature review or

background in the area of the study and articulate the purpose and
rationale for the study.
Methods: Describe the study design, setting and samples, ethical
considerations, measurements/instruments, data collection/procedure, and
data analysis used. If the method is established, give reference but if the
method is new, give enough information so that another author is able to
perform it. If a drug is used, its generic name, dose, and route of
administration must be given. If an apparatus is used, its manufacturer's
name and address should be given in parentheses.

To mention Ethical considerations Please state that informed

consent was obtained from all human adult participants and from the
parents or legal guardians of minors, and Include the name of the
appropriate institutional review board that approved the project.

Results: It must be presented in the form of text, tables, and illustrations.

The contents of the tables should not be repeated in the text. Instead, a
reference to the table number may be given. Long articles may need sub-
headings within some sections (especially the Results and Discussion
parts) to clarify their contents.

Discussion: This should emphasize the present findings and the

variations or similarities with other work done in the field by other
authors. The detailed data should not be repeated in the discussion.
Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the
conclusions that follow from them. Discussion for advances in nursing
practice, nursing knowledge development, and nursing implication is
strongly recommended.
Acknowledgment: All contributors who do not meet the criteria for
authorship should be covered in the acknowledgment section. It should
include persons who provided technical help, writing assistance, and
departmental heads who only provided general support. Financial and
material support should also be acknowledged.

Tables: In limited numbers should be submitted with the captions

placed above. Do not submit tables as photograph. Place explanatory
matters in footnotes, not in the heading.

Figures: Should be in limited numbers, with high-quality artwork, and

mounted on separate pages. The captions should be placed below. The
same data should not be presented in tables, figures, and text,
simultaneously.

Tables and figures should be included in the main manuscript file (in
the latest pages)

1. References: All manuscripts should be accompanied by relevant

references. 50% of the total of references, must have been for the last five
years of conducting the study. The author should ensure the preciseness
of references. It may not be possible for the editor and reviewers to check
the accuracy of all reference citations. To minimize such errors author
should verify references against the original documents. We recommend
the use of a tool such as a Reference Manager/Endnote for reference
management and formatting. When formatting your references, please
ensure you use the Vancouver reference style. The Reference should
provide the following information as stated in the presented models as
follows:
Article: Hemberg JA, Vilander S. Cultural and communicative
competence in the caring relationship with patients from another culture.
Scandinavian journal of caring sciences. 2017 Dec;31(4):822-9.

Chapter: Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh
JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and
management. New York: Raven Press; 1995. P. 465-78.

Book: McKenzie JF, Pinger R, Kotecki JE. An introduction to

community health. Boston: Jones & Bartlett; 2005. P. 207.

Web Pages: Key and critical objectives of JAMA. Available at:

http://jama. amaassn.org/ about_current.dtl. Accessed July 4, 2004.

Thesis: Mohammadi MM. Infant sleep and feeding [Ph.D. thesis]. School
of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran; 2002.

1. Abbreviations and symbols use only standard abbreviations.

Avoid using them in the title and abstract. The full term for which an
abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a
standard unit of measurement.
2. Cover Letter

The manuscript must be accompanied by a covering letter to the Editor-

in-Chief, including title and author(s) name and undertaking that it has
not been published or submitted elsewhere.

7. Conflicts of interest:

Authors must acknowledge and declare any sources of funding and

potential conflicting interest, such as receiving funds or fees by or
holding stocks and shares in, an organization that may profit or lose
through publication of your paper. Declaring a competing interest will not
lead to automatic rejection of the paper, but we would like to be made
aware of it. Please include the conflict of interest in a cover letter.

8. Proof Reading:

A computer printout is sent to the corresponding author for proofreading

before publication in order to avoid any mistakes. Corrections should be
marked clearly and sent immediately to the Journal office.

9. Copyright Notice

Accepted manuscripts become the permanent property of the Journal

and may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the written
permission of the Editor.

10. Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used
exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made
available for any other purpose or to any other party.