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Oman Medical Students Newsletter is an annual medi-
cal newsletter that targets medical and health science
students as its primary readers. It is administered by
students at the College of Medicine & Health Sciences
of Sultan Qaboos University. This newsletter gives medi-
cal and health science students in Oman the opportuni-
ty to be the pioneers of medical journalism for students
in the Gulf region, where the newsletter is the first of its
kind to be edited, written, designed and published by
medical students. The main objective of the OMSN is to
provide a source of information for medical and health
science students which is educational, interesting and
presented in a professional manner. Furthermore, this
newsletter has a significant and effective role in foster-
ing the next generation of Omani medical researchers,
physician, dentists, nurses, scientists, and technicians to
achieve prestigious international standing.
Introduction
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Authorship
Submissions must be the primary work of a medical or
health sciences students studying in the Sultanate of Oman.
Guest articles are the only submission type where the author
is not a student.
The student takes public responsibility for the content of
his\her submission..
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Submissions to OMSN should be sent to this e-mail address:
[email protected], submissions will be screened by the
Editorial Committee to ensure that they meet the submission
criteria mentioned in this booklet. Associate Editors will be
blinded to the identity of the submitting students and their col-
lege. Submissions that meet the criteria will proceed through
the review process. Reviewers will be blinded to the identity of
the authors.
After the review process, authors will be contacted and either
receive an acceptance letter or given a week period of time.in
which to return a revised submission of the article. The author
is required to cooperate fully with the Associate Editors during
this time. After the revision stage, the Editorial Committee will
select the final articles to be published in the newsletter and
inform the authors. The articles will then undergo technical
and copy editing before publication and any queries will be
sent to the authors. Finally, authors will receive a copy of the
galley proof of their article for checking.
Submission Process
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Authors have the copyright of their submissions. All submis-
sions to OMSN must not have been published anywhere be-
fore. By submitting the article to the newsletter, the author
provides OMSN the license to publish the submitted article
as the first publisher. If the author wants to republish the ar-
ticle on another platform, he\she has to mention OMSN as a
primary source.
Copyright
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Submissions should meet the following basic formatting
requirements:
A-4 document
Typed in English
‘Times New Roman font, 12-point
Single-spaced Should be 1.5 or double spaced for
ease of reading/editing
Margins of 2.5cm on all sides
No indentation for new paragraphs
At the beginning of the document please list the fol-
lowing:
Submission type
Submission title
Author names and affiliation/email address
Basic Formatting
Requirements
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Referencing
OMSN conforms to the Vancouver style of referencing.
Examples:
Journal Citation
Khandekar R, Mohammed AJ, Negrel AD, Riyami AA. The
prevalence and causes of blindness in the Sultanate of
Oman: The Oman Eye Study (OES). Br J Ophthalmol
2009; 86:952–8.
Book Chapter
Brown J, Murphy KH. Adult-onset Still’s Disease. In: Mad-
dison PJ, Woo P, Glass DN, Eds. Oxford Textbook of Rheu-
matology. 3rd ed. Oxford: Medical Publication, 2005. Pp.
1127–31.
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Referencing
Book
Smith MD. Introduction to Gynaecology. 6th ed. New York:
Institutional Press, 2005. P.15.
Report
World Health Organization. Issues in Health Services Deliv-
ery. Geneva: World Health Organization. WHO/EIP/00I. Pp.
3–4.
Thesis
Rowe L. DNA damage-induced reactive oxygen species: A
genotoxic stress response. Ph.D. Thesis, 2009, Emory Uni-
versity, Georgia, USA.
Website
Smith AD. Pregnancy after 35. From: www.marchof-
dimes.com/pregnancy. Accessed: Sep 2008.
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Tables, figures and images should be relevant to the sub-
mitted article. Information in the table should not duplicate
information in the text. Figures must be original, otherwise,
the author has to have permission from the original source.
Each table should be on a separate page at the end of the
manuscript. Long tables and those with calculations should
preferably be in Microsoft Excel. Number them consecutively,
give concise but self-explanatory titles to each and cite them
in the text. All X and Y axes must be clearly labeled. Charts
pasted into MS Word documents in un-editable “picture” for-
mats are not acceptable.
Tables, Figures and Images
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Ethical
Standards Author is completely responsible for ensuring that any sub-
mitted research was conducted according to ethical stand-
ards and conforms to the Uniform Requirements of the In-
ternational Committee of Medical Journal Editors
(www.ICMJE.org)
Patient consent has to be obtained where relevant.
All studies on human or animal subjects must contain a
statement about ethical permission for the study including
the date it was granted and the name of the committee and
organization which granted it.
Permissions
Author is completely responsible for ensuring that permis-
sions were obtained from co-authors or supervisors for sub-
mission to the OMSN.
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Submission
Types
1) Feature articles
2) Medical News
3) Case reports
4) Review articles
5) Original research articles
6) Interviews
7) Book reviews
8) Medical achievements in Oman
9) Medicine and fun
10) Medical Quizes
11) Medical Picture
12) Guests articles
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Feature
articles
1. Reports on conferences or elective experiences which pro-
vide an alternative perspective on the nature of medicine or a
medical topic, or express an extended opinion.
2. Essays that are not solely scientific or academic, which
may explore the nature of medicine or a medical issue from
an alternative perspective, possibly through the lens of litera-
ture, history, art or philosophy. They may also take the style
of an extended opinion piece (e.g. extended argument about
health reform)
The article should have the following:
Abstract
Maximum 250 words
Body of the text
Maximum 2000 words for reports
Maximum 3000 words for essays
References – maximum of 20
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Medical News
Provide commentary on current medical issues
The article should have the following:
Abstract
Maximum 250 words
Body of the text
Maximum 750 words
References – maximum of 15
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Case reports
Document a single interesting case providing useful learning
points for medical students. No identifiable information
about the patient should be included. Consent from the pa-
tient must be obtained.
The article should have the following:
Abstract, a summary of all the sections in the body text
Maximum 250 words
Body of the text
Maximum 2000 words length,
divided into the following sections:
Introduction, a paragraph with general information about
the disease (with references) and why this report is of par-
ticular interest, summarizing the clinical features of the
case .
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Case reports
The case, which must include:
Patient demographics.
History of presenting symptom/s.
Past medical history and drug history.
Social and family history.
Physical examination findings.
Diagnostic tests and/or investigations and results.
Treatments and/or interventions.
Outcome.
Discussion, discuss the case, the approach used in the clin-
ical scenario, and similarities/differences to other case re-
ports of the same disease.
Consent declaration, “ an Informed consent was obtained
from the patient/next-of-kin for publication of this case re-
port and accompanying figures.”
References – maximum of 20
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Review
articles
Review the literature regarding important and interesting
medical topics. The article should have the following:
Abstract, a summary Maximum 250 words
Body of the text Maximum 3000 words
Acknowledgements. References—maximum of 30.
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Original
research articles
Original research articles should follow the following:
Abstract: a summary of all sections in the body text.
(Objectives, Methods, Results and Conclusion)
Maximum 250 words
Body of the text - maximum 3000 words - with the fol-lowing:
1. Introduction 2. Methods 3. Results 4. Discussion 5. Conclusions Acknowledgements References – maximum of 30
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Interviews
Investigate certain medical related issues or topics (can
include interviews, questionnaires, or any other investigation
tools)
The article should have the following:
A summary of the article Maximum 250 words
Body of the text Maximum 2000 words
Acknowledgments References – maximum of 20
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Book reviews
Critically analyze (and potentially compare) books,
particularly textbooks, of use and/or interest to medical
and health science students
Comparative reviews between two books are also
accepted. The review should not have any advertisement
for a book.
The article should have the following:
Body text Maximum 750 words for reviews of single books Maximum of 1000 words for comparative reviews
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Medical achieve-
ments in Oman
Medical achievements by Omani health associations or
personnel.
The article should have the following:
Summary Maximum 250 words
Body of the text Maximum 3000 words
Acknowledgments References – maximum 20
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Medicine
and fun
Articles discussing a medical TV show, movie, phone
application, or website.
The article should have the following:
Body text Maximum 750 words length for reviews of single
movie\phone application\website Maximum of 1000 words for comparative reviews
References – maximum 10
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Medical Quizes
1. Test your anatomy:
A radiology image of normal anatomy. Readers
are asked to identify some of the anatomical
structures.
A radiology image of a pathology (disease).
Readers are asked to identify the disease. Only X
-rays and CT scans are only.
2. Case Report:
Case history, how the patient presented
Short questions about the case – with answers provided
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Medical
Image
A photograph related to the medical field accompanied by a short comment/explanation and references if need-ed. The photograph must be: 1. Interesting 2. Related to the medical field 3. Can be about any topic related to medicine (e.g. histo-ry, a surgery, a photograph of a person who made a great contribution to medicine)
Guest
Articles Articles received from academics, non-medical or health science students, physicians, dentists, nurses, and any person other than medical and health science students. Can be any of the above types EXCEPT original research articles.
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Designed by OMSN designing committee 2014