Instructions for Authors

The Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology (IJPCP) publish original scientific articles in the fields of psychiatry, clinical psychology, mental health and allied fields. This journal is publishing by Tehran Psychiatric Institute affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences with the general objectives of community mental health promotion. All the submitted articles will be peer reviewed.

          The full texts of the articles in this journal are freely available in the web sites: http://semat.tums.ac.ir/js/ijpcp

http://journals.tums.ac.ir  

Submission of Manuscripts

The manuscripts must be sent to the IJPCP office through the journal web site: http://ijpcp.iums.ac.ir

and the Journal E-mail address is: ijpcp@tums.ac.ir

Authors must prepare manuscripts according to the last version (5^th. ed.) of Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA).            

The submitted materials may be accepted for publication in six different sections of the journal: original research articles, short scientific articles, case reports, review articles, meta-analysis and letter to the editor.

The corresponding author must be indicated (if the submitted manuscript has more than one author), which the journal readers can contact him/her for more information. The corresponding author is requested to supply their major, academic position, affiliations, telephone and fax numbers, postal and electronic mail addresses in the cover sheet. Regarding the research ethics when conducting studies on human subjects, the authors are advised to present the evidence that they have conducted the study according the statements of the Declaration of Helsinki (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm).

Original Article:

Original articles should be limited to 3000-7000 words (excluding tables, figures and references list) and to 7500 if necessary (The word software "tools" option can be used for counting the material words) and should contain: title, abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, acknowledgement and references list.

 Title: Titles should be informative, short and emphasizing the main point of the article. Please do not use abbreviations in titles or abstracts.

Abstract: The abstract in original articles and review articles should be limited to 250 words, and in short scientific articles and case reports to 200 words.  It should include the Objectives, Methods, Results and Conclusions sections. The authors are encouraged to introduce 3-5 key words according to the principles and regulations used in Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) web site at:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/introduction2007.html.

Introduction:

The introduction summarizes the review of literature and previously conducted researches, the study objectives and hypotheses. Its length should not exceed than one-fifth of whole article length. The abbreviations should be spelt out on the first usage.

Method:

It should covered the study details including: research design and population, sampling technique, subjects selection inclusion and exclusion measures, subjects (participants) number,  method of matching the studied groups, sample estimation techniques, measures validity, reliability and their original references, location and years of conducting the research and the duration of follow up (if any), research variables and methods of controlling variables, method of data gathering, statistical tests for assessing the normality and analyzing the gathered data.

The articles reporting clinical trials must be registered in Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT) site before submission and mention the registration code in method section.

Results:

Findings should be presented in such a way that readers can analyze them and prepared in accordance with the objectives mentioned in the introduction section. Least tables, figures and diagrams are expected to be included. Data analysis statistics (e.g. F, t, c² and … scores) degrees of freedom must be indicated if the results are statistically significant, also the confidence interval, mean scores and standard deviation. If the results are not significant, include b or statistic tests power.

Discussion:

Mentioning the study hypotheses or questions at the beginning of this section, a short summary of the findings related to these hypotheses and questions should be stated, focusing on new and important points. Comparing with similar studies findings, if the present study findings are incompatible with the other studies findings or present study hypotheses, explain them and discuss about its probable reasons. The discussion should focus on the results which have been supported by study findings. A short summary of the present study results, also the study limitations and suggestions for future studies should be stated.   

Acknowledgement

Appreciation of those individuals and organizations facilitated conducting the study, have supported financially the research project or collaborated in different fields should be expressed.

Tables

Please send the tables numbered and on separate pages in editable software format. 

Figures

Tables and figures must be numbered, present on separate page (s) and in editable format. Please send the data necessary for the figures reproduction.

References

Please prepare and list the references list according to the last version of Publication Manual of the APA.

Conflict of Interests

Any possible conflict of interest should be declared by the author (s).

Case Report

Manuscripts reporting interesting and rare cases may be considered for the publication in this section. The authors should indicate the importance of the studied subject among the other subjects and should include an abstract, introduction, report of the case, discussion, acknowledgement and references list. The text can not exceed 2000 words. All the identifying information in the case reports should be disguised.   

Short Scientific Article

      It is respected that the short scientific articles are prepared as the same as the original articles except that they should not exceed 1500 words (not including table, figure and references list) and there should be no more than a table or a figure.

Review Article

Review articles will be considered for publication from those authors which are expert in the related fields and have referred to their own research articles in their manuscripts.

Review articles are intended to present new perspectives and view points in a certain field. The text is limited to 8000 words (not including tables, figures and list of references). It should include an abstract (not more than 250 words), objectives, methods, inclusion and exclusion criteria, data extraction, data synthesis and conclusions.

Meta Analysis Article

Meta analysis manuscripts should include subheadings of background, objectives, gathered data sources, inclusion and exclusion criteria of reviewed studies, method of data extraction and synthesis and conclusions.

The authors are encouraged to specify the important outcomes of    analyzed data, odds ratios or effect size, level of statistical significance, if applicable, and likelihood ratio.

Letter to the Editor

Manuscripts reporting scientific observations, critical considerations of published articles in Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology or short comments on different mental health scientific fields, may be considered as letters to the editor for the publication. The manuscript can not exceed 400 words which does not include list of references. The accepted manuscripts may be edited or revised before the publication.