Instructions for Authors

African Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (AFJOG)

1. Introduction

The African Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology Journal is a peer-reviewed publication dedicated to advancing clinical practice, research, and education in Obstetrics & Gynaecology, including the relevant sub-specialities, reproductive and sexual health, and other related women’s health issues. AFJOG is written by specialists in the field, and welcomes original research articles, review articles, case reports, clinical guidelines, and editorials that contribute to this area.

AFJOG is distributed to healthcare professionals concerned with the rendering of healthcare to women. All articles accepted for publication in AFJOG are subject to a peer-review process.

1. Disclosures

Conflicts of interest can exist due to any form of relationship or association authors may have with third parties that may influence authors’ or reviewers’ opinions about manuscripts being submitted to AFJOG. These conflicts of interests can be actual, perceived or potential, and all such conflicts must be declared. This information contributes to transparency and will allow readers to be fully informed when reading manuscripts published in the journal. The existence of a conflict does not preclude publication of an article. All sources of research support, personal or financial relationships such as honoraria and gifts, appointment to advisory or other boards, with any entity that has a connection with the submitted manuscript must be declared. The editors should be contacted in cases where authors are unsure whether a conflict of interest exists. Undisclosed conflicts of interest that become apparent after publication might potentially result in retraction of published manuscripts.

2. Patient Confidentiality and Consent

No information that would enable identification of individual patients should be present in manuscripts submitted to AFJOG. Written signed informed consent is required and must be submitted to AFJOG from all patients or parents or guardians prior to publication of any information such as clinical descriptions and photographs. 

3. Manuscript preparation

General:

• Manuscripts must be written in South African or UK English and must be in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx).
• Text must be 1.5-spaced, in 10-point Arial font
• Full names, qualifications, full affiliation and contact details of all authors as well as the corresponding author must be provided.
• Where abbreviations are used, it should be spelled out the first time followed by the abbreviation in brackets.
• Numbers 0 to 10 and numbers as the start of a sentence must be spelled out. Higher numbers must be in number format
• Manuscripts of original research and review articles must include an abstract of maximum 250 words.

4. Article types

Editorials

Short opinion pieces that address topics of interest to the field, usually up to 1500 words.

Original Research Articles

Original articles, describing either clinical research or basic scientific work, should include a structured abstract of fewer than 250 words under the headings: background, aim, design, methods, results, and conclusions. The article should be 2000-2500 words in length, include no more than 30 references, and a maximum of 4  figures/tables.

Original research article should be in the following format:

• Title Page: Include the title, authors’ names, affiliations, and corresponding author details.
• Abstract: A structured abstract of no more than 250 words, summarising the key points of the manuscript.
• Keywords: A list of 3-5 relevant keywords.
• Introduction: Outline the background, rationale, and objectives of the study.
• Methods: Detailed description of the research design, setting, participants, interventions, and statistical analyses.
• Results: Clear and concise reporting of findings, supported by tables, figures, and statistical analysis.
• Discussion: Interpretation of the results in the context of existing literature.
• Conclusions: Summarise the implications of the findings.
• References: Follow the Vancouver referencing style
• The manuscript must also contain sections for acknowledgements, declarations and author contributions.

Review Articles

Review articles on advances in clinical medicine or medical science should be up to 2000 words in length, contain up to 25 references, and include one table, figure, or picture. It is recommended that ideas for review articles are discussed in advanced with the editorial team. Please contact the editorial office (Prof Leon Snyman,  leon.snyman@up.ac.za or Prof Zeelha Abdool, zeelha.abdool@up.ac.za) regarding review articles.

Letters to the Editor

These should be with reference to an article or research published by AFJOG or it can be with regards to any topical issue that is regarded as important or relevant to the readership of AFJOG. Letters to the Editor should be focused and succinct with fewer than 5300 words.

Case reports

AFJOG also accepts case reports, a category intended for brief highly informative cases illustrated with a single table or critical image [selected figure may have x 2 illustrations labelled (a) and (b)]. Articles submitted as case reports should have six references or fewer, and be no more than 1500 words.

Clinical Guidelines

Authoritative recommendations for clinical practice, based on systematic reviews and fully referenced evidence.

5. Reference list

• References should be numbered consecutively by superscript Arabic numerals in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. References should only include studies that are cited in the text and that have been published or accepted for publication. Use the standard abbreviation of a journal’s name according to the ISSN List of Title Word. See, www.issn.org/2-22661-LTWA-online.php for a list of abbreviations. Where references are cited in a table or figure legend, numbering should correspond to the first mention of that table or figure in the text. AFJOG adopts the Vancouver system for references. These should include, (i) the list of all authors, (ii) the title of the article, (iii) the title of the journal (as abbreviated in Index Medicus), (iv) the year of publication, (v) volume number, (vi) first and last pages. List all references in full up to 6 names prior to using et al. Citations should be inserted in the text as superscript numbers between square brackets, and approved abbreviations of journal titles must be used; see the List of Journals in Index Medicus.

Book references should give the author, title, edition, volume, and page number (where appropriate), with town of publication, name of publisher and year of publication.

Examples

Journal articles

Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002; 347(4):284-7.

Books

e.g., Wilson CB. The renal response to immunologic injury. In: Brenner BM, Rector FC, eds. The Kidney, 4th edn. Philadelphia, WB Saunders, 1991:1062-181.

e.g. Evans DGR, Harris R. Heterogeneity and genetic conditions. Q J Med 1992; 84:563-5.

6. Figures and Tables

Figures

Figures should be supplied in an electronic format at a suitable size for printing with the following resolutions: 600 dots per inch (dpi) for line drawings and combinations; 300 dpi for greyscale and colour. Colour figures must be supplied in CMYK not RGB colours. Please ensure that the prepared electronic image files print at a legible size and are of a high quality for publication. Upload each figure in a separate file (figure may have x 4 illustrations labelled figure a, b, c, d). Please include a figures legend section in the main manuscript file. Tables should be included at the end of the main manuscript file, following the reference list, on separate pages for each table. Abbreviations and symbols used in the figure must be explained. Each figure must have a title placed below the figure.

Tables

Tables should be numbered consecutively throughout and must be cited in the text. Each table must have a title and legend with explanation of abbreviations used in the table. The title must be placed at the top of the table. Data that is presented in the tables should not be repeated in the text. Footnotes to tables should be indicated in superscript lower-case letters or asterisks for significance values or other statistical data.

7. Ethics approval

Research involving human subjects or animals must have ethical approval from an appropriate review board. A statement confirming ethical approval with the relevant information of approval and informed consent (where applicable) should be included in the manuscript.

8. Manuscript submission

Once the manuscript has been submitted and conforms to the journal’s requirements, it will be assigned to an editor and the peer-review process will commence. AFJOG uses a double-blinded peer-review process where neither the authors nor the reviewers are aware of each other’s names. The corresponding author will be contacted via email as the manuscript navigates through the peer-review process.

We aim to offer rapid review and publication of accepted articles and to aid this process, contributors are asked to follow these guidelines.

9. Proofreading

The manuscript will be made available to the corresponding author for proofreading prior to publication. Proofreading remains the responsibility of the author(s). Corrections should be clear and not result in substantial changes in content. Authors will receive PDF files of their page proofs by e-mail. Excessive corrections at this stage are discouraged.

10. Article Processing Charges

There are currently no article processing charges (APC)s. However, an APC may apply to accepted manuscripts to cover the costs of open access publication and journal management.

11. Copyright

Please note that by submitting an article for publication you confirm that you are the corresponding/submitting author and that In House Publications (IHP) may retain your email address for the purpose of communicating with you about the article.  If your article is accepted for publication, the editor will contact you using the email address you have used in the registration process. The views expressed in individual articles are the personal views of the authors and are not necessarily shared by the editors, the advertisers, or the publisher (IHP).

12. Open Access

IHP offers open access publishing. All corresponding authors will be provided with a free access link to their article upon publication.  The link will be sent via email to the article’s corresponding author who is free to share the link with any co-authors.

13.Contact us

Manuscript and peer review enquiries should be directed to the Editorial Office,  Prof Leon Snyman leon.snyman@up.ac.za or Prof Zeelha Abdool, zeelha.abdool@up.ac.za.

The editor reserves the right to refuse publication where the required ethical approval/patient consent is lacking.