Guidance for Authors

1) The Journal of the British Islamic Medical Association (JBIMA) is published online three times a year.

2) JBIMA accepts the following papers:

Original articles: papers reporting research in Islamic bioethics; history of Islam and healthcare; Muslim staff and patient advocacy; Muslim health and social issues; chaplaincy and pastoral care. Manuscripts should not exceed 3000 words. Original articles are subject to peer- review. The manuscript should be arranged in the following order: Title, Authors’ Names, Abstract (300 words max.), Key Words, Main Text, References, Tables & Figures. All pages should be numbered.

Opinion pieces: we invite critical thoughts on matters of interest to our readers. These may be on topics as listed above, or other relevant issues. Opinion pieces should not exceed 700 words. These articles are usually commissioned by the editors, but we welcome proposals from prospective authors.

Letters to the Editor: we welcome the views of our readers on current topics or on papers published in JBIMA. Letters should not exceed 400 words.

Profiles: these are short biographies of Muslim healthcare professionals who have been successful in their fields. Profiles should not exceed 500 words. These articles are usually commissioned by the editors, but we welcome proposals from prospective authors.

Book reviews: we are happy to publish book reviews, but that needs to be discussed with the editorial board beforehand.

Individuals with other ideas are welcome to discuss them with the editors at jbima@britishima.org

3) All authors must include their relevant academic degree(s), clinical or academic affiliations, and acknowledgments of any grants and conflicts of interest. The main author for correspondence must also provide their postal address, phone number, and email.

4) References : All references should be cited using the Vancouver referencing style. Please number the references in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.

Examples: (… and many believe that this surgical technique has a higher risk in the long term 6 . Others believe that conservative treatment might be the best option to treat this condition7,8,9 )

Reference to a journal publication: 1- Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. J Sci Commun.

2010;163 (2) :51–59.

Reference to a book: 2- Strunk W Jr, White EB. (2000 , p. 56) The Elements of Style. 4th ed. New York, NY: Longman

Reference to a website link : 3- As a minimum, the full URL and the date when the reference was last accessed should be given.

Citations in text : Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference

list (and vice versa).

5) Tables: Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with a superscript symbol, not letters.

6) Figures: Figure numbers must correspond with the order in which figures occur in the text. Obscure the identity of any person included in a photograph or include the person’s written permission to be identified.

7) JBIMA does not accept any liability about the authenticity of the material or the views published, nor does JBIMA, or the British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA), endorse any of the views expressed by published authors.

8) Papers submitted to the journal are only accepted with the understanding that they are subjected to editorial revision and they are not published in any other journal, unless the authors reserve the rights to themselves, before publication, by agreement with the editors.

9) Manuscripts should be sent by e-mail, addressed to the Chief Editor, Dr. Sharif Kaf Al-Ghazal, at the following email: jbima@britishima.org

10) JBIMA does not charge an article processing fee (eg. APC) for publishing an authors work

11) JBIMA routinely screens all submissions for plagiarism. Any cases of suspected plagiarism will result in the immediate rejection of the manuscript and will be reviewed by the editorial board for further appropriate action.

This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

JBIMA does not charge for publishing an article in the journal.

Peer Review Process

The Journal of the British Islamic Medical Association (JBIMA) employs a rigorous, double-blind peer-review process to ensure the quality, originality, and validity of all published manuscripts.

Upon submission, all manuscripts undergo an initial editorial assessment by the in-house editorial team to determine suitability for the journal’s scope and adherence to submission guidelines. Manuscripts that pass this initial screening are then assigned to an Associate Editor with relevant expertise.

The Associate Editor sends the anonymised manuscript to at least two independent, external reviewers who are experts in the field. The double-blind process ensures that the identities of both the authors and the reviewers are concealed from one another throughout the review. Reviewers are asked to evaluate the manuscript based on its scientific rigour, originality, significance, and clarity.

Based on the reviewers’ recommendations and their own assessment, the Associate Editor makes a recommendation to the Editor-in-Chief (e.g., “Accept,” “Minor Revision,” “Major Revision,” or “Reject”). The final editorial decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief. This decision, along with anonymised reviewer comments, is communicated to the corresponding author.

Policies on Conflict of Interest, Human and Animal Rights, and Informed Consent

JBIMA is committed to upholding the highest standards of ethical practice in publishing.

  • Conflict of Interest (COI): All authors, reviewers, and editors are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest (financial, personal, or professional) that could inappropriately influence their work or judgement. Authors must include a COI declaration in their submitted manuscript. JBIMA follows the guidelines set forth by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) for managing conflicts of interest.

  • Human and Animal Rights: All research submitted to JBIMA must have been conducted in accordance with international ethical standards.

    • Human Rights: For research involving human participants, the manuscript must include a statement affirming that the study was approved by an appropriate institutional review board (IRB) or ethics committee. The study must adhere to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

    • Animal Rights: For research involving animal subjects, the manuscript must include a statement that the study was approved by an institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) or equivalent ethics committee. All procedures must comply with internationally recognised guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals (e.g., the ARRIVE guidelines).

  • Informed Consent: A statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from all human participants (or their legal guardians) is required for all relevant research articles, including clinical trials. For case reports and any manuscript containing identifiable patient information or images, authors must provide a statement confirming that explicit written informed consent for publication was obtained from the patient(s) or their legal representatives. All efforts must be made to protect patient privacy and anonymity.

Data Sharing Policy

JBIMA encourages authors to share their research data to foster transparency and reproducibility. Authors are required to include a “Data Availability Statement” in their submitted manuscript.

This statement should specify whether the data, code, or other materials supporting the results reported in the paper are available, and if so, where and how they can be accessed. This may include:

  • Providing a persistent link to data deposited in a public, community-recognised repository.

  • Stating that data are available within the manuscript or its supplementary materials.

  • Explaining that data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

  • Providing justification if data cannot be shared due to legal, ethical, or confidentiality restrictions.

Open Access and Licensing

All articles published in the Journal of the British Islamic Medical Association (JBIMA) are made freely available online immediately upon publication. JBIMA follows an open-access policy to support the dissemination of scientific knowledge to clinicians, researchers, and the wider community.

Unless otherwise stated, all articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
This license permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction of the work in any medium, provided that the original author(s) and the source are properly credited.

Under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, readers are free to:

  • Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format

  • Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material

  • Provided that the use is non-commercial, and appropriate credit is given to the author(s) and the original publication in JBIMA.

Copyright

Authors retain the copyright of their work. By submitting an article to JBIMA, authors grant the journal a non-exclusive license to publish and disseminate the work under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that any third-party material (e.g., figures, images, or tables) included in their manuscript is appropriately licensed or has the necessary permissions for open-access publication.

Alternative Licensing

JBIMA may consider publication under other Creative Commons licenses (such as CC BY 4.0) upon request, for authors whose funding bodies require full open-access permissions, including commercial reuse.