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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:

omsn.scome@gmail.com, 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