6 . Manuscript Formatting – General Overview

All manuscripts should be uploaded on the OJS as a Word document. JPMA follows the ICMJE’s Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals .

The article should be formatted accordingly on MS Word:

  • Font Type: Times New Roman
  • Font Size: 18 for article title, 14 for article text
  • Line spacing should be set at 1.5 throughout the text
  • Alignment: Justified throughout
  • Line numbers should be added
  • Page numbers should be added
  • Begin the abstract, introduction, methods, results, conclusion, references, and each table and figure on a new page.
  • Tables and figures should be included at end of the manuscript and not in the middle of the text.

We have prepared document templates for all article categories which you may download and use to typeset your article with ease.

Manuscript Type Manuscript Template
Audit Template
Case Report Template
Case Series Template
Comments on Published Article Template
Innovation Template
Letter to the Editor Template
Meta-Analysis Template
Narrative Review Template
Original Article Template
Research Article Template
Short Communication Template
Short Report Template
Special Communication Template
Systematic Reviews Template

Title Page

The title page should include the following: article title, article category, abstract word count, manuscript word count, number of references, and the number of tables and figures.

Do not state the authors’ names, affiliations or contact details anywhere on the manuscript. Such details should only be provided on the OJS and the submission statement form. The peer review process at the JPMA is a double-blind process and the author details are not shared with the peer reviewers with the manuscript.

Article Title

  • The title should be clear and concise.
  • Study design/article category should be a part of the title, especially in cases of randomised trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, audits, and case reports or case series. These should appear after a colon (“How to title a manuscript: an audit”.)
  • The title length should not exceed more than 14 words.
  • Do not capitalise the first letter of each word in the title unless it is a proper noun.
  • Do not use abbreviations in the title.

Article Category

Choose the article category from the following list.

Abstract Word Count

State the word count of the abstract. This does not include the MeSH terms.

Manuscript Word Count

State the word count for the paper’s text, excluding its abstract, acknowledgments, tables, figure legends, and references.

Number of References

State the total number of references used in the manuscript.

Number of Figures and Tables

State the total number of figures and tables uploaded with the manuscript. This is to allow editorial staff and reviewers to confirm that all figures and tables were actually included with the manuscript.