Manuscript Types

MEDICA (International Medical Scientific Journal) publishes scholarly manuscripts that contribute to the advancement of medical science, clinical practice, biomedical research, and public health. The journal welcomes original, evidence-based, and methodologically rigorous manuscripts that provide meaningful contributions to scientific knowledge and healthcare practice.

The journal considers the following manuscript types:

1. Original Research Articles

Original research articles present original empirical findings from clinical studies, laboratory investigations, epidemiological research, public health studies, and other relevant areas of medical and health sciences. These manuscripts may employ quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, observational, experimental, or other appropriate research designs.

Submissions must clearly describe the research objectives, study design, population and sample, data collection procedures, analytical methods, results, and interpretation of findings. Manuscripts must demonstrate scientific originality, methodological rigor, and meaningful contributions to medical knowledge or healthcare practice.

2. Review Articles

Review articles provide critical and comprehensive evaluations of existing scientific literature on specific topics in medicine and health sciences. These manuscripts should synthesize current knowledge, evaluate existing evidence, identify research gaps, and propose directions for future investigations.

Submissions must present a clearly defined topic, a coherent analytical framework, and relevant, credible, and up-to-date references. Authors are expected to provide critical insights rather than merely summarize previously published studies.

3. Systematic Literature Reviews

Systematic literature reviews present structured, transparent, and reproducible syntheses of existing research addressing a clearly formulated research question. Manuscripts must describe the literature search strategy, information sources, eligibility criteria, study selection process, data extraction procedures, quality appraisal or risk-of-bias assessment, and methods of evidence synthesis.

Authors are encouraged to follow established reporting guidelines, particularly the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), where applicable. The review methodology must be sufficiently detailed to support transparency, reproducibility, and critical evaluation of the findings.

4. Meta-Analysis Articles

Meta-analysis articles quantitatively combine findings from multiple independent studies using appropriate statistical methods to address specific clinical, biomedical, epidemiological, or public health research questions.

Submissions must explain the literature search and selection procedures, data extraction methods, statistical models, assessment of heterogeneity, and evaluation of publication bias where appropriate. Authors must interpret pooled results carefully, acknowledge the limitations of the available evidence, and discuss the implications for clinical practice, healthcare policy, or future research. Authors should follow applicable reporting guidelines, including PRISMA, where relevant.

5. Case Reports

Case Reports describe individual patients presenting with clinically significant, unusual, rare, or educationally valuable medical conditions, diagnostic challenges, treatment responses, adverse events, or unexpected clinical outcomes.

A case report should provide a clear description of the patient's relevant clinical history, presenting symptoms, physical examination findings, diagnostic investigations, differential diagnosis, treatment or intervention, clinical course, and outcome, as applicable. The discussion should explain the clinical significance of the case, its contribution to existing medical knowledge, comparisons with relevant literature, and practical lessons for clinical practice.

Case Reports must demonstrate clear scientific or educational value and should not be limited to routine descriptions of common clinical conditions without a meaningful contribution to medical knowledge. Authors must protect patient confidentiality, obtain written informed consent for publication when required, and comply with applicable institutional ethical requirements and the journal's publication ethics policies. Authors are encouraged to follow the CARE (CAse REport) reporting guidelines, where applicable.

6. Case Series

Case series describe a group of patients with similar clinical conditions, diagnostic characteristics, treatments, complications, or outcomes. These manuscripts aim to identify clinically relevant patterns, document uncommon disease presentations, describe preliminary treatment experiences, or generate hypotheses for further research.

Submissions should clearly describe the case selection criteria, patient characteristics, diagnostic procedures, interventions, follow-up, and clinical outcomes. Authors must discuss the strengths and limitations of the case series, including the absence of a comparison group where applicable. Patient confidentiality, informed consent, and relevant ethical approvals or determinations must be addressed in accordance with applicable requirements.

General Submission Requirements

All submitted manuscripts must be original, relevant to the focus and scope of MEDICA (International Medical Scientific Journal), and compliant with the journal's author guidelines and publication ethics policies.

Authors must ensure that manuscripts are not under consideration for publication elsewhere and that all sources, data, images, and previously published materials are appropriately cited or authorized for use. Research involving human participants, identifiable patient information, animals, or sensitive clinical data must comply with applicable ethical standards and institutional requirements.

Authors are responsible for selecting the appropriate manuscript type and following relevant reporting guidelines, including CONSORT for randomized trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and CARE for case reports, where applicable.

MEDICA reserves the right to determine the appropriate manuscript category and to request revisions or decline submissions that do not meet the journal's scientific, ethical, or editorial standards.