Iranian Journal of

Author guidelines for manuscript preparation and submission
The Iranian Society of Environmental Health scientific journal entitled “Health and Environment” is published in collaboration with the Research Deputy of Tehran University of Medical Sciences with the aim of the exploitation of scientific knowledge and publishes scientific findings based on research in various fields of environments and environmental health issues.
This Persian journal is published quarterly and its abstracts are published in both Persian and English.
A variety of articles are published as follows:

• Original Article
• Case Report
• Review Article
• Systematic review
• Technical Note
• Short Communication
• Letter to Editor

Journal of Health and Environment is published electronically through the journals Website of Tehran University of Medical Sciences at the following address:
http://journals.tums.ac.ir
                                                       
If you select this journal for publishing your manuscripts, following criteria need to be met, because the preliminary acceptance of the article is subject to their strict observance.
General principles

1. The article should not have already been published in another journal or sent to other journals at the same time. Also, the scientific rank of the authors should be correctly titled and all the authors of the article are aware of its submission. Therefore, it is necessary that all authors of the article in the letter requesting the publication of their article to the editor, commit these items by signature.
2. If the abstract has been published in the proceedings of a conference or seminar, the full article sent to the journal should contain new materials and findings to be reviewed.
3. Observance of ethical points in the research is absolutely mandatory and if requested by the journal, the approval of the research ethics committee should be sent. Ethical points and code of ethics committee should be mentioned in the “ethical considerations” section.
4. If the research and preparation of the paper has been done using the research budget of a university or institution, the name of the institute and the registration number of the project in the “acknowledgement” section should be mentioned.
5. The paper should be prepared on A4 paper with 2.5 cm of marginalization from each side and 1.5 cm distance between lines. Type and size of letters for Persian part are Lotus, No. 12 and Times New Roman Number, 11, for English letters. Photos and figures should be designed as separate TIFF files and CSV formats. Sending a separate Microsoft Excel chart file is also necessary.
6. The number of pages of the article does not exceed 12 pages (including article text, tables, charts and images) and in the case of case report articles up to 5 pages.
7. In connection with how to submit, respected authors are requested to submit the manuscript online through the journal's website.
8. Editorial Procedures and Peer-Review

Once the manuscript is undergone initial checking to determine whether they are properly prepared according to journal’s guidelines and whether they follow the ethical policies of the journal, the article will be reviewed according to the following process:

• Raised at the editorial council meeting: If the article is approved in this council in terms of the subject, it will be sent to at least three reviewers (without mentioning the author's name) and a message will be sent for the corresponding author.
• After receiving the reviewers' responses, the article will be reviewed by the editorial board and according to their opinions, the paper will be published, revised, or rejected.
• Editorial board is free to accept, reject and carry out scientific and literary amendments or edit the article.
• Corresponding author of the articles is responsible for the contents and opinions contained in the articles and the intellectual property rights of the articles are reserved for the authors. The Journal of Health and Environment will give its opinion on the publication, modification, revision or rejection of the article to the corresponding author within three months from the date of receipt of the article.
• No changes to the order, addition or deletion of authors' names will be accepted after receiving the article.

9. Articles structures

9-1- Original articles
Research papers should be prepared in up to 5,000 words. Research papers are composed of title page, Persian abstract (with keywords), English abstract (with keywords), introduction, materials and methods, findings, discussion, conclusion, ethical considerations, acknowledgements and references. Tables and figures must be placed in the order referred to in the text. Each part of the article must be set in accordance with the framework defined below;
Cover Letter

Click here to download the cover letter of health and environment journal

Title page: The title page should contain,
- Full title of the article in Persian and English.
- The name and scientific degree of the author or writers in order of priority and determination of the corresponding author in Persian and English.
- Postal address and mobile phone numbers, workplace, fax and e-mail of the corresponding author (department, faculty, university or workplace) in Persian and English.
- Running title with up to 5 words to be inserted at the top of the pages of the article (English only).
It should be noted that this page must have been signed by all authors and this page is the only page that is not sent to the reviewers.
Persian Abstract: The second page should include the full title of the article, the Persian abstract with up to 250 words and separately contains the background and objectives, materials & methods, findings, conclusions and keywords (including 3 to 5).
English abstract: The third page should include the full title of the article, the abstract in English (with up to 250 words, containing Background & Objectives, Materials & methods, Results, Conclusion, and contains 3 to 5 keywords).
The content of the Persian and English summary must be fully matched.
Introduction: The introduction section indicates the purpose of the research, the importance and necessity of the subject and a review of research-related studies.
Materials and Methods: The study method includes the type of study, how to select and control the samples, explaining the methodology thoroughly, explanation of laboratory materials and tools, how the data are analyzed and the names of the statistical tests used. The names of statistical tests should be written in English.
Results: In this section, the findings are presented as text, tables, diagrams or images.
- The curves, charts and tables should be set in Persian.
- The curves, charts and tables should be typed with Microsoft Word and typed with Persian numbers.
- Charts must be plotted with Microsoft Excel software (preferably black and white).
- The width of the shapes should be adjusted as much as possible in such a way that it can be printed in a column with a width of 8 cm.
- Avoid sending photocopies instead of images and color figures.
- Photos and images must have sequential numbering and their order is based on references to them in the text.
- The total number of shapes, charts and tables should not exceed 8 in the whole article, and the number of tables and photos should be proportional to the size of the article.
Discussion: In this section, the interpretation of the findings and comparing them with the findings of similar studies are carried out and the limitations of the research are expressed.
Conclusion: The final conclusion of the study should be expressed up in 5 sentences.
Acknowledgement: If needed, thank all individuals or organizations who have cooperated in the compilation of articles or in collecting materials. Examples of thanks and appreciation in the thesis and research project are as follows:
Thesis: This article is the result of (part of) thesis titled... at the level (B.Sc./M.Sc./PhD),
in a year... and the code... It is supported by the School of Medical Sciences and Health Services......
Research Project: This article is the result of (part of) a research project titled ... , approved by The University of Medical Sciences and Health Services in..., with the code... . it is supported by the University of Medical Sciences and health services……
Ethical considerations: The following sentence should be included in all articles: "The authors have observed all ethical points including informed consent (if the study was conducted on human samples), good behavior (if the study was conducted on human or laboratory animal samples), non-plagiarism, dual publication, data distortion and data making in this article". The code of ethics committee should also be brought in the ethical considerations section.
Sources: All resources must be written in English. To set up a list of resources, refer to the reference writing guide listed below.

9-2- Case Reports
These articles should include rare cases in the field of study and very scarce effects of environmental factors on human health. These articles must be prepared in up to 1,500 words. The case report is composed of title page, Persian abstract (with keywords), English abstract (with keywords), introduction, case report, conclusion, ethical considerations, thanks and appreciation and resources, respectively. The abstract of the case report is integrated (non-separable) and with a maximum number of 100 words.

9-3- Review Articles
Review articles are only accepted from researchers with published research papers in the relevant field. These articles must be prepared in up to 5,000 words. The review article is composed of the title page, Persian abstract (with keywords), English abstract (with keywords), introduction, search method, review of studies (which should have a unique classification of each article), conclusions, ethical considerations, acknowledgement and references. The abstract structure of these articles is the same as research papers.

9-4- Systematic Review
The structure of these articles is the same as research papers. 

9-5- Technical Note
A technical note, offers a software tool, an experimental or computational method or a new test method. These articles must be prepared in up to 2,000 words. The technical note in the text consists of title page, Persian abstract (with keywords), English abstract (with keywords), introduction, materials and methods, findings, discussion, conclusion, ethical considerations, acknowledgement and references. The technical note abstract is integrated (non-separable) with a maximum volume of 150 words.
 
9-6- Short Communication
Influential researches are accepted in the form of short articles. The structure of these articles is the same as the technical note
 
9-7- Letter to Editor
The subject of the letter to the editor includes a critique of an article published in the Journal of Health and Environment. It is written in response to a recent publication within the journal at most two months after publication. The maximum volume of letters to the editor and its integrated abstract is 1000 and 100 words, respectively. The letter to the editor is composed of the title page, Persian abstract (along with the key words), English abstract (along with the keywords), the text of the letter to the editor (may be presented in several sections), the conclusion (optional), ethical considerations, acknowledgement and the references.
10. Signs and Abbreviations
Standard abbreviation should be used instead of complete words. All unconventional abbreviations in the first use in the text should be fully defined inside parentheses. To express the quantity, only SI units are used and units are presented in English in fractional form (e.g. mg/L).
11. References writing format
The number of references in the text is cited in order and brought into parentheses. All references used in the article should be set in English and it is strongly recommended that even for Persian sources English specifications be mentioned. For Persian sources, the phrase "in Persian" should be added at the end of the source writing. Acceptable resources and formats of their presentation are given below. Respected authors note that if even one of references’ format is not been prepared based on journal’s guidelines, the manuscript will be withdrawn from the peer review process. In order to ease the setting of references in the manuscript, the journal style file is prepared in EndNote software.

Click here to download the exclusive style file of Health and Environment Magazine.
       
Journal’s articles
Naddafi K, Nabizadeh R, Saeedi R, Mahvi AH, Vaezi F, Yaghmaeian K, et al. Biosorption of lead(II) and cadmium(II) by protonated Sargassum glaucescens biomass in a continuous packed bed column. Journal of Hazardous Materials. 2007;147(3):785-91.
If the number of writers is more than 6, the names of the first 6 authors are fully written, followed by the phrase "et al."  Obviously, if the number of authors was equal to or less than 6, it is necessary to mention all their names. Another important point is that the name of the journal is necessarily be written in full and its abbreviation (e.g. J Hazard Mater) is not acceptable.
Books
Wark K, Warner CF, Davis WT. Air Pollution: Its Origin and Control. 3rd ed. New York: Addison-Wesley; 1998.
Chapter of a book
Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.
Conference papers
Christensen S, Oppacher F. An analysis of Koza's computational effort statistic for genetic programming. In: Foster JA, Lutton E, Miller J, Ryan C, Tettamanzi AG, editors. Genetic programming. EuroGP 2002: Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Genetic Programming; 2002 Apr 3-5; Kinsdale, Ireland. Berlin: Springer; 2002. p. 182-91.
Thesis
Borkowski MM. Infant sleep and feeding: a telephone survey of Hispanic Americans [dissertation]. Mount Pleasant (MI): Central Michigan University; 2002.
Scientific and Technical Reports
It should be noted that only a limited number of references can be cited from scientific and technical reports, if a large number of references are used, the validity of that article will reduce and is not acceptable.
Online journal articles
Nabizadeh R, Naddafi K, Mesdaghinia AR, Nafez  A. Feasibility study of organic matter and Ammonium removal using loofa sponge as a supporting medium in an aerated submerged fixed-film reactor (ASFFR). Electronic Journal of Biotechnology [serial on the Internet]. 2008 Dec [cited 2008 Dec 18];11(4):[about 6 p.] Available from: 
http://www.ejbiotechnology.info/content/vol11/issue4/full/8/index.html.
Credible websites
It should be noted that only a limited number of references can be included from valid internet sites, if a large number of references are used, the validity of that article reduces and is not acceptable.
Foley KM, Gelband H. Improving palliative care for cancer. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309074029/html/.
 
Note: Refer to the Vancouver style to write other references. If necessary, the Office of the Journal of Health and Environment will provide the authors with the necessary guidelines in this regard. In all references only simple font shape should be used and italic shape, bold and... should not be used to set reference lists.