Submissions

Author Guidelines

Bhutan Sorig Journal has a 3-step submission process:

1. Before you submit
2. Ready to submit
3. Submit and promote

The Dzongkha version of the author guideline can be downloaded from here. We accept submissions all throughout the year.

1. Before you submit

Now you’ve identified Bhutan Sorig Journal to submit to, there are a few things you should be familiar with before you submit. Make sure that your manuscript falls within the aims and scope of our journal.

This journal does not charge submission fees.

The submitted manuscripts are duly acknowledged and undergoes a technical assessment and assessment for plagiarism. Your manuscript must not be simultaneously submitted or accepted for publication elsewhere.

2. Ready to submit

Manuscript submissions should be made through the journal’s online submission platform. For technical help with the submission system, please review our author guideline or email us your queries.

Free format submission

We offer free format submission for a simplified and streamlined submission process. The manuscripts may be in English or Dzongkha.

Before you submit, you will need:

• Your manuscript:
• This should be an editable file including text, figures, and tables, or separate files—whichever you prefer.
• All required sections should be contained in your manuscript
• Figures and tables should have legends. Figures should be uploaded in the highest resolution possible.
• References may be submitted in Vancouver format.
• If the manuscript, figures or tables are difficult for you to read, they will also be difficult for the editors and reviewers, and the editorial office will send it back to you for revision. Your manuscript may also be sent back to you for revision if the quality of language is poor.
• Prepare your Declaration Form (download here)

The list of documents required as a part of your submission are:

1. Declaration Form
2. Title page
3. Main text file
4. Ethics approval

Preparation of your manuscript

Your manuscript file should have a title page and the main text.

Title page

The title page of the manuscript should include the following:

• A brief informative title containing the key informative words. The title should not contain abbreviations;
• The full names of the authors (first name, last name), their affiliations and email addresses. We encourage authors to provide their ORCID ID; not compulsory (freely available at https://orcid.org)
• The author's institutional affiliations where the work was conducted, with a footnote for the author’s present address if different from where the work was conducted;
• Identify the corresponding author and provide his/her postal address.
• Acknowledgments, if including this statement.
• Declaration statements including the following:

• data availability statement
• funding statement
• conflict of interest disclosure
• ethics approval statement
• participant consent statement
• permission to reproduce material from other sources
• author contributions (CRediT format)

Main Text File
Manuscripts can be uploaded either as a single document (containing the main text, tables and figures), or with figures and tables provided as separate files. The main manuscript file can be submitted in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) format.

The following are the types of articles published in Bhutan Sorig Journal:

The main text file should be in Word and include:

• Abstract: structured (introduction/methods/results/conclusion) or unstructured
• Up to five to seven keywords (Medical Subheadings, preferably words that do not appear in title or main text). Manuscripts in Dzongkha must have English translations of the Title, Abstract and Keywords.
• Main body: formatted as introduction, materials & methods (materials if relevant), results, discussion, conclusion
• References
• Tables (each table complete with title and footnotes should be placed at the end of the manuscript)
• Figure legends: Legends should be supplied as a complete list in the text. Figures should be uploaded as separate files (see below).

Reference Style

This journal uses Vancouver style format.

               Smith A, Jones B, Clements S. Clinical transplantation of tissue-engineered airway.
               Lancet 2008;372:1201–09.

               Hourigan P. Ankle injuries. In: Chan D, ed. Sports medicine. London:Elsevier, 2008:
               230– 47.

Funding

You should list all funding sources in a separate section. You are responsible for the accuracy of their funder designation. 

Authorship

All listed authors should have contributed to the manuscript substantially and have agreed to the final submitted version. Please see the journal policy for authorship criteria. For all articles, the journal mandates a clear mention of author contributions in the title page.

Ethics approval

For studies involving human subjects, authors must submit the ethics approval or a waiver if allowed by the local ethics committee. For human or animal research conducted in Bhutan, authors must submit the ethics approval letter from the Research Ethics Board of Health, Ministry of Health or the Institutional Review Board, Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan.

Conflict of interest

Authors must declare conflicts of interest using the International Committee of Medical Journal Editor form if applicable.

Reproduction of Copyright Material

If excerpts from copyrighted works owned by third parties are included, credit must be shown in the contribution. It is your responsibility to also obtain written permission for reproduction from the copyright owners.

The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining written permission to reproduce the material in print and other media from the publisher of the original source, and for supplying us with that permission upon submission.

Guidelines on Publishing and Research Ethics

The journal requires that you include in the manuscript details administrative approvals, ethical treatment of human and animal research participants, and gathering of informed consent, as appropriate. You will be expected to declare all conflicts of interest, or none, on submission.

This journal follows the core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and strongly discourages publication misconducts.

The journal requires the use of an appropriate reporting guideline when writing any health research manuscript.

Standard reporting guidelines

Bhutan Sorig Journal encourages and endorses the use of an appropriate reporting guideline available at the Enhancing the Quality and Transparency Of health Research (EQUATOR) in writing your manuscript. The checklists given at the EQUATOR Network helps not only conform to standards but also in improving the quality of your manuscript. The appropriate guidelines are:

• Randomized trials: CONSORT
• Observational studies: STROBE
• Systematic review: PRISMA
• Study protocols: SPIRIT, PRISMA-P
• Diagnostic/prognostic studies: STARD, TRIPOD
• Case reports: CARE
• Clinical guidelines: AGREE, RIGHT
• Qualitative research: SRQR, COREQ
• Animal pre-clinical studies: ARRIVE
• Quality improvement studies: SQUIRE
• Economic evaluations: CHEERS

Must Have Information 
The majority of the submitted manuscript lack proper formatting, on the top of that heading and subheading, is not correctly written. Therefore, we encourage you to present your write-up with all standard components included. To minimize the rejection (or return for revision) of your article please do the followings: 

1. Please use the appropriate template for your manuscript to avoid error in the heading and subheadings.
2. Please address all the point described in the template, references and manuscript preparation guidelines.
3. If you have difficulty working on the computer or not good at it particularly Microsoft word document, please seek a professional help to prepare your manuscript according to the author guidelines.
4. Email is the preferred methods of communication, therefore, please ensure that you have provide the correct email address. We may also contact you anytime for immediate information to speed up the review process. 

3. Submit and promote

Manuscripts must be submitted through our online submission system. Please note that manuscript can only be submitted by an author of the manuscript and may not be submitted by a third party.

Peer Review

This journal operates under a double-blind peer review model. Manuscripts will only be sent to review if the Editor-in-Chief determines that the paper meets the appropriate quality and relevance requirements. The details of the peer review process are given in our journal policy.

In-house submissions, i.e. papers authored by Editors or Editorial Board members, will be sent to Editors unaffiliated with the author or institution and monitored carefully to ensure there is no peer review bias. Such manuscripts must be accompanied with a standard conflict of interest statement. Members of the Editorial Board are blinded to the peer review process and excluded from editorial decision-making on their own work to minimize bias.

Publication and Decision Time: Time to first decision overall (average) within 14 days for the initial decision (without review); 4 – 6 weeks (with the review).

If you encounter delay and find no update on your submission within 2 – 4 weeks, please contact the journal editorial office as soon as possible. For this, please do not contact on personal email, social media or phone number to Editor-in-Chief, Editorial team or journal staff related to your submission. All communication must be made to the official email address only.

Editorial decisions

As per our peer review policy, editorial decision will be given in the following categories:

• Acceptable for publication: The submission will be accepted without revisions.
• Minor revision: The submission will be accepted after minor changes have been made according to the editor/reviewer's comment.
• Major revision: The submission needs to undergo substantial revision with significant changes. It will require a second round of peer review.
• Reject: When the submission does not meet the focus and scope of Bhutan Sorig Journal.

The manuscripts may be rejected if the submission does not conform to the author guidelines. 

Appeals and complaints

Authors may appeal an editorial decision if they feel that the decision to reject was based on either a significant misunderstanding of a core aspect of the manuscript, a failure to understand how the manuscript advances the literature or concerns regard in the manuscript-handling process.

After Acceptance
After your paper is accepted, your files will be assessed by the editorial office to ensure they are ready for production. The corresponding author must provide the Authorship Form signed by all co-authors in the accepted manuscript. Otherwise, your paper will be sent to the production team.

Withdrawals

A request for withdrawal may be accepted before a final decision has been made on the manuscript.

Copyright Notice

The journal allows readers to download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of its articles and allow readers to use them for any other lawful purpose. The author(s) are allowed to retain publishing rights without restrictions.

Proofs

Authors will receive an e-mail with the page proofs a pdf. Authors should also make sure that any renumbered tables, figures, or references match text citations and that figure legends correspond with text citations and actual figures. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours of receipt of the email.

Promotion

Articles that have been accepted are uploaded on our website and will be promoted on our social media sites and through email updates to reach a wider readership.

Author Name Change Policy and Correction to authorship

In cases where authors wish to change their name following publication, the corresponding author may write to the editorial office. The name change request must be approved by all other co-authors.

In accordance with best practices in publication, we will allow authors to correct authorship on a submitted, accepted, or published article if a valid reason exists to do so. All authors – including those to be added or removed – must agree to any proposed change. Correcting the authorship is different from changing an author’s name.

To request a name change or change to the author list, please complete the Author Change Form.

Editorial Office Contact Details

For submission, journal policy questions and general enquiries, please contact our editorial office:

Bhutan Sorig Journal editorial office

Email: editor@bsj.com.bt

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.