Scope of the Journal

The Journal publishes peer-reviewed articles in the following areas:

• Obstetrics
• Gynaecology
• Perinatology
• Reproductive Health and allied disciplines in the basic health sciences in the tropics in particular, and globally in general

The journal accepts:

• Original research papers
• Systematic reviews
• Meta-analysis
• Case reports
• Letters to the editor
• Meeting reports as well as conference abstracts and proceedings

Open Access Policy Statement

The journal's full text is available online at https://tjog.org/index.php/tjog. The journal allows free access (Open Access) to its contents and permits authors to self-archive the final accepted version of the articles on any OAI-compliant institutional/subject-based repository, and fulfills the DOAJ definition of open access by ensuring that:

• The full text of all content is available for free and open access without delay.
• No embargo period
• No requirement for users to register to read content
• The journal charges for its print version
• Although the entire published contents of Tropical Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology are protected under Nigerian and international copyrights, free usage rights to others using an open license (Creative Commons or equivalent) are granted, allowing for immediate free access to the work and permitting any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose

The Editorial Process

All submitted manuscripts received are duly acknowledged. During submission, the contributor is requested to provide names of two or three qualified reviewers who have had experience in the subject of the submitted manuscript, but this is not mandatory. The reviewers should not be affiliated with the same institutes as the contributor(s). However, the selection of these reviewers is at the sole discretion of the editor.

Internal Editorial Review Process: On submission, editors review all manuscripts initially for suitability for formal review. Manuscripts with insufficient originality, serious scientific or technical flaws, or lack of a significant message are rejected before proceeding for formal peer-review. Manuscripts that are unlikely to be of interest to the AJPS readers are also liable to be rejected at this stage itself.

External Editorial Review Process: Manuscripts that are found suitable for publication in TJOG are sent to two or more expert reviewers. The journal follows a double-blind review process, wherein the reviewers and authors are unaware of each other’s identity. Every manuscript is also assigned to a member of the editorial team, who based on the comments from the reviewers takes a final decision on the manuscript. The comments and suggestions (acceptance/rejection/amendments in manuscript) received from reviewers are conveyed to the corresponding author. If required, the author is requested to provide a point by point response to reviewers’ comments and submit a revised version of the manuscript. This process is repeated till reviewers and editors are satisfied with the manuscript. Manuscripts accepted for publication are copy edited for grammar, punctuation, print style, and format.

Proofs: Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author. The corresponding author is expected to return the corrected proofs within three days. It may not be possible to incorporate corrections received after that period. The whole process of submission of the manuscript to final decision and sending and receiving proofs is completed online.

Authorship Criteria

Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content of the manuscript. Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to each of the three components mentioned below:

• Concept and design of study or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data
• Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content
• Final approval of the version to be published

Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship. General supervision of the research group is not sufficient for authorship. The order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor towards the study and writing the manuscript. Once submitted, the order cannot be changed without written consent of all the contributors. The journal prescribes a maximum number of authors for manuscripts depending upon the type of manuscript, its scope and number of institutions involved. The authors should provide a justification, if the number of authors exceeds these limits.

Contribution Details

Contributors should provide a description of contributions made by each of them towards the manuscript. Description should be divided in the following categories, as applicable:

• Concept
• Design
• Definition of intellectual content
• Literature search
• Clinical studies
• Experimental studies
• Data acquisition
• Data analysis
• Statistical analysis
• Manuscript preparation
• Manuscript editing
• Manuscript review

One or more authors should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole from inception to published article and should be designated as 'guarantor'.

Conflicts of Interest/ Competing Interests

All authors must disclose any and all conflicts of interest they may have with publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or is important to the outcome of the study presented. Authors should also disclose conflict of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript.

Submission of Manuscripts

Authors are requested to submit their manuscripts (including figures) to TJOG exclusively through the Journal’s website: https://tjog.org. All manuscripts must be submitted online. First-time users will have to register at this site. Registration is FREE but mandatory. Registered authors can keep track of their articles after logging into the site using their username and password.

The submitted manuscripts that are not as per the “Instructions to Authors” would be returned to the authors for technical correction, before they undergo editorial/peer-review. Submission terms should include separate files for a cover letter, title page, abstract, text, references, legends for tables/figures, figures and tables.

Generally, the manuscript should be submitted in the form of two separate files:

• • Title Page/First Page File/covering letter: This file (should be in text/rtf/doc files format; do not zip the files) should provide the following information:
    • The type of manuscript (original article, case report, review article, letter to the editor, images, etc.)
    • Title of the manuscript, running title, names of all authors/contributors (with their highest academic degrees, designation and affiliations) and name(s) of department(s) and/or institution(s) to which the work should be credited
    • The total number of pages, total number of photographs and word counts separately for abstract and for the text (excluding the references, tables and abstract), word counts for introduction + discussion in case of an original article. Source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or all of these

    Acknowledgement, if any. One or more statements should specify:

    • Contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, such as general support by a departmental chair
    • Acknowledgments of technical help
    • Acknowledgments of financial and material support, which should specify the nature of the support

    If the manuscript was presented as part at a meeting, the organization, place, and exact date on which it was read should be so indicated.
    Registration number in case of a clinical trial and where it is registered (name of the registry and its URL) should be provided on this page.
    Conflicts of Interest of each author/contributor. A statement of financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest, if that information is not included in the manuscript itself or in an authors' form Criteria for inclusion in the authors’/contributors’ list.

    A statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, that the requirements for authorship as stated earlier in this document have been met, and that each author believes that the manuscript represents honest work, if that information is not provided in another form (see below); and The name, address, e-mail, and telephone number of the corresponding author, who is responsible for communicating with the other authors about revisions and final approval of the proofs, if that information is not included on the manuscript itself.

• Blinded Article file: The manuscript/text must not contain any mention of the authors' names or initials or the institution at which the study was done or acknowledgements. Manuscripts not in compliance with The Journal's blinding policy will be returned to the corresponding author. The main text of the article, beginning from Abstract till References (including tables) should be in this file. Use rtf/doc files. Do not zip the files. Do not incorporate images in the file. The pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the first page of the blinded article file.

• Images: Submit good quality color images. Each image should be less than 10 MB in size. Size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep up to 1800 x 1200 pixels or 5-6 inches). Images can be submitted as jpeg files. Do not zip the files. Legends for the figures/images should be included at the end of the article file.

• The contributors'/copyright transfer form is digital to streamline manuscript submissions. Please follow these guidelines for a smooth submission process:
  • The submitting author must ensure that all co-authors, with their correct email addresses [mandatory], are added in the 'Authors and Institutions' section during the third step of online submission.

• • After submission, all co-authors will receive an email with a link to provide their digital copyright consent. Please ensure all co-authors complete this process within seven days of submission.
  • The submitting author can track the copyright status of their co-authors in the 'Manuscript Information' page by clicking the manuscript ID on their dashboard.
  • Do not upload scanned copies of signed copyright forms during submission.
  • Manuscript review will proceed only after all co-authors have submitted their consent to digital copyright.

Revised manuscripts should also be accompanied by a unique file (separate from the cover letter) with responses to reviewers’ comments. Upload text, tables and graphics as separate files. Do not import figures or tables into text document; submit them as separate files. All manuscript must be submitted double-spaced in English. Please submit your manuscript electronically at www.tjog.org. The website guides authors, after registration at the site, stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files.

Authors submitting a manuscript to TJOG do so on the understanding that if accepted for publication, copyright in the article, including the rights to reproduce the article in all forms and media, shall be transferred exclusively to the publisher.

TJOG subscribes in general to the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” (N Engl J Med 336:309-315, 1997).

Preparation of Manuscripts

Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with "Uniform requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals" developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (October 2006). The uniform requirements and specific requirements of AJPS are summarized below. Before submitting a manuscript, contributors are requested to check for the latest instructions available.

TJOG accepts manuscripts written in British English only. Contributing authors from non-English speaking countries who are not proficient in English language may wish to have their manuscript well written and professionally edited by an editing firm (e.g. Editage; www.editage.com ) before submission, to facilitate and fast track article processing.

Copies of any permission(s)

It is the responsibility of authors/contributors to obtain permissions for reproducing any copyrighted material. A copy of the permission obtained must accompany the manuscript. Copies of any and all published articles or other manuscripts in preparation or submitted elsewhere that are related to the manuscript must also accompany the manuscript.

Types of Manuscripts

Original Articles

Original articles are preferred and are accepted for publication on the condition that they are contributed solely to AJPS. These include randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic test, outcome studies, cost effectiveness analyses, case-control series, and surveys with high response rate. The text of original articles amounting to up to 3000 words (excluding Abstract, references and Tables) should be divided into sections with the headings Abstract, Key-words, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Tables and Figure legends.​

Introduction: State the purpose and summarize the rationale for the study or observation.

Materials and Methods: It should include and describe the following aspects:

Ethics: When reporting studies on human beings, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (available at: https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/).​ For prospective studies involving human participants, authors are expected to mention about approval of (regional/ national/ institutional or independent Ethics Committee or Review Board, obtaining informed consent from adult research participants and obtaining assent for children aged over 7 years participating in the trial. The age beyond which assent would be required could vary as per regional and/ or national guidelines. Ensure confidentiality of subjects by desisting from mentioning participants’ names, initials or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the institution’s or a national research council’s guide for, or any national law on the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

Evidence for approval by a local Ethics Committee (for both human as well as animal studies) must be supplied by the authors on demand. Animal experimental procedures should be as humane as possible and the details of anesthetics and analgesics used should be clearly stated. The ethical standards of experiments must be in accordance with the guidelines provided by the CPCSEA (https://ccsea.gov.in/Auth/index.aspx) and World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Humans for studies involving experimental animals and human beings, respectively). The journal will not consider any paper which is ethically unacceptable. A statement on ethics committee permission and ethical practices must be included in all research articles under the ‘Materials and Methods’ section.

Study design: Selection and Description of Participants: Describe your selection of the observational or experimental participants (patients or laboratory animals, including controls) clearly, including eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population.
Technical information: Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods (see below); provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well known; describe new or substantially modified methods, give reasons for using them, and evaluate their limitations. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration.

Reports of randomized clinical trials should present information on all major study elements, including the protocol, assignment of interventions (methods of randomization, concealment of allocation to treatment groups), and the method of masking (blinding), based on the CONSORT Statement (http://www.consort-statement.org).​​