Submissions

Author Guidelines

African Urology Author Guidelines

African Urology is a multilingual journal. English, French and Portuguese submissions will be considered. The objective of the African Urology is to provide an exceptional source of current and clinically relevant research in the discipline of urology.

Review process

All submitted manuscripts undergo extensive peer review by at least 2 recognised authorities in the field prior to their acceptance for publication. Reviewers’ and authors’ identities are kept confidential. The Editorial Board strives to reply to a submission within 2 weeks.

Submission of Manuscripts

1. Manuscripts are submitted via the online submission system only. You should register/log in and select your role as “Author” to start submission of your manuscript.
2. Please upload the following material via the online submission system:

• Cover letter - this should include the title of the manuscript, authors details, including initials, surname, department and place of work, email address and ORCID number. Declarations should also be included here.
• Manuscript file(this should include the title, abstract, main text and references [organised with subheadings of Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References, tables and figures with legends).
• Figures should be uploaded as part of the main manuscript and should also be uploaded a high resolution png/jpg images, as supplementary files.

3. The journal editors are unable to undertake major language corrections. The Editor has the right to make editorial corrections and additional changes with the knowledge and approval of corresponding author.
4. Proofs will be sent to the corresponding author by email as a PDF file. Corrections should be kept to a minimum. Authors are asked to return their corrected proofs within 3 days of receipt.
5. The preferred word processing format is Microsoft Word.

Submission Types

Original articles

Original articles on research relevant to urology should not exceed 3 000 words, no more than 30 references, with up to 6 tables or figures. A structured abstract under the following headings, Purpose, Materials and Methods, Results, and Conclusions, is a requirement and should not exceed 250 words. Please provide 5 keywords.

Scientific letters/short reports

Short reports should not exceed 1 500 words with a maximum of 10 references. Only one table or illustration is permissible. A structured abstract under the following headings, Purpose, Materials and Methods, Results, and Conclusions, is a requirement and should not exceed 250 words. Please provide 5 keywords.

Case reports

Case reports should not exceed 1 500 words with no more than 10 references. Figures are limited to 2 figures and may include images or photographs. The case report should have three headings: Summary (not exceeding 100 words), Case report (with no introduction) and Discussion. Case reports will be published online only. Please provide 5 keywords.

Video case reports (AUJ-VIDEO)

Video case reports should not exceed 1 500 words with 10 references and 6 figures. Heading should include Summary (not exceeding 100 words) and Case description (with three subheadings: Introduction, Case presentation and Discussion). Please provide 5 keywords. The video file format must be only MP4 or MOV and should not exceed 300 MB and 8 minutes. Video case reports will be published online only. The summary and the URL will appear in the printed version.

Review articles

Review articles relevant to surgery should not exceed 5 000 words, with a maximum of 50 references and no more than 6 tables or figures. A summary of 250 words or less is required. Please provide 5 keywords.

Letters to the editor

Letters to the editor should be 400 words or less with only one image or table.

Submission Guidance

1. Abstract: A structured abstract (with the subheadings Purpose, Materials and Methods, Results, and Conclusion) should appear on the second page of the manuscript and should not exceed 300 words. As far as possible, abbreviations should be avoided in the abstract.
2. Manuscript Text:

• The INTRODUCTION should state concisely the purpose and rationale for the study and cite only the most pertinent references as background.
• The MATERIALS AND METHODS section should describe briefly (but in sufficient detail to permit other workers to repeat the study) the plan, patients, experimental animals or other species, material, controls, methods, procedures, and statistical method(s) used.
• The RESULTS section should present the detailed findings. Refer to all tables and/or figures in this section. Figures and tables should supplement, not duplicate, the text - presentation of data in either one or the other will suffice.
• In the DISCUSSION section, state the importance and significance of your findings, but do not repeat the details given in the Results section. Compare your findings with those of others. No new data should be presented in this section. The paper should conclude with a brief section that summarises the clinical and research implications of the work, as appropriate.
• The CONCLUSIONS section should provide a brief summary of the main findings of the study.
• REFERENCES should appear in the text as superscript number that corresponds to the reference in the references list. References should be formatted as follows:

1. Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

• FIGURES AND TABLES should be placed in the manuscript, not at the end of the manuscript with their legend below each figure or table. All computer-generated images and photographs must have acceptable quality (at 300 dpi or higher) and should be submitted as high resolution png/jpg images, as supplementary files.

 

The following declarations statements are required:

Authorship

The authors confirm that all authors have made substantial contributions to all of the following:

• The conception and design of the 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 submitted.
• Sound scientific research practice

The authors further confirm that:

• The manuscript, including related data, figures and tables has not been previously published and is not under consideration elsewhere
• No data have been fabricated or manipulated (including images) to support your conclusions
• This submission does not represent a part of single study that has been split up into several parts to increase the quantity of submissions and submitted to various journals or to one journal over time (e.g. “salami-publishing”).

Plagiarism:

• The authors confirm that the work submitted is original and does not transgress the plagiarism policy of the journal.
• No data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were the author’s own.
• Proper acknowledgements of other’s work has been given (this includes material that is closely copied, summarized and/or paraphrased), quotation marks are used for verbatim copying of material.
• Permissions have been secured for material that is copyrighted.

Conflict of interest statement

A conflicting interest exists when professional judgement concerning a primary interest (such as patient’s welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain or personal rivalry). It represents a situation in which financial or other personal considerations from authors, reviewers or editors have the potential to compromise or bias professional judgment and objectivity. It may arise for the authors when they have financial interest that may influence their interpretation of their results or those of others. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. All potential conflicts of interest need to be declared. The conflict of interest statement should list each author separately by name, i.e.

“John Smith declares that he has no conflict of interest. Paula Taylor has received research grants from Drug Company A. Mike Schultz has received a speaker honorarium from Drug Company B and owns stock in Drug Company C.”

If there is no conflict of interest to declare please include the following: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Funding sources

All sources of funding should be declared. Also define the involvement of study sponsors in the study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data; the writing of the manuscript; the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. If the study sponsors had no such involvement, this should be stated as follows: No funding source to be declared.

Compliance with ethical guidelines

For all publications:

“The author/s declare that this submission is in accordance with the principles laid down by the Responsible Research Publication Position Statements as developed at the 2^nd World Conference on Research Integrity in Singapore, 2010.”

Available from:  http://publicationethics.org/resources/international-standards-for-editors-and-authors

Institutional Review Board (IRB) ethical approval must have been given if the study involves human subjects or animals. Please provide the IRB approval letter. 

“Prior to commencement of the study ethical approval was obtained from the following ethical review board: Provide name and reference number”

For studies with human subjects include the following:

“All procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.”

“Informed written consent was or was not obtained from all patients for being included in the study.”

For studies with animals include the following sentence:

“All institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.”

For articles that do not contain studies with human or animal subjects:

“This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.”

If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach, and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. If any identifying information about patients is included in the article, the following sentence should also be included: Additional informed consent was obtained from all patients for which identifying information is included in this article. The Helsinki Declaration 2008 can be found at http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/

The submitting author must provide written confirmation of Research Ethics Committee approval for all studies including case reports. The ethics committee as well as the approval number should be included.