Submissions

Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines

Medicine Discovery welcomes submissions of original, unpublished research across all areas of clinical medicine and biomedical sciences. Before submitting, authors should read these guidelines carefully. Manuscripts that do not conform to these requirements may be returned without review.

For detailed information about the journal's aims and scope, please visit the About the Journal page. For policies on open access, peer review, publication ethics, copyright, and digital preservation, please refer to the corresponding policy pages on the journal website.

Editorial Policies and Ethical Standards

1.1 Ethical Oversight

Medicine Discovery adheres to the highest standards of publication ethics as outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), and the Council of Science Editors (CSE).

1.2 Research Ethics and Approval

All research involving human participants must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki (2013 revision) and have received approval from an appropriate institutional review board (IRB) or ethics committee. The name of the approving institution, the approval reference number, and the date of approval must be stated in the Methods section.

Research involving animals must comply with institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals. Authors must provide a statement confirming compliance with the ARRIVE 2.0 guidelines (for animal studies) or equivalent standards. The name of the approving body and the protocol number must be stated in the Methods section.

1.3 Informed Consent

Written informed consent must be obtained from all participants (or their legal guardians) in studies involving human subjects. For case reports or any manuscript containing identifiable patient information, written informed consent for publication must be obtained and stated in the manuscript. If consent cannot be obtained, the data must be fully anonymized and a statement to this effect must be included.

1.4 Clinical Trial Registration

All interventional clinical trials must be registered in a public registry before enrollment of the first participant. Acceptable registries include:

— ClinicalTrials.gov — WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) and its partner registries — Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR) — ISRCTN — EU Clinical Trials Register

The trial registration number and registry name must be provided at the end of the abstract and in the Methods section. This requirement is in accordance with ICMJE policy.

1.5 Authorship

Authorship must meet the ICMJE criteria. All individuals listed as authors must have made substantial contributions to all four of the following:

(a) Conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; (b) Drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (c) Final approval of the version to be published; (d) Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Individuals who do not meet all four criteria should not be listed as authors but may be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section. Ghost authorship (omitting a qualifying contributor) and gift authorship (including a non-qualifying individual) are not acceptable.

All authors must complete the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) author statement. The following roles should be assigned as applicable: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data Curation, Writing — Original Draft, Writing — Review and Editing, Visualization, Supervision, Project Administration, Funding Acquisition.

Changes to the author list after submission (additions, deletions, or reordering) require written approval from all authors and a letter explaining the reason for the change, submitted to the Editor-in-Chief for approval before the manuscript can proceed.

1.6 Conflicts of Interest

All authors must disclose any financial or non-financial interests that could be perceived to influence the research. This includes, but is not limited to: funding sources, employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership, paid expert testimony, patent applications, and personal relationships. If no conflicts exist, authors must state: "The authors declare no conflicts of interest."

1.7 Use of Artificial Intelligence

Authors who use artificial intelligence (AI) tools (such as large language models, AI-powered writing or translation software, image generators, or coding assistants) during the research or writing process must disclose this in the Methods or Acknowledgments section. The disclosure should specify the name of the tool, the version used, and the purpose for which it was employed. AI tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot meet ICMJE authorship criteria or take responsibility for the work. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of all content.

1.8 Data Availability

Medicine Discovery requires authors to include a Data Availability Statement. Authors should indicate whether and how data supporting the findings can be accessed. Acceptable statements include:

— Data are available in a public repository (provide DOI or accession number). — Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. — Data are available within the article and its supplementary materials. — Data sharing is not applicable (e.g., no new data were generated). — Restrictions apply to data availability (explain the reason and any access conditions).

For studies using major public databases (e.g., UK Biobank, NHANES, MIMIC, TCGA), authors must specify the database name, accession details, and any application or access approval required.

Authors are encouraged to deposit data in publicly accessible repositories (e.g., Dryad, Figshare, Zenodo, GenBank, OpenNeuro) and to include persistent identifiers (DOIs or accession numbers) in the Data Availability Statement.

Article Types

Original Research Article (3,000–5,000 words) Full-length reports of original research including clinical trials, cohort studies, cross-sectional studies, case-control studies, and basic or translational research. Must include a structured abstract (maximum 350 words). Maximum 50 references. Maximum 8 figures and tables combined. Clinical trials must include the trial registration number.

Review Article (4,000–8,000 words) Comprehensive, critical reviews including systematic reviews, meta-analyses, scoping reviews, and narrative reviews that synthesize existing evidence. Must include a structured abstract (maximum 350 words). Maximum 100 references. Systematic reviews must follow PRISMA 2020 guidelines and include a PRISMA flow diagram and checklist as supplementary files.

Case Report (1,500–2,500 words) Reports of novel, unusual, or instructive clinical cases with educational value. Must follow the CARE guidelines and include a CARE checklist as a supplementary file. Must include a structured abstract (maximum 250 words). Written informed consent for publication must be obtained from the patient or legal guardian. Maximum 20 references. Maximum 5 figures and tables combined.

Short Communication (1,500–2,000 words) Concise reports of preliminary but significant findings, novel techniques, negative results, or replication studies of major interest. Must include a structured abstract (maximum 200 words). Maximum 15 references. Maximum 3 figures and tables combined.

Study Protocol (3,000–5,000 words) Detailed protocols for planned or ongoing clinical trials (following SPIRIT guidelines) or systematic reviews (following PRISMA-P guidelines). Clinical trial protocols must include the trial registration number. Must include a structured abstract (maximum 350 words). Maximum 50 references. Maximum 6 figures and tables combined.

Consensus / Clinical Guidelines (4,000–8,000 words) Expert consensus statements and clinical practice guidelines developed by professional societies or collaborative groups. Must follow the AGREE II or RIGHT reporting guidelines. Must include a structured abstract (maximum 350 words). Maximum 100 references.

Commentary / Perspective (1,500–3,000 words) Opinion pieces offering novel viewpoints on emerging topics, controversies, or policy issues in medicine. Must include an unstructured abstract (maximum 200 words). May be submitted or invited. Maximum 30 references. Maximum 3 figures and tables combined.

Editorial (1,000–2,000 words) Invited commentaries on topics of current importance in medicine and public health, or introductions to special issues. Typically commissioned by the Editor-in-Chief. No abstract required. Maximum 15 references. Maximum 2 figures and tables combined. Editorials can only be submitted by Editors and Section Editors.

Letter to the Editor (500–1,000 words) Concise comments on articles recently published in Medicine Discovery, or brief observations of scientific or clinical interest. No abstract required. Maximum 5 references. Maximum 1 figure or table.

Word limits refer to the main body text only, excluding the abstract, references, tables, figure legends, and supplementary materials.

Manuscript Preparation

3.1 General Formatting

File format: Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx). Do not submit PDFs. Font: Times New Roman, 12 point, double-spaced throughout. Margins: 2.5 cm (1 inch) on all sides. Line numbering: Continuous line numbers must be included throughout the manuscript. Page numbering: Consecutive, starting from the title page, bottom right corner. Language: Manuscripts must be written in clear, grammatically correct English. American or British spelling is accepted, but must be consistent throughout.

3.2 Title Page

The title page must be submitted as a separate file and include the following:

— Title: Concise and informative, no more than 20 words. Avoid abbreviations and formulae. — Running title: A short running head of no more than 50 characters including spaces. — Authors: Full first name, middle initial(s), and last name for all authors, with superscript numerical affiliations. — Affiliations: Department, institution, city, country for each author. — ORCID iD: Required for all authors (register at https://orcid.org if needed). — Corresponding author: Name, full postal address, telephone number, email address, and ORCID iD. — Word count: Total word count of the main text (excluding abstract, references, tables, and figure legends). — Number of figures and tables. — Number of supplementary files (if any). — Clinical trial registration number and registry name (if applicable). — Funding statement. — Conflict of interest statement. — Ethics approval statement (including IRB name, reference number, and date). — Data Availability Statement.

3.3 Abstract

Original Research Articles, Review Articles, Study Protocols, and Consensus / Clinical Guidelines require a structured abstract with the following sections: Background — state the rationale and objective of the study. Methods — briefly describe the study design, setting, participants, interventions (if applicable), and main outcome measures. Results — present the main findings with specific data (effect sizes, confidence intervals, p-values). Conclusions — state the main conclusions and their implications.

Case Reports require a structured abstract with the following sections: Background, Case Presentation, Conclusions.

Short Communications require a structured abstract with the following sections: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions.

Commentaries / Perspectives require an unstructured abstract (single paragraph).

Editorials and Letters to the Editor do not require an abstract.

All abstracts must include the clinical trial registration number at the end (if applicable). Abstracts should not contain abbreviations (except widely recognized ones such as DNA, MRI, HIV) or references.

3.4 Keywords

Provide 3 to 6 keywords immediately below the abstract. Keywords should be selected from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) vocabulary maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov). Keywords should not repeat words already present in the title.

3.5 Main Text Structure

Original Research Articles should follow the IMRaD format: Introduction — provide context, state the research gap, and define the study objectives or hypotheses. Methods — describe the study design, participants, interventions, data collection, statistical methods, and ethical approvals in sufficient detail for reproducibility. Results — present findings logically with tables and figures. Do not duplicate data in text and tables or figures. Discussion — interpret results, compare with existing literature, discuss limitations and strengths, and state implications for practice or future research. Conclusions — provide a brief summary of the key findings and their significance.

Review Articles: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses must follow the PRISMA 2020 statement and include a PRISMA flow diagram. Narrative reviews should include a clear methodology section describing the literature search strategy, databases searched, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and time frame.

Case Reports should follow the structure: Introduction, Case Presentation, Discussion, Conclusions.

3.6 Abbreviations

Define all abbreviations at first mention in both the abstract and the main text. Do not use abbreviations in the title. Provide a list of abbreviations if more than 10 are used.

3.7 Statistical Reporting

Authors should report exact p-values (e.g., p = 0.032 rather than p < 0.05) with 95% confidence intervals where applicable. Effect sizes should be reported. Specify the statistical software used (name, version, manufacturer). For complex analyses, authors are encouraged to consult the SAMPL guidelines for statistical reporting in medical journals.

3.8 Figures and Tables

Figures: Submit as separate high-resolution files (TIFF or EPS preferred, minimum 300 dpi for photographs, 600 dpi for line art). Acceptable formats: TIFF, EPS, PDF, PNG, JPEG. Figures should not be embedded in the manuscript text file. Tables: Created using the table function in Word (not as images). Each table must have a concise title above it and be self-explanatory. Place each table on a separate page at the end of the manuscript. Number all figures and tables consecutively in the order cited in the text (Figure 1, Figure 2; Table 1, Table 2). All figures and tables must be cited in the main text in consecutive order. Use SI units consistently. Define all abbreviations in footnotes using superscript lowercase letters (a, b, c). Do not duplicate data presented in figures and tables. For figures containing patient images, ensure identifiable features are removed or written consent for publication has been obtained. Obtain written permission for any previously published figures and credit the original source. Color figures are free of charge in the online version.

3.9 References

Style: Vancouver (numbered) style. Citation format: References are numbered consecutively in the order of first citation in the text and identified by superscript Arabic numerals, placed after punctuation marks.

Journal Article: Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Title of article. Journal Abbreviation. Year;Volume(Issue):Pages. doi:xx.xxxx/xxxxxx

Example: Wang L, Zhang Y, Chen H. Cardiovascular risk prediction using machine learning in a Chinese cohort. Lancet Digit Health. 2024;6(3):e192–e201. doi:10.1016/S2589-7500(24)00012-5

Book: Author AA, Author BB. Title of Book. Edition. Place: Publisher; Year.

Book Chapter: Author AA, Author BB. Title of chapter. In: Editor CC, Editor DD, editors. Title of Book. Edition. Place: Publisher; Year. p. Pages.

Online / Website: Author or Organization. Title [Internet]. Place: Publisher; Year [cited Date]. Available from: URL

Reference guidelines: — Use NLM journal title abbreviations (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals). — List all authors if six or fewer; if seven or more, list the first six followed by "et al." — Include DOIs for all references where available. — Verify all references for accuracy before submission. — Avoid citing abstracts, unpublished data, and personal communications as references. Personal communications may be mentioned in the text in parentheses. — Avoid citing retracted articles unless specifically discussing the retraction. — Preprints (e.g., from medRxiv, bioRxiv) may be cited but must be clearly identified as preprints.

Reference limits by article type: — Original Research Article: maximum 50 — Review Article: maximum 100 — Case Report: maximum 20 — Short Communication: maximum 15 — Study Protocol: maximum 50 — Consensus / Clinical Guidelines: maximum 100 — Commentary / Perspective: maximum 30 — Editorial: maximum 15 — Letter to the Editor: maximum 5

Reporting Guidelines

Medicine Discovery endorses the EQUATOR Network guidelines. Authors must adhere to the appropriate reporting guideline for their study type and upload the completed checklist as a supplementary file at the time of submission.

Randomized Controlled Trial — CONSORT 2010 (consort-statement.org) Observational Study — STROBE (strobe-statement.org) Systematic Review / Meta-Analysis — PRISMA 2020 (prisma-statement.org) Diagnostic Accuracy Study — STARD (stard-statement.org) Case Report — CARE (care-statement.org) Qualitative Research — COREQ / SRQR (equator-network.org) Clinical Practice Guideline — AGREE II / RIGHT (right-statement.org) Animal Pre-clinical Studies — ARRIVE 2.0 (arriveguidelines.org) Prediction Model Study — TRIPOD (tripod-statement.org) Quality Improvement Study — SQUIRE 2.0 (squire-statement.org) Study Protocol — SPIRIT / PRISMA-P (spirit-statement.org) Economic Evaluation — CHEERS 2022 (equator-network.org) Network Meta-Analysis — PRISMA-NMA (prisma-statement.org) Mendelian Randomization — STROBE-MR (strobe-mr.com) Genetic Association Study — STREGA (strobe-statement.org)

Additional reporting guidelines can be found on the EQUATOR Network website (https://www.equator-network.org).

Supplementary Materials

Supplementary materials (additional tables, figures, datasets, multimedia files, extended methods, or completed reporting checklists) may be submitted alongside the main manuscript. Supplementary files will be published online and linked to the article.

— Label supplementary files clearly (Supplementary Table S1, Supplementary Figure S1, etc.). — Include a brief legend or description for each supplementary item. — Cite all supplementary materials in the main text. — Accepted formats: PDF, Word, Excel, CSV, MP4, MOV. — Maximum individual file size: 20 MB. — Supplementary files are peer-reviewed but are not professionally copyedited or typeset.

Preprint Policy

Medicine Discovery welcomes submissions of manuscripts that have been posted as preprints on recognized preprint servers (e.g., medRxiv, bioRxiv, SSRN, Research Square). Posting a preprint does not constitute prior publication and will not affect consideration for publication in the journal. Authors should disclose any preprint posting at the time of submission, including the preprint DOI. Upon publication, authors are encouraged to update the preprint record with a link to the final published article in Medicine Discovery.

Language Editing

Medicine Discovery does not provide professional language editing services. Authors whose first language is not English are strongly encouraged to have their manuscript reviewed by a native English speaker or a professional language editing service before submission. Manuscripts with excessive language errors that impede comprehension may be returned to authors without review.

Cover Letter

A cover letter addressed to the Editor-in-Chief must accompany every submission. The cover letter should: — Briefly describe the significance and novelty of the work — Confirm that the manuscript has not been published previously (except as a preprint, abstract, or part of a thesis) and is not under consideration by another journal — Disclose any related manuscripts under consideration or in press — List any potential conflicts of interest — State that all authors have read and approved the final manuscript — Provide the name and contact information of the corresponding author

Submission Process

9.1 Register or log in at https://www.oannes.org.cn/index.php/md

9.2 Click "Make a Submission"

9.3 Follow the five-step online submission process

9.4 Upload all required files: cover letter, title page, main manuscript (blinded), figures, tables, supplementary files, reporting guideline checklists

9.5 Enter all author and manuscript metadata, including ORCID iDs for all authors

9.6 Complete the submission checklist

9.7 Confirm and submit

9.8 Submission Checklist

10. Before submitting, please confirm the following:

Administrative: — Cover letter addressed to the Editor-in-Chief is included — All authors have reviewed and approved the final manuscript — All authors have completed the ICMJE Conflict of Interest disclosure form — ORCID iDs are provided for all authors

Manuscript Files: — Title page with all required information as a separate file — Main manuscript file blinded for review (no author names or affiliations in the body, file properties, or headers and footers) — Abstract adheres to the word limit and structure required for the article type — Keywords (3–6) are selected from MeSH vocabulary — All figures are submitted as separate high-resolution files (minimum 300 dpi) — All tables are in editable Word format (not images) — References follow Vancouver style with superscript numbering and DOIs included

Ethics and Compliance: — Ethics approval statement with IRB name, reference number, and date is included (where applicable) — Informed consent statement is included (where applicable) — Clinical trial registration number is provided (where applicable) — Appropriate EQUATOR reporting guideline checklist is uploaded as a supplementary file — CRediT author contribution statement is included — Data Availability Statement is included — AI usage disclosure is included in the Acknowledgments section (if applicable)

Formatting: — Manuscript is in Word format (.doc or .docx), double-spaced, Times New Roman 12 point — Continuous line numbering is applied throughout — All abbreviations are defined at first use in both the abstract and main text — Statistical methods are described and exact p-values with confidence intervals are reported — All figures and tables are cited sequentially in the text

Required Declarations

All manuscripts must include the following declarations, placed after the Conclusions section and before the References:

Author Contributions: Use CRediT format. Example: "AB: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing — original draft. CD: Data curation, Formal analysis. EF: Supervision, Writing — review and editing."

Funding: Declare all funding sources, including grant numbers and the role of funders in the study. If no funding was received, state: "This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors."

Conflicts of Interest: All authors must disclose any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest. If none exist, state: "The authors declare no conflicts of interest."

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate: State the name of the ethics committee or IRB, the approval number, and the date of approval. State that informed consent was obtained from all participants (or waived and why). If not applicable, state: "Not applicable."

Consent for Publication: For case reports or any manuscript containing identifiable patient information, state: "Written informed consent was obtained from the patient(s) for publication of this case report and any accompanying images."

Data Availability Statement: State how readers can access the underlying data, using one of the formats described in Section 1.8.

Acknowledgments: Acknowledge individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria, including writing assistance, statistical support, or technical help. If AI tools were used in manuscript preparation, disclose the tool name, version, and purpose in this section.

Peer Review Process

Medicine Discovery operates a single-blind peer review process. Reviewers' identities are not disclosed to authors. Authors' identities are known to reviewers.

Initial editorial screening: The Editor-in-Chief or a handling Editor will conduct a preliminary assessment for scope, quality, and ethical compliance. Manuscripts that do not meet minimum standards will receive a desk decision within 5 business days.

Peer review: Manuscripts passing initial screening will be assigned to at least two independent expert reviewers.

Review timeline: Authors can expect an initial decision within 4–6 weeks of submission.

Decision types: Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, Reject.

Revised manuscripts must be accompanied by a detailed point-by-point response letter addressing all reviewer and editor comments. Changes in the revised manuscript should be highlighted using tracked changes or colored text.

Revision deadlines: Authors must submit revised manuscripts within 14 days (minor revision) or 30 days (major revision). Extensions may be granted upon request to the Editorial Office.

Proofs and Publication

Upon acceptance, manuscripts undergo professional copyediting and typesetting. Authors will receive page proofs (PDF format) for review. Proofs should be checked carefully for typographical and factual errors and returned within 48 hours. Only minor corrections are permitted at the proof stage; substantial changes to content, data, or authorship are not allowed without editorial approval. Articles are published online on a rolling basis as soon as they are ready, with assignment of a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) via Crossref.

Open Access and Licensing

Medicine Discovery is a fully open access journal. All accepted articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Under CC BY 4.0, anyone may copy, distribute, and adapt the work for any purpose, including commercial use, provided appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and source, a link to the license is provided, and any changes are indicated.

Authors retain full copyright of their published work.

Article Processing Charges

Medicine Discovery does not charge any article processing charges (APCs), submission fees, page charges, or any other publication fees. Publication in this journal is completely free of charge for authors. All costs of publication are borne by the publisher, Oannes Publishing Company Limited.

Contact Information

For editorial inquiries: editor@oannes.org.cn For technical support: tech@oannes.org.cn

Editorial Office: Medicine Discovery Oannes Publishing Company Limited Unit 1406A, 14/F, The Belgian Bank Building Nos. 721–725 Nathan Road, Kowloon Hong Kong, China Website: https://www.oannes.org.cn

Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions must meet the following requirements. By checking each box, you confirm that your submission complies with these conditions. Medicine Discovery does not charge any submission fees, article processing charges, or any other publication fees.

This submission meets the requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines of Medicine Discovery.

This submission has not been previously published in a peer-reviewed journal, conference proceedings, or as a book chapter, nor is it currently under consideration by another journal. Posting on a recognized preprint server (e.g., medRxiv, bioRxiv) does not constitute prior publication; however, if a preprint version exists, the preprint DOI and repository must be disclosed in the cover letter.

All authors meet the authorship criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). All listed authors have made substantial contributions satisfying all four ICMJE requirements and have approved the final version of the manuscript. No individuals who qualify for authorship have been omitted (ghost authorship), and no individuals who do not qualify have been included (gift authorship).

All authors have disclosed any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest statement is included on the title page. If no conflicts exist, the statement reads: "The authors declare no conflicts of interest."

A funding statement is included on the title page, declaring all funding sources and grant numbers. If no funding was received, the statement reads: "This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors."

For research involving human participants: ethical approval has been obtained from an appropriate institutional review board (IRB) or ethics committee in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The approving institution name, approval reference number, and date are stated in the Methods section and on the title page.

For research involving human participants: written informed consent was obtained from all participants (or their legal guardians). For case reports or manuscripts containing identifiable patient information, written consent for publication has been obtained. If consent could not be obtained, all data have been fully anonymized and a statement to this effect is included.

For research involving animals: the study complies with institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals, and adherence to the ARRIVE 2.0 guidelines (or equivalent) is confirmed in the Methods section. The approving body and protocol number are stated.

For clinical trials: the trial was prospectively registered in a publicly accessible registry (e.g., ClinicalTrials.gov, ISRCTN, ChiCTR, or any WHO ICTRP-affiliated registry) before enrollment of the first participant. The trial registration number and registry name are provided in the abstract and the Methods section.

The manuscript file is in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx), formatted in Times New Roman 12 point, double-spaced, with 2.5 cm (1 inch) margins on all sides and continuous line numbering throughout.

The main manuscript is blinded for peer review: no author names, affiliations, or other identifying information appear in the body text, headers, footers, or file properties.

A separate title page is provided containing: title (maximum 20 words), running title (maximum 50 characters), all author names and affiliations, ORCID iDs for all authors, corresponding author details (name, postal address, telephone, email, ORCID iD), word count, number of figures and tables, number of supplementary files, clinical trial registration number (if applicable), funding statement, conflict of interest statement, ethics approval statement, and Data Availability Statement.

The abstract is structured and within the word limit for the article type: maximum 350 words for Original Research Articles, Review Articles, Study Protocols, and Consensus / Clinical Guidelines (sections: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions); maximum 250 words for Case Reports (sections: Background, Case Presentation, Conclusions); maximum 200 words for Short Communications (sections: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions); maximum 200 words (unstructured) for Commentaries / Perspectives. No abstract is required for Editorials and Letters to the Editor. The clinical trial registration number is included at the end of the abstract where applicable.

Three to six keywords are provided, selected from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) vocabulary of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov). Keywords do not repeat words already present in the title.

All references are formatted in Vancouver (numbered) style with superscript Arabic numerals, cited consecutively in the order of first appearance, and include DOIs where available. Journal names use NLM abbreviations. For seven or more authors, the first six are listed followed by "et al." All references have been checked for accuracy and completeness. Reference numbers do not exceed the limit for the article type.

All tables are created using the Word table function (not as images), are numbered consecutively (Table 1, Table 2, etc.), include concise descriptive titles, define all abbreviations in footnotes, and are cited in the main text in consecutive order.

All figures are submitted as separate high-resolution files (minimum 300 dpi for photographs, 600 dpi for line art; TIFF, EPS, or high-quality PNG preferred), numbered consecutively (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.), and cited in the main text in consecutive order. Figure legends are provided at the end of the manuscript or as a separate file.

Permission has been obtained to publish all third-party material included in the submission, such as photographs, datasets, illustrations, or previously published content. For patient photographs, written consent for publication has been obtained or identifiable features have been removed.

The appropriate EQUATOR Network reporting guideline checklist has been completed and is uploaded as a supplementary file (e.g., CONSORT for RCTs, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews, CARE for case reports, ARRIVE 2.0 for animal studies, SPIRIT for study protocols, STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies).

A CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) author contribution statement is included in the manuscript, specifying each author's individual contributions using the standard CRediT roles.

A Data Availability Statement is included, indicating whether and how the data supporting the findings can be accessed. For studies using public databases (e.g., UK Biobank, NHANES, MIMIC, TCGA), the database name and access details are specified.

Any use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools or AI-assisted technologies (e.g., large language models, AI-powered writing or translation software, image generators, coding assistants) during the research or writing process is disclosed in the Methods or Acknowledgments section, specifying the tool name, version, and purpose. AI tools are not listed as authors.

A cover letter addressed to the Editor-in-Chief is included, briefly summarizing the significance, novelty, and main findings of the work, confirming that the manuscript has not been submitted elsewhere, disclosing any preprint posting and any related manuscripts under consideration or in press, and stating that all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

ICMJE conflict of interest disclosure forms completed by all authors are included (downloadable from https://www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/).

Original Research Article

Reports of original investigations including clinical trials, observational studies, basic science, and translational research.

Review Article

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses, scoping reviews, and comprehensive narrative reviews on topics of broad clinical or scientific interest.

Consensus/Guidelines

Expert consensus statements and clinical practice guidelines developed by professional societies or collaborative groups.

Study Protocols

Detailed protocols for planned or ongoing clinical trials or systematic reviews (SPIRIT or PRISMA-P guidelines required).

Case Report

Reports of novel, unusual, or instructive clinical cases following the CARE guidelines. Must include patient consent documentation.

Short Communication

Concise reports of preliminary findings, novel techniques, negative results, or replication studies of significant interest.

Commentary

Opinion pieces offering novel viewpoints on emerging topics, controversies, or policy issues in medicine. May be submitted or invited.

Letter to the Editor

Concise comments on recently published articles in Medicine Discovery, or brief reports of observations of scientific or clinical interest.

Copyright Notice

Copyright and Licensing Policy

All articles published in Medicine Discovery are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Medicine Discovery does not charge any article processing charges (APCs), submission fees, page charges, or any other publication fees. Publication is completely free of charge for authors.

Copyright Ownership

Authors retain copyright of their work without restriction. Upon acceptance and publication, authors grant Medicine Discovery and its publisher, Oannes Publishing Company Limited, a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish, distribute, sublicense (under the same CC BY 4.0 terms), and archive the article in all forms and media (including print, electronic, and digital formats).

This means:

— Authors retain full copyright ownership of their published articles at all times. — Authors do not transfer or assign copyright to the journal or the publisher. — Authors may reuse, reproduce, distribute, or adapt their own work freely, without needing permission from the journal, provided the original publication in Medicine Discovery is cited.

Open Access License Terms

Under the CC BY 4.0 license, anyone is free to:

Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, for any purpose, including commercial use. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, including commercial use.

Under the following terms:

Attribution — Appropriate credit must be given to the original author(s) and the source. A citation to the original article in Medicine Discovery must be provided, a link to the CC BY 4.0 license must be included, and any changes made must be indicated. Attribution may be provided in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses the reuser or the reuse. No additional restrictions — Reusers may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

The full legal text of the CC BY 4.0 license is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

The CC BY 4.0 license applies to the full text, figures, tables, and supplementary materials of all published articles. The license is displayed on each article page and in each article PDF. The license is irrevocable upon publication.

Self-Archiving Policy

Because authors retain copyright under the CC BY 4.0 license, they may freely:

— Post the published article (Version of Record) on personal or institutional websites, academic social networks (e.g., ResearchGate, Academia.edu), and institutional repositories — immediately upon publication, with no embargo period. — Post the preprint (submitted version) and the accepted manuscript (author's accepted manuscript) on any platform at any time. — Deposit the article in subject-specific or funder-mandated repositories (e.g., PubMed Central, Europe PMC, institutional archives) — immediately upon publication, with no embargo period. — Reuse figures, tables, excerpts, or the entire article in subsequent publications, presentations, theses, dissertations, or teaching materials. — Translate the article into other languages for non-commercial or commercial distribution, provided proper attribution is given. — Include the article in edited books, compilations, or anthologies. — Share the article on preprint servers (e.g., medRxiv, bioRxiv) before, during, or after peer review — provided the final published version includes a link to the Version of Record in Medicine Discovery.

In summary: all versions of the article (preprint, accepted manuscript, and published Version of Record) may be shared on any platform at any time, with no embargo, under CC BY 4.0.

Text and Data Mining

Medicine Discovery permits and encourages text and data mining (TDM) of all published content under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license. No additional permission or separate license is required for text mining, data extraction, or computational analysis of published articles, provided proper attribution is given in accordance with the license terms.

Funder Mandate Compliance

The CC BY 4.0 license adopted by Medicine Discovery is compliant with the open access mandates of all major research funders, including but not limited to:

— Plan S / cOAlition S — fully compliant — National Institutes of Health (NIH) — compliant with the NIH Public Access Policy — National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) — compliant with open access requirements — Wellcome Trust — fully compliant — European Research Council (ERC) / Horizon Europe — fully compliant — UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) — fully compliant — Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — fully compliant — Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) — fully compliant — Australian Research Council (ARC) / NHMRC — fully compliant

Authors funded by these or other agencies with open access requirements can publish in Medicine Discovery with confidence that publication will satisfy their funder's mandate. No embargo period applies.

Author Warranty

By submitting a manuscript to Medicine Discovery, authors warrant that:

— The manuscript is original and has not been published previously in a peer-reviewed journal (except as a preprint, abstract, or thesis). — The manuscript is not under consideration by another journal. — All authors have the right to grant the license described in this policy. — The manuscript does not infringe upon any existing copyright, intellectual property right, or other right of any third party. — All necessary permissions for third-party content have been obtained. — All persons entitled to authorship have been identified as authors.

Third-Party Content

If an article includes content (such as figures, tables, images, or text extracts) that is not the original work of the authors and is not in the public domain, the authors are responsible for:

— Obtaining written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material under the CC BY 4.0 license. — Clearly acknowledging the source and providing the original copyright notice in the figure legend or table footnote (e.g., "Reproduced with permission from [Source], Copyright [Year] [Copyright Holder]"). — If the copyright holder does not permit CC BY 4.0 licensing of the third-party material, the authors must clearly indicate the specific elements that are excluded from the CC BY 4.0 license and note the separate license or permission terms that apply.

Authors should be aware that Creative Commons licenses are irrevocable. Once material is published under CC BY 4.0, the license cannot be withdrawn.

Publisher Rights and Responsibilities

Oannes Publishing Company Limited, as the publisher of Medicine Discovery, holds a non-exclusive license to:

— Publish, reproduce, and distribute the article in all formats — Register and deposit article metadata with indexing services, including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science (ESCI/SCIE), DOAJ, Google Scholar, Crossref, and Dimensions — Assign a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) via Crossref to every published article for persistent identification and citation linking — Sublicense the article under the same CC BY 4.0 terms to indexing databases, preservation services, and aggregators — Ensure the permanent availability and long-term digital preservation of all published content through the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN), LOCKSS, and CLOCKSS — Display the CC BY 4.0 license badge and full-text link prominently on every article page, in the article PDF, and in article-level metadata

Preprint Policy

Medicine Discovery welcomes submissions that have been previously posted as preprints on recognized preprint servers (e.g., medRxiv, bioRxiv, SSRN, Research Square). Posting a preprint does not constitute prior publication and will not affect consideration for publication.

Authors must:

— Disclose the preprint posting in the cover letter and provide the preprint DOI. — Upon acceptance, update the preprint record with a link to the final Version of Record published in Medicine Discovery. — Ensure the preprint server allows the content to be published under CC BY 4.0.

Posthumous and Disputed Authorship

In the case of deceased authors, a legal representative or co-author may act on behalf of the deceased to grant the license and approve publication. For authorship disputes, the journal will follow COPE guidelines and may suspend the review and publication process until the dispute is resolved by the parties involved.

Corrections, Retractions, and Post-Publication Updates

Medicine Discovery follows COPE guidelines for corrections and retractions:

Erratum / Corrigendum: If errors are identified after publication that do not affect the overall findings or conclusions, a formal correction notice will be published and permanently linked to the original article. The correction will be indexed and assigned its own DOI.

Retraction: If serious errors, misconduct, or ethical violations are confirmed, the article will be retracted in accordance with COPE Retraction Guidelines. The retracted article will remain accessible with a prominent retraction notice and watermark — it will not be removed from the archive. The retraction notice will be indexed and assigned its own DOI.

Expression of Concern: If an investigation into potential issues is ongoing, an Expression of Concern may be published pending resolution. The Expression of Concern will be linked to the original article and indexed.

All corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern will be registered with Crossref and reflected in indexing databases including PubMed and Scopus.

Governing Law

This Copyright and Licensing Policy shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China. Any disputes arising from or related to this policy shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Hong Kong.

Contact

For questions regarding copyright, licensing, permissions, or reuse of published content, please contact:

Editorial Office Medicine Discovery Oannes Publishing Company Limited Unit 1406A, 14/F, The Belgian Bank Building Nos. 721–725 Nathan Road, Kowloon Hong Kong, China Email: editor@oannes.org.cn

This Copyright Notice was last updated in February 2025 and applies to all articles published in Medicine Discovery. The journal reserves the right to update this policy. Any changes will be posted on this page and will apply to articles submitted after the effective date of the update. Articles already published will remain under the license terms in effect at the time of their publication.

Privacy Statement

Privacy Statement

Medicine Discovery, published by Oannes Publishing Company Limited, Hong Kong, is committed to protecting the privacy of all users of this journal website. This privacy statement outlines how we collect, use, and safeguard personal information.

Information We Collect

This journal collects the following personal information from registered users: name, email address, institutional affiliation, country, and ORCID iD (if provided). Additional information may be collected during the manuscript submission process, including co-author details, funding information, and conflict of interest declarations.

How We Use Personal Information

Personal data collected through this journal site is used exclusively for the following purposes: — Managing the editorial and peer review process for submitted manuscripts — Communicating with authors, reviewers, and editors regarding submissions — Publishing author names, affiliations, and contact emails as part of accepted articles — Sending journal notifications, including Tables of Contents for new issues, to registered readers — Maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record

We will not sell, share, or otherwise distribute personal information to third parties for commercial purposes.

Peer Review Confidentiality

Medicine Discovery employs a single-blind peer review process. Reviewer identities are kept confidential and will not be disclosed to authors or the public. Reviewers are required to treat all submitted manuscripts as confidential documents.

Data Sharing with Third Parties

Limited personal data (such as author names and article metadata) may be shared with the following services as part of standard scholarly publishing operations: — Crossref (for DOI registration) — DOAJ, Scopus, PubMed, and other indexing databases (for article discoverability) — PKP Preservation Network, LOCKSS, and CLOCKSS (for long-term digital preservation)

Data Retention

Personal data associated with published articles (author names, affiliations, emails) is retained as part of the permanent scholarly record. Account data for registered users who have not submitted or published may be removed upon request.

User Rights

Users may request access to, correction of, or deletion of their personal data by contacting the Editorial Office at editor@oannes.org.cn. Requests for deletion of data associated with published articles may not be fulfilled where doing so would compromise the integrity of the scholarly record.

Cookies

This journal website uses essential cookies to manage user sessions and preferences. No tracking cookies or third-party advertising cookies are used.

Changes to This Policy

This privacy statement may be updated periodically. Any significant changes will be posted on this page. Users are encouraged to review this statement regularly.