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Publisher

The Egyptian Journal of Cancer and Biomedical Research (https://jcbr.journals.ekb.eg/) is an interdisciplinary journal of preclinical and clinical studies in the area of cancer and biomedical research. It is a peer-reviewed journal in English, published quarterly (in March, June, September, and December) by the Egyptian Association for Cancer Research (https://jcbr.journals.ekb.eg/) in both print and online formats (4 issues make one volume). Special issues or supplements shall be produced from time to time upon agreement with the Editorial Board.  

Scope

The main scope of EJCBR is to bridge biomedical research and cancer research. As such, EJCBR aims to attract the best research in animal and human biology in health and diseases from across the spectrum of the biomedical sciences at the cellular and molecular levels especially those that are related to different areas of cancer research, including causes, prediction, diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy. EJCBR scope also focuses on drug discovery from both natural and synthetic sources especially those studies that use active ingredients and purified compounds that have the potential as chemotherapy or as adjuvant therapeutics. The EJCBR pays special attention to studies that aim at advancing our understanding of the cellular and molecular escape mechanisms of cancer and microbes from the host and those that aim at developing novel immunotherapeutic approaches to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases such as autoimmune diseases and diabetes. 

General specifications for different types of articles

• Submitted manuscripts should not have been submitted elsewhere or published previously, except in a limited form (e.g., short communication to a symposium or as part of MSc or PhD theses) and should not be under consideration for publication by other journals.
• All co-authors should agree with the content of the manuscript. Authors must have obtained permission to use any copyrighted material in the manuscript before submission. 

EJCBR publishes different types of articles:

• Original Article (6000 words with 4 tables and 4 figures, maximum 8 display items): Articles with novel findings are the target of EJCBR. Articles presenting a detailed description of a new technique, comparison of existing methods, and meta-analyses with comprehensive and in-depth discussion are considered. Papers in a numbered series are not accepted unless all are submitted at the same time. 
• Short communications or case study (3000 words with 4 display items): Short communications present exceptionally exciting, novel, or timely content are considered. They will be peer-reviewed in the same way as the original research papers. The references will be about 15. 
• Reviews or systematic review (9000 words with 10 display items): Authors are invited by the Editorial Board or unsolicited. Review articles must be contemporary and comprehensive and add information to the knowledge. Sharp critical analyses of novel data or concepts are encouraged. When relevant, a statistical analysis of data and a meta-analysis approach are recommended. 
• Papers in the form of Opinion, Letter to The Editor or comment to the Editor (1500 words with 2 display items): They are submitted by invitation of the Editorial Board. They are short papers, which aim to inform scientists, industry, the public, and policymakers about cutting-edge issues in research or the impact of research. They reflect the opinion of their authors who bear full responsibility for the submitted paper for publication. The references are restricted to 10. 
• Conference/Symposium papers: The EJCBR shall consider for publication the results of original work and critical reviews that are presented at conferences/symposia. Symposium organizers who wish to publish bundles of papers from a symposium/conference in EJCBR shall first contact the Editor-in-Chief of the EJCBR (EACR@unv.tanta.edu.eg) for agreement. Supplementary material can be proposed and will be made available online. The preparation of the submitted manuscript shall adhere to the structure and regulation of the EJCBR.  When required upon request, the manuscripts shall be published in a special issue.
• Theses: Upon request, EJCBR can publish the summary and abstract of Master and PhD theses in a special issue. 

English: Good quality written English of the submitted manuscript is a must. Spelling may be in British or American English but must be consistent throughout the paper. Care should be exercised in the use of biological terminology that is ill-defined or of local familiarity only. The EJCBR recommends that authors have their manuscripts checked by an English language native speaker before submission.  

Manuscript layout: Manuscripts shall be prepared using a standard word processing program and presented in a clear readable format with easily identified sections and headings. The manuscript layout is based on the following directions.

• The main text contains Title, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Tables, and Figures.
• The title needs to be concise and informative. Use bold, with an initial capital for the first word only, and for words that ordinarily take capitals.
• Short (running) title (max 80 characters including spacing).
• The article text should be typed with double line spacing with wide margins (2.5 cm).
• The lines must be continuously numbered; the pages must also be numbered.
• Font Calibri 12 should be used for the text, and 12 for the tables, figure legends, and references.
• The sections should typically be assembled in the following order:
• The title page contains the title, authors' names, full affiliations, acknowledgments, and the corresponding author’s contacts and short title. 

Graphical Abstract: The authors are encouraged to provide a graphical abstract without a legend. It has to concisely and succinctly show the main hypothesis (idea), the key methods, and the key findings. It should be drawn as a diagram using suitable software.

Abstract (max 250 words, single paragraph): The abstract should be clear, concise, and understandable without citations, references, tables, or figures. Use structured abstract: Background, Aim, Materials & Methods, Results, and Conclusion. The background should not be more than two sentences showing the context and the rationale of the study are presented succinctly to support the objectives. Only the main methods and the key findings (main results) are summarized but should not be overburdened by numerical values or probability values. The abstract ends with a short and clear conclusion that should not be more than two sentences.

Keywords: Up to five short and specific keywords should complement the title with respect to indicating the subject of the paper. The keywords should be written in an alphabetic order. 

Introduction: The Introduction section of the manuscript should briefly outline the context of the work, present the current issues that the authors are addressing, and the rationale that supports and clearly defines the objectives.

Material and Methods: Material and Methods section of the manuscript should be described in sufficient detail so that others can repeat the experiments. Reference to previously published work may be used to give methodological details, provided that they are readily accessible and in English. The code of ethics should be stated for all experiments using animals or human samples. 

Statistical analysis of results: The statistical design and the models of statistical analysis must be clearly described, as well as each of the statistical methods used. Sufficient statistical details must be given to allow replication of the statistical analysis. The experimental unit should be defined (e.g., individual or group of animals). 

Results: Data are presented as tables and figures. A brief description of the results for each table and figure should be presented. Unpublished data can be mentioned when necessary. Additional data can be presented as supplementary figures or tables. Figure legends should be included in the manuscript text after the reference section.

Discussion: This should be separate from the Results section and should focus only on intra- and inter-data discussion (the data in the results section) as well as the relative data in the literature. Do not repeat information already presented in the Introduction section. Start the first paragraph in the Discussion with a paragraph stating the rationale behind the study, the objectives, and the main findings. End the Discussion with a short conclusion and significance. 

Acknowledgments: In this section, the authors may acknowledge (briefly) their support staff and funding bodies.

Conflict of interest: All papers with a potential conflict of interest must include a description/explanation in a separate heading. 

Funding details: The authors should state the source of funding for the study (with research funder and/or grant number). If no funding, the authors should state that the study is self-funded.

References

Citation of references: In the text, references should be cited by the author(s) surname(s), and the year of publication (e.g., Salem, 2024 or Salem et al., 2024). References with two authors should be cited with both surnames (e.g., Salem and Meshrif, 2024). References with three or more authors should be cited with the first author followed by et al. (in italics, e.g., Salem et al., 2024). Names of organizations used as authors (e.g., Food and Drug Administration; FDA) should be written out in full in the list of references and on the first mention in the text. Subsequent mentions may be abbreviated (e.g., FDA). 

• List of references. Literature cited should be listed in alphabetical order by authors' names. It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that all references are correct and are formatted and ordered correctly. All authors should be written and so the full journal name.

References from journal articles are formatted in APA as this example:

Salem ML, Mona MM, Ziada M, Bassiony MA. 2020. Potential antitumor effects of egg extract and purple fluid from marine Aplysia fasciata against experimental Ehrlich ascites carcinoma. Egyptian Journal of Cancer and Biomedical Research 4(3):229-241.

• References from books or official reports are formatted as this example.

Clements AN. 1992. The Biology of Mosquitoes. Volume 1: Development, Nutrition and Reproduction. London, UK: Chapman & Hall.

• References from chapters or parts of books are formatted as this example.

Plimmer JR. 1992. Dissipation of pesticides in the environment. In: Schnoor JL, editor. Fate of Pesticides and Chemicals in the Environment. New York: Wiley. p 79-91.

Tables:

The data should be presented in tables in a separate file named “Tables”.

• Each table should have a short title above the table.
• Each table should be placed on a separate page.

• Tables are numbered consecutively using Arabic numbering. They are referred to as Table 1, Table 2, etc., with capital ‘T’, no italics.
• Each table has its explanatory caption. The caption is sufficient to permit the table to be understood without reference to the text.
• Abbreviations used in tables must be defined either as footnotes or in the caption.  

Figures

• Package the figures in a single PowerPoint file. Each figure is in a separate slide. Each slide should show the figure number (e.g. Figure 1), and the last name of the corresponding author. the submitted year, and the journal abbreviation (e.g. Figure 1: Salem et al., 2024, EJCBR).
• Figure size should be readable in a width of approximately 8-175 mm (i.e., the maximum size of printing over two columns).
• Ensure that the font size is large enough to be readable at the final print size, use Calibri font to ensure that they are consistent throughout the figures.
• The figures should preferably be provided as TIFF or EPS files.
• The resolutions of figures must be at least 300 dpi.
• Preparation of images for a manuscript: For guidance, we refer to the Journal of Cell Biology’s instructions to authors (http://jcb.rupress.org/site/misc/ifora.xhtml#image_aquisition).
• If a cropped image is included (e.g., a few lanes of a gel), display the full original image, including the appropriate controls, the molecular size ladder and/or the scale as relevant, as a single figure in a Supplementary Material file to facilitate peer-review and for subsequent online publication.
• Supplementary material is submitted along with the main manuscript in a separate file and identified at uploading as "Supplementary File – for Online Publication Only" The title of the article is included at the top of the supplementary material.
• The figure legends are included in the manuscript text on a separate page after the Reference section. 

Corresponding author’s guidelines:

Authorship

Authorship should be restricted to those who have made significant contributions to the study's conception, design, execution, or interpretation. All authors must actively participate in the drafting of the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content. Merely providing technical support or general supervision is not sufficient for authorship.

All those who have made significant contributions should be recognized as co-authors. Those who have contributed to the work but do not fulfill the authorship criteria outlined here should be acknowledged in the "Acknowledgements" section. The corresponding author has the responsibility to ensure that all co-authors have given their approval for the final version of the manuscript and have consented to its submission for publication. The authorship contribution should be stated in a separate heading in the manuscript before the Reference section. The corresponding author is responsible for the order of the authorship.

The definitive list of all authors must be provided when submitting the manuscript. Please ensure that the authorship information on the manuscript (the title page) matches the information you entered in the journal's submission system. Please note that if there is any inconsistency (for example, in the order of the co-authors), the information on the title page will be considered accordingly.

Changes in Authorship

Adding and/or removing authors, and/or changes in corresponding author, and/or changes in the order of co-authors are generally not permitted, but in certain cases, and with a valid reason, it may be allowed. Please note that changes in authorship are only permissible during the review process. No changes are allowed after the manuscript is accepted for publication.

To make any modification in authorship, you must seek approval by contacting the Editor-in-Chief of the journal. Your request for changes should be accompanied by a clear and valid reason.

Originality and Reporting Standards

The manuscript should be an original work. EJCBR does not allow the submission of manuscripts that have already been published or are currently under review by another journal or that are partially published in in peer-reviewed journal in any form.

Authors must appropriately cite the sources of other works, words, ideas, or figures used in the manuscript. Text copied from another source must be appropriately quoted and cited according to the APA Reference Style.

Authors are required to provide a precise description of the work conducted, especially regarding the collection and analysis of data, as well as its interpretation. The manuscript should accurately represent the underlying data. It is essential to include enough information and references in the study to enable others to reproduce the research. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are considered unethical and are not tolerated and will result in manuscript rejection. 

As stated in Code of Ethics (AERA) “in presenting their work, researchers report their findings fully and do not omit relevant data. They report results whether they support or contradict the expected outcomes.” (153)

Data Availability

We encourage authors to share the research data used in their paper either by depositing it in a public repository or including it as supplementary materials during submission.

Disclosure of financial sources and conflict of interests

When submitting their manuscript to EJCBR, authors must provide a declaration that discloses any financial or other substantive conflicting or competing interests that could potentially impact the findings or interpretation of the manuscript. Additionally, all sources of financial support should be disclosed. This should be stated on the "title page". Even if there is no conflict of interest to be disclosed, you must specify it.

Studies involving human subjects

In studies where data collection is made through intervention or interaction with individuals, researchers must comply with some ethical rules. Research ethics become even more important if the study involves potentially vulnerable groups such as children, persons with disabilities, or members of ethnic minorities. Informed consent, voluntary participation, and confidentiality, and anonymity are the issues that need special attention.

Informed Consent of Participants

In scientific research, informed consent refers to the ethical principle that participation should be voluntary, with a clear understanding of the study's purpose, procedures, potential risks, and benefits. Informed consent is a highly important ethical issue that must be strictly observed in studies with human participants. The following recommendations should be observed in the studies submitted to EJCBR:

Researchers should provide participants with clear, understandable, and sufficiently comprehensive information about the purpose and scope of the research, how the data will be used, the dissemination of results, and the potential risks and benefits.

Researchers should avoid any behavior that might affect voluntary participation. The participants should be adequately informed by researchers about the study before deciding whether to participate.

Informed consent can be obtained in written or oral form. However, if the study involves personally identifiable information such as photographs or names, written consent is mandatory.

In studies involving children, informed consent should be obtained from a parent or a legally authorized guardian. However, this does not mean that children are excluded from the informed consent process. Children should be appropriately informed, and their voluntary participation should be ensured.

Researchers should avoid excessive demands and take necessary measures to make participants feel comfortable during research processes.

Participants have the right to withdraw at any stage of the research. Participants should be clearly informed about this.

Researchers should provide participants with their contact information in case the participants encounter any issues during the research process.

Researchers should inform the participants about how the research results will be disseminated and take possible measures to ensure that participants have access to published results.

In the manuscript submitted to the EJCBR, the authors should provide clear information on how the informed consent of participants was obtained.

Confidentiality and Anonymity of Participants 

Ensuring the confidentiality and anonymity of the participants during the research and publication process is one of the most important aspects of the research ethic.

Studies within the scope of the Declaration of Helsinki

The Declaration of Helsinki, adopted by the World Medical Association (WMA) in 1964 and updated many times (most recently in 2013), is a set of ethical principles and standards on medical research involving human subjects. According to the Declaration of Helsinki:

 “In medical practice and medical research, most interventions involve risks and burdens. Medical research involving human subjects may only be conducted if the importance of the objective outweighs the risks and burdens to the research subjects. All medical research involving human subjects must be preceded by careful assessment of predictable risks and burdens to the individuals and groups involved in the research in comparison with foreseeable benefits to them and other individuals or groups affected by the condition under investigation.”

In studies within the scope of the Declaration of Helsinki, ethical approval must be obtained from an authorized ethics committee before starting the research. Informed consent must be obtained in written form. Where necessary, researchers must obtain permission from the legal guardians of the research participants.

In the manuscript submitted to EJCBR, it should be stated that the research complied with the Declaration of Helsinki. For more information on the Declaration of Helsinki.

Avoiding Discrimination and Using Inclusive Language

We recommend that authors who submit their manuscripts to EJCBR avoid all kinds of discriminatory attitudes and expressions and use inclusive language. Inclusive language refers to the use of words and phrases that do not marginalize or exclude certain groups of people (regarding race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, health status, age, or gender), and avoiding terms that involve prejudices, stigma, and stereotypes.

Copyright and Licensing:

The policy for copyright shall be clearly stated in the copyright holder named on the cover page of each published article both in HTML and PDFs. If authors are allowed to publish under a Creative Commons license, then any specific license requirements shall be noted. The final accepted versions or published articles are archived at the repositories of the EACR website as well as those of the Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB).

Publication Fees:

The journal charges 3000 LE as publication fees for the Egyptian authors and 100 US$ (or its equivalent) for the non-Egyptian authors. EACR members receive a 10% discount on these publication fees.