Peer review policy:

All manuscripts submitted to our journal are critically assessed in-house or by external experts in accordance with the principles of peer review (http://www.icmje.org/#peer). Each paper is first assigned to appropriate Sectional Editors who has knowledge of the field discussed in the manuscript. The first step of manuscript selection takes place entirely in-house to ensure editorial appropriateness and technical correctness.

Authorship Criteria:

Persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship according to the ICMJE criteria. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. Contributions made in the following categories are considered: concept, design, definition of intellectual content, literature search, clinical studies, experimental studies, data acquisition, data analysis, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, manuscript editing and manuscript review. Authors should provide a brief description of their individual contributions.

Conflict of Interest

All the authors must declare all relevant interests that could be perceived as conflicting, if no conflicts exist, the authors should state this. Submitting authors are responsible for co-authors declaring their interests.

Ethical Considerations:

The journal requires the following components related to ethical conduct of research: An ethical Considerations sub-section is REQUIRED in the Methods section for all studies involving human or animal subjects. Authors must include the following: (1) name of Institutional Review Board or ethics committee or institution that reviewed the study; (2) study approval number (or statement that a waiver was granted); (3) manner (oral, written) in which consent was obtained from participants, including obtaining assent for children aged over 7 years participating in research; and (4) methods used to protect data and confidentiality of participants by desisting from mentioning participants’ names, initials or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material.

For Original Articles and Brief Reports that did not require ethical review or approval, authors must provide a justification or statement in the Ethical Considerations section. For studies that involve human or animal subjects, authors must provide the copy of the approval letter, certificate or waiver from their IRB or ethics committee on demand.

Preparation of Manuscripts:

Manuscripts in the form of Original Research Articles, Clinical Trials, Systematic Reviews, Review Protocols, Case Reports and Short Communications, Conference, Seminar and Workshop Reports, Letters to the Editor are accepted.

Manuscript Formatting:

Original articles:
Are full reports of results from original research related to the focus and scope of the journal. Original articles should consist of Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Tables and Figure.
Abstract: Maximum 300 words. Must be structured using the headings: Background, Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusion.
Main text: Maximum 4000 words. Must be stuctured using the headings below: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion.
Introduction: State the purpose and summarize the rationale for the study or observation.

Materials and Methods: It should include and describe the following aspects: Study design: and description of participants must be clear, including eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population. Ethical Considerations section presented as its first sub-section. See Ethical Considerations section above for detailed requirements. The Discussion must include a Limitations section presented as its last section.

Technical information: Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other researchers to reproduce the results. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods; 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. Reports of randomized clinical trials should present information on all major study elements, including the protocol, assignment of interventions and the method of masking (blinding), based on the CONSORT Statement (http://www.consort-statement.org).

Statistics: Whenever possible quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). When data are summarized in the Results section, specify the statistical methods used to analyse them. Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols. For all P values include the exact value and not less than 0.05 or 0.001. Mean differences in continuous variables, proportions in categorical variables and relative risks including odds ratios and hazard ratios should be accompanied by their confidence intervals.

Results: Present your results in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations, giving the main or most important findings first. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables or illustrations; emphasize or summarize only important observations. Extra- or supplementary materials and technical detail can be placed in an appendix where it will be accessible but will not interrupt the flow of the text; a iteratively, it can be published only in the electronic version of the journal.
When data are summarized in the Results section, give numeric results not only as derivatives (for example, percentages) but also as the absolute numbers from which the derivatives were calculated, and specify the statistical methods used to analyse them. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Where scientifically appropriate, analyses of the data by variables such as age and sex should be included.

Discussion: Include summary of key findings (primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, results as they relate to a prior hypothesis); Strengths and limitations of the study (study question, study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation); Interpretation and implications in the context of the totality of evidence, what this study adds to the available evidence, effects on patient care and health policy, possible mechanisms); Controversies raised by this study; and Future research directions (for this particular research collaboration, underlying mechanisms, clinical research). Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction or the Results section. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed.

Review Articles:

Review articles provide an in-depth examination of recent developments in oncology related field. All funding, writing assistance, and/or other connections/interests to possibly conflicted sources must be fully disclosed at the time of review manuscript

submission: A short summary of the work done by the contributor(s) in the field of review should accompany the manuscript.

Systematic review (including scoping review and review protocols):
Abstract: Maximum 300 words. Must be structured using the headings Introduction, Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusion.

Main text: Maximum 4000 words excluding tables, references and abstract.. Must be structured using the headings: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion. The Methods section must clearly describe the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data.

Narrative or literature review: Is a comprehensive, critical and objective analysis of the current knowledge on a topic.
Abstract: Maximum 300 words. May be unstructured.

Main text: Maximum 4000 words. Required headings: Introduction, Methods, and Topical and other headings as determined by the authors.

References: Minimum 40 for all review articles. Tables/Figures: Maximum 5 total (provide additional tables/figures in supplementary file).

Case reports:

New, interesting and rare cases can be reported. They should be unique, describing a great diagnostic or therapeutic challenge, including adverse effects of drugs or outcomes of a specific treatment.

These communications could be of up to 2000 words (excluding Abstract and references) and should have the following headings: Abstract (may be unstructured), Key-words, Introduction, Case presentation, Management and Outcome, Discussion, Conclusion, Reference, Tables and Legends in that order. The Case Presentation section must contain an Ethical Considerations section including ‘Permission to publish’. The ‘Permission to publish’ must have been obtained from patients, parents or guardians (for children), and/or next of kin (for deceased patients). Authors must upload a copy of the signed permission form as a supplementary file.
References: approximately 20, and Tables/Figures: Maximum 3 total.

Letter to the Editor:

Letters to the Editor are short essays that express the authors’ viewpoint, may respond to published manuscripts in our journals, or deliver information or news regarding an issue related to the Journal scope. They should not be preliminary observations that need a later paper for validation. If the letter relates to a published manuscript, the authors of the original manuscript will be given the opportunity to provide a response. Authors of Letters to the Editor should provide a short title.

Abstract: None. Letters do not have abstracts.
Main text: Maximum 1500 words. Topical headings are not generally expected, but may be included if helpful for readers.
References: Up to 20, and Tables/Figures: Maximum 1 total.

Opinion:

Opinion articles offer short pieces or personal perspectives on knowledge, practices, technological concepts and/or developments (not research) that highlight recent, exciting research or policy developments related to any aspect of oncology.

Abstract: None. Opinion articles may have abstracts.
Main text: Maximum 2000 words. Topical headings should be used to help guide readers.
References: Approximately 15, and Tables/Figures: Maximum 2 total.
Editorial, Guest Editorial, and Commentary are solicited by the editorial board.

Acknowledgments:

References:

References should be organised strictly in line with Vancouver style. It should be numbered sequentially in the order in which they are first cited in the text, not in alphabetical order, and they should be identified in the text by Arabic numerals in superscript. References in the main text should always be cited after dots and commas. References to personal communications and unpublished data should be incorporated in the text and not placed under the numbered references [Example: (Ntekim 2011, unpublished data) or (Ntekim 2011, personal communication)]. Where available, URLs for the references should be provided directly within the MS-Word document. References in the References section must be organised as follows: (1) more than three authors, cite 3 authors, et al. If the paper has only 4 authors, cite all authors; (2) title style: sentence case; please use a capital letter only for the first word of the title; (3) journal titles mentioned in the References list should be abbreviated according to the formats used by the NLM in Index Medicus; (4) put year after the journal name; (5) never put month and day in the last part of the references; and (6) pages have to be abbreviated, e.g., 244-9.

To ensure the correct citation format, please check your references in the PubMed database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed).

Examples of citation format:

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

Proceedings:

Christensen S, Oppacher F. An analysis of Koza's computational effort statistic for genetic programming. In: Foster JA, Lutton E, Miller J, Ryan C, Tettamanzi AG, eds. Genetic programming. EuroGP 2002: Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Genetic Programming, 2002 Apr 3-5, Kinsdale, Ireland. Berlin: Springer; 2002. pp 182-91.

Article with organization as author:

Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension 2002;40:679-86.

Books:

Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis, MO: Mosby; 2002.

Bjørn Lomborg, ed. RethinkHIV - Smarter ways to invest in ending HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2012.

Tables:

Tables should be self-explanatory and should not duplicate textual material. Tables with more than 10 columns and 25 rows are not acceptable. Number tables, in Arabic numerals, consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table.

Obtain permission for all fully borrowed, adapted, and modified tables and provide a credit line in the footnote. For footnotes use the following symbols, in this sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||,¶ , **, ††, ‡‡

Tables with their legends should be provided at the end of the text after the references. The tables along with their number should be cited at the relevant place in the text

Illustrations (Figures):

Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text. Labels, numbers, and symbols should be clear and of uniform size. The lettering for figures should be large enough to be legible after reduction to fit the width of a printed column. Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background and should be marked neatly with transfer type or by tissue overlay and not by pen. Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends for illustrations not on the illustrations themselves.

When graphs, scatter-grams or histograms are submitted the numerical data on which they are based should also be supplied. The photographs and figures should be trimmed to remove all the unwanted areas. If photographs of individuals are used, their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph. If a figure has been published elsewhere, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. A credit line should appear in the legend for such figures.

Legends for illustrations: Type or print out legends (maximum 40 words, excluding the credit line) for illustrations using double spacing, with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations. When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, identify and explain each one in the legend. Explain the internal scale (magnification) and identify the method of staining in photomicrographs.

Final figures for print production: If the uploaded images are not print quality, the publisher office can request for higher resolution images which can be sent at the time of acceptance of the manuscript. Send sharp, glossy, un-mounted, colour photographic prints, with height of 4 inches and width of 6 inches at the time of submitting the revised manuscript. Print outs of digital photographs are not acceptable. If digital images are the only source of images, ensure that the image has minimum resolution of 300 dpi or 1800 x 1600 pixels in TIFF format. Send the images on a CD. Each figure should have a label pasted (avoid use of liquid gum for pasting) on its back indicating the number of the figure, the running title, top of the figure and the legends of the figure. Do not write the contributor/s' name/s. Do not write on the back of figures, scratch, or mark them by using paper clips. The Journal reserves the right to crop, rotate, reduce, or enlarge the photographs to an acceptable size.

Protection of Patients' Rights to Privacy:

Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, sonograms, CT scans, etc., and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian, wherever applicable) gives informed consent for publication. Authors should remove patients' names from figures unless they have obtained informed consent from the patients.

The journal abides by ICMJE guidelines:
(1) Authors, not the journals nor the publisher, need to obtain the patient consent form before the publication and have the form properly archived. The consent forms are not to be uploaded with the cover letter or sent through email to editorial or publisher offices.

(2) If the manuscript contains patient images that preclude anonymity, or a description that has obvious indication to the identity of the patient, a statement about obtaining informed patient consent should be indicated in the manuscript.

Sending a revised manuscript:

The revised version of the manuscript should be submitted online in a manner similar to that used for submission of the manuscript for the first time. However, there is no need to submit the “First Page” or “Covering Letter” file while submitting a revised version. When submitting a revised manuscript, contributors are requested to include, the ‘referees’ remarks along with point to point clarification at the beginning in the revised file itself. In addition, they are expected to mark the changes as underlined, coloured text in the article or in ‘Track Changes’.

Reprints and proofs:

Journal provides no free printed reprints. Authors can purchase reprints, payment for which should be done at the time of submitting the proofs. Proofs will be sent to the corresponding authors by email approximately 2 weeks before the publication date.

Article processing fee:

There shall be no journal charges on submission of article for peer review. The Article Processing Charge for publication in this journal is N25, 000 or USD 50 per article for papers of Authors from Africa and the United Nation’s list of Least Developed Countries. The Article Processing Charge for authors from developed countries is USD 100 per article.

Upon editorial acceptance of an article, the corresponding author will be notified that payment is due. We advise prompt payment as we are unable to publish accepted articles until full payment has been received. Payment can be made by one of the following methods:

(1) Bank transfer: Payment is due within 30 days of the manuscript receiving editorial acceptance. Bank charges to be borne by payer. Once payment has been processed a regular invoice will be issued.

(2) Credit Card/Pay Pal: These are the most recommended and secure payment system. They enable you to pay without sharing your financial information and getting your payment receipt immediately.

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Copyrights:

The entire contents of the Nigerian Journal of Oncology are protected under international copyrights. The Journal, however, grants to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, perform and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works in any digital medium for any reasonable non-commercial purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship and ownership of the rights. The journal also grants the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal non-commercial use under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike.