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| Section of manuscript | Common mistakes |
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| Title | (i) Too long |
| (ii) Not consistent with subject and rationale of study |
| (iii) Title not smart enough |
| (iv) Use of abbreviations, acronyms, and jargons |
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| Abstract | (i) Longer than prescribed word count |
| (ii) Not effectively stratified section wise |
| (iii) Essentially copy-pasted from main text |
| (iv) Contains information not present in main paper |
| (v) Citations included |
| (vi) No effective take-home message |
| (vii) Written as introduction or conclusion of the paper |
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| Keywords | (i) Missing essential keywords |
| (ii) No MeSH terms used |
| (iii) Insufficient numbers in manuscript |
| (iv) Wrong keywords not related to subject used |
| (v) Abbreviations used |
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| Introduction | (i) Overshooting the prescribed word count in detail (>15%) |
| (ii) No identification of context, content, and conclusions |
| (iii) Not citing recent and relevant research |
| (iv) Deliberate omission of contradictory studies |
| (v) Rationale, aim, and objectives of research not indicated |
|
| Methods | (i) Type of the study not indicated |
| (ii) Study settings—location, period, dates, etc., not revealed |
| (iii) Inclusion and exclusion criteria for participants not provided |
| (iv) Lack of sample size and sampling technique descriptions |
| (v) Ethical clearance of the study not provided |
| (vi) Absence of informed consent from participants |
| (vii) Exhaustive replicative details of the experiments not provided |
| (viii) No validated experiments, questionnaires, or instruments used |
| (ix) No clear mention of statistical analysis used |
| (x) Statistical significance not set |
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| Results | (i) Results written in present tense |
| (ii) Results not related to the objectives of the study mentioned |
| (iii) Redundancy with methods section |
| (iv) Incorrect statistical tests used |
| (v) Overlapping the information present in figures and tables |
| (vi) Unnecessary citations incorporated |
| (vii) Stratified and biased use of data |
| (viii) Wrong interpretation of statistical analysis |
| (ix) Missing essential details of the analyzed data |
| (x) Missing data and values in the tables |
| (xi) Measurement units not provided properly |
| (xii) Multiple formats of the statistical significance used (, 0.0001, 0.00, etc.) |
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| Discussion | (i) Not all data present are discussed effectively |
| (ii) Exacerbation of the results |
| (iii) Nonsignificant results exhaustively discussed |
| (iv) Insertion of new data not carried previously in results |
| (v) Biased interpretations of analyzed data |
| (vi) No regard of the context, content, and conclusion |
| (vii) Outdated citations used for context (>10 years old) |
| (viii) Strengths or limitations of the study not clearly mentioned |
| (ix) Future prospects of the study not mentioned |
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| Conclusion | (i) Overstated what the data reveal |
| (ii) Vague and not supported by the data |
| (iii) Too brief without any take-home message |
| (iv) No essential connection with the objectives |
| (v) Essential results of the study underscored |
| (vi) No future perspectives of the study area provided |
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| References | (i) Too many or too few citations than prescribed |
| (ii) Too old studies included (>10 years old) |
| (iii) Proper formatting of the citations not carried out |
| (iv) Studies not related to field cited |
| (v) Studies contradictory to results deliberately left out |
| (vi) Too many self-citations made |
| (viii) Citations in tables and figures not included |
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| Others | (i) Headings and subheadings missing in the main text |
| (ii) Logical flow of ideas not followed in main text |
| (iii) Poor quality/low-resolution figures/illustrations provided |
| (iv) Figures not in proper format (JPEG, TIFF, PNG, etc.) |
| (v) Figure and table legends not provided |
| (vi) Illustrations included within the main manuscript |
| (vii) Tables and figures not cited within the main text |
| (viii) Too many tables or figures used (>8 in number) |
| (ix) Use of patients’ pictures without the consent |
| (x) Too much of plagiarism (>15%) |
| (xi) Lack of information about authors’ affiliations, official emails, and ORCID |
| (xii) No mention of each author’s contribution to the study/paper |
| (xiii) Corresponding/submitting author not identified |
| (xiv) Lack of declaration of conflicts |
| (xv) No disclosure of financial/grant support |
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