Manuscripts, or the essence of their content, must be previously unpublished and should not be under simultaneous consideration by another journal. The authors should also declare if any similar work has been submitted to or published by another journal. They should also declare that it has not been submitted/published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher. The authors should also declare that the paper is the original work of the author(s) and not copied (in whole or in part) from any other work. All papers will be automatically checked for duplicate publication and plagiarism. If detected, appropriate action will be taken in accordance with International Ethical Guidelines. By virtue of the submitted manuscript, the corresponding author acknowledges that all the co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript. The corresponding author should provide all co-authors with information regarding the manuscript, and obtain their approval before submitting any revisions. Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship. Manuscripts are only accepted for publication on the understanding that the authors will permit editorial amendments, though proofs will always be submitted to authors before being sent finally to press. The authors should be able to provide upon request the raw material of any study or the quality assurance assessment of any study under publication. To avoid any delay in processing manuscripts, prior to submission, all authors should refer to the STARD checklist for reporting of diagnostic accuracy studies, and comply with the guidelines. A link to the STARD checklist can be found on our website - www.neurosciencesjournal.org. Prior to the initial submission of a new manuscript, please carefully consider that all authors names are included as no change to authors details will be permitted after the initial submission.

Manuscripts including tables, references and figure legends, must be typewritten (double-spaced) on 8 1/2 x 11 inch (21.5 x 28 cm) or size A4 paper, with margins of at least 1 inch (2.5 cm). Pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the title page and continuing through the last page of typewritten material. One original and 3 photocopies of the entire manuscript should be submitted along with 4 sets of photographs. Manuscripts and figures for review will not be returned to authors whether the editorial decision is to accept, revise, or reject. The only exception will occur when the Editor returns a manuscript with handwritten editorial suggestions to authors to aid them in making revisions. Manuscripts must be accompanied by a covering letter signed by the author and all co-authors. All Case Reports should include at least one figure.

The title page must contain (1) title of the article in English, (2) correct first name, middle initial and family name of each author plus highest degrees, not more than 2, (3) any disclaimers, and (4) a short running title of no more than 40 characters (count letters and spaces). The second page should include (1) name and address of the department(s) and institution(s) from where the research was carried out for each author; affiliation address should be a record of where an author is currently working. If the study was previously carried out at another institute this should appears as "formerly of ...." (2) current position and affiliation address for the corresponding author and (3) name, address, telephone number, fax number and E-mail address of author to whom correspondence should be sent if it differs from the first author. Review articles should consist of one or 2 authors, only Clinical Review or Meta-analysis may include multiple authors. Case Reports should preferably not exceed 4 authors.

Abstracts in English for Review articles and Case reports should be unstructured of not more than 150 words. All original articles must contain a structured abstract of not more than 230 words. The following are typical headings: Objectives (background), Methods (settings, design), including where and when the study took place, Results, Conclusion.

The introductory section of Case Reports should always include the objective and reason why the author is presenting this case.

In studies of diagnostic accuracy, the methods section should include the inclusion and exclusion criteria of patients involved in the study together with information on patient recruitment.

Tables should be double spaced on a separate sheet of paper. Do not submit tables as photographs. Number tables consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each. Give each column a short or abbreviated heading. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table. For footnotes use the following symbols, in this sequence *, †, ‡, §, **, ††, ‡‡, §§ etc. Bar graphs and pie charts should only be used where absolutely indicated and should be provided in color, where possible the information should be presented in table format.

Acknowledgment should conform with the Uniform Requirements for Biomedical Journals which states: List all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship, such as a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chair who provided only general support. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged. Groups of persons who have contributed materially to the paper but whose contributions do not justify authorship may be listed under a heading such as "clinical investigators" or "participating investigators," and their function or contribution should be described, for example, "served as scientific advisors," "critically reviewed the study proposal," "collected data," or "provided and cared for study patients." Because readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions, all persons must have given written permission to be acknowledged.

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text, not alphabetically. References must be highlighted in bold throughout the text of the manuscript. List all authors when there are 6 or fewer; when there are 7 or more, list only the first 6 and add "et al". All references must be cited in the text or tables. Where references are cited in tables only, the first reference number used in the table should follow on numerically from the last reference number used in the main text of the article. Where previous studies are mentioned in a table the authors names should appear in Vancouver style, with the names and reference numbers appearing in one column, and any other necessary information appearing in a separate column. Unpublished data and personal communications will not be accepted as references. Please try to avoid using conference papers or abstracts as references, these can only be allowed if published by journals included in Index Medicus or a well-known publishing company, and are within one year from the submission date of the manuscript. Only 1-2 up to date references should be used for each particular point in the text. References to journal articles should include, in this order: (1) authors, (2) title, (3) journal name (as abbreviated in Index Medicus, if not included in Index Medicus journal title should be given in full), (4) year, (5) volume, (6) page numbers (start and end). Volume and edition numbers and specific page numbers should be included when appropriate. Secondary references are not acceptable. The author is responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the references and for their correct textual citation. When a citation is referred to in the text by name, the accompanying reference must be from the original source. Upon acceptance of a paper all authors must be able to provide the full paper for each reference cited upon request at any time up to publication. Failure to do so may result in the paper being withdrawn from the journal. References must be formatted in Vancouver style as follows:-

Journal: Al Momen RK, Al Nadedh NN. Evaluation of antenatal services in a primary health care setting in Riyadh. Saudi Med J 1998; 19: 249-253.

Book Chapter: Weinstein L, Swartz MN. Pathogenic properties of invading microorganisms. In: Sodeman WA Jr, Sodeman WA, editors. Pathologic mechanism of disease. Philadelphia (PA): WB Saunders; 1974. p. 457-472.

Review Articles should include an extended bibliography. Original Articles and Case Reports should include up to date references, preferably not exceeding 15 for Case Reports. Brief communication should include a maximum of 5 references. A small number of older landmark references can be included where appropriate.

Four copies of all figures or photographs should be included with the submitted manuscript, together with an electronic version of the figure saved in Adobe Photoshop on CD-ROM. Photographs must be high-contrast, glossy, black and white prints, unmounted and untrimmed, with preferred size between 4 x 5 inches and 5 x 7 inches (10 x 13 cm and 13 x 18 cm). Photographs will be accepted at the discretion of the Editorial Board. Figure number, name of first author and an arrow indicating "top" should be typed on a gummed label and affixed to the back of each illustration. All lettering, arrows, or other artwork must be done by an artist or draftsman. If arrows are used please ensure they appear in a different color to the background color. If arrows distinguish different items on the figure then different arrow styles should be used ie. long, short, fat, slim. Graphs and charts must also be prepared professionally by an artist or draftsman and submitted on glossy paper. Do not write on the back of figures or scratch or mark them by using paper clips. Do not bend figures or mount them on cardboard. Written informed consent for publication must accompany any photograph in which the subject can be identified. Written copyright permission, from the publishers, must accompany any illustration that has been previously published. All illustrations ("figures") must be numbered as cited in the text in consecutive numeric order. With color illustrations, the author must bear part of the expense for color reproduction. Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends for illustrations, (on a separate sheet), not on the illustrations themselves.

The author is required to send a copy of the manuscript on the disk upon initial submission. When submitting disks, authors should (i) be certain to include a print-out of the version of the article that is on the disk; disk and hard copy must be identical (ii) put the version of the manuscript on the disk (ie. Original version, revised copy); (iii) name the file clearly; (iv) label the disk with the format of the file and the file name, (v) provide information on the hardware and software used.

Le Systerne International d'Unites (SI) are preferred Equivalent values in traditional units should be given if thought to be necessary.

Use only standard abbreviations. Avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract. The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement. The following is a list of abbreviations which may be used without expansion. CD; CD-ROM; DDT; DNA; DOS; EDTA; F; HLA; ISSN; Nd:YAG; OD; OS; OU; PaCO2; PaO2; PAO2; PCO2; pH; PO2; RAM; RNA; ROM; SD; SE; SEM; SSC; SSPE; TNM; ul; UV; UV-A; UV-B; UV-C; VDRL.

All manuscripts reporting the results of experimental investigations involving human subjects should include a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from each subject or subject's guardian, after receiving approval of the experimental protocol by a local human ethics committee, or institutional review board. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

Conflict of interest for a given manuscript exists when a participant in the peer review and publication process - author, reviewer, and editor - has ties to activities that could inappropriately influence his and her judgment, whether or not judgment is in fact affected. Financial relationships with industry (for example, through employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, expert testimony), either directly or through immediate family, are usually considered to be the most important conflicts of interest. However, conflicts can occur for other reasons, such as personal relationships, academic competition, and intellectual passion. Public trust in the peer review process and the credibility of published articles depends in part on how well conflict of interest is handled during writing, peer review, and editorial decision making. Bias can often be identified and eliminated by careful attention to the scientific methods and conclusions of the work. Financial relationships and their efforts are less easily detected than other conflicts of interest. Participants in peer review and publication should disclose their conflicting interests, and the information should be made available so that others can judge their effects for themselves. Because readers may be less able to detect bias in review articles and editorials than in reports of original research, some journals do not accept reviews and editorials from authors with a conflict of interest.

When they submit a manuscript, whether an article or a letter, authors are responsible for recognizing and disclosing financial and other conflicts of interest that might bias their work. They should acknowledge in the manuscript all financial support for the work and other financial or personal connections to the work.

External peer reviewers should disclose to editors any conflicts of interest that could bias their opinions of the manuscript, and they should disqualify themselves from reviewing specific manuscripts if they believe it appropriate. The editors must be made aware of reviewers' conflicts of interest to interpret the reviews and judge for themselves whether the reviewer should be disqualified. Reviewers should not use knowledge of the work, before its publication, to further their own interests.

Editors who make final decisions about manuscripts should have no personal financial involvement in any of the issues they might judge. Other members of the editorial staff, if they participate in editorial decisions, should provide editors with a current description of their financial interests (as they might relate to editorial judgments) and disqualify themselves from any decisions where they have a conflict of interest that, in the editors' judgment, readers should know about. Editorial staff should not use for private gain the information gained through working with manuscripts.

Editors must assume initially that authors are reporting work based on honest observations. Nevertheless, 2 types of difficulty may arise. Firstly, errors may be noted in published articles that require the publication of a correction or erratum of part of the work. It is conceivable that an error could be so serious as to vitiate the entire body of the work, but this is unlikely and should be handled by editors and authors on an individual basis. Such an error should not be confused with inadequacies exposed by the emergence of new scientific information in the normal course of research. The latter require no corrections or withdrawals.
The second type of difficulty is scientific fraud. If substantial doubts arise about the honesty of work, either submitted or published, it is the editors' responsibility to ensure that the question is appropriately pursued (including possible consultation with the authors). However, it is not the task of editors to conduct a full investigation or to make a determination; that responsibility lies with the institution where the work was done or with the funding agency. The editor should be promptly informed of the final decisions, and, if a fraudulent paper has been published, the journal must print a retraction. If this method of investigation does not result in a satisfactory conclusion, the editor may choose to publish an expression of concern, with an explanation.
The retraction or expression of concern, so labeled, should appear on a numbered page in a prominent section of the journal, be listed in the contents page, and include in its heading the title of the original article. It should not simply be a letter to the editor. Ideally, the first author should be the same in the retraction as in the article, although under certain circumstances the editor may accept retractions by other responsible people. The text of the retraction should explain why the article is being retracted and include a bibliographic reference to it.
The validity of previous work by the author of a fraudulent paper cannot be assumed. Editors may ask the authors' institution to assure them of the validity of earlier work published in their journals or to retract it. If this is not done they may choose to publish an announcement to the effect that the validity of previously published work is not assured.

Whenever a manuscript contains material (text, tables dosages, figures etc.) which is protected by copyright, it is the obligation of the author to secure written permission from the holder of the copyright.

The research team of any study should assign one of the authors as the corresponding author. The Editorial Office will send proofs to authors for final proof reading which will be the responsibility of the corresponding author who should return the galley proof materials appropriately corrected within the stipulated time, proofs will not be accepted from any other of the authors without an accompanying authorization letter from the corresponding author. After the corresponding author has signed the galley proof, they will bear the burden of responsibility for any publication errors missed on the galley proof found after publication. No major changes such as deletion, shortening or expansion of sentences in the text will be accepted at this time. During the proofing process, no addition of information is allowed, however, if there new relevant information to be added to the manuscript, this can be included as an addendum to the article. The corresponding author(s) is required to sign on each page of the galley proof indicating their approval of any Editorial amendments and agree that the meaning of their article has not been altered. The author should review this carefully, as he is responsible for all changes in his work, including changes made by the copy editor. It is the duty of the author to respond promptly to any query from the Editing Department as failure to do so may result not only in delay of publication, but also return of the article to the author without publication. Papers will be published only when the finally accepted manuscript signed by the corresponding author or designated corresponding author is received in the Editorial Office. If a manuscript is sent out for proofing and no response is received from the corresponding author, this manuscript will be deferred for one issue only. The proof will then be resent after one month and if there is still no response from the corresponding author at that time the paper may be withdrawn from the Journal. If the Editorial Office is able to proofread the article and answer any outstanding queries, it will be at the Editor's discretion to proceed with the publishing of the paper including a statement that this has not been proofread by the corresponding author. If there are a substantial number of unresolved queries then the paper may be withdrawn from the Journal.

Neurosciences is copyright under the Berne Convention and the International Copyright Convention. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission of the Editor.
Information for ordering re-prints will be included when sending the galley proof, and re-prints must be order with the galley proof as they cannot be obtained after the journal has gone to press.

Submit manuscripts to: Editor, Neurosciences journal, Armed Forces Hospital, PO Box 7897, Riyadh 11159, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Tel. +966 (1) 4777714 Ext. 6570; Fax: +966 (1) 4761810 or 4777194.