Submission Guidelines

Files Required for Submission

• Authors' Commitment Form (Letter to the Editor)
• Conflict of Interest Form
• Instructions for Including Author Information
• Initial Submission Without Authors' Names
• Initial Submission With Authors' Information
• Final Submission for Publication

Including DOIs for the articles used in the paper at the end of the references is mandatory.

Please refrain from in-person visits or phone calls to the journal office. For any inquiries, send an email to ipom@pnu.ac.ir. Your email will be reviewed, and a response will be provided within 48 working hours.

ORCID and Academic Email Requirements

As per the request of the National Scientific Journals Organization, it is mandatory to register and display a free ORCID ID and an academic email for the corresponding author, especially for faculty members. Authors are requested to obtain their ORCID researcher ID and academic email before submitting their paper to the journal. To get an ORCID ID, visit: orcid.org.

Important Points Before Submitting the Paper

• Papers submitted by graduate students and faculty members from educational and research institutions should preferably be sent using their institutional or university email.

1. Please thoroughly read the anti-plagiarism policy and the FAQs at the bottom of this page.
2. Papers that do not comply with the submission guidelines will not be reviewed.
3. If possible, use Firefox or Google Chrome as your browser.
4. Each author is allowed to submit only two papers per year, and if one of the authors already has a paper under review or accepted for publication, new submissions will be postponed until the following year under the same rules.
5. If the paper is supported by a sponsor or has received research funding, the author must state this in the paper.
6. For information on the journal's scope and topics, click here. Ensure that your paper is relevant to one of the journal's topics.
7. Only four files should be submitted: (a) a file with author details and the abstract, (b) the main paper without the authors' names, (c) the conflict of interest form, and (d) the authors' commitment form. Important note: When uploading files, if asked to submit images and tables separately, ignore this and only upload the four mentioned files. Images, tables, and maps should be included in the main text, as close as possible to their first mention.
8. All references at the end of the article must be in English, even if the original article is in Persian.
9. The Persian and English abstracts should be no more than 250 words, and based on the field and research topic, they should include the problem statement, objectives, research questions and hypotheses, methods, findings (results), and conclusion. If an extended English abstract is required for submission, it should be 2000 to 2500 words, prepared and uploaded accordingly.
10. The margin for the abstract should be 4.5 cm from the page edges, and for the main text, it should be 2.5 cm.
11. Author information must be included in the file in Word format and uploaded when submitting the paper. Note that all author details and order must also be fully registered in the journal’s system.
12. Download the sample format for the main paper, and ensure that your paper is carefully formatted according to this guide.
13. Download the conflict of interest, and upload it when submitting the paper.
14. Download the authors' commitment, complete it, and upload it when submitting the paper.
15. The English translation of the abstract is critical for paper evaluation in this journal. Make sure to correctly translate technical terms and, if needed, seek advice from someone proficient in English.
16. Be sure to use the (Ctrl + Shift + 2) shortcut for non-breaking spaces in the paper. Additionally, your keyboard must be set to Persian language mode.

Article Structure - Content and Appearance

The paper must be clear, grammatically correct, and adhere to academic and literary standards in Persian. Papers derived from theses or research projects must be restructured into a research article format, not a thesis.

• The title must be concise and align with the content, objectives, and findings.
• The Persian and English abstracts should follow the structured format described above.
• The Persian abstract should be no longer than 250 words, and the English abstract no longer than 300 words. After translating the Persian abstract to English, expand the results and conclusion section.
• An extended English abstract is essentially a mini-paper. It emphasizes the research methodology, discussion, and interpretation of findings. The extended abstract should be 1 to 4 pages long (typically 1 to 2 pages with images and explanations), and generally around 1000 words. It should be prepared and ready for submission if required.

In-text citations and the reference list at the end of the article must follow the APA style. It is again emphasized that all references at the end of the article must be in English.

Anti-Plagiarism Policy

Upon submission to the journal’s management system, an email will be sent to all authors to confirm their involvement. The inclusion of authors' names implies their essential role in writing the paper. If any author's name has been misused without their contribution, they must inform the journal immediately. All authors are responsible for the originality of the work. The journal reserves the right to evaluate and address cases of plagiarism, which may result in the paper being invalidated.

Once the paper is submitted, no changes will be allowed in the author sequence, corresponding author, or the number of authors.

Forms of plagiarism include:

a. Submitting someone else’s work as your own. b. Listing authors or researchers who did not contribute to the paper. c. Copying or repeating significant parts of another paper (even if the copied paper is authored by one of the new paper’s authors). d. Presenting findings from others’ research as your own. e. Republishing the same paper with similar content in multiple journals. f. Presenting false findings or distorting research results. g. Using invalid data or manipulating research data.

Cases of plagiarism will be investigated by the journal authorities, and depending on the severity, legal action may include:

1. The paper will be rejected, and if already published, it will be removed from the journal’s website under all circumstances.
2. All authors will be blacklisted from the journal.
3. Legal action will be pursued with the relevant judicial authorities, including misconduct boards and courts.
4. A formal letter will be sent to other universities and journals regarding the plagiarism case.
5. A formal letter will be sent to the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology, the Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC), the author’s workplace, universities, institutions, journals, and any place where the authors have gained benefits from publishing the paper.
6. This journal adheres to COPE guidelines on publication ethics and follows the executive regulations of the law on preventing academic fraud.
7. Article processing and publication fees will be collected as per university regulations listed on the main page of the journal portal.