indian journal of medical research submission guidelines

Indian Journal of Medical Research

Review Latest Developments in the field of Multi Disciplinary.

The Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR) is an open access peer-reviewed journal committed to publishing high-quality articles in the field of Multi Disciplinary.

• Online submission
• Wider visibility through open access
• Higher impact with wider visibility
• Prompt review

Abstracting and Indexing Information

Recently published articles

Practice: Book Review

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Vipin M. Vashishtha

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ISSN (Print): 0971-5916 ISSN (Online): Awaited

Privacy Overview

Indian Journal of Microbiology Research

Official Publication of Innovative Education and Scientific Research Foundation

Published by IP Innovative Publication Pvt. Ltd.

Instructions to the author

Innovative Publication is a publisher of  open-access journals . All submitted manuscripts are managed by  Manuscript Peer-Review Process called  MPRP  as a rapid and rigorous double-blind peer-reviewed, manuscript handling, and editorial process. In this platform, all authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial office works on a single platform.

Submission Checklist

A manuscript submission checklist is necessary during the final submission of an article before sending it to the journal for the peer-review process.

• One author should be designated as the Corresponding author with complete contact details.
• The author should check the  Aims and Scope  of the journal.
• Use the MS Word template to prepare your manuscript.
• An author should ensure about  Authorship Criteria,   Research and Publication Ethics ,  Manuscript Preparation , Authorship, Copyright, Format, Figure, Data, and reference format have been appropriately considered. 
•  The author has approved the content of the submitted manuscript.
• All necessary files have been uploaded, and contain Keywords, figures, and captions, all tables (including title, description, and footnotes).
• The manuscript has been spell-checked and grammar-checked.

The author has obtained copyright material permission.

Manuscript Submission Guidelines

Manuscript Submission Process

All manuscripts must be submitted online at  www.mprp.in. The submitting author, who is generally the corresponding author, is responsible for the manuscript during the submission and peer-review process. The submitting author must ensure that all eligible co-authors have been included in the author list read the  authorship qualify criteria  and that they have all read and approved the submitted version of the manuscript, To submit your manuscript, first-time users click the  register  button from the submission portal. On successful registration, you will receive an email verification mail and after confirmation, you will be able to log in as an author you can directly log in by using your credentials (Username-Registered mail ID & Password) or you can directly Sign in with Google or ORCID ID.

After successful registration, log in as an author and post your manuscript for further processing. While submitting, the author is required to provide information on payment and possible funder agreements. During submission of the funder, details ensure you meet all your funder requirements.

Manuscript Preparation

• Title Page Information : Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with Manuscript Title, Author list, affiliations, abstract, and Keywords.
• Original Research Manuscript : Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Figures, Tables, Conclusions, etc.
• Author Ethical Responsibilities : The author should provide Supplementary Materials, Acknowledgements, Author Contributions, Conflicts of Interest, Funding, Data Availability Statement, and Citations.
• Presentation and Format:  Spacing, Margins, Page Numbering, Words limit, etc.
• Cover Letter

Cover Letters must be included with each manuscript submission and it should be concise and explain why the content of the paper is significant and find the context of existing work. It should explain the manuscript is suitable for the scope of the journal. The cover letter should prove the following details:

• Manuscript Title
• Type of Manuscript
• Authors full names (First name, Middle Name, and Last Name)
• Complete Affiliations (in sequences)
• Contact no and email id
• ORCID iD/Researcher’s profile

Title Page Information

The Title page should carry

• The title of your manuscript should be concise, specific, relevant, and informative that contain the major keywords, formulae, and abbreviations avoided.
• Running title or short title, not more than 6 words.
• Authors’ first and last names must be provided. The initials of any middle name can be added. The standard format used for PubMed/MEDLINE for affiliations is complete address information including city, pin/zip code, state, and country. The affiliations should be given as 1, 2, and 3 but  not  marked with symbols.
• Clearly indicate who will be the Corresponding author and handle all stages of communication for pre-publication and post-publication of the manuscript. Ensure that the name address, phone number, and e-mail address of the contributor responsible for correspondence about the manuscript. Contact details must be up to date and the institutional e-mail address and contact number of the corresponding author. Please read the  Authorship qualify criteria .

Article type and Formatting

Original research article.

Structured Abstracts:  The abstract should be provided with a maximum of 150 -250 words with subheadings: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusion, and Keywords.

Background : The background for the study should state the study’s purpose, basic procedures, main findings and principal conclusions. It should emphasize new and important aspects of the study and observation.

Methods : Methods describe briefly the main methods or treatments applied and include relevant preregistration numbers and species and strains of any animals used.

Results : Results are presented in logical sequence in table, text, and figures, giving the main and most important findings. Emphasize or summarise only the most important observations, do not use replicate all the data, tables, figures, and text. Summarize the article’s main findings only.

Conclusion : conclusion indicates the interpretations with the goal of the study but avoids unqualified statements and the abstract should be an objective representation of the article. It must not consider results that are not presented and substantiated in the main text and should not exaggerate the main conclusions.

Keywords : Keywords need to be added after the abstract and we recommended that the keywords are specific to the article and within the subject discipline. Keywords are used for indexing purposes and abbreviations established in the field may be eligible.  

Acknowledgements : Acknowledgement of grants, funds, person, and support in a separate section at the end of the article before the reference and include them on the title page as a footnote to the title or otherwise.

Introduction : The introduction should `be briefly placed in a broad context and highlight why it is important. It should define the purpose of the work and its significance including specific and previous studies in the area. The current state of the research clearly described the purpose of the study, the tested hypothesis, and its aim and scope. Finally, briefly mention the main aim of the work and highlight the main conclusions. Keep the introduction comprehensible to scientists working outside the topic of the research paper.

Materials and Methods : The Methods section should only include information that was available at the time the study was planned or the protocol written; all information obtained during the conduct of the study belongs to the results section. New methods and protocols should be described in detail while well-established methods can be briefly described and appropriately cited. Give the name and version of any software used and make clear where the computer code used is available. A statement indicating that the research was approved by an independent local, regional and national level.

Results : Provide a concise and precise description of the experiment results and data on all primary and secondary outcomes, identified in the materials and method part and do not include methods, discussion and conclusions. All Charts, figures, and Tables are cited in text in numerical order and include a brief description, consider using supplement material to use and major findings.

Discussion : The author should discuss the results and how they can be interpreted from the perspective of previous studies and of the working hypotheses. The finding and their implications should be discussed in the broadest context possible and limitations of the work highlighted and further research directions may be mentioned. Explore the implications of findings for further research and policy and combined them with results.

Conclusions : This section is crucial and required as it summarize the key points and findings of your paper. It determines overall conclusions of the study and the future research directions.

Patents : It is not mandatory but may be updated if there is patent work reported in this manuscript.

Manuscripts submitted to the  Indian Journal of Microbiology Research  that is not original articles must come into one of the following categories:

• Review Articles
• Case Report/Case Series
• Letter-to-Editor
• Short Communication/Commentary
• Editorial/Others

Review Article:

It is expected that review articles are written by individuals who have done substantial work on the subject or are considered experts in the field. Review articles should address a focused topic, issue, or question. They should be balanced and up-to-date. They should not simply restate the literature but rather interpret and integrate the findings to provide a framework for understanding the literature on a particular topic. A short summary of the work done by the authors in the field of review should accompany the manuscript. The author submitting a review article should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data. Methods should be summarized in the form of an abstract.

Structure:  Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Discussion, Conclusion and References

The discussion part of the review should be managed into sub-division headed by informative sub-titles. We welcome review articles on journal subjects but the above topics' content should be discussed with the Editors prior to submission indicating how this manuscript would be different from recent review manuscripts in the field.

Case Report / Case Series:

Authors should submit new, interesting, and rare case reports/case series. They should be unique, describe a great diagnostic or therapeutic challenge, and provide a learning point for readers. Cases with clinical significance or implications will be given priority. Case reports do not require extensive patient details and should be submitted as Correspondence. Correspondence should not contain more than 800 words.

Letter-to-Editor:

Letters to the editor should be focused on news or on an article that has been published in a journal within the previous year. The letter should focus on an important aspect of the paper that is in the author’s opinion and its comments.

Editorial, Short Communication, Commentary, and other : as mentioned below.

Manuscript Presentation and Formatting : All manuscript content should follow the given formatting style

• Manuscripts should be submitted in Microsoft Word (Ms-Word) only, No PDF or other format is allowed.
• Use normal plain font (e.g. 12-point, Times New Roman) for text.
• Use double-space for all text, including abstract, table, reference, footnotes, and figure legends.
• Use italics for emphasis
• Page margins 1.00 from all four sides
• Page numbers at the bottom
• Keywords (3-10)
• Reference according to the journal instructions, punctuation marks checked
• Submission of the manuscript without track changes
• If any brand name is cited, provide the brand name, address, city, etc.
• Use the table function in Word, not Spreadsheet/excel, to create a table
• All tables (including title, description, and footnotes)
• Sharp and clear Figures/graphics
• All figure captions
• Save your file in Docx format (Ms-word 2007 or higher)
• All scientific names should be written in italics

Measurement of Units : Internationally accepted rules, regulations, policies, and conventions use the International System of Units (SI). If any other units are mentioned please provide their equivalent SI

Preparation of Figure, Table, and Artworks

• Files for figures and tables must be provided during submission in a single zip/WinRAR file and archives and at a clear and high-resolution pixels width/height, or a resolution of 300 dpi (Dots Per Inch) or higher. Standard formats are accepted and preferred as TIFF, JPEG, EPS, and PDF.
• Authors are encouraged to prepare tables and figures in colour (RGB at 8-bit).
• Figures include photographs, radiographs, or micrographs and include only essential figures and use composite figures containing several panels of photographs.
• All Figures, tables, and artworks should have a short explanatory title and caption and all table columns should have an explanatory heading. To facilitate the copy-editing of large tables smaller fonts may be used. The author should use the Table option of Ms-Word to create a table.
• Tables always are cited in text in consecutive numerical order and each table supplies a table caption (title) explaining the components of the table.
• Identify any previously published material by giving the original source in the form of a reference at the end of the table caption. All experiment samples and controls used for one comparative analysis are run on the same pattern.
• You should check figures for duplications and ensured the figures are clear and accurate.

Author Ethical Responsibilities

Supplementary Materials : It describes any supplementary material published online alongside the manuscript (figure, table, spreadsheet, video, etc.). The author should indicate the name and title of each element as follows Figure S1: title, Table S1: Title, etc.

Funding and Acknowledgments : This may include administrative and technical support or donations in kind of people, grants, funds, etc. should be placed in a separate section on the title page of the manuscript and repeated before references.

In addition please provide the funding information in a separate step while submitting of manuscript process. If the funding institution you need is not listed, it can be entered as text. Funding information will be published as searchable metadata for the accepted article, where acknowledgments are published on the page.

Author Contributions : Authors are required to include a statement of responsibility, to have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of the data or drafting the work and substantively revising it. Authorship must include and be limited to those who have contributed substantially to the work.

Data Availability Statement : Provide details regarding where data supporting reported results can be found, including links to publicly archived datasets analysed or generated during the study or you might choose to exclude this statement if the study did not report any data.

Conflicts of Interest : Authors must disclose any financial and personal support or interest that may be recognized and determine the representation or interpretation of reported research results. Potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultation, ownership, honorarium, patent application, testimony, etc.  Any project funded by the industry must pay special attention to the full declaration of funder involvement. If there is no role, please state the sponsors had no role in the design, execution, recognition, or writing of the study.  According to  The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) , authors should avoid signing into any agreements with study sponsors, both for-profit and non-profit, that interface with the author’s access to all of the study’s data or that interface with their ability and interpretation of data and publish manuscripts independently when they select.  For more details visit  Conflict of Interest .

The statement should reflect all the collected potential conflict of interest disclosures in the form. If no conflicts exist, the authors should state.

Conflicts of Interest : The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References : Reference must be numbered in order of appearance in the text (including figure, captions table, and legends) and listed individually at the end of the manuscript. The reference style can be learned from reading past issues of this journal. Text citation of the reference in number at the end of a sentence or at the end of a clause that requires a literature citation. Original research is limited to 35 references and there are no limits in the number of references for review articles. We recommended preparing the reference with bibliography software like  Zotero ,  EndNote ,  etc. to avoid typing mistakes and duplicated references. We encourage citations to data, other citable and research material.

Citation : Reference and Citation in supplementary files are permitted and provided that they also appear in the main text and in the reference list in order

Supplementary Materials, Data submission

Journal is committed to accepting open scientific exchange and enabling our authors to achieve best practices in sharing and archiving research data.  We encourage all authors of articles published with Innovative Journal to share their research data. Every journal guideline can be found in the journal “ Instructions for Authors ” Policy of data sharing concerns the minimal dataset support and findings of a published study. Collected data should be publically available and cited in accordance with the guidelines of the journal.

Publication data policies

Before submission of research datasets as electronic supplementary material, authors should read the journals. We encourage research data to be archived in data repositories wherever possible. The author should ensure that the data shared are in accordance with the consent provided by participants on the use of confidential data. Availability of data statement provided regarding where the data reporting and supported result can be found including publically archived dataset analyzed and generated during the study. 

Data availability and suggested statements are mentioned below:

• Journal encourages authors to provide articles with an external database that helps to build a better understanding of time to explain the research. 
• Publicly available data accessible in the repository

Data presented in the study are openly available in (repository name e.g. Fig Share) at (DOI), reference number (reference number).

• Datasets are assigned DOI

A data repository may be cited in the reference list. Data citations should include the minimum information recommended by DataCite: Authors, title, publisher (repository name), and identifier.

• Available data on request due to restriction e.g. Ethical or privacy

Presentation of data in this study is available on request from the corresponding author, the data are not publicly available due to (mention the reason).

• Third-Party Data

Restrictions apply to the availability of these data. Data were obtained from (third party) and are available (from the authors/website) with the permission of (third party).

• Data sharing is not applicable

New data sharing was created or analyzed in this study is not applicable to the article.

Data Citation:

• (dataset) Authors. Year. Dataset title, repository data or archives, Version (if available); Persistent identifier (e.g., DOI).

Supplementary Material and References

While submission of the manuscript additional data and files can be uploaded as “Supplementary Files”. Supplementary files will also be available to the referees as part of the peer-review process. Any additional files and format is acceptable. We recommend that non-proprietary and common formats are used where possible. References and citations in supplementary files are permitted provided that they also appear in the main text and in the reference list.

Unpublished and Research Data Policy

Data restrictions availability should be noted during submission and in the manuscript. Authors are encouraged to publish all observations related to the submitted manuscript as supplementary material as Unpublished data.  Data submission to the journal implies that materials described in the manuscript, including all relevant raw data, will be freely available to any researcher wishing to use them for non-commercial purposed, without breaching participant confidentiality. We encourage authors to ensure that their datasets are either deposited in publically available repositories or presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files.

Journal accepts all sequence names and the accession numbers provided by the databases must be provided in the material and methods section of the article.

Research and Publication Ethics

Research Ethics Involving Human, Animal, and Plants

When reporting studies on human subjects indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (available at  https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-of-helsinki/doh-oct2000/ ). Do not use patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. Written consent for publication must be signed by participating patients with information. Related data to participants must be explained in detail, and personal information of patients need not be disclosed unless it is an identifiable matter is of relevance to the research like patients' photographs, or faces that show particular complications. Patients’ particulars or other identification need not appear in any form of images.

A manuscript that includes any case details, like personal information and images of patients, authors must obtain signed informed consent for publication from patients or relatives/guardians before submitting to Innovative Publication journal. Details of the patient must be anonymous as for as possible, e.g. do not mention age, ethnicity, occupation, or relations if they are not relevant to the conclusions. An available  Patient Permission Template form  for Download. A plain version of the form used to obtain permission without the patient's name or signature must be uploaded with your submission. The editor reserves the right to reject any submission that does not meet these criteria.

The author may refer to using our sample form and provide an appropriate form after consulting with your affiliated institution for the purposes of publishing with us. Journal and Consent, permission, or release form should include unlimited permission for publication in all formats like online, print and online, and print format, in sublicensed and reprinted versions and other works and products under open access license. The publisher does not prescribe the kinds of contributions that all license authorship. It is recommended that authors adhere to the guidelines for authorship that are applicable in their specific research field.

The submitted manuscript will be checked by the editorial office or on request of documentary evidence related to discuss documents. When studies describe groups by race, gender, disability, disease, religion, etc., an explanation regarding why such categorization was needed must be clearly stated in the article.

Statement on the Welfare of Animals Rights

When animals used for research must be respected in reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate where the national and international institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals have been followed, and that the studies have been approved by a research ethics committee at the institution or practise at which the studies were conducted. Please provide the name of the ethics committee and the relevant permit number.

If articles do not contain studies with human participants or animals by any of the authors, the statement should be as below:

• Informed consent if the research involved human participants, and statement on the welfare of animals if the research involves animals.
• Research involving animals and their data or biological materials, utilization of plants, fungi, algae etc.
• The author will be held responsible for false statements or failure to fulfil the guidelines on animals and humans.
• Refinement of experimental conditions and procedures to minimize the harm to animals.
• Authors must consider details on husbandry, housing, and pain management in their manuscript.

References Style

The reference list should include the full title, as recommended by the ACS style guide. Style files for Endnote and Zotero are available. Reference should be described and depending on the types of the work, which is mentioned as below:

For Journal Article

The surname is followed by the first initials. (et al. after six authors). Article title. Title of the journal with a standard abbreviation. Year of publication; Volume (Issue number): Pages.

• Choudhury DD, Sonawane JP, Chowdhary A. The study of prevalence of needle stick and sharp injuries among healthcare workes in tertiary care hospital, Navi Mumbai.  IP Int J Med Microbiol Trop Dis.   2021;7(4):227-31 .
• Onweh DA, Edeogu CO, Okezie AO, Ogbodo EC, Nwanguma DE, Oguaka VN et al. Effect of trace elements in the immune system of pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in alex ekwueme federal university teaching hospital.  J Community Health Manag . 2021;8(4):181-9.

The surname is followed by the first initials. Book title. Edition (if applicable). Place: Publisher; Year.

• Jena S, Kumar G. Advanced Diagnostic Techniques for Oral Cancer Detection. 1 st ed. New Delhi: IP Innovative Publication; 2022.

For Book Chapter

The surname is followed by first initials. Title of the chapter. In: Surname editor Initial(s), editor. Book title. Edition (if available). Place: Publisher; Year. Pages.

• Bomzon PS. Tree Diversity in Indian Forests. In: Laha J, Chakravort P, Mukherjee D, Sinha NK, Mukherjee R, Samanta AK. Forestry in India-An overview. New Delhi: IP Innovative Publication; 202 p. 34-58.

The surname is followed by first initials. Book title [Internet]. Place: Publisher; Year [cited date]. Available from: URL.

• Bareja R. Practical Medical Microbiology for BMLT [Internet]. New Delhi: IP Innovative Publication; 2021 [2022 Jan 15]. Available from: https://www.wonderslate.com/Practical Medical Microbiology for BMLT/ebook?siteName=books&bookId=26316

Conference Proceeding Papers

The surname is followed by first initials. Title of paper. In: Surname editor Initial(s), editor. Title of the conference. Place: Publisher; Year. Pages.

• Venkatesh A. Role of Human Resources in Organizational Innovation for sustainability of New Business. In: Lohara J. 2 nd International Conference on Innovation and Sustainability of New Businesses. New Delhi: IP Innovative Publication; 2019. p- 216-9.

Newspaper Articles

The surname is followed by first initials. (if available). Title of article. Title of newspaper. Date: Pages (if available).

• Coronavirus in India live updates: Delhi reports 57 new cases, zero deaths in last 24 hours. The Times of India. Sep 15, 202

Thesis Unpublished:

Author; The surname is followed by first initials. Title of Thesis (Type of Thesis). Location of University: University Name; Year.

• Joy L. Prevalence and antibiogram of burkholderia species isolated from tertiary care hospital (Research). Kerala: Jubilee Mission Hospital; 202

Thesis  Published :

Author; The surname is followed by first initials. Title of Thesis (Type of Thesis). Place of Publication: Publisher Name; Year of Publication.

• Joy L. Prevalence and antibiogram of burkholderia species isolated from tertiary care hospital (Research). New Delhi: IP Innovative Publication; 202

Author; The surname is followed by first initials. Title [Internet]. Place: Publisher; Date of publication [updated date; cited date]. Available from: URL.

Donovan R. Everything You Need to Know About Heart Disease. [Internet]. New York: Healthline; Updated on 2020 February 27. Available from: https://www.healthline.com/health/heart-disease

Always use the standard abbreviation of the journal’s name according to the ISSN number and list of titles Word Abbreviations check. If you are unsure, please use the full journal title.

Clinical Trial Registry

We recommend that clinical trials are prospectively registered in a public domain database and clinical trial registration numbers should be mentioned in all papers that report their results. Authors are asked to provide the name of the trial register and the clinical trial registration number in the manuscript. If a clinical trial is not registered or registered retrospectively, the reason must be provided at the time or before the time of the patient first enrolment as a condition of consideration for publication.

Journal follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines . We strongly encouraged authors to pre-registration clinical trials with international clinical trials register and cite a reference to the registration in the method section. A suitable database must be included and requires a complete consolidation of standard reporting trials as per CONSORT minimum guidelines for publication. Suitable databases include http://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/login.php and those listed by the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform

Authors are required to submit approval to conduct a study from a local and independent, regional, national authority. Journal reserves the right to reject a paper without trial registration for further peer-review process. Reports of randomized clinical trials should present information on all major studies, including the protocol, assignment of interventions, based on the CONSORT statement .  

Specific Study Designs and Reporting Guidelines

Journal requires a complete CONSORT 2010 Checklist key document and CONSORT 2010 flow diagram , as a condition of submission of reporting the results of the randomized clinical trial. The author can find templates of these reporting guidelines on the CONSORT website www.consort-statement.org . Authors are also referred to the EQUATOR network for further information on the available reporting guidelines for health research. Various other checklists are available for various study designs. We encourage our authors to follow the guidelines of SAGER's “Sex and Gender Equity in Research” rationale for the SAGER guidelines and recommend use whenever it is relevant. Authors should describe in the background, whether sex and gender differences may be expected. If sex and gender analysis were not conducted, the rationale should be given in the discussion part. Journal suggest the author follow full guidelines of SAGER .

Publication Ethics Statement

The journal will follow the  COPE guidelines  on how to handle the potential acts of misconduct of publication ethics.

Authors must follow the  submission guidelines  of the journal.

• Authors must ensure that the work they are submitting as their manuscript is entirely original. Authors must certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere. Authors sign a declaration stating that the manuscript and the illustrations within are original, or that he/she has taken all necessary steps to avoid breach of copyright.
• Submitting the same paper to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing practice. The author submitting the manuscript to the journal ensures that all contributing co-authors and no uninvolved person(s) are included in the author list.
• Authors must notify the editors of any conflicts of interest that may be construed to influence the manuscript. Authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes at any point in time if the author(s) discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in the submitted manuscript.
• Data and methods used in the research need to be presented in sufficient detail in the paper so that other researchers can replicate the work.
• A single study should not be split up into several parts to increase the number of submissions and submitted to various journals or to one journal.
• Results should be presented clearly, and honestly, without any falsification or fabrication of data.
• Plagiarism manipulation and data fabrication are not allowed.

Plagiarism is not acceptable including copyright, text ideas, image from another source, or even from your own published content without giving any credit to the original source. To steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one’s own, use another’s production without crediting the source” or “present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source”. We consider “self-plagiarism” as a form of plagiarism. Self-plagiarism would be when an author borrows from his or her own previously published work without the proper citation within the newly submitted manuscript. We use  iThenticate  software to check plagiarism. If plagiarism is found or noticed from other sources, the editorial board should check the status. If the plagiarism is confirmed as an intentional thing, then the following actions will be carried out. This should be reported to the editorial board, authors and corresponding authors and all authors' names will be marked as the blacklist.

Reviewer Suggestions

After submission of a manuscript, please suggest any two potential reviewers with the appropriate expertise to review the manuscript. The editors will not necessarily approach these referees. Please provide details information after the completion of the manuscript submission like Name, E-mail id, contact number and homepage. The proposed reviewer should be from a different institution to the authors or the author may identify appropriate Editorial Board members of the journal as potential reviewers. You may suggest reviewers from among the authors that you frequently cite in your paper.

English Language Corrections

It is necessary that the submitted manuscript is grammatically correct in the English language. We suggest authors facilitate proper peer-reviewing of your manuscript. If you need help with writing in English or are not a native English speaker, we suggest that you have your manuscript professionally edited before submission or read by a native English-speaking colleague. Using a professional English language editing service where editors will improve the English to ensure that your meaning is clear and identify problems that require your review. These services can be carried out by Innovative Author Services. Professional editing will enable reviewers and future readers to easily read and assess the content of submitted manuscripts. All accepted manuscripts undergo language editing, however, a fee will be charged to the author if very extensive English correction must be made by Editorial Office: Pricing is according to the  services .

The journal and publisher assume all authors agreed with the guidelines  International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)  which state that all given explicit consent to the manuscript submission and that they obtained consent from the authors’ responsibilities at the institution where the work has been carried out. The publisher does not prescribe the role of contributions that authorship.  Those who contributed to the work but did not qualify for authorship should be listed in the acknowledgements.

Any updates on the author list should be approved by all authors including any who have been removed from the list.  The corresponding author should act as a point of contact between the editor and the other authors and should keep co-authors informed and involve them in minor decisions about the publication. The publisher reserve the right to request confirmation that all authors meet the authorship conditions.

Visit for more details about authorship check the  Innovative Publication ethics website .

Author Appeals

The author has the right to send an appeal to the editorial office of the journal by sending an e-mail. The appeal must provide a detailed justification, including all point-by-point responses to the reviewer's and or Editor's comments. Expert advisory recommendations on the manuscript may recommend acceptance, for further peer review, or uphold the original rejection decision. A reject decision at this stage is final and cannot be reserved.

Once the manuscript gets accepted, will process for a professional copy-editing team, English editing, proofreading by the authors, final correction, pagination and publication on the journal website  www.ijmronline.org

Editorial Process and Peer-Review

Primary Scrutiny

All submitted manuscripts received by the manuscript submission portal will be scrutinised by the Editorial office to determine whether they are properly prepared and whether they follow the editorial policies of the journal, taking care of human, animal and plant experimentation. The manuscript that does not suitable with the journal's ethics policy or does not meet the standards of the journal will be rejected before peer review. The manuscript that is not properly prepared will be returned to the authors for revision and resubmission. After these checks, the Managing Editor will consult the journals, Editor-in-Chief or Associate Editors to identify whether the manuscript is suitable for the scope of the journal and whether it is scientifically acceptable. There is no judgement on the potential impact of the work that will be made at this stage.

Peer-Review

When the submitted manuscript crosses primary scrutiny, the editorial office team assigned to at least two independent experts for peer review. In the case of regular submissions, in-house assistant editors will invite experts, including recommendations by an academic editor. Potential reviewers suggested by the authors may also be considered. Reviewers should not be published with any of the co-authors during the past three years and should not currently work or collaborate with any of the institutions of the co-authors of the submitted manuscript.

All the submitted manuscripts, reviews and communication are managed by the Pre-Publication Portal of the journal/peer-review system. The manuscript peer-review process receives at least two reviews. The editorial office team will communicate the decision to editors and inform the author.

All review comments should be responded to via the pre-publication portal. When the author disagrees with a reviewer, they must provide a clear response.

Peer-Review Duration

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• Indian J Med Res
• v.151(6); 2020 Jun

Indian Council of Medical Research's International Collaboration & Partnerships; Health Ministry's Screening Committee: Facts, figures & procedures

Mukesh kumar.

International Health Division, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India

Harpreet Sandhu

Reema roshan.

There is a great interest among various international agencies/countries in developing partnership with Indian research organizations, particularly with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for biomedical research. The ICMR is actively involved in governance and co-ordination of partnerships with several international organizations and agencies. Various MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding)/agreements of ICMR with international partners bring together the researchers and resources towards progression through shared research and innovation agenda. Growing collaboration during recent years is reflected through increased number of internationally funded/technically coordinated research projects in health research. However, for any international collaborative research study to be undertaken in India, certain regulatory requirements are to be fulfilled. This article summarizes the international partnerships of ICMR as well as the details of guidelines regarding submission of international collaborative research projects for the Health Ministry's Screening Committee (HMSC), which is a mandatory requirement before undertaking such projects.

The international collaborations are sought under bilateral, multilateral and/or regional collaborative framework to facilitate and strengthen interactions among governments, academia, institutions and industries in the research areas of mutual interest. Currently, India has several bilateral Science and Technology (S&T) cooperation agreements with other countries. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) operates in close cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India (GoI), Indian missions abroad and foreign missions in India for the international collaborations. The biomedical health science research prominently figures in all bilateral agreements in the field of S&T. In addition, there are a few specific agreements signed by the MoHFW with other countries as well as those signed directly by the ICMR with its counterpart international organizations/institutions. Currently, there are 23 MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding)/LoIs (Letters of Intent)/Joint Statements signed by the ICMR with various international organizations/institutes ( https://main.icmr.nic.in/content/guidelines ). These agreements/MoUs/LoIs are for: ( i ) exchange of scientific information; ( ii ) exchange of scientists/technicians for training under the projects; ( iii ) joint execution of scientific projects including support in the procurement of scientific equipment; and ( iv ) organization of joint scientific meetings, seminars, workshops and symposia in identified subjects of cooperation.

The HMSC is an inter-ministerial, high-level committee, constituted by the MoHFW, GoI, in the early 1980s. The purpose of this Committee is to consider and carry out screening of all projects in the field of health research involving foreign assistance and/or collaboration as well as periodically monitor the implementation and progress of bilateral agreements, extension of ongoing research projects and endorsement of transfer of human biological material.

Composition of HMSC

The ICMR acts as the technical arm for the HMSC and conducts technical review of the collaborative research projects. The International Health Division (IHD) in the ICMR Headquarters, New Delhi, is the Secretariat for HMSC and facilitates organization of meetings and placement of collaborative research projects before this Committee as a mandatory requirement. The international collaborative health research projects are scientifically evaluated/scrutinized by the Scientific Divisions at the ICMR Headquarters in the respective subject areas.

In October 2013, the MoHFW, GoI, approved the composition (also the current one) of the HMSC with the Secretary, Department of Health Research (DHR) as the chairman with the following members: Secretary, Health and Family Welfare or nominee; Additional Secretary and Director-General (DG), National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) or nominee; Secretary, AYUSH or nominee, Ministry of AYUSH; DG of Health Services or nominee; Joint Secretary, DHR or nominee; DG of Armed Forces and Medical Services or nominee; Joint Secretary or Deputy Commissioner, Family Planning or nominee; representative, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Coordination Division; representative, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance; representative, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), MoST; representative, Department of Science and Technology (DST), MoST; and Head, IHD, ICMR.

Necessary regulatory requirements

The following regulatory requirements need to be fulfilled by the Indian researchers as part of documents at the time of submission of projects for HMSC's consideration: ( i ) Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC), animal experimentation clearance(s) from all centres/study sites involved in the study; ( ii ) Approval of Drugs Controller General of India in case of the global clinical trials; ( iii ) Registration with the Clinical Trial Registry of India, wherever required (launched by the ICMR in 2007); ( iv ) Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act permission is mandatory for all institutes/agencies receiving foreign funds; ( v ) Non-government organizations (NGOs) are to be registered at NGO Darpan Portal, NITI Aayog and also submit certain other requisite documents; ( vi ) Requisite clearances, if a study involves working with radio-tagged material and recombinant DNA/genetic engineering work (issued by the BARC and DBT, respectively); ( vii ) Any transfer of biological material has to be an integral part of a collaborative research project, and a duly filled in Material Transfer Agreement needs to be submitted ( https://main.icmr.nic.in/content/guidelines ); ( viii ) Guidelines on foreign engagement on bio-safety/bio-security matters (dated December 2015) were prepared and issued by the Division of Disarmament and International Security Affairs, MEA (duly approved by the Cabinet Secretariat), for compliance to protect national security (Weapons of Mass Destruction Act, 2005; https://www.mea.gov.in/Uploads/PublicationDocs/148_The-Weapons-Mass-destruction-And-Delivery-Systems-Act-2005.pdf and overall framework of Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention; https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/bio/ ); ( ix ) The HMSC also addresses important issues such as safety during transfer of biological material, national security (research should not lead to development of biological weapons), risk from defence and internal security point of view and potential for commercial exploitation, visit by foreigners to sensitive areas in the country with due approval from the concerned ministry/department, GoI; and (x) The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (a new international treaty adopted under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, in 2010) which aims at fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources is required to be followed.

Organization of HMSC meetings

Since the beginning of 2020, HMSC meetings are held at a regular interval of alternate months in a calendar year. The Indian researchers desirous of having foreign assistance and/or collaboration in health research can upload their projects online through ICMR's HMSC portal ( www.icmrextramural.in ) for the approval of GoI through HMSC. The projects can be submitted to ICMR for HMSC consideration throughout the year unless there is a prescribed deadline in a specific Call for Projects under an ICMR bilateral/multilateral programme.

The peer-reviewed projects are considered by the HMSC for a final decision. A total of 133 meetings have been organized since the inception of HMSC (from 1982 to 2019, Figure ). In the meetings held during January 2000 to March 2020, a total of 2494 projects were considered, of which 1946 projects were approved by the HMSC. Lists of projects approved by the HMSC in the last 20 years ( w.e.f . January 2000 onwards) are available on the ICMR website under: Collaborations > International > List of Approved Projects ( https://main.icmr.nic.in/content/international-collaborative-projects ).

International projects considered and approved during 1982 to 2019 by the Health Ministry's Screening Committee.

Steps taken for streamlining HMSC procedures

The IHD periodically updates the guidelines for international collaboration and HMSC procedures; however, during the past two years, the ICMR has taken up the following steps to further streamline the process: ( i ) In October 2017, an Advisory was issued by the then Secretary, DHR, and Chairperson, HMSC, to State Principal Secretaries/Institutes/Medical Colleges/MoST Secretaries advising HMSC clearance to be obtained by Principal Investigators (PIs) for international collaboration and instructed their respective IECs to indicate a clause in clearance to ensure that PIs should obtain HMSC approval before initiation of the study; ( ii ) In March 2019, the Secretary, DHR, and DG, ICMR issued letter to State Governments advising not to allow collection of human samples by private organizations, international stakeholders, NGOs etc . without prior approval of the ICMR particularly for research purposes; ( iii ) In September 2019, the DHR, MoHFW has notified that the IECs shall register online with the DHR; ( iv ) In January 2020, the Secretary, DHR, and DG, ICMR issued an advisory to Indian researchers to comply with HMSC procedures for undertaking international collaborative research; ( v ) In March 2020, it has been decided to stop fast-track mechanism of approval of international projects, except in extremely exceptional cases (to be decided on case-to-case basis) in view of increased frequency of HMSC meetings (held every alternate month); and ( vi ) The ICMR/DHR, GoI, is in the process of formulating a rule making prior approval mandatory for undertaking international collaborative research projects and transfer of human biological material, as some countries have specific legislations, such as Medical Research Act/Code for regulation of medical research in a country.

Further detailed information on international collaboration for Indian researchers/investigators and the guidelines for HMSC are available on the ICMR website ( http://icmr/nic.in/guide.htm ). Related information and requisite documents to be uploaded along with necessary downloadable forms/formats, etc . are also available.

Conflicts of Interest : None.

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Submission preparation checklist.

• The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
• The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format.
• Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
• The text is double-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
• The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.

Author Guidelines

Authorship Criteria

Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to each of the three components mentioned below: 

• Concept and design of study or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data;
• Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
• Final approval of the version to be published.

Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content of the manuscript. Once submitted the order cannot be changed without written consent of all the contributors. The journal prescribes a maximum number of authors for manuscripts depending upon the type of manuscript, its scope and number of institutions involved (vide infra). The authors should provide a justification, if the number of authors exceeds these limits,  in exceptional cases.

Contribution Details

Contributors should provide a description of contributions made by each of them towards the manuscript. Description should be divided in following categories, as applicable: 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. One or more author should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole from inception to published article and should be designated as 'guarantor'. 

Conflicts of Interest/ Competing Interests

All authors must disclose any and all conflicts of interest they may have with publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or is important to the outcome of the study presented. Authors should also disclose conflict of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript.

Clinical trial registry

Indian Journal of Community Health favors registration of clinical trials and is a signatory to the Statement on publishing clinical trials in Indian biomedical journals. Indian Journal of Community Health would publish clinical trials that have been registered with a clinical trial registry that allows free online access to public. Registration in the following trial registers is acceptable:  http://www.ctri.in/ ;  http://www.actr.org.au/ ;  http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ ;  http://isrctn.org/ ;  http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/index.asp ; and  http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr . This is applicable to clinical trials that have begun enrollment of subjects in or after June 2008. Clinical trials that have commenced enrollment of subjects prior to June 2008 would be considered for publication in INDIAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY HEALTH only if they have been registered retrospectively with clinical trial registry that allows unhindered online access to public without charging any fees.

Submission of Manuscripts

All manuscripts must be submitted on-line through the website  http://www.iapsmupuk.org/journal/index.php/IJCH/index . First time users will have to register at this site. Registration is free but mandatory. Registered authors can keep track of their articles after logging into the site using their user name and password. Authors do have to pay for submission, processing or publication of articles. If you experience any problems, please contact the editorial office by e-mail at chiefeditor [AT] iapsmupuk [DOT] org.

The submitted manuscripts that are not as per the  “Instructions to Authors”  would be returned to the authors for technical correction, before they undergo editorial/ peer-review. Generally, the manuscript should be submitted in the form of two separate files:

[1]  Title Page/First Page File/Covering letter :

This file should provide

• The type of manuscript (original article, brief research article, case series report, review article, Letter to editor, Images, etc.) title of the manuscript, running title, names of all authors/ contributors (with their highest academic degrees, designation and affiliations) and name(s) of department(s) and/ or institution(s) to which the work should be credited, . All information which can reveal your identity should be here. Use text/rtf/doc files. Do not zip the files.
• The total number of pages, total number of photographs and word counts separately for abstract and for the text (excluding the references, tables and abstract), word counts for introduction + discussion in case of an original article;
• Source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or all of these;
• Acknowledgement, if any. One or more statements should specify 1) contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, such as general support by a departmental chair; 2) acknowledgments of technical help; and 3) acknowledgments of financial and material support, which should specify the nature of the support. This should be included in the title page of the manuscript and not in the main article file.
• If the manuscript was presented as part at a meeting, the organization, place, and exact date on which it was read. A full statement to the editor about all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as redundant publication of the same or very similar work. Any such work should be referred to specifically, and referenced in the new paper. Copies of such material should be included with the submitted paper, to help the editor decide how to handle the matter.
• Registration number in case of a clinical trial and where it is registered (name of the registry and its URL)
• Conflicts of Interest of each author/ contributor. A statement of financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest, if that information is not included in the manuscript itself or in an authors' form
• Criteria for inclusion in the authors’/ contributors’ list
• A statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, that the requirements for authorship as stated earlier in this document have been met, and that each author believes that the manuscript represents honest work, if that information is not provided in another form (see below); and
• The name, address, e-mail, and telephone number of the corresponding author, who is responsible for communicating with the other authors about revisions and final approval of the proofs, if that information is not included on the manuscript itself.

[2] Blinded Article file:  The manuscript must not contain any mention of the authors' names or initials or the institution at which the study was done or acknowledgements. Page headers/running title can include the title but not the authors' names. Manuscripts not in compliance with The Journal's blinding policy will be returned to the corresponding author. The main text of the article, beginning from Abstract till References (including tables) should be in this file. Use rtf/doc files. Do not zip the files. Limit the file size to 1024 kb (1 MB). Do not incorporate images in the file. The pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the first page of the blinded article file.

[3] Images:  Submit good quality color images. Each image should be less than 4 MB in size. Size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep up to 1800 x 1600 pixels or 5-6 inches). JPEG is the most preferred format to upload images. Images can be submitted as jpeg files. Do not zip the files. Legends for the figures/images should be included at the end of the article file.  

[4]   The contributors' / copyright transfer form  (template provided below) has to be uploaded in original with the signatures of all the contributors in PDF / JPEG .

[5]  Documents of clearence by  Institutional Ethics Committee or equivalent  should also be uploaded in PDF / JPEG .

[6]   Reporting Guidelines (see below for Specific Study Designs)

Preparation of Manuscripts

Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with "Uniform requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals" developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (October 2006). The uniform requirements and specific requirement of Indian Journal of Community Health are summarized below. Before submitting a manuscript, contributors are requested to check for the latest instructions available.

All the articles should contain structured abstract / unstructured summary for inclusion in Indexing databases.

Original Article:

These include population based surveys, program evaluations, impact assessment studies, randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic test, outcome studies, cost effectiveness analyses, meta-analysis, systematic reviews, cohort studies and case-control studies. The text of original articles amounting to up to 3000 words (excluding Abstract, references and Tables) should be divided into sections with the headings Abstract, Key-words, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Tables and Figure legends.

Abstract should be structured, not more than 250 words, briefly mentioning background, objectives, methods, results and 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:

The journal will not consider any paper which is ethically unacceptable. A statement on ethics committee permission and ethical practices must be included in all research articles under the ‘Materials and Methods’ section When reporting studies on human beings, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (available at  http://www.wma.net/e/policy/17-c_e.html ). For prospective studies involving human participants, authors are expected to mention about approval of (regional/ national/ institutional or independent) Ethics Committee or Review Board, obtaining informed consent from adult research participants and obtaining assent for children aged over 7 years participating in the trial. The age beyond which assent would be required could vary as per regional and/ or national guidelines. Ensure confidentiality of subjects by desisting from mentioning participants’ names, initials or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the institution’s or a national research council’s guide for, or any national law on the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

The ethical standards of experiments must be in accordance with the guidelines provided by the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) and World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Humans for studies involving experimental animals and human beings,respectively).

Study design:

Selection and Description of Participants: Describe your selection of the observational or experimental participants (healthy people, patients or laboratory animals, including controls) clearly, including eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population. Technical information: Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods (see below); 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. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration.

Reports of randomized clinical trials should present information on all major study elements, including the protocol, assignment of interventions (methods of randomization, concealment of allocation to treatment groups), and the method of masking (blinding), based on the CONSORT Statement (http://www.consort-statement.org).

Reporting Guidelines for Specific Study Designs

Statistics:

Whenever possible quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Authors should report losses to observation (such as, dropouts from a clinical trial). When data are summarized in the Results section, specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Avoid non-technical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as 'random' (which implies a randomizing device), 'normal', 'significant', 'correlations', and 'sample'. Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols. Specify the computer software used. Use upper italics (P 0.048). 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; alternatively, 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 analyze them. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support. Restrict the number of figures and tables below four. 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 (is there a systematic review to refer to, if not, could one be reasonably done here and now?, 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. In particular, contributors should avoid making statements on economic benefits and costs unless their manuscript includes economic data and analyses. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed. New hypotheses may be stated if needed, however they should be clearly labeled as such. About 25 references can be included.

These articles generally should not have more than six authors.

Review Article: It is expected that these articles would be by invitation, written by individuals who have done substantial work on the subject or are considered experts in the field. Articles by other public health experts can be accepted on the basis of merit of article. A short summary of the work done by the contributor(s) in the field of review/their area of expertise should accompany the manuscript.

The prescribed word count is up to 3000 words excluding tables, references and abstract. The manuscript may have about 90 references. The manuscript should have an  unstructured summary (250 words)  representing an accurate summary of the article. The section titles would depend upon the topic reviewed. Authors submitting review article should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data. These methods should also be summarized in the abstract. Restrict the maximum number of tables and or/figures to four.

The journal expects the contributors to give post-publication updates on the subject of review. The update should be brief, covering the advances in the field after the publication of the article and should be sent as a letter to editor, as and when major development occurs in the field.

Review articles could be authored by upto six authors.

Short article: Short article should contain interesting observations/ brief reports of original studies presenting the authors' views on a topic of current interest. The purpose of a brief research article in Indian Journal of Community Health is to provide additional insights into topics of current public health concerns. It should be limited to 1,500 words with unstructured summary not exceeding 150 words, no more than two tables and/or figures, and no more than 10 references. It could be authored by up to six authors.

Ethical consideration as per original article should be followed.

Education forum:

Education forum articles are usually solicited by editorial board. They should review, discuss and deliberate on recent advances in public health practice and research. The focus should be on methodological issues related to tools and techniques in public health research, operational issues of practice of public health and scaling up of interventions. The manuscript could be of up to 1000 words (excluding references and abstract) and could be supported with up to 10 references. An unstructured summary not exceeding 150 words should be provided.

Number of authors should be restricted to maximum four.

Letter to the Editor: These should be short and decisive observations. They should preferably be related to articles previously published in the Journal or views expressed in the journal. They should not be preliminary observations that need a later paper for validation. The letter could have up to 500 words and 5 references. It could be generally authored by not more than four authors.

Others: Editorial, Guest Editorial (no summary/abstract needed) and Commentary (1500 words with unstructured summary of about 100-150 words) are solicited by the editorial board.

References References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text (not in alphabetic order). Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in superscript after the punctuation marks. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure. Use the style of the examples below, which are based on the formats used by the NLM in Index Medicus. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. Use complete name of the journal for non-indexed journals. Avoid using abstracts as references. Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted/ published should be cited in the text as "unpublished observations" with written permission from the source. Avoid citing a "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text.

The commonly cited types of references are shown here, for other types of references such as newspaper items please refer to ICMJE Guidelines (http://www.icmje.org or  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html ).

Articles in Journals

• Standard journal article (for up to six authors): Shukla N, Husain N, Agarwal GG, Husain M. Utility of cysticercus fasciolaris antigen in Dot ELISA for the diagnosis of neurocysticercosis. Indian J Med Sci 2008;62:222-7. 
• Standard journal article (for more than six authors): List the first six contributors followed by et al.  Nozari Y, Hashemlu A, Hatmi ZN, Sheikhvatan M, Iravani A, Bazdar A, et al. Outcome of coronary artery bypass grafting in patients without major risk factors and patients with at least one major risk factor for coronary artery disease. Indian J Med Sci 2007;61:547-54. 
• Volume with supplement: Shen HM, Zhang QF. Risk assessment of nickel carcinogenicity and occupational lung cancer. Environ Health Perspect 1994; 102 Suppl 1:275-82.
• Issue with supplement: Payne DK, Sullivan MD, Massie MJ. Women's psychological reactions to breast cancer. Semin Oncol 1996; 23(1, Suppl 2):89-97. 

Books and Other Monographs

• Personal author(s): Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996. 
• Editor(s), compiler(s) as author: Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996. 
• Chapter in a book: Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. pp. 465-78.

Electronic Sources as reference

Journal article on the Internet

Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [serial on the Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12];102(6):[about 3 p.]. Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htm

Monograph on the Internet

Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [monograph on the Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309074029/html/.

Homepage/Web site

Cancer-Pain.org [homepage on the Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2000-01 [updated 2002 May 16; cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.cancer-pain.org/.

Part of a homepage/Web site

American Medical Association [homepage on the Internet]. Chicago: The Association; c1995-2002 [updated 2001 Aug 23; cited 2002 Aug 12]. AMA Office of Group Practice Liaison; [about 2 screens]. Available from: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/1736.html

• 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)

• Upload the images in JPEG format. The file size should be within 4 MB in size while uploading. 
• 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 printable quality, the publisher office may request for higher resolution images which can be sent at the time of acceptance of the manuscript. Send sharp, glossy, un-mounted, color 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.

Reprints and proofs

Journal provides no free reprints. Request for reprints may be made to the editorial office after acceptance of the articles for publication.

Manuscript submission, processing and publication charges:

The editors and the publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for statements and opinions expressed in review articles, original papers, short communications, letters to editor, editorials and supplements published in the Indian Journal of Public Health. Neither the editors nor the publisher guarantee, or endorse any products or services advertised in this publication, nor guarantee any claims made by the manufacturer of such product or service. 

The editorial policy is subject to periodic modifications by the decision taken on Annual General Meetings.

Covering letter

• Signed by all contributors
• Previous publication / presentations mentioned
• Source of funding mentioned
• Conflicts of interest disclosed

Authors 

• Last name and given name provided along with Middle name initials (where applicable)
• Author for correspondence, with e-mail address and mobile number provided
• Number of contributors restricted as per the instructions
• Identity not revealed in paper except title page (e.g. name of the institute in Methods, citing previous study as 'our study', names on figure labels, name of institute in photographs, etc.)

Presentation and format

• Double spacing
• Margins 2.5 cm from all four sides
• Page numbers included at bottom
• Title page contains all the desired information
• Running title provided (not more than 50 characters)
• Abstract page contains the full title of the manuscript
• Abstract provided (unstructured summary of 250 words for review articles, structured abstract of about 250 words for original articles, unstructured summary of about 150 words for  brief research article and case series report )
• Key words provided (three or more)
• Introduction of 75-100 words
• Headings in title case (not ALL CAPITALS)
• The references cited in the text should be after punctuation marks, in superscript .
• References according to the journal's instructions, punctuation marks checked
• Send the article file without ‘Track Changes’

Language and grammar

• Uniformly American English
• Write the full term for each abbreviation at its first use in the title, abstract, keywords and text separately unless it is a standard unit of measure. Numerals from 1 to 10 spelt out
• Numerals at the beginning of the sentence spelt out
• Check the manuscript for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors
• If a brand name is cited, supply the manufacturer's name and address (city and state/country).
• Species names should be in italics

Tables and figures

• No repetition of data in tables and graphs and in text
• Actual numbers from which graphs drawn, provided
• Figures necessary and of good quality (colour)
• Table and figure numbers in Arabic letters (not Roman)
• Labels pasted on back of the photographs (no names written)
• Figure legends provided (not more than 40 words)
• Patients' privacy maintained (if not permission taken)
• Credit note for borrowed figures/tables provided
• Write the full term for each abbreviation used in the table as a footnote

Copyright/ contributors' form

Ethics committee clearence document

  Downloads

Contributor Form

Article Submission Templates 

Download  Template for Original Articles/ABSTRACT Reports. (.DOT file)

Download  Template for Review Articles.  (.DOT file)

Download  Template for Short Articles.  (.DOT file)

  Download  Template for Letter to the Editor.  (.DOT file)

Article Processing Fee

Continued Medical Education

Review article, original article.

These include population based surveys, program evaluations, impact assessment studies, randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic test, outcome studies, cost effectiveness analyses, meta-analysis, systematic reviews, cohort studies and case-control studies,. The text of original articles amounting to up to 3500 words (excluding Abstract, references and Tables) should be divided into sections with the headings Abstract, Key-words, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Tables and Figure legends.

The journal will not consider any paper which is ethically unacceptable. A statement on ethics committee permission and ethical practices must be included in all research articles under the ‘Materials and Methods’ section When reporting studies on human beings, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (available at http://www.wma.net/e/policy/17-c_e.html). For prospective studies involving human participants, authors are expected to mention about approval of (regional/ national/ institutional or independent) Ethics Committee or Review Board, obtaining informed consent from adult research participants and obtaining assent for children aged over 7 years participating in the trial. The age beyond which assent would be required could vary as per regional and/ or national guidelines. Ensure confidentiality of subjects by desisting from mentioning participants’ names, initials or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the institution’s or a national research council’s guide for, or any national law on the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

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 (is there a systematic review to refer to, if not, could one be reasonably done here and now?, 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).

Short Article

Field report, perspective, letter to editor, pg thesis (iapsm member) submission.

New Submission Open only for IAPSM Member PG Residents from their Thesis 

Dear PG Residents,

Kindly refer to given weblink for submission guidelines.

https://www.iapsmupuk.org/journal/index.php/IJCH/about/submissions

Ensure you submit your articles as per submission guidelines only and mention your IAPSM Membership Number in Title Page.

Four files to be uploaded:

1. Title Page

2. Contributor Form

3. Ethical Approval

4. Manuscript

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Make a Submission

Information

• For Readers
• For Authors
• For Librarians

Current Issue

ISSN: 0971-7587 (Print); 2248-9509 (Online)

Copyright © Indian Journal of Community Health | Published by MRI Publication Pvt. Ltd.

A Journal of Healthcare Ethics & Humanities. Published since 1993 by Forum for Medical Ethics Society. Peer-reviewed. Indexed in Medline, PubMed, The Philosopher’s Index, Scopus.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

( Last updated February 08, 2022 )

The Indian Journal of Medical Ethics (IJME) is a multi-disciplinary journal of bioethics, healthcare ethics and humanities.

Before you submit your manuscript, please check whether its subject matter falls within the scope of the IJME. (For more information, please see “About IJME” )

The IJME is open access online, and the payment of article processing charge (APC) or publication fee by authors is voluntary (PWYW – Pay What You Want, including no payment). If your work or institution have financial support, we encourage you to make some payment to help make the journal sustainable. We also encourage readers accessing the full text or the pdf of a published article to pay whatever fee they can afford (PWYW, including no payment). However, access to the full-issue pdf and print issue is only on payment of subscription.

ETHICS OF PUBLICATION

Authors are expected to understand and comply with the principles of publication ethics. The IJME guidance for authors is based on the guidelines relating to ethics in publication developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The COPE and ICMJE guidelines are followed on points not covered in the IJME guidelines for authors, and they are usually relied upon for resolution of any doubt or dispute.

ARTICLE TYPES AND SECTIONS OF THE JOURNAL

The IJME offers authors an opportunity to make submissions in a range of article types. Each article type has specific requirements (see table below). While preparing and submitting manuscripts, the author(s) may specify the article type. The final decision on categorising the article type of the manuscript rests with the editor. Each article published in the IJME will be identified by its type. In the issue of the journal, each article will be published in a section corresponding to the article type or in the sections based on a topic or theme (e.g. Covid-19, Law, or a specific theme in a theme issue, etc.).

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION ON SUBMISSION

(a) Originality: The submission is an original writing of author(s) and has not been published in, or submitted to other journal(s) for consideration.

(b) Pre-print Publication: Pre-print published manuscripts are eligible for submission to IJME. If your submission was published as pre-print, please provide a link to it and if it was revised before submission, provide information on the revision.

(c) Other similar publication(s): If your submission is based on findings of an empirical research and a part of findings were reported in other paper(s) already published, or awaiting publication, provide (i) copy of such publication(s) for scrutiny, and (ii) explanation that the findings used in the submission for the IJME have not been used in them. Please note that submissions reusing already reported findings make it redundant or salami, and may be declined – see ICMJE

(d) Data sharing: If the submission is based on findings of a primary empirical research conducted by author(s), please state whether and how the anonymised raw data will be shared with anybody interested in them.

2. Authorship and Author(s) information: The following information must be provided

(a) Eligibility for authorship: Only those who conform to the criteria for authorship as per Section IIA of the 2019 ICMJE recommendations ( http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/ ) may be listed as authors. Listing an ineligible person as author, denial of authorship to an eligible person and use of ghost-authors amount to misconduct that could result in rejection of a submission, or in retraction if already published.

(b) Contribution of each author: Please describe the specific contribution made by each author to the research and preparation of the submission.

(c) Signed undertaking by author(s): Each author must sign a statement in the cover letter that he/she/they have contributed as per the ICMJE requirements; read, approved and are responsible for the full content of the manuscript.

(d) Author(s) Details: For each author, the following information is essential

Name(s): Full name of each author and sequence of names (if multiple authors) as they should appear in the publication. The first name must be of the first author.

Corresponding author: In multi-authored submissions, please specify the author who will act as corresponding author. Also provide mailing address of corresponding author.

Affiliation of author(s): If an author is affiliated to an institution, mention not more than two affiliations for each author. Provide full name, address, and website of each institution to which affiliated.

Email ID of author(s): If affiliated to institution, please provide both institutional and personal IDs of each author.

Author(s)’ ORCID iD: We encourage authors to have ORCID registration and provide their ORCID iD .

(e) Disclosure of Conflict of Interest (CoI): Each author must disclose financial and other secondary interests having potential of conflict with the primary interest, i.e., the submission and its content. Please go through the details on the CoI here: ICMJE

Please note that the disclosure of CoI is mandatory. Each author must make an individual disclosure. Wilful non-disclosure of CoI is a misconduct and could result in retraction of a published article. We encourage authors to use the ICMJE disclosure form.

(f) Acknowledgment (of Non-Author contributors): Individuals who have contributed to the submission but are not eligible to be authors may be acknowledged by name (or in group) and for a specific contribution, after obtaining express permission(s). Non-author contributors do not endorse nor are responsible for the content of the submission.

3. Anonymous submission: As a rule, author(s) must identify themselves to the journal and readers. However, under some exceptional circumstances, IJME may permit author(s) to remain anonymous to readers. Such authors must identify themselves, in confidence, to the Editor, explain the need for anonymity and provide a copy of the submission for which anonymity is required. The decision on anonymity will be made on the basis of the author’s circumstances, the subject matter and points being made in the submission, and any other relevant material/issues.

4. Funding Support: Disclosure of funding support received for the research and/or preparation of the manuscript for submission is essential.

5. Research ethics and ethics approval: If the submission is based on information/data collected from human participants and/or animals, the methodology section must describe the ethics standards and principles observed in practice. Such submission must be accompanied by a copy of the ethics approval provided by a relevant Research Ethics Committee (REC). If the REC waived review and/or any ethics standard or approved verbal consent, please ensure that they are stated in the approval letter of the EC. Please note that in India the law mandates a prior approval of all health research by an REC. For more information, please see Section 4 of the ICMR Guidelines.

6. Cover-letter: Please use the cover-letter format as given on the website here . The cover-letter must contain all information on 1 to 6 components given above, and should be signed by all authors.

TEXT OF SUBMISSION

• Title of the submission

• Author(s) information with their affiliations, mailing addresses, telephone numbers and institutional and personal email ids ( in the sequence they should appear in the article )

• An abstract ( as per requirement mentioned in the Section for which the submission is made )

• Main Text of article: Please see word limits and other requirements as per the section for which it is submitted

• End-Notes and References: Please note (a) foot-notes are not allowed, (b) references should be in the style used by the IJME

• Tables/diagrams/charts/graphs: We do not publish any of them in colour, except in the online versions. Please submit them separately as rtf/doc files, and images as jpg files.

2. Use of inclusive language: Authors must try to use gender-neutral terminology whenever addressing general issues (regardless of a specific sex/gender). For example: use plural nouns like physicians/patients/reviewers instead of he/she. Exceptions: Articles/studies involving specific study populations, such as pregnant women should be described as such.

Avoid using stigmatising language/words related to mental health and disabilities. For example, use ‘died by suicide’ instead of ‘committed suicide’, ‘person with a disability’ instead of ‘disabled person’, or ‘person with brain injury’ instead of ‘brain damaged’.

Helpful resources:

United Nations’ Guidelines for gender-inclusive language in English: https://www.un.org/en/gender-inclusive-language/guidelines.shtml Words Matter: Guidelines for using inclusive language in the workplace (British Columbia Public Service): https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/careers/all-employees/working-with-others/words-matter.pdf

3. Text with diacritical marks: Since IJME is also read by general readers, please avoid using text with diacritical marks except if used infrequently or if used in names.

FORMATTING OF THE MANUSCRIPT

1. Please format manuscripts as rtf/doc/docx in Times New Roman, 12 points. Submissions in PDF format are not acceptable.

o Use UK English.

o Avoid using ampersand and capitals within the sentences.

o Terminology needs to be consistent throughout the manuscript.

o The title and all headings should be in sentence case.

3. Alignment and spacing: The text should be left aligned with single-line spacing and double spacing between paragraphs.

4. Subheads: Do not number subheads or put them in capital letters. Please follow a single format. Multiple subheads should be differentiated as follows:

5. Endnotes: We do not carry footnotes in the text. Endnotes may be used only where absolutely necessary.

6. Tables/figures/charts/diagrams: All in total should not exceed the number specified for the section for which the submission is made. If more of them are needed, they will be made available only on the website with links in the submission at the relevant places. In the tables, please provide percentages as well as frequencies. Please note that the words used in them are counted as of the submission and so make tables simple and as small as possible with only required text. Tables should only in exceptional cases exceed one page in size, and must be formatted for submission. All acronyms/abbreviations in the tables/figures must be expanded in full in the notes on the table. Tables and Figures must be numbered 1, 2, 3… (Table 1, 2, 3, …; Figure 1, 2, 3, ….) with self-explanatory titles, and referenced in the text. If tables and figures are obtained or reproduced from third party sources, the authors must ensure that, if required, proper permissions have been taken, and all sources are accurately cited.

For submission reporting findings of an empirical study, the editor/reviewer may request more tables or anonymised raw data or codes used for analysis for further scrutiny.

7. Style: The IJME’s readership includes people from different academic and work backgrounds such as medicine, public health, research, health activism, law, philosophy, history and so on. Please write in a clear and direct style. Use the active voice, avoid long sentences, make the minimum use of abbreviations, and spell out acronyms the first time they are used. Please keep the title short, simple and relevant, and use subheads to break up the text in long articles. If necessary, seek the assistance of a writer, giving them appropriate credit in the acknowledgements section of the article. Since IJME is also read by general readers, please avoid using text with diacritical marks except if used frequently or if used in names.

8. Referencing: The journal follows the ICMJE’s Uniform Requirements for references. General rules for this may be found at www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html, with details in the book Citing Medicine, available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7256/ . References may be formatted in the IJME style once the article is accepted.

References should be complete, with details of the author/s, title, publication title, publishers, and place and date of publication. For Internet references, a link to the cited work is necessary, with the citation date. A typical format for references is:

Gopichandran V. Trust in healthcare: an evolving concept. Indian J Med Ethics. 2013 Apr–Jun [cited 2017 May 3];10(2):79–82. Available from: https://doi.org/10.20529/IJME.2013.027

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear in the text, with the same number recurring for repeated citations. These numbers should appear within square brackets in the text, and not in superscript, with the full list of references provided at the end of the article.

During final revision of the submission, authors need to ensure that all endnotes and references are formatted as per the Journal style. Authors need to also ensure that the references and endnotes must be listed at the end of the manuscript, and not below each page in the word document.

Please limit the references to those essential to justify the point being made.

Personal communications as references are discouraged. If the communication is essential to the submission, the author must obtain emailed consent from the person being quoted. This consent should be sent directly to the journal and carry the person’s address, affiliation and telephone details. Such communications should be cited in parentheses in the text, with the name, subject and date of the communication. For unpublished scientific articles, please obtain written permission and confirmation of accuracy from the source.

References must be verified against the original documents before the article is submitted. The author is responsible for the accuracy of the references and for the links being functional.

Papers with incomplete references will be returned to the authors for correction before being sent for review. Authors of accepted manuscripts will be required to rework the references to comply with the IJME format before the manuscripts are processed for publication

9. Line numbering: Add line numbers continuously to the entire document before submitting the manuscript. Steps to add line numbers are:

a) On the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click Line Numbers

b) Select the option Continuous.

c) You will notice that on the left side of the page, the line numbers have been added.

REVIEW PROCESS

Submissions are reviewed initially by one of the editors and declined if their focus is not relevant to the journal or is not of interest to the journal. All submissions which fall within the purview of the journal are peer reviewed. Submissions are peer reviewed irrespective of whether they were submitted directly by the authors or commissioned by the journal. Submissions for the different sections of the journal are peer reviewed as per the following:

As a policy, IJME supports an unblinded peer review system where the names and details of the authors, reviewers and review reports are disclosed in the public domain. However, currently it is using the “single blinded” review system under which the names and other details of authors are disclosed to reviewers, but the names and other details of reviewers are not disclosed to authors. In order to make the transition to an unblinded “review disclosure” system, IJME encourages and provides reviewers the option to allow IJME to disclose their names and other details alongside the publication of the manuscripts reviewed by them.

ANTI-PLAGIARISM POLICY

Plagiarism is the use of others’ published (print or electronic) and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property), in whole or in part, without proper attribution or permission, and presenting them as new and original work of one’s own rather than derived from an existing source. The act of referencing a passage verbatim from previously published material is also considered as plagiarism. Please rephrase or summarise any statement taken from another source along with citing the appropriate reference. The journal will investigate if plagiarism is detected and will retract a plagiarised article along with informing the head of institution the author is associated to. For more information about plagiarism, please visit the link https://wame.org/recommendations-on-publication-ethics-policies-for-medical-journals#Plagiarism

POLICY ON THE USE OF THE ARTICIFICAL INTELLIGENCE

Please make complete and honest disclosure of the aid taken of any Artificial Intelligence in the preparation of manuscript. The disclosure must be in full detail and strictly as per the recommendations of the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME): https://wame.org/page3.php?id=106

EDITORIAL DECISION, ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGE (APC), COPYEDITING, COPYRIGHTS

1. Processing a submission: A submission goes through the following steps of processing

1. Acknowledgement of receipt of the submission with a cover letter providing the requisite information.

2. A preliminary assessment of the submission by the editorial office and a Working Editor (WE), and plagiarism check.

3. If the initial assessment is positive, assignment of the submission to reviewer(s)

4. Receipt of peer review reports/comments, evaluation by the WE and communication of the decision to the author(s). The Editor may reject the submission at this stage, or ask for revisions

5. Revision of the submission by authors, based on the reviewers’ comments. Authors are expected to respond to each of the comments either by making the required changes or by explaining their decision not to make the change. The author must resubmit revised manuscript within 90 days of receipt of peer review comments. Thereafter, unless requested by the author otherwise, the submission will be marked as “withdrawn” and archived.

6. Assessment of the revised manuscript by the WE and recommendation to the Editor

7. Assessment of all documents and the final manuscript by the Editor to arrive at a final decision

8. Communication of the decision to the author(s)

9. If the article is accepted, the author is expected to reply accepting the terms of publication

10. Copyediting; the article will be sent for publication only after the author approves of the copyedited manuscript

11. Publication

2. Editorial decision: Revised submissions may be sent back to the original reviewers for their opinion before the final editorial decision is taken. The IJME editors are responsible for monitoring and ensuring the fairness, comprehensiveness, timeliness and civility of the peer-review process. All final decisions on submissions are made by the Editor. The Forum for Medical Ethics Society, the publisher and owner of the journal, has no role in editorial decision-making.

3. Article Processing Charge (APC): The payment of the APC is not mandatory, nor a specific fee is stipulated. If you, your project or institution has funds for publication, we request you to voluntarily make payment of an amount of APC that you can afford — it is called PayWhatYouWant (PWYW). Such voluntary payment of APC will help in sustaining the journal.

4. Copyediting: Articles accepted for publication may be edited for language, clarity and length. The author(s) will be sent the copyedited manuscript by email for pre-publication approval. At that time, they may also be asked to clarify certain points raised by the copyeditor. Authors are requested to aid the demands of production and respond to the corrected manuscript within five days. Changes to the copyedited manuscript must be restricted to responding to queries and correcting errors. All changes should be in track change mode in the text of the returned file with a new filename.

5. Publication and author’s access: We try to publish accepted articles ahead of print in the ‘Online First’ section to reduce delays. However, this is at the Editor’s discretion. Authors in India will receive a complimentary copy of the issue in which their article is published. Authors outside India will receive a PDF copy of the issue. PDF files of all articles will also be available on the website as soon as the article is uploaded, either as Online First or as part of the quarterly issue. All articles published in the IJME are available open access on its website with a request to PayWhatYouWant.

6. Journal’s copyright and Authors’ rights: The authors are required to provide copyright for the published manuscript to the IJME. The published material is open access online, and the print material is accessible to subscribers. The authors, on the other hand, are at liberty to deposit all versions (submitted, revised, published) of their manuscripts in their institutional and other repositories.

7. Creative Commons License: The reproduction of material published by IJME is covered by a Creative Commons license – Attribution, Non-Commercial, Non-Derivatives, 4.0 International ( CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 ). Accordingly, we provide permission for the reproduction of the IJME material without modification for non-commercial purposes, but the IJME allows modifications and commercial use of the material only on payment. For more information, please contact [email protected] .

Home > JOURNAL

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

• Instructions for Authors

Who Can Submit?

Authorship criteria.

• Additional Mandatory Uploads

Formatting Requirements

Language Editing Services

Rights for authors and indian journal of research in homoeopathy.

Anyone may submit an article (see Article Types) to be considered for publication in Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy provided he or she owns the copyright to the work being submitted or is authorized by the copyright owner or owners to submit the article. Authors are the initial owners of the copyrights to their works (an exception in the non-academic world to this might exist if the authors have, as a condition of employment, agreed to transfer copyright to their employer).

The journal adheres to the ICMJE criteria for authorship, which is as follows:

The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria: Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND Final approval of the version to be published; AND Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

The details of this criteria are available here: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html#two

General Submission Rules

Submitted articles cannot have been previously published, nor be forthcoming in an archival journal or book (print or electronic). Please note: "publication" in a working-paper series does not constitute prior publication. In addition, by submitting article to Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy, the author is stipulating that all material related to article is not currently under review at another journal (electronic or print) and that he or she will not submit the material to another journal (electronic or print) until the completion of the editorial decision process at Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy. If you have concerns about the submission terms for Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy, please contact the editors.

Every article will be published along with a received/accepted date.

All manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with "Uniform requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals" developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (May 2022). The uniform requirements and specific requirement of Indian Journal of Research in Homeopathy are summarized below.

• Article Types

1. Original Articles

These are the original, substantiated and unpublished research articles in all aspects of basic and applied research in homoeopathy, including randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, outcome studies, cost effectiveness analyses, case-control series, and surveys with high response rate. The original articles have various sections with the headings: Abstract, Key-words, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables and Figure legends. The text of original articles may be up to 4000 words (word limit excludes Abstract, references and Tables). Abstract should be structured, within 250 words, and with 5 headings: Background, Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusion.

Some of the areas of focus reported under original research include clinical research, basic research, public health research using homoeopathic medicines and drug research including drug standardization, drug proving, clinical verification studies on drugs prepared according to homoeopathic pharmaceutical methods etc.

Reports of randomized clinical trials should present information on the basis of the CONSORT Statement.

The Reporting guidelines for each study type are given below. Authors should also refer to appropriate extensions pertaining to homoeopathy for reporting their studies.

• Randomised trials: “Reporting data on homeopathic treatments (RedHot) : A supplement to CONSORT”.
• Reporting experiments in homeopathic basic research (REHBaR) – a detailed guideline for authors

2. Review Article

A paper which comprehensively sums up the current state of research on a particular topic falls under this article type. It collates all empirical evidence that fits pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer a specific research question. These include Meta-analysis/Systematic Reviews/Scoping review- which should include: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Conflict of Interest, Acknowledgements and References. Reviews shall have a maximum length of 10,000 words, inclusive of title, abstract, tables, figures, and references list. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses must be reported according to following PRISMA guidelines, as available at http://www.prisma-statement.org/ .

• PRISMA for reporting of systematic reviews/Meta-analysis
• PRISMA-P for reporting of systematic review and meta-analysis protocols
• PRISMA-ScR for reporting of scoping reviews
• MOOSE for reporting of meta-analyses of observational studies

3. and 4. Case Report/Case Series

We invite you to report practice-based evidence in the form of case reports, which reflect on clinical research. Authors may report new, interesting, and rare cases; clinical successes with homoeopathic treatment in difficult diseases or diseases of public health importance; unexpected or unusual presentations of a disease; diseases presenting with a great diagnostic or therapeutic challenge; clinical presentations, diagnoses and/or management of new and emerging diseases; unexpected course in disease course while under treatment; findings that shed new light on the possible pathogenesis of a disease. It is expected that all reported cases are reported with appropriate supporting evidence and should provide a learning experience for the readers. Authors may refer to CARE guidelines and more specific HOM CASE guidelines to report the cases and ensure completeness, without which the article may not be accepted. For causal attribution, MONARCH criteria is to be used. Word Limit: Up to 1500 words (excluding Abstract and references); Abstract:Structured abstract with Word limit of 250 words, with 2 headings: Introduction and case summary; Headings: Abstract, Key-words, Introduction, Case report, Discussion, Reference, Tables and Legends in that order; References: Up to 15 references permitted.

• A case report may be authored by up to four authors only.
• A case report must be submitted after seeking informed consent from the patient and maintaining anonymity

5. Perspectives

This article type includes debates, commentary and other discussion topics.“Debates” are brief provocative accounts that provide differing perspectives on a single shared issue or topic of discussion. Their focus may be similar to that of editorials and viewpoints, but these are generally shorter pieces that make one or two salient points. The editors will decide whether a given article, if accepted for publication, is designated ‘Debate’ or ‘Commentary’. Debate article can be an argument from an area of subject based on research practices and ethical concerns. The content should reflect a polite approach from an author to argue without creating damage to reputation of the referred individual or organization. The viewpoint should address pros and cons on the subject issue with factual statements and proper evidence. Title:Up to 30 words; Unstructured Abstract:up to 200 words; Main Text word count: 1200-3000; Keywords: 3 to 5; Maximum references: 5-10; Tables/Figures: Up to 2

6. Short Communication

The journal invites Short Communications for rapid dissemination of significant findings which do not warrant a full-length paper. The examples of short communication include preliminary results that are original and of high interest, time sensitive,concerning a particular aspect of a problem, a new finding expected to have a significant impact on the relevant scientific community etc. All short communications are peer-reviewed. The length maybe restricted to 2500 words, 8- 10 references, no more than 2 figures/tables. There should be an unstructured, unreferenced abstract of 150 words and a single section in main text which combines Methods, Results and Discussion, Conclusion, followed by references and consent.

7. Letter to Editor (LTE)

A letter to editor is a form of response or brief communication to a journal’s editor written on any article published in the journal or any other topic of interest to the readers. LTE are invited to encourage intellectual discussion between readers and authors, thereby enhancing scientific knowledge.

A LTE must be relevant and purposeful with constructive criticism or opinions about a specific manuscript like original article, case report or case series published in this journal. It can highlight concerns about methodology or quality, any additional information or findings, clarification about any aspect of the article. The LTE should be of maximum 1,000 words and can include up to 10 references and normally do not include table or figure. There should be proper citation to the original article and the issue or concern raised properly described. The text flow should have introduction, key points, conclusion and suggestions. Any disrespectful, obscene, rude comments should be strictly avoided. The writing should be courteous, specific and based on scientific evidence.

The Editor-in-chief shall have the discretion to publish the Letters and may edit for clarity or length.

8. Response to Letter to Editor

The reply letters are provided with the original letter to editor under the heading of ‘Reply’. As per Editor-in-chief’s discretion, the Letter to editor may be sent to authors of original article who will provide a response to be co-published with the letter. The response may be limited to 500 words.

9. Book Review

10. conference report, 11. research highlights, 12. obituary, reporting guidelines.

Authors must refer to one of the following reporting guidelines as per the study design, also available at https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy adheres to the Manuscript Preparation Guidelines. Although we can provide limited technical support, it is ultimately the responsibility of the author to produce an electronic version of the article as a Microsoft Word, WordPerfect or RTF file that can be converted to a PDF file.

Manuscript Preparation Guidelines for Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy This document provides details on typesetting and layout requirements pertaining to manuscript submission to Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy.

Conflicts of Interest (CoI)/ Competing Interests

Additional mandatory uploads

• First Page file ( Template attached )
• Conflict of Interest Form
• Do not include a title page or abstract. (Begin the document with the introduction; a title page, including the abstract, will be added to your paper by the editors.)
• Do not include page numbers, headers, or footers. These will be added by the editors.
• Write your article in English.
• Submit your manuscript, including tables, figures, appendices, etc., as a single file (Only Word/RTF files (.doc or .docx) are accepted).
• Page size should be 8.5 x 11-inches; (22 x 28cm).
• All margins (left, right, top and bottom) should be 1.5 inches (3.8 cm), including your tables and figures.
• Single space your text.
• Insert line numbers in the manuscript.
• Use a single column layout with both left and right margins justified.
• Font: 1. Body—12 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available 2. Footnotes—10 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available
• When possible, there should be no pages where more than a quarter of the page is empty space.
• Identity of authors should not be revealed in paper (i.e. article file) except first page file (e.g. name of the institute/study site in materials and methods, citing previous study as ‘our study’, names on figure labels, name of institute, physician in investigation reports, Acknowledgement, Funders’ information etc. The study setting etc. to be replaced with the phrase: "hidden for review process". All this information should be given under First Page File. Once review is over, the editors will convey to the authors for replacing this phrase with original text.
• Abbreviations spelt out in full for the first time in the article.
• Numerals from 1 to 10 spelt out. Numerals at the beginning of the sentence spelt out.
• Homoeopathy medicines names spellings and abbreviations should be as per Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia of India (HPI) or any other standard pharmacopoeia when the medicine is not mentioned in HPI. Homoeopathy names must be mentioned in italics, in full at first appearance and abbreviated subsequently. Click here to view Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia of India [HPI] .
• Mention potencies uniformly as 6C, 30C, 1M, 3X, 6X, etc.

Note: The authors must strictly adhere to the timelines provided for revision. If there is no response from the authors for 60 days after the due date, the article will be automatically rejected.

Additional Recommendations

Indenting, Line Spacing, and Justification

Indent all paragraphs except those following a section heading. An indent should be at least 2 em-spaces.

Do not insert extra space between paragraphs of text with the exception of long quotations, theorems, propositions, special remarks, etc. These should be set off from the surrounding text by additional space above and below.

All text should be left-aligned as far as possible.

Language & Grammar

All submissions must be in English. Except for common foreign words and phrases, the use of foreign words and phrases should be avoided. If used, the foreign terms should be set in italics rather than underlined.

Colored Text

Set the font color to black for the majority of the text. We encourage authors to take advantage of the ability to use color in the production of figures, maps, etc., however, you need to appreciate that this will cause some of your readers problems when they print the document on a black & white printer. For this reason, you are advised to avoid the use of colors in situations where their translation to black and white would render the material illegible or incomprehensible.

Please ensure that there are no colored mark-ups or comments in the final version, unless they are meant to be part of the final text. (You may need to "accept all changes" in track changes or set your document to "normal" in final markup.)

Except, possibly, where special symbols are needed, use Times or the closest comparable font available. If you desire a second font, for instance for headings, use a sans serif font (e.g., Arial or Computer Modern Sans Serif).

The captions should be set in ALL CAPS, 14 PT. FONT.

The main body of text should be set in 12pt.

Headings (e.g., start of sections) should be distinguished from the main body text by their font size. Use the same font face for all headings and indicate the hierarchy by reducing the font size. There should be space above and below headings.

The font for the main body of text must be black and, if at all possible, in Times or closest comparable font available.

Use of Italics

Whenever possible, homoeopathy remedy names, botanical or zoological nomenclature of species, etc., titles of books, movies, etc., should be set in italics rather than underlined.

Footnotes should appear at the bottom of the page on which they are referenced rather than at the end of the paper. Footnotes should be in 10 pt. Times or closest comparable font available, they should be single spaced, and there should be a footnote separator rule (line). Footnote numbers or symbols in the text must follow, rather than precede, punctuation. Excessively long footnotes are probably better handled in an appendix. All footnotes should be left and right-justified (i.e., flush with the right margin), unless this creates awkward spacing. Authors may note that Footnotes do not include References, which should come at the end of the document.

Tables and Figures

To the extent possible, tables and figures should appear in the document near where they are referenced in the text. Large tables or figures should be put on pages by themselves. Avoid the use of overly small type in tables. In no case should tables or figures be in a separate document or file. All tables and figures must fit within 1.5" margins on all sides (top, bottom, left and right) in both portrait and landscape view. The editors reserve the right to request original tables, figures, and other images separately at any time. Please be sure to include the version date in the filename of your supplemental file(s) when uploading (e.g. dataset_1_jan_2022.txt), as well as when uploading any revision to supplemental content.

• No repetition of data should be there in tables/graphs and in text.
• Figures and Tables must be cited in the text.
• Credit note/acknowledgement for figures and tables borrowed/reproduced from another source should be provided.

Mathematics

Roman letters used in mathematical expressions as variables should be italicized. Roman letters used as part of multi-letter function names should not be italicized. Whenever possible, subscripts and superscripts should be a smaller font size than the main text.

The journal mandatorily follows ICMJE Guidelines for references. This link provides the details of the same. http://www.icmje.org or http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html .

A few examples for references are shared below:

• Journal article, up to 6 personal author(s):

Pannek J, Pannek‑Rademacher S, Jus M, Jus M. Usefulness of classical homoeopathy for the prevention of urinary tract infections in patients with neurogenic bladder dysfunction: A case series. Indian J Res Homoeopath 2014;8:31.

• Journal article, more than 6 personal author(s):

Nayak C, Singh V, Singh K, Singh H, Chakraborty PS, Kaushik S, et al. Clinical Research: A prospective multicentre observational study to evaluate the role of homeopathic therapy with a group of predefined homoeopathic medicines in the management of gastroenteritis. Indian J Res Homoeopath 2008;2:28‑35.

• Volume with supplement

Buxton M. Assessing the cost-effectiveness of homeopathic medicines: are the problems different from other health technologies? British Homoeopathic journal 2000;89, Supple 1: S20-S22.

• Electronic journal article:

Mahesh S, Denisova T, Gerasimova L, Pakhmutova N, Mallappa M, Vithoulkas G. Multimorbidity After Surgical Menopause Treated with Individualized Classical Homeopathy: A Case Report. Clin Med Insights Case Rep. 2020 Oct 19;13:1179547620965560. doi: 10.1177/1179547620965560. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1179547620965560?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed

• Book, personal author(s):
• Book or pamphlet, organization as both author and publisher:

Central Council for Research in Homeopathy. Clinical Research Studies‑Series III. New Delhi: Central Council for Research in Homeopathy; 2010.

• Book, editor(s):

Coker R, Rifat Atun MM, editors. Health Systems and the Challenge of Communicable Diseases. Experiences from Europe and Lain America. MC Graw Hill. UK: Open University Press; 2008.

• Book,editor(s), specific chapter with individual author(s):

Central Council for Research in Homeopathy. Acute respiratory infections. In: Clinical Research Studies‑Series III. New Delhi: Central Council for Research in Homeopathy; 2010. p. 1‑9.

• Electronic book, organization as author, freely available:

European Central Council of Homeopaths. Nosodes in Homeopathy Practice: An ECCH Survey; 2008.[Internet] Europe: ECCH; 2008.[cited 2020 May 28] Available from: https://www.aeha-buendnis.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Nosodes-in-homeopathy-practice-ECCH-survey-July-2008.pdf .

• Part of Website

European Coalition on Homeopathic and Anthroposophic Medicinal Products (ECHAMP). Nosodes. [about 1 screen]. [updated 2020 Nov 30 ; cited 2021 June 10] ]Available from: https://echamp.eu/our-sector/practice-and-evidence/products/nosodes .

• Entry in an online reference work:

Title of encyclopedia [Internet]. Place of publication: Publisher; year. Title of article; [updated YYYY Mon DD; cited YYYY Mon DD]; [# of pages/screens]. Available from: URL

• Electronic newspaper article:

Akpan N. Why a Coronavirus Vaccine could Take Way Longer than A Year. News Report by National Geographic. [Internet]. 2020 April 25 [cited 2020 April 28];Life:[about 2 screens].Available from: https:// www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/04/why-coronavirus‑vaccine‑could‑take‑way‑longer‑than‑a‑year/ .

• Streaming video:

Manchanda RK. Management of rare diseases with homoeopathy [MP4]. New Delhi: CCRH; 2018 Feb 21 [viewed on 2021 June 10]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgAhYr2RX8g .

The authors may utilise Elsevier's Webshop for language editing services. Please note that this service is a paid one, and is optional for the authors. The publishers of this journal have no direct or indirect association, financial or otherwise, with the said service provider.

As further described in our submission agreement (the Submission Agreement), in consideration for publication of the article, the authors assign to Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy all copyright in the article , subject to the expansive personal--use exceptions described below.

Attribution and Usage Policies

Reproduction, posting, transmission or other distribution or use of the article or any material therein, in any medium as permitted by a personal-use exemption or by written agreement of Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy, requires credit to Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy as copyright holder (e.g., Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy © 2021).

Personal-use Exceptions

The following uses are always permitted to the author(s) and do not require further permission from Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy provided the author does not alter the format or content of the articles, including the copyright notification:

• Storage and back-up of the article on the author's computer(s) and digital media (e.g., diskettes, back-up servers, Zip disks, etc.), provided that the article stored on these computers and media is not readily accessible by persons other than the author(s);
• Posting of the article on the author(s) personal website, provided that the website is non-commercial;
• Posting of the article on the internet as part of a non-commercial open access institutional repository or other non-commercial open access publication site affiliated with the author(s)'s place of employment (e.g., a Phrenology professor at the University of Southern North Dakota can have her article appear in the University of Southern North Dakota's Department of Phrenology online publication series); and
• Posting of the article on a non-commercial course website for a course being taught by the author at the university or college employing the author.

People seeking an exception, or who have questions about use, should contact the editors.

General Terms and Conditions of Use

Users of the Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy website and/or software agree not to misuse the Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy service or software in any way.

The failure of Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy to exercise or enforce any right or provision in the policies or the Submission Agreement does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any term of the Submission Agreement or these policies is found to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Submission Agreement and these policies remain in full force and effect. These policies and the Submission Agreement constitute the entire agreement between Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy and the Author(s) regarding submission of the Article.

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Submission guidelines

Manuscript preparation, manuscript submission, manuscript submission checklist, artwork and illustrations guidelines, supplementary information (si), review process, editing services, ethical responsibilities of authors, authorship principles, compliance with ethical standards, competing interests, research involving human participants, their data or biological material, informed consent, open access publishing.

• Mistakes to avoid during manuscript preparation

Instructions for authors

• The Indian Journal of Pediatrics is a peer-reviewed, double-blinded monthly journal that publishes original articles, review articles, case reports which provide new information, letters in relation to published articles, scientific research letters, picture of the month, announcements (meetings, courses, job advertisements); summary report of conferences, commentaries, grand rounds, clinico-pathological conferences and book reviews.

• Original articles should ordinarily be limited to 2500 words with about 30 references and 4-5 figures/tables.

• Review articles should not exceed 3000 words with not more than 45 references. Review articles are mostly invited articles which are published as part of Special symposium. The titles and prospective authors are selected by the guest editors.

• Clinical Briefs must not exceed 800 words with one figure or table and about 10 references.

• For Scientific Letter/Correspondence: The maximum word count permissible is 300 words with 4 references and no figure & table. However the ones on the Springerlink show a word count of maximum 350 words with 5 references. Kindly change it to 300 words with 4 references.

• For Picture of the Month: Kindly change as per the updated guidelines provided below: Picture of the Month should have a brief case history and a commentary, with maximum of 230 words with maximum of 3 references with maximum of 1 Figure. Abstract is not required.

• Commentary should run to maximum 500 words with 5 latest references, running to maximum 1.5 pages.

• Clinico-pathological conferences should run to maximum 3000 words with maximum of 4 figures/tables and headings like clinical protocol, pathology protocol, final autopsy diagnosis, open forum, discussion with maximum of 20-25 references.

• Grand round should run to maximum 2500 words with 30 references. Format should be introduction, presentation of case and discussion. The discussion should be referenced.

All manuscripts must be accompanied by a signed Copyright Transfer Form which is available at

This can be submitted as a scanned copy. This form states that “The undersigned author(s) certify(ies) that the article is original, is not under consideration by any other journal, and has not been previously published. All copyright ownership of the manuscript entitled (title of article) is hereby transferred to the publishers of the Indian Journal of Pediatrics.”

The authors should state in the manuscript that ethical clearance was obtained for the research project. The journal has the right to ask for a copy of ethical clearance.

Articles will be edited for style and grammar. Technical jargon is to be kept to a minimum. The book entitled “Scientific Style and Format – The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors and Publishers”, 7th edition, published by Council of Science Editors is a good guide. American spellings are used in the Journal.

All statement and opinions expressed in the manuscripts are those of the authors, and not those of the editor(s) or publishers. The editor(s) and publishers disclaim any responsibility for such material.

The editor(s) and publishers also do not guarantee, warrant or endorse any product or service advertised in the Journal, nor do they guarantee any claim made by the manufacturer of such product of service.

Submission of a manuscript implies: that the work described has not been published before; that it is not under consideration for publication anywhere else; that its publication has been approved by all co-authors, if any, as well as by the responsible authorities – tacitly or explicitly – at the institute where the work has been carried out. The publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation.

Permissions

Authors wishing to include figures, tables, or text passages that have already been published elsewhere are required to obtain permission from the copyright owner(s) for both the print and online format and to include evidence that such permission has been granted when submitting their papers. Any material received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from the authors.

Online Submission

Please follow the hyperlink “Submit manuscript” and upload all of your manuscript files following the instructions given on the screen.

Source Files

Please ensure you provide all relevant editable source files at every submission and revision. Failing to submit a complete set of editable source files will result in your article not being considered for review. For your manuscript text please always submit in common word processing formats such as .docx or LaTeX.

Additional remark on Online Submission

Authors must submit their article online at www.editorialmanager.com/ijpe/ . Electronic submission substantially reduces the editorial processing, reviewing time and overall publication time. The articles appear on the internet within 2-3 weeks of acceptance as Online First articles.

Please follow the hyperlink “Submit online” on the right and upload all of your manuscript files following the instructions given on the screen.

Online submission. www.editorialmanger.com/ijpe/

- Name, Email and address of author responsible for correspondence.

- For Original Article Structured Abstract of 250 words with 4-6 key words.

- For Review articles and Clinical Briefs non structured Abstract of 250 and 150 words respectively with 4-6 key words.

- References should be cited consecutively in the text in parenthesis.

- Covering letter, including statement of originality and signifying approval of final copy by all authors.

- Copyright Transfer Certificate

- References of latest edition of standard texts like Nelson should be quoted.

- Clearance of the research project by the Institutional Ethics Committee, where ever required.

All editorial correspondence should be sent to Editor-in-Chief, Indian Journal of Pediatrics, 125 (2nd Floor), Gautam Nagar, Behind South Café,

New Delhi 110 049, India.

Tel: 26568098 & 41345105

E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Please make sure your title page contains the following information.

The title should be concise and informative.

Author information

• The name(s) of the author(s)
• The affiliation(s) of the author(s), i.e. institution, (department), city, (state), country
• A clear indication and an active e-mail address of the corresponding author
• If available, the 16-digit ORCID of the author(s)

If address information is provided with the affiliation(s) it will also be published.

For authors that are (temporarily) unaffiliated we will only capture their city and country of residence, not their e-mail address unless specifically requested.

Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT , do not currently satisfy our authorship criteria . Notably an attribution of authorship carries with it accountability for the work, which cannot be effectively applied to LLMs. Use of an LLM should be properly documented in the Methods section (and if a Methods section is not available, in a suitable alternative part) of the manuscript.

Please provide a structured abstract of 150 to 250 words which should be divided into the following sections:

• Purpose (stating the main purposes and research question)

For life science journals only (when applicable)

• Trial registration number and date of registration for prospectively registered trials
• Trial registration number and date of registration followed by “retrospectively registered”, for retrospectively registered trials

Please provide 4 to 6 keywords which can be used for indexing purposes.

Statements and Declarations

The following statements should be included under the heading "Statements and Declarations" for inclusion in the published paper. Please note that submissions that do not include relevant declarations will be returned as incomplete.

• Competing Interests: Authors are required to disclose financial or non-financial interests that are directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication. Please refer to “Competing Interests and Funding” below for more information on how to complete this section.

Please see the relevant sections in the submission guidelines for further information as well as various examples of wording. Please revise/customize the sample statements according to your own needs.

Additional remark on Abstract/ Keywords

Abstracts should be as follows:

• For original articles a structured abstract of 250 words which should be divided into the following sections: Objectives (stating the main purposes and research question), Methods, Results and Conclusions.

• For Clinical Briefs and Clinico-pathological Conferences: An unstructured abstract running into 150 words should be provided.

• For Review Articles and Grand Rounds: A non-structured abstract running to 250 words should be provided.

• Scientific Letter to the Editor/ Correspondence / Picture of the Month / Commentary: No Abstract is required.

Provide 4 to 6 keywords which can be used for indexing purposes. (For Original Articles, Clinical Brief and Review articles Grand Rounds and Clinico-pathological Conferences only.)

Text Formatting

Manuscripts should be submitted in Word.

• Use a normal, plain font (e.g., 10-point Times Roman) for text.
• Use italics for emphasis.
• Use the automatic page numbering function to number the pages.
• Do not use field functions.
• Use tab stops or other commands for indents, not the space bar.
• Use the table function, not spreadsheets, to make tables.
• Use the equation editor or MathType for equations.
• Save your file in docx format (Word 2007 or higher) or doc format (older Word versions).

Manuscripts with mathematical content can also be submitted in LaTeX. We recommend using Springer Nature’s LaTeX template .

Please use no more than three levels of displayed headings.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations should be defined at first mention and used consistently thereafter.

Footnotes can be used to give additional information, which may include the citation of a reference included in the reference list. They should not consist solely of a reference citation, and they should never include the bibliographic details of a reference. They should also not contain any figures or tables.

Footnotes to the text are numbered consecutively; those to tables should be indicated by superscript lower-case letters (or asterisks for significance values and other statistical data). Footnotes to the title or the authors of the article are not given reference symbols.

Always use footnotes instead of endnotes.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc. should be placed in a separate section on the title page. The names of funding organizations should be written in full.

Additional remarks on Text

Text formatting

Original Articles must consider and follow the format: Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions. The matter must be written in a manner which is easy to understand, and should be restricted to the topic discussed. Do not use vertical lines or underlining in the text.

Abbreviate measurements (cm, ml) according to the style of CSE Manual for Authors, Editors and Publishers, 7th edition, published by Council of Science Editors. Abbreviations should be used sparingly and must be preceded by the full form initially. Avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract.

Year, month, week, day, hour, minute and second should be abbreviated as y, mo, wk, d, h, min, and s, respectively.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc. should be placed in a separate section at the end of the article. The names of funding organizations should be written in full.

Contributions, Conflict of Interest and Funding Source

Submissions to the Indian Journal of Pediatrics should also include at the end of the article (i) Each author’s contribution (ii) Conflict of interest (iii) Funding source.

References should be cited in the text consecutively and should be identified by numbers in square brackets. Some examples: 1. Negotiation research spans many disciplines [3]. 2. This result was later contradicted by Becker and Seligman [5]. 3. This effect has been widely studied [1-3, 7].

Reference list

The list of references should only include works that are cited in the text and that have been published or accepted for publication. Personal communications and unpublished works should only be mentioned in the text. Do not use footnotes or endnotes as a substitute for a reference list.The entries in the list should be numbered consecutively.

Journal article

Smith JJ. The world of science. Am J Sci. 1999;36:234–5.

Article by DOI Slifka MK, Whitton JL. Clinical implications of dysregulated cytokine production. J Mol Med. 2000; doi:10.1007/s001090000086

Blenkinsopp A, Paxton P. Symptoms in the pharmacy: a guide to the management of common illness. 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Science; 1998.

Book chapter

Wyllie AH, Kerr JFR, Currie AR. Cell death: the significance of apoptosis. In: Bourne GH, Danielli JF, Jeon KW, eds. International review of cytology. London: Academic; 1980. pp. 251–306.

Online document

Doe J. Title of subordinate document. In: The dictionary of substances and their effects. Royal Society of Chemistry. 1999. http://www.rsc.org/dose/title of subordinate document. Accessed 15 Jan 1999.

Always use the standard abbreviation of a journal’s name according to the ISSN List of Title Word Abbreviations, see

www.issn.org/2-22661-LTWA-online.php

For authors using EndNote, Springer provides an output style that supports the formatting of in-text citations and reference list.

EndNote style (zip, 3 kB)

In citing other work, only references consulted in the original should be included. If it is against citation by others this should also be stated.

The Journal follows the Vancouver system of references. References should be numbered and listed consecutively in the order in which they are first cited in the text. Responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of references lies with the author.

The list of references should only include works that are cited in the text and that have been published or accepted for publication. Personal communications and unpublished works should only be mentioned in the text. Do not use footnotes or endnotes as a substitute for a reference list. The entries in the list should be numbered consecutively.

Journal Article

Last names and initials of all authors (unless more than 6 when only 1st three are given followed by et al). The title of the paper; journal title abbreviated according to the style of Index Medicus, year of publication; volume no; first and last page numbers.

Mehta MN, Mehta JN. Serum lipids and ABO blood groups in cord blood of neonates. Indian J Pediatr. 1984;51:30-43.

Give authors’ name followed by the book title, edition no, place of publication, publisher and year.

Smith GDL. Chronic Ear Disease. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 1980. p. 78-81.

Book Chapter

Provide authors’ names, chapter title, editors names, book title, place of publication, publisher, year and page range.

Malhotra KC. Medicogenetic problems of Indian tribes. In: Verma IC, editor. Medical Genetics in India, Vol. 2. Pondicherry: Auroma Enterprises; 1978. p. 51-5.

Papers accepted but not yet published should be included in the references followed by “In press”. Those in preparation, personal communications and unpublished observations should be referred to as such in the text only.

For more detailed information about the Vancouver system, authors should consult “Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals’ (Br Med J. 1982; 284: 1766-70).

Online Document

Doe J. Title of subordinate document. In: The dictionary of substances and their effects. Royal Society of Chemistry. 1999. Available at: http://www.rsc.org/dose/title of subordinate document. Accessed on 15 Jan 1999.

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Please note:

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Generative AI Images

Please check Springer’s policy on generative AI images and make sure your work adheres to the principles described therein.

Springer accepts electronic multimedia files (animations, movies, audio, etc.) and other supplementary files to be published online along with an article or a book chapter. This feature can add dimension to the author's article, as certain information cannot be printed or is more convenient in electronic form.

Before submitting research datasets as Supplementary Information, authors should read the journal’s Research data policy. We encourage research data to be archived in data repositories wherever possible.

• Supply all supplementary material in standard file formats.
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• High resolution (streamable quality) videos can be submitted up to a maximum of 25GB; low resolution videos should not be larger than 5GB.

Audio, Video, and Animations

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• Minimum video duration: 1 sec
• Supported file formats: avi, wmv, mp4, mov, m2p, mp2, mpg, mpeg, flv, mxf, mts, m4v, 3gp

Text and Presentations

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• A collection of figures may also be combined in a PDF file.

Spreadsheets

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Specialized Formats

• Specialized format such as .pdb (chemical), .wrl (VRML), .nb (Mathematica notebook), and .tex can also be supplied.

Collecting Multiple Files

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• For each supplementary material, please supply a concise caption describing the content of the file.

Processing of supplementary files

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In order to give people of all abilities and disabilities access to the content of your supplementary files, please make sure that

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• Video files do not contain anything that flashes more than three times per second (so that users prone to seizures caused by such effects are not put at risk)

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Japanese (日本語)

発表に備えて、論文を改善するにはどうすればよいでしょうか？

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This journal is committed to upholding the integrity of the scientific record. As a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics ( COPE ) the journal will follow the COPE guidelines on how to deal with potential acts of misconduct.

Authors should refrain from misrepresenting research results which could damage the trust in the journal, the professionalism of scientific authorship, and ultimately the entire scientific endeavour. Maintaining integrity of the research and its presentation is helped by following the rules of good scientific practice, which include*:

• The manuscript should not be submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration.
• The submitted work should be original and should not have been published elsewhere in any form or language (partially or in full), unless the new work concerns an expansion of previous work. (Please provide transparency on the re-use of material to avoid the concerns about text-recycling (‘self-plagiarism’).
• A single study should not be split up into several parts to increase the quantity of submissions and submitted to various journals or to one journal over time (i.e. ‘salami-slicing/publishing’).
• Concurrent or secondary publication is sometimes justifiable, provided certain conditions are met. Examples include: translations or a manuscript that is intended for a different group of readers.
• Results should be presented clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation (including image based manipulation). Authors should adhere to discipline-specific rules for acquiring, selecting and processing data.
• No data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were the author’s own (‘plagiarism’). Proper acknowledgements to other works must be given (this includes material that is closely copied (near verbatim), summarized and/or paraphrased), quotation marks (to indicate words taken from another source) are used for verbatim copying of material, and permissions secured for material that is copyrighted.

Important note: the journal may use software to screen for plagiarism.

• Authors should make sure they have permissions for the use of software, questionnaires/(web) surveys and scales in their studies (if appropriate).
• Research articles and non-research articles (e.g. Opinion, Review, and Commentary articles) must cite appropriate and relevant literature in support of the claims made. Excessive and inappropriate self-citation or coordinated efforts among several authors to collectively self-cite is strongly discouraged.
• Authors should avoid untrue statements about an entity (who can be an individual person or a company) or descriptions of their behavior or actions that could potentially be seen as personal attacks or allegations about that person.
• Research that may be misapplied to pose a threat to public health or national security should be clearly identified in the manuscript (e.g. dual use of research). Examples include creation of harmful consequences of biological agents or toxins, disruption of immunity of vaccines, unusual hazards in the use of chemicals, weaponization of research/technology (amongst others).
• Authors are strongly advised to ensure the author group, the Corresponding Author, and the order of authors are all correct at submission. Adding and/or deleting authors during the revision stages is generally not permitted, but in some cases may be warranted. Reasons for changes in authorship should be explained in detail. Please note that changes to authorship cannot be made after acceptance of a manuscript.

*All of the above are guidelines and authors need to make sure to respect third parties rights such as copyright and/or moral rights.

Upon request authors should be prepared to send relevant documentation or data in order to verify the validity of the results presented. This could be in the form of raw data, samples, records, etc. Sensitive information in the form of confidential or proprietary data is excluded.

If there is suspicion of misbehavior or alleged fraud the Journal and/or Publisher will carry out an investigation following COPE guidelines. If, after investigation, there are valid concerns, the author(s) concerned will be contacted under their given e-mail address and given an opportunity to address the issue. Depending on the situation, this may result in the Journal’s and/or Publisher’s implementation of the following measures, including, but not limited to:

• If the manuscript is still under consideration, it may be rejected and returned to the author.

- an erratum/correction may be placed with the article

- an expression of concern may be placed with the article

- or in severe cases retraction of the article may occur.

The reason will be given in the published erratum/correction, expression of concern or retraction note. Please note that retraction means that the article is maintained on the platform , watermarked “retracted” and the explanation for the retraction is provided in a note linked to the watermarked article.

• The author’s institution may be informed
• A notice of suspected transgression of ethical standards in the peer review system may be included as part of the author’s and article’s bibliographic record.

Fundamental errors

Authors have an obligation to correct mistakes once they discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their published article. The author(s) is/are requested to contact the journal and explain in what sense the error is impacting the article. A decision on how to correct the literature will depend on the nature of the error. This may be a correction or retraction. The retraction note should provide transparency which parts of the article are impacted by the error.

Suggesting / excluding reviewers

Authors are welcome to suggest suitable reviewers and/or request the exclusion of certain individuals when they submit their manuscripts. When suggesting reviewers, authors should make sure they are totally independent and not connected to the work in any way. It is strongly recommended to suggest a mix of reviewers from different countries and different institutions. When suggesting reviewers, the Corresponding Author must provide an institutional email address for each suggested reviewer, or, if this is not possible to include other means of verifying the identity such as a link to a personal homepage, a link to the publication record or a researcher or author ID in the submission letter. Please note that the Journal may not use the suggestions, but suggestions are appreciated and may help facilitate the peer review process.

These guidelines describe authorship principles and good authorship practices to which prospective authors should adhere to.

Authorship clarified

The Journal and Publisher assume all authors agreed with the content and that all gave explicit consent to submit and that they obtained consent from the responsible authorities at the institute/organization where the work has been carried out, before the work is submitted.

The Publisher does not prescribe the kinds of contributions that warrant authorship. It is recommended that authors adhere to the guidelines for authorship that are applicable in their specific research field. In absence of specific guidelines it is recommended to adhere to the following guidelines*:

All authors whose names appear on the submission

1) made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the creation of new software used in the work;

2) drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content;

3) approved the version to be published; and

4) agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

* Based on/adapted from:

ICMJE, Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors,

Transparency in authors’ contributions and responsibilities to promote integrity in scientific publication, McNutt at all, PNAS February 27, 2018

Disclosures and declarations

All authors are requested to include information regarding sources of funding, financial or non-financial interests, study-specific approval by the appropriate ethics committee for research involving humans and/or animals, informed consent if the research involved human participants, and a statement on welfare of animals if the research involved animals (as appropriate).

The decision whether such information should be included is not only dependent on the scope of the journal, but also the scope of the article. Work submitted for publication may have implications for public health or general welfare and in those cases it is the responsibility of all authors to include the appropriate disclosures and declarations.

Data transparency

All authors are requested to make sure that all data and materials as well as software application or custom code support their published claims and comply with field standards. Please note that journals may have individual policies on (sharing) research data in concordance with disciplinary norms and expectations.

Role of the Corresponding Author

One author is assigned as Corresponding Author and acts on behalf of all co-authors and ensures that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately addressed.

The Corresponding Author is responsible for the following requirements:

• ensuring that all listed authors have approved the manuscript before submission, including the names and order of authors;
• managing all communication between the Journal and all co-authors, before and after publication;*
• providing transparency on re-use of material and mention any unpublished material (for example manuscripts in press) included in the manuscript in a cover letter to the Editor;
• making sure disclosures, declarations and transparency on data statements from all authors are included in the manuscript as appropriate (see above).

* The requirement of managing all communication between the journal and all co-authors during submission and proofing may be delegated to a Contact or Submitting Author. In this case please make sure the Corresponding Author is clearly indicated in the manuscript.

Author contributions

In absence of specific instructions and in research fields where it is possible to describe discrete efforts, the Publisher recommends authors to include contribution statements in the work that specifies the contribution of every author in order to promote transparency. These contributions should be listed at the separate title page.

Examples of such statement(s) are shown below:

• Free text:

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by [full name], [full name] and [full name]. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [full name] and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Example: CRediT taxonomy:

• Conceptualization: [full name], …; Methodology: [full name], …; Formal analysis and investigation: [full name], …; Writing - original draft preparation: [full name, …]; Writing - review and editing: [full name], …; Funding acquisition: [full name], …; Resources: [full name], …; Supervision: [full name],….

For review articles where discrete statements are less applicable a statement should be included who had the idea for the article, who performed the literature search and data analysis, and who drafted and/or critically revised the work.

For articles that are based primarily on the student’s dissertation or thesis , it is recommended that the student is usually listed as principal author:

A Graduate Student’s Guide to Determining Authorship Credit and Authorship Order, APA Science Student Council 2006

Affiliation

The primary affiliation for each author should be the institution where the majority of their work was done. If an author has subsequently moved, the current address may additionally be stated. Addresses will not be updated or changed after publication of the article.

Changes to authorship

Authors are strongly advised to ensure the correct author group, the Corresponding Author, and the order of authors at submission. Changes of authorship by adding or deleting authors, and/or changes in Corresponding Author, and/or changes in the sequence of authors are not accepted after acceptance of a manuscript.

• Please note that author names will be published exactly as they appear on the accepted submission!

Please make sure that the names of all authors are present and correctly spelled, and that addresses and affiliations are current.

Adding and/or deleting authors at revision stage are generally not permitted, but in some cases it may be warranted. Reasons for these changes in authorship should be explained. Approval of the change during revision is at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief. Please note that journals may have individual policies on adding and/or deleting authors during revision stage.

Author identification

Authors are recommended to use their ORCID ID when submitting an article for consideration or acquire an ORCID ID via the submission process.

Deceased or incapacitated authors

For cases in which a co-author dies or is incapacitated during the writing, submission, or peer-review process, and the co-authors feel it is appropriate to include the author, co-authors should obtain approval from a (legal) representative which could be a direct relative.

Authorship issues or disputes

In the case of an authorship dispute during peer review or after acceptance and publication, the Journal will not be in a position to investigate or adjudicate. Authors will be asked to resolve the dispute themselves. If they are unable the Journal reserves the right to withdraw a manuscript from the editorial process or in case of a published paper raise the issue with the authors’ institution(s) and abide by its guidelines.

Confidentiality

Authors should treat all communication with the Journal as confidential which includes correspondence with direct representatives from the Journal such as Editors-in-Chief and/or Handling Editors and reviewers’ reports unless explicit consent has been received to share information.

To ensure objectivity and transparency in research and to ensure that accepted principles of ethical and professional conduct have been followed, authors should include information regarding sources of funding, potential conflicts of interest (financial or non-financial), informed consent if the research involved human participants, and a statement on welfare of animals if the research involved animals.

Authors should include the following statements (if applicable) in a separate section entitled “Compliance with Ethical Standards” when submitting a paper:

• Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest
• Research involving Human Participants and/or Animals

Please note that standards could vary slightly per journal dependent on their peer review policies (i.e. single or double blind peer review) as well as per journal subject discipline. Before submitting your article check the instructions following this section carefully.

The corresponding author should be prepared to collect documentation of compliance with ethical standards and send if requested during peer review or after publication.

The Editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the above-mentioned guidelines. The author will be held responsible for false statements or failure to fulfill the above-mentioned guidelines.

Authors are requested to disclose interests that are directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication. Interests within the last 3 years of beginning the work (conducting the research and preparing the work for submission) should be reported. Interests outside the 3-year time frame must be disclosed if they could reasonably be perceived as influencing the submitted work. Disclosure of interests provides a complete and transparent process and helps readers form their own judgments of potential bias. This is not meant to imply that a financial relationship with an organization that sponsored the research or compensation received for consultancy work is inappropriate.

Editorial Board Members and Editors are required to declare any competing interests and may be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists. In addition, they should exclude themselves from handling manuscripts in cases where there is a competing interest. This may include – but is not limited to – having previously published with one or more of the authors, and sharing the same institution as one or more of the authors. Where an Editor or Editorial Board Member is on the author list we recommend they declare this in the competing interests section on the submitted manuscript. If they are an author or have any other competing interest regarding a specific manuscript, another Editor or member of the Editorial Board will be assigned to assume responsibility for overseeing peer review. These submissions are subject to the exact same review process as any other manuscript. Editorial Board Members are welcome to submit papers to the journal. These submissions are not given any priority over other manuscripts, and Editorial Board Member status has no bearing on editorial consideration.

Interests that should be considered and disclosed but are not limited to the following:

Funding: Research grants from funding agencies (please give the research funder and the grant number) and/or research support (including salaries, equipment, supplies, reimbursement for attending symposia, and other expenses) by organizations that may gain or lose financially through publication of this manuscript.

Employment: Recent (while engaged in the research project), present or anticipated employment by any organization that may gain or lose financially through publication of this manuscript. This includes multiple affiliations (if applicable).

Financial interests: Stocks or shares in companies (including holdings of spouse and/or children) that may gain or lose financially through publication of this manuscript; consultation fees or other forms of remuneration from organizations that may gain or lose financially; patents or patent applications whose value may be affected by publication of this manuscript.

It is difficult to specify a threshold at which a financial interest becomes significant, any such figure is necessarily arbitrary, so one possible practical guideline is the following: "Any undeclared financial interest that could embarrass the author were it to become publicly known after the work was published."

Non-financial interests: In addition, authors are requested to disclose interests that go beyond financial interests that could impart bias on the work submitted for publication such as professional interests, personal relationships or personal beliefs (amongst others). Examples include, but are not limited to: position on editorial board, advisory board or board of directors or other type of management relationships; writing and/or consulting for educational purposes; expert witness; mentoring relations; and so forth.

Primary research articles require a disclosure statement. Review articles present an expert synthesis of evidence and may be treated as an authoritative work on a subject. Review articles therefore require a disclosure statement. Other article types such as editorials, book reviews, comments (amongst others) may, dependent on their content, require a disclosure statement. If you are unclear whether your article type requires a disclosure statement, please contact the Editor-in-Chief.

Please note that, in addition to the above requirements, funding information (given that funding is a potential competing interest (as mentioned above)) needs to be disclosed upon submission of the manuscript in the peer review system. This information will automatically be added to the Record of CrossMark, however it is not added to the manuscript itself. Under ‘summary of requirements’ (see below) funding information should be included in the ‘ Declarations ’ section.

Summary of requirements

The above should be summarized in a statement and placed in a ‘Declarations’ section before the reference list under a heading of ‘Funding’ and/or ‘Competing interests’. Other declarations include Ethics approval, Consent, Data, Material and/or Code availability and Authors’ contribution statements.

Please see the various examples of wording below and revise/customize the sample statements according to your own needs.

When all authors have the same (or no) conflicts and/or funding it is sufficient to use one blanket statement.

Examples of statements to be used when funding has been received:

• Partial financial support was received from [...]
• The research leading to these results received funding from […] under Grant Agreement No[…].
• This study was funded by […]
• This work was supported by […] (Grant numbers […] and […]

Examples of statements to be used when there is no funding:

• The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.
• No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript.
• No funding was received for conducting this study.
• No funds, grants, or other support was received.

Examples of statements to be used when there are interests to declare:

Non-financial interests: Author C is an unpaid member of committee Z.

Non-financial interests: Author A is on the board of directors of Y and receives no compensation as member of the board of directors.

Non-financial interests: none.

Non-financial interests: Author D has served on advisory boards for Company M, Company N and Company O.

Examples of statements to be used when authors have nothing to declare:

• The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
• The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.
• All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
• The authors have no financial or proprietary interests in any material discussed in this article.

Authors are responsible for correctness of the statements provided in the manuscript. See also Authorship Principles. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to reject submissions that do not meet the guidelines described in this section.

Ethics approval

When reporting a study that involved human participants, their data or biological material, authors should include a statement that confirms that the study was approved (or granted exemption) by the appropriate institutional and/or national research ethics committee (including the name of the ethics committee) and certify that the study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration or comparable standards, the authors must explain the reasons for their approach, and demonstrate that an independent ethics committee or institutional review board explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. If a study was granted exemption from requiring ethics approval, this should also be detailed in the manuscript (including the reasons for the exemption).

Retrospective ethics approval

If a study has not been granted ethics committee approval prior to commencing, retrospective ethics approval usually cannot be obtained and it may not be possible to consider the manuscript for peer review. The decision on whether to proceed to peer review in such cases is at the Editor's discretion.

Ethics approval for retrospective studies

Although retrospective studies are conducted on already available data or biological material (for which formal consent may not be needed or is difficult to obtain) ethics approval may be required dependent on the law and the national ethical guidelines of a country. Authors should check with their institution to make sure they are complying with the specific requirements of their country.

Ethics approval for case studies

Case reports require ethics approval. Most institutions will have specific policies on this subject. Authors should check with their institution to make sure they are complying with the specific requirements of their institution and seek ethics approval where needed. Authors should be aware to secure informed consent from the individual (or parent or guardian if the participant is a minor or incapable) See also section on Informed Consent .

If human cells are used, authors must declare in the manuscript: what cell lines were used by describing the source of the cell line, including when and from where it was obtained, whether the cell line has recently been authenticated and by what method. If cells were bought from a life science company the following need to be given in the manuscript: name of company (that provided the cells), cell type, number of cell line, and batch of cells.

It is recommended that authors check the NCBI database for misidentification and contamination of human cell lines. This step will alert authors to possible problems with the cell line and may save considerable time and effort.

Further information is available from the International Cell Line Authentication Committee (ICLAC).

Authors should include a statement that confirms that an institutional or independent ethics committee (including the name of the ethics committee) approved the study and that informed consent was obtained from the donor or next of kin.

Research Resource Identifiers (RRID)

Research Resource Identifiers (RRID) are persistent unique identifiers (effectively similar to a DOI) for research resources. This journal encourages authors to adopt RRIDs when reporting key biological resources (antibodies, cell lines, model organisms and tools) in their manuscripts.

Organism: Filip1 tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi RRID:MMRRC_055641-UCD

Cell Line: RST307 cell line RRID:CVCL_C321

Antibody: Luciferase antibody DSHB Cat# LUC-3, RRID:AB_2722109

Plasmid: mRuby3 plasmid RRID:Addgene_104005

Software: ImageJ Version 1.2.4 RRID:SCR_003070

RRIDs are provided by the Resource Identification Portal . Many commonly used research resources already have designated RRIDs. The portal also provides authors links so that they can quickly register a new resource and obtain an RRID.

Clinical Trial Registration

The World Health Organization (WHO) definition of a clinical trial is "any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes". The WHO defines health interventions as “A health intervention is an act performed for, with or on behalf of a person or population whose purpose is to assess, improve, maintain, promote or modify health, functioning or health conditions” and a health-related outcome is generally defined as a change in the health of a person or population as a result of an intervention.

To ensure the integrity of the reporting of patient-centered trials, authors must register prospective clinical trials (phase II to IV trials) in suitable publicly available repositories. For example www.clinicaltrials.gov or any of the primary registries that participate in the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform .

The trial registration number (TRN) and date of registration should be included as the last line of the manuscript abstract.

For clinical trials that have not been registered prospectively, authors are encouraged to register retrospectively to ensure the complete publication of all results. The trial registration number (TRN), date of registration and the words 'retrospectively registered’ should be included as the last line of the manuscript abstract.

Standards of reporting

Springer Nature advocates complete and transparent reporting of biomedical and biological research and research with biological applications. Authors are recommended to adhere to the minimum reporting guidelines hosted by the EQUATOR Network when preparing their manuscript.

Exact requirements may vary depending on the journal; please refer to the journal’s Instructions for Authors.

Checklists are available for a number of study designs, including:

Randomised trials (CONSORT) and Study protocols (SPIRIT)

Observational studies (STROBE)

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) and protocols (Prisma-P)

Diagnostic/prognostic studies (STARD) and (TRIPOD)

Case reports (CARE)

Clinical practice guidelines (AGREE) and (RIGHT)

Qualitative research (SRQR) and (COREQ)

Animal pre-clinical studies (ARRIVE)

Quality improvement studies (SQUIRE)

Economic evaluations (CHEERS)

The above should be summarized in a statement and placed in a ‘Declarations’ section before the reference list under a heading of ‘Ethics approval’.

Examples of statements to be used when ethics approval has been obtained:

• All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Bioethics Committee of the Medical University of A (No. ...).

• This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of University B (Date.../No. ...).

• Approval was obtained from the ethics committee of University C. The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

• The questionnaire and methodology for this study was approved by the Human Research Ethics committee of the University of D (Ethics approval number: ...).

Examples of statements to be used for a retrospective study:

• Ethical approval was waived by the local Ethics Committee of University A in view of the retrospective nature of the study and all the procedures being performed were part of the routine care.

• This research study was conducted retrospectively from data obtained for clinical purposes. We consulted extensively with the IRB of XYZ who determined that our study did not need ethical approval. An IRB official waiver of ethical approval was granted from the IRB of XYZ.

• This retrospective chart review study involving human participants was in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The Human Investigation Committee (IRB) of University B approved this study.

Examples of statements to be used when no ethical approval is required/exemption granted:

• This is an observational study. The XYZ Research Ethics Committee has confirmed that no ethical approval is required.

• The data reproduced from Article X utilized human tissue that was procured via our Biobank AB, which provides de-identified samples. This study was reviewed and deemed exempt by our XYZ Institutional Review Board. The BioBank protocols are in accordance with the ethical standards of our institution and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

All individuals have individual rights that are not to be infringed. Individual participants in studies have, for example, the right to decide what happens to the (identifiable) personal data gathered, to what they have said during a study or an interview, as well as to any photograph that was taken. This is especially true concerning images of vulnerable people (e.g. minors, patients, refugees, etc) or the use of images in sensitive contexts. In many instances authors will need to secure written consent before including images.

Identifying details (names, dates of birth, identity numbers, biometrical characteristics (such as facial features, fingerprint, writing style, voice pattern, DNA or other distinguishing characteristic) and other information) of the participants that were studied should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and genetic profiles unless the information is essential for scholarly purposes and the participant (or parent/guardian if the participant is a minor or incapable or legal representative) gave written informed consent for publication. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve in some cases. Detailed descriptions of individual participants, whether of their whole bodies or of body sections, may lead to disclosure of their identity. Under certain circumstances consent is not required as long as information is anonymized and the submission does not include images that may identify the person.

Informed consent for publication should be obtained if there is any doubt. For example, masking the eye region in photographs of participants is inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic profiles, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort meaning.

Exceptions where it is not necessary to obtain consent:

• Images such as x rays, laparoscopic images, ultrasound images, brain scans, pathology slides unless there is a concern about identifying information in which case, authors should ensure that consent is obtained.

• Reuse of images: If images are being reused from prior publications, the Publisher will assume that the prior publication obtained the relevant information regarding consent. Authors should provide the appropriate attribution for republished images.

Consent and already available data and/or biologic material

Regardless of whether material is collected from living or dead patients, they (family or guardian if the deceased has not made a pre-mortem decision) must have given prior written consent. The aspect of confidentiality as well as any wishes from the deceased should be respected.

Data protection, confidentiality and privacy

When biological material is donated for or data is generated as part of a research project authors should ensure, as part of the informed consent procedure, that the participants are made aware what kind of (personal) data will be processed, how it will be used and for what purpose. In case of data acquired via a biobank/biorepository, it is possible they apply a broad consent which allows research participants to consent to a broad range of uses of their data and samples which is regarded by research ethics committees as specific enough to be considered “informed”. However, authors should always check the specific biobank/biorepository policies or any other type of data provider policies (in case of non-bio research) to be sure that this is the case.

Consent to Participate

For all research involving human subjects, freely-given, informed consent to participate in the study must be obtained from participants (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 16) and a statement to this effect should appear in the manuscript. In the case of articles describing human transplantation studies, authors must include a statement declaring that no organs/tissues were obtained from prisoners and must also name the institution(s)/clinic(s)/department(s) via which organs/tissues were obtained. For manuscripts reporting studies involving vulnerable groups where there is the potential for coercion or where consent may not have been fully informed, extra care will be taken by the editor and may be referred to the Springer Nature Research Integrity Group.

Consent to Publish

Individuals may consent to participate in a study, but object to having their data published in a journal article. Authors should make sure to also seek consent from individuals to publish their data prior to submitting their paper to a journal. This is in particular applicable to case studies. A consent to publish form can be found

here. (Download docx, 36 kB)

The above should be summarized in a statement and placed in a ‘Declarations’ section before the reference list under a heading of ‘Consent to participate’ and/or ‘Consent to publish’. Other declarations include Funding, Competing interests, Ethics approval, Consent, Data and/or Code availability and Authors’ contribution statements.

Sample statements for "Consent to participate" :

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Informed consent was obtained from legal guardians.

Written informed consent was obtained from the parents.

Verbal informed consent was obtained prior to the interview.

Sample statements for “Consent to publish” :

The authors affirm that human research participants provided informed consent for publication of the images in Figure(s) 1a, 1b and 1c.

The participant has consented to the submission of the case report to the journal.

Patients signed informed consent regarding publishing their data and photographs.

Sample statements if identifying information about participants is available in the article:

Additional informed consent was obtained from all individual participants for whom identifying information is included in this article.

Images will be removed from publication if authors have not obtained informed consent or the paper may be removed and replaced with a notice explaining the reason for removal.

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