Submissions

Author Guidelines

General Instructions for Online Submissions

All authors interested in publishing their research work in Journal of Medical Sciences (JMS), revise their existing manuscripts, upload other required documents on the MSS. MSS also provides for tracking the status of the manuscripts, that are already submitted. This system helps the editorial office to communicate with the editors, associate editors, reviewers and thus manage the peer review process. The same system is used for communication with authors.  register yourself (if first time user) to submit the manuscripts. Manuscripts are received with the understanding that they contain original data that are not previously published or are being considered for publication elsewhere. In case of any queries or additional information, you can write an e-mail to the Editor-in-Chief of the journal at jms@interactiveprotocols.com

Editorial and peer review process

The submitted manuscripts are duly acknowledged. The article once submitted will undergo plagiarism check. An initial check is conducted to ensure that all author instructions are complied with and the guidelines for submission are followed. All communications regarding the manuscript with the Journal should be handled by one of the authors (assigned as ‘corresponding author’). The Managing editor runs the initial check, processes the manuscript for all the required components, and approves for moving to the next level. The manuscript may be returned to the author for corrections, if required, to conform to the journal instructions.

Once, the article passes the initial check, it will undergo editorial review. Here, the manuscript is checked for suitability for the core readers of Journal of Medical Sciences  by the Editor-in-Chief. If it is found suitable, it is assigned to one of the Associate Editors/ Editor/ Editorial Board Member on the editorial board. The editorial review which includes initial assessment and assignment for review to associate, section editors or reviewers will take 7 – 10 working days. Manuscripts not found suitable will not be sent out for review and will be immediately rejected, and authors informed.

Once the manuscript passes the editorial review, it will then be sent for external peer review. Manuscripts are sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the manuscript. All manuscripts undergo a double-blinded review process. The Editor-in-Chief makes a final recommendation (revise/ accept/ reject) on the manuscript based on the suggestions and comments of the reviewers. The authors will be informed of the first decision in 8 – 10 weeks from the date of submission. If a manuscript must be revised, the author(s) are asked to give a detailed response to the reviewers' suggestions and submit the revised manuscript for further review. Decisions on the revised manuscripts will be conveyed within 4 weeks from the date of re-submission. This process is repeated till the authors, reviewers and editors are satisfied with the manuscript. The authors can track the progress of the manuscript.

The manuscript will be assessed for significance, originality, clarity, and relevance to the journal's scope and content, Studies that challenge previously published research or have negative results despite having sufficient power will also be considered. Manuscripts received from Editorial Board members will be screened by the Editor in Chief and sent to external peer reviewers. Manuscripts authored by the Editor in Chief will be handled by the other editorial board members, and the final decision will be made by the Associate editor/ Editor. The editorial board members who are authors will be excluded from publication decisions. The journal's standard procedures are followed for manuscripts received from the members of sponsoring organization/ institution wherein the members linked with the same institution as the author (s) are excluded from the review and editorial decisions.

Process for appeals

Genuine appeals to editor decisions are welcome. The authors can appeal if they have a genuine cause to believe that the editorial board has wrongly rejected the paper. If the authors wish to appeal against the editor’s decision, they should email the editorial office editor@interactiveprotocols.com/  jms@interactiveprotocols.com explaining in detail the basis for the appeal with evidence or new information. The editorial office will acknowledge the appeals and conduct an unbiased investigation. Within 6 to 8 weeks, appeals will be processed, and the decision will be conveyed to the authors. Till the time of decision, the paper should not be submitted to other journals. The Editor-in-Chief of the journal makes the final decision. Second appeals will not be considered.

Withdrawal policy

Journal doesn’t charge any fee for the scientific review of the article. Nonetheless, if an article has been approved for publication post review but not moved into the preproduction stage, there will be no charges for withdrawal. In case, the article has been moved further to preproduction post review, withdrawal charges will be applicable as follows:

1. 120 USD

Publication schedule

Journal of Medical Sciences  follows a continuous publication model, focussing on publishing good quality of research work in all areas of medical sciences.

Copyright and Licensing

Under Creative Commons the Authors retain ownership of the copyright for their content. The authors assign exclusive commercial re-use rights of the article to the Publisher.

All open access articles published are distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International Public License as currently displayed at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, for non-commercial purposes, provided the original work is properly cited.

Authors have to mandatorily submit the Open Access License Agreement Form when submitting the manuscript.

Articles published under this arrangement are made freely available online upon publication without subscription barriers to access. Users of such published articles are entitled to use, reproduce, disseminate, or display these articles for personal, research and educational use provided that:

• The original authorship is properly and fully attributed.
• The journal and publisher are attributed as the original place of publication with correct citation details given.
• If an original work is subsequently reproduced or disseminated not in its entirety but only in part or as a derivative work this is clearly indicated.
• No articles are reproduced for commercial use without the prior consent of the Publisher. All the licensing requests and permissions for commercial use of the article will be managed by the Publisher. For re-use of the content for other purposes that are not covered by the CC BY-NC license, please contact jms@interactiveprotocols.com
• Authors are also entitled to deposit the final electronic version of the article into an institutional or centrally organized subject repository upon publication. They should include a link to the published version of the article on the journal's web site, and the journal and publisher should be attributed as the original place of publication, with correct citations given.

Editorial and publishing policies

Anti-plagiarism policy

The journal follows World Association of Medical Editors (WAME’s) definition of plagiarism: “Plagiarism is the use of others' published and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property) without attribution or permission and presenting them as new and original rather than derived from an existing source. The intent and effect of plagiarism is to mislead the reader as to the contributions of the plagiarizer. This applies whether the ideas or words are taken from abstracts, research grant applications, Institutional Review Board applications, or unpublished or published manuscripts in any publication format (print or electronic)”.

The journal follows a strict anti-plagiarism policy. The authors are advised not to indulge in any form of plagiarism. The journal investigates allegations of plagiarism or the unauthorised use of published content to uphold the rights of our authors. We also work to guard the journal's reputation against unethical practices.

The submitted article are checked with duplication-checking software. If the content is found to be plagiarised, the Editor and the journal committee will take an appropriate action as directed by the guidelines put forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). If plagiarism is detected after publication, the Journal will initiate investigation. If plagiarism is established, the Journal reserves the right to act including, but not limited to notifying the authors’ institution and funding bodies, retracting the plagiarised article or taking appropriate legal action. To report plagiarism, contact the journal office at jms@interactiveprotocols.com

. For further information about the policy on publication malpractice or research misconduct, refer to the policy page.

Protection of research participants

The journal follows the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

1. All researchers should make sure that human research is planned, carried out, and reported in accordance with the 2013 revision of the Helsinki Declaration. Every author should contact the local, regional, or national review body (e.g., ethics committee, institutional review board) for permission before conducting research.
2. Identifying information, including names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Authors should disclose to these patients whether any potential identifiable material might be available via the Internet as well as in print after publication.
3. Nonessential identifying details should be omitted. Informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt that anonymity can be maintained. For instance, covering the eye area in patient photos does not adequately preserve identity. In this case, it is advised to digitally crop/ remove the identifying characteristics. If identifying characteristics are removed, authors must guarantee—and editors must note—that the interpretation of the data is not altered.

Patient consent for publication for case reports

As per the CARE reporting guidelines, the patient or the legal guardian must provide a written informed consent for inclusion of their clinical and imaging details in the manuscript for the purpose of publication. The submitted manuscript needs to contain a statement that informed consent was obtained from the patient for the purpose of publication.

• If the patient is deceased or incapacitated, the authors must seek permission from the patient's relatives which must be stated in the submitted manuscript.
• In cases where permission could not be obtained from the patient or the relatives, the head of the medical team or the institutional review board must take responsibility for the anonymization of the patient, and this must be stated in the submitted manuscript.
• If the informed consent has been waived by the institutional review board, the same must be included in the manuscript.
• In case the patient is a child/ minor, the consent should be obtained from the parent/ legal guardian, and this information should be included in the manuscript

Ethics committee approvals and patient consent for participation for research studies

All papers reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must state:

1. Name of the ethics committee or institutional review board that approved the study
2. Approval number and date.

If the ethical approval is not required or is exempt, then a statement mentioning the same should be included in the submitted manuscript, with reasons for the same.

A statement about whether written or verbal informed consent was obtained from the patients to participate in the research should be included in the submitted manuscript. If the requirement for informed consent to participate has been waived by the Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board (i.e., where it has been deemed that consent would be impossible or impracticable to obtain), please state this.

Animal studies

The journal does not consider Animal Research or Animal Studies for publication. Submissions based on animal studies will be rejected without review.

Clinical trials

The journal follows the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) for clinical trial registration (https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/clinical-trial-registration.html ). According to ICMJE, “Clinical trial is any research project that prospectively assigns people or a group of people to an intervention, with or without concurrent comparison or control groups, to study the relationship between a health-related intervention and a health outcome.”

1. The authors are required to register the clinical trials in a public trial registry at or before the time of first patient enrolment as a condition of consideration for publication. If there is a substantial delay between the submission of registration materials and their posting at the trial registry, the authors should provide a letter explaining the circumstances that led to the delay.
2. An acceptable registry must include the minimum 24-item trial registration data set (http://prsinfo.clinicaltrials.gov/trainTrainer/WHO-ICMJE-ClinTrialsgov-Cross-Ref.pdf or www.who.int/clinical-trials-registry-platform ) at the time of registration and before enrolment of the first participant.
3. Secondary data analyses of primary (parent) clinical trials should not be registered as separate clinical trials, but instead should reference the trial registration number of the primary trial.
4. The authors should ensure that they have met the requirements of their funding and regulatory agencies regarding aggregate clinical trial results reporting in clinical trial registries. It is the authors’, and not the journal editors’, responsibility to explain any discrepancies between results reported in registries and journal publications.
5. The authors are required to follow the ICMJE’s data sharing policy for clinical trials.

Data availability statement

The authors are required to include Data Availability Statement in the articles that report results derived from research data. Data Availability Statements should include information on where data supporting the results reported in the article can be found. Statement should include that the data set used in the current study is available (option as appropriate) a. Repository name b. Name of the public domain resources c. Data availability within the article or its supplementary materials d. Available on request from (contact name/email id) e. Dataset can be made available after embargo period due to commercial restrictions. Where research data are not publicly available, this must be stated in the manuscript along with any conditions for accessing the data.

Authorship

The journal adheres to the ICMJE recommendation for authorship requirements. All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors.

• 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 revising 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.

It is the collective responsibility of the authors, not the journal to which the work is submitted, to determine that all people named as authors meet all four criteria; it is not the role of journal editors to determine who qualifies or does not qualify for authorship or to arbitrate authorship conflicts. The criteria used to determine the order in which authors are listed on the by-line may vary and are to be decided collectively by the author group and not by editors. One author should assume the role of “corresponding author” who is mainly responsible for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer-review, and publication processes. The corresponding author should also be accessible following publication to address any criticisms of the work and assist with any requests from the journal for data or additional information, should those requests come up.

Changes to authorship:

The journal considers the final author list (names and the authorship sequence) to be complete at the time of submission of the Open Access License Agreement form. Request for removal or addition of an author after signing the Agreement will not be entertained. If the authors have a genuine reason for changes to authorship and authorship sequence, the authors should complete the “Authorship change request form” with a signed statement of agreement for the requested change from all listed authors and from the author to be removed or added and send it to jms@interactiveprotocols.com along with a letter explaining the reasons for the proposed changes. The Journal Editor-in-Chief will consider these requests on a case-to-case basis.

Author identification:

All the authors are required to provide an ORCiD when submitting the manuscript to the journal. Authors can register for an ORCiD at https://orcid.org/register

Author contributions:

The authors are required to provide information about their individual contributory roles according to CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy). There are 14 selections that the authors can choose from, and more than one contribution can be selected for each author. Authors can refer to https://credit.niso.org/ for more information.

Non-author Contributorship / Acknowledgement:

Contributors who meet fewer than all 4 of the above criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors, but they should be acknowledged. The “Acknowledgement section” 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; 3) writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading; and 4) acknowledgments of financial and material support, which should specify the nature of the support. Details of the non-author contributors can be cited individually or collectively, and their precise contributions should be specified. The corresponding author is required to obtain written permission to be acknowledged by all acknowledged individuals. 

Disclosures of conflict of interest

Conflicts of interest can be defined as financial and non-financial in relation to the work. Authors are required to disclose any financial interests or affiliations with institutions, organizations, or companies that are mentioned in the manuscript or whose products and services are mentioned in the manuscript, and any competing interest that could be perceived as a bias in the work. If the submission is authored by the editorial board member, a statement mentioning the same should be included. The authors are required to complete the ICMJE disclosure form at the time of submission.

Sources of funding

The authors are required to declare the funding sources received for the research submitted to the journal. The authors should provide the Funder name, Award Number and Grant Recipient, the role of funders. If there are no funders, the authors must state "This study did not receive any funding."

Data ownership and permissions

The figures, data tables and charts that are submitted should be owned solely by the author(s). If this requirement cannot be fulfilled, then the author(s) should acquire the permission from the original copyright holder for the purpose of re-use in the journal. Obtaining the permission is the sole responsibility of the author(s) and should be completed before the acceptance of the article in the journal. Credit must be included for all copyrighted material in the figure legend with a statement that the permission has been obtained.

Preprints

The journal permits submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers. The authors should mention this in the title page when submitting and include the name of the preprint server and DOI for the preprint. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed. If the paper is accepted, the authors must include a link on the preprint to the final version of your paper.

Types of Manuscripts

All types of submissions / papers should follow a standard format as described in the below “Manuscript Component” section.

Reporting guidelines

EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines (https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/) must be followed depending on the type of study. At the time of submission, the authors should upload the relevant checklist for the specific study type. The EQUATOR wizard (https://www.goodreports.org/) can help you find the right reporting checklist and appropriate guideline for your type of study. Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and initiatives (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/research_report_guide.html).

Editorials

Usually provide commentary and analysis concerning an article in the issue of the Journal in which they appear. They may include figures and tables. They are always solicited. The editorials would be limited to 1000 words with up to 10 references.

Original Articles

Reports of original clinical and basic research of interest are the primary material to be published as original articles.

• Types: Randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic tests, outcome studies, cost effectiveness analysis, case-control series, and surveys with a reasonably high response rate.
• Clinical trial studies should mention the clinical trial registry number in the abstract as well as in the main article, in the “Methods” section.
• Clinical trial studies should mention a statement about the availability of the study protocol.
• All randomized controlled trials must be reported according to the CONSORT guidelines. A completed CONSORT flow chart must be submitted as a cited figure and the completed CONSORT checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file
• Observational Studies (case-control, cohort, or cross-sectional studies) should be reported according to the STROBE statement and the completed checklist should be included as a supplementary file.
• Cost and health outcomes evaluations should follow the CHEERS guidelines and should include the completed checklist as a supplementary file
• The text would be limited to 3000-5000 words, with an abstract of 250 words, maximum of 5 tables and figures (total) and up to 40 references.

Review articles

• Types: Systematic reviews, meta-analysis, narrative reviews, scoping reviews
• According to the PRISMA reporting guidelines, the Journal recommends the authors to prospectively register their systematic reviews in systematic review protocols registry like PROSPERO (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/). The PROSPERO registry number should be provided in the review article under the “methodology” section.
• If the authors have published or deposited the protocols for systematic reviews, the details about the same should be mentioned in the manuscript.
• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses must be reported according to  PRISMA guidelines. The PRISMA flow chart should be included as a cited figure and the completed  PRISMA checklist should be uploaded alongside your submission as a supplementary file
• The minimum word length would be 3000 and maximum would be 5000 words with 6 tables and figures (total) and 50 references.

Case Reports

The Journal encourages the submission of case reports that highlight practical diagnostic and/or management considerations. The case reports should define 1 to a maximum of three patients. Identifying information within written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees should not be given.

Case Series

Case-series is a descriptive study design and as the name suggests, it is just a series of cases of any disease or disease discrepancy that one might observe in one’ clinical practice etc.

Letters to the Editor

The Journal accepts Letters to the Editor that raises some issues related to recently published articles (last 6 months) in the Journal of Medical Sciences. The letters should not exceed (1000 words) of text and 4 references. While not all “Letters to the Editor” will be published, those that are judged worthwhile will be forwarded to the authors of the articles in question or to selected experts in order to provide the opportunity for a response. Whenever possible, they will be published with the reply of the author of the published article.

Book Reviews

Books for review shall be posted on the journal, and received reviews shall be published, at the discretion of the Editorial Board. Every book up for review shall also be reviewed by certain reviewers on invitation by the Editorial Board, usually a stalwart/pioneer in the subject in question.

Announcements

Announcement of conferences, meetings, courses, awards, and other events of interest to the readers should be submitted with the name and address of the person from whom additional information can be sought. These can contain up to 200-300 words.

Manuscript Preparation

The manuscript must have separate documents for:

• Cover letter
• Title page
• Main article - Research Article/Case reports/Review Article
• Figure/Table/Graph/Flowchart (with descriptive legends) doc.
• Supplemental content
• Reporting guideline checklist as a supplementary file

Manuscript Components

Microsoft Word 97-2013 or higher document file must be used to submit a manuscript. The text must be double spaced with 1" margins and justified to the left-hand margin. Refer the "styles" or document templates. The "Normal" Word format is recommended. (Arial 12-point text is preferred) Please number all the pages.

Cover Letter

A cover letter is a letter addressed to the Editor-in-Chief of the journal stating why the journal should consider your article for publication.

Title Page

Title

The title of the manuscript should appear at the top of the first page. The title must clearly state what the article is about. Avoid using abbreviations in the title. The title should include the study design, example, ‘case control study’ or ‘systematic review’.

Name and affiliation

Full name of each author (first name, middle initial and last name) followed by each author’s highest academic degree(s) and designation. Name of department(s) and institution(s) along with complete address such as city, state and country with which each author is affiliated and to which work should be attributed. ORCID should be included. The name of the corresponding author should be clearly mentioned. The authorship sequence must be determined by the authors before the submission. For any changes in the authorship or authorship order after the first revision submission, see Authorship Section

Author name indexing

When submitting author names please note that authors should be listed in First Name –Middle Name- Surname order. If an author is submitted as "JR Doe" or "Jane Robert Doe" the author’s name will be published in "How to cite" as "Doe JR."

Change of affiliation

If an author changes affiliation before the work is published, his or her affiliation should reflect where a major part of the work was done. The current affiliation and contact details should be listed in a footnote or in the acknowledgement section.

Corresponding Address

To include the name, address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail of corresponding author.

Running Head

A short title that is running head of no more than 45 characters, including spaces to be provided.

Declarations page

All submitted manuscripts should contain a separate document - “Declarations” and include the following information. If a declaration is not applicable to the manuscript, the authors must still include the heading and state ‘Not applicable’ underneath with an explanation to justify why a declaration was not applicable.

• Ethics approval and patient consent to participate
• Patient Consent for publication
• Animal Studies
• Author contributions
• Acknowledgments
• Conflict of interest
• Sources of funding
• Availability of data and materials
• Clinical trial registry number
• PROSPERO registry number

Supplementary materials

• Copies of permissions
• Reporting guidelines checklist

Main Article

Abstract

All articles must include a structured abstract of approximately 200 to 300 words and only include material appearing in the main body of the manuscript. Authors are required to indicate the relevance in a statement of clinical significance within the abstract of the manuscript as well as at the end of the main body of the text. Clinical trial studies should mention the clinical trial registration number at the end of the abstract section. Structured abstracts vary according to the type of article. All abstracts must be organized into a structured format appropriate to the type of article using the headings listed in the following table:

Keywords

A list of three to ten keywords contained in the article must be listed below the abstract. A minimum of three and maximum ten keywords are required, and they should contain the type of research such as systematic review, randomized clinical trial, cohort study, case-control study, laboratory research, case report. Selecting the keywords is important because they will be used to search for the article on PubMed and other Internet resources. MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) is the NLM controlled vocabulary thesaurus used for indexing articles for PubMed. Authors are encouraged to use keywords from MeSH database (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/).

Body of the manuscript

The body of the manuscript must be organized into a format appropriate for the type of article using bold headings as listed in the following table:

Introduction

Describe the study's context or background (that is, the nature of the problem and its significance). Indicate the precise aim or goal of the research, as well as any hypotheses that were tested during the study or observation. Cite only references that are relevant; do not include information or findings from the work being described.

Material and Methods

This section should carefully describe the study design, selection of the observational or experimental subjects (human or animals) and methods and materials used, including sample size and statistical approaches. Commonly used techniques or methods should be referred to appropriate references and should be described in brief. However, unique experiments, methods, technique should be described in adequate detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. The Methods section should include a statement indicating that the research was approved by an independent local, regional or national review body (e.g., ethics committee, institutional review board). Information regarding mandatory clinical trial registration and patient consent (including the type of consent) should be provided. Refer “Protection of Research Participants” for more details. Experimental methodology should be concisely and appropriately explained. Commercially produced materials, devices, software must be followed by name of manufacturer and location. Statistical methods should be clearly specified. Provide adequate information about statistical techniques so that a knowledgeable reader with access to the source data can evaluate the methods' suitability for the study and confirm the stated results. Quantify results where possible and display them with the proper measurement error or uncertainty indications (such as confidence intervals). For further information, refer https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/manuscript-preparation/preparing-for-submission.html

Results

This section should succinctly state the results without any lengthy discussion or interpretation of individual data. Only the most significant observations should be highlighted or summarised; do not repeat all the information from the tables or figures in the text. Data should be provided for all primary and secondary outcomes listed in the Methods Section. Technical information and supplemental materials can be included in an appendix, where they will be available, but won't disrupt the text's flow. Statistical tests should be clearly defined, and statistical significance should be shown in both figures and tables with the help of superscripts such as a, b, c, rather than *, ¶, # or other nonsequential symbols.

Discussion

The discussion should focus on the new and important findings of the study. The observations should be related to other relevant studies in a logical sequence. It should summarize, but not repeat the Results. The Discussion should end with a summary of the data and conclusions. Avoid making unqualified comments or drawing conclusions that are not sufficiently supported by the data. Instead, connect the results to the study's objectives. Make a distinction between clinical and statistical significance, and refrain from discussing economic costs and advantages unless the paper contains the necessary economic data and analyses. Avoid claiming priority or making references to incomplete work. When necessary, present new hypotheses; nevertheless, clearly identify them. Limitations of the study should also be mentioned.

Conclusion

To include the conclusions of the study and the future research directions.

Clinical Significance

This section should include 3 – 4 sentences about the clinical significance of the study results.

List of Abbreviations

Include a list of abbreviations along with its description used in the manuscript. Use only standard abbreviations. The spelled-out abbreviation followed by the abbreviation in parentheses should be used on first mention unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measurement.

References

Bibliography should list references in order of their appearance in the text (not alphabetically) and should follow PubMed Central guidelines along with Vancouver Style. References should follow the standards summarized in the NLM’s Sample References webpage (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html) and detailed in the NLM’s Citing Medicine, 2nd edition (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7256/ ). Place the number of the references at the end of the sentence as superscript to which the reference is related. Use commas to separate multiple reference numbers.

For example: "Bond strength of composite resin to dentin is influenced by the presence of a smear layer.^4,5,8-15

If more than one reference is contained in a sentence, then number the reference immediately following the text that refers to the reference. For example: "Bailey² found that 46% showed signs of metastasis while Varner³ found only 28%."

Sample examples of the references are mentioned below:

Journal

1. Le Huec JC, Jouve JL, Szpalski M. Surgical techniques in pediatric spine surgery. Eur Spine J. 2014 May 9. [Epub ahead of print].
2. Kanter AS, Morr S. Response. J Neurosurg Spine 2014 Apr;20(4):473.
3. Miladi L, Mousny M. A novel technique for treatment of progressive scoliosis in young children using a 3-hook and 2-screw construct (H3S2) on a single sub-muscular growing rod: surgical technique. Eur Spine J. 2014 May 9. [Epub ahead of print].
4. Lee KY. Comparison of pyogenic spondylitis and tuberculous spondylitis. Asian Spine J. 2014 Apr; 8 (2):216-223

Abstract

AL-Harbi SA, Farsi N. Microleakage of Ormocer-based restorative material in primary teeth: an in vivo study [abstract]. J Clin Pediatr Dent 2007;32(1):13-18.

Authored Book

Keith H Bridwell, Ronald L DeWald. The textbook of spinal surgery. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins 2011. 2112 p.

Article or Chapter in an Edited Book

Suken A Shah, Harvey Smith. Operative treatment of neuromuscular spinal deformity. In: Thomas JE, Baron SL, Andrew WM., editors. Surgical Management of Spinal Deformities. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders Elsevier, 2009;p 157-166.

Article in an Edited Book with Volume

Mayer M. Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery: A surgical manual. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer 2005;2 496 p.

Ali A Baaj, Praveen V Mummaneni. Handbook of Spine Surgery. 2011, 480 p. Available at: http://books.google.co.in/books/about/Handbook_of_Spine_Surgery.html?id=-MRYK8l40SYCandredir_esc=y

Online reference

Prasanthi LK. A study to determine the effectiveness of snake and ladder game on common ailments’ among primary school children of a selected school, Bengaluru 2008. 

Monograph

Lawrence, Ruth A. A review of the medical benefits and contraindications to breastfeeding in the United States [Internet]. Arlington (VA): National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health; 1997 Oct [cited 2000 Apr 24]. p. 40. Available from: http://www.ncemch.org/pubs/PDFs/breastfeedingTIB.pdf

Preprints

When preprints are cited in submitted manuscripts, the citation should clearly indicate that the reference is a preprint. You should include the word “preprint” following the citation information in the reference list and indicate that the cited material is a preprint in the text. The citation should include the link to the preprint and DOI if the preprint archive issues DOIs.

Figures and Tables

Figures

The images are to be placed in numerical order following the reference list and accompanied by a legend describing the content of the image as follows. In addition, a separate file containing the figures and figure legends should be uploaded in the submission system. Photographs must be in colour, in focus, free of distracting artifacts, and consistent in exposure. Place any required labels or arrows on images prior to uploading. Images must be at least 600 by 450 pixels (proportional height) in size when in landscape orientation with a resolution of at least 300 pixels per inch. Graphs should be approximately 500 pixels wide so that all labelling can be read with data points clearly visible. Substantially, larger images must be avoided to prevent file transmission and electronic manuscript processing errors. Radiographs, drawings, and graphs can be in black and white, but colour images are preferred.

File names for images must be clearly labelled according to the order in which they appear, i.e., Fig. 1, Fig. 2 and Figs 1 and 2 or Figs 1-5 and so on in brackets. In a running sentence, it should be spelt out as Figure 1). Images can only be submitted in TIFF, PSD, PNG, and JPEG file formats. If images are produced in PowerPoint, then they must be saved as a JPEG file before uploading during the submission process.

Example,

Call outs must be placed in the body of the manuscript to indicate where an image is to be located. Example:
“The NPWT help managing lower limb trauma (Fig. 4). It improves wound healing, neovascularization, decreases the size of soft tissue defects by promoting granulation, and decreases bacterial contamination."

Tables

Tables are placed in numerical order at the end of the manuscript following the list of figures. A legend is to accompany all tables and call outs are to be placed in the body of the text to indicate where the table is to be in the article. The tables function in Microsoft Word is to be used to create data tables rather than using columns of tabbed information.

Example,

“Patient was followed at 4, 8, 12 and 24 weeks for clinical and radiological evaluation and final results at the end of 24 weeks by using Baird and Jackson scoring system (Table 1).” 

Table 1: Demographic and hospital stay

Supplemental content

Authors may submit supplemental digital content to enhance their article's text. Supplemental digital content may include additional documents like questionnaires, graphs, tables, figures, database and videos that are additional material. Supplemental digital content will not appear in the article itself but will appear online, accessible by a URL embedded in the article. Cite all supplemental digital content consecutively in the text. Legend should include the type of material submitted, should be clearly labelled as "Supplemental Digital Content" or "Supplemental Video," and should provide a brief description of the supplemental content.

Manuscript submission

Once all the preparation is complete and you have all the information and files ready for submission, please go to the Homepage and register as an author through ‘Our New Author Registration’. Once you are registered on the web site, you will be sent a username and password to the provided e-mail address. Using the same, you will login into the journal’s web site 

After logging into the author’s account, follow the steps for submission available under Manual for Manuscript Submission. Once the submission is completed, you will get a system generated ID for eg. JPJ1296170815. Using this ID, you can track the status of your manuscript from submission till publication 

Guidelines to send a revised manuscript

A similar process to that used to submit the manuscript for the first time should be followed when submitting the revised version online. However, when submitting the revised version, there is no requirement to include the "Title Page" or "Covering Letter" files. Authors should add the "reviewers' remarks" and point-by-point clarification at the beginning of the revised file when submitting a revised paper. Additionally, authors must highlight the modified text in the article to indicate the changes.

Accepted manuscripts

Once the article is accepted, a confirmation mail will be sent to the corresponding author. After about 2-4 weeks post acceptance, the author(s) may mail us in order to know the issue placement. A galley proof of the article will be sent to the corresponding author for necessary changes just before the issue is to be published.

Online proof correction

Once the galley proof of the accepted article is ready, it will be then sent to the Corresponding author. In addition to editing text, you can also comment on figures/tables and must answer the queries provided in the query form that will be sent along with the PDF proof. Web-based proofing provides a faster and less error-prone process by allowing you to directly type your corrections, eliminating the potential introduction of errors.

Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please check carefully before replying. Proofs must be checked carefully within 48 to 72 hours of receipt, as requested in the cover letter accompanying the page proofs.

Online First articles

The final typeset and edited version of the journal article will be available on journal website under the ‘Online First’ tab.  Once an Online First article is assigned to its final issue and given its bibliographic data, such as volume, issue, and first page number, the hosting of the article online transitions from the Online First listing to that of the completed issue.

Checklist for Submission

The following documents should be uploaded in the manuscript system.

• Cover letter
• Title page
• Declaration page
• Main article - Research Article/Case reports/Review Article
• Figure with descriptive legend
• Table/Graph/Flowchart (with descriptive legends) doc.
• Supplemental content (optional)
• Reporting guideline checklist as a supplementary file