• Print ISSN: 2395 - 1400, Online ISSN: 2455 - 8923

Manuscript Preparation

General

Manuscripts are accepted for publication with the understanding that their contents, all or in part, have not been published and will not be published elsewhere, except in the Abstract form or with the consent of the Editor. Material received for consideration will be acknowledged. Manuscripts will be initially reviewed by the Editor for suitability for formal review and would then be reviewed by peer Reviewers on originality, methodology, scientific content and quality, clinical importance and overall suitability for publication. Reviewer comments will be sent to the corresponding author for response, revision and resubmission within a specified time.

Authorship

All individuals designated as authors should qualify for authorship.

An 'author' is considered to be someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a published study. Authorship credit should be based on substantial contributions to conception and design, 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. Authors should meet all the above conditions.

Participation solely in the acquisition of funding, for the collection of data or data entry, and general routine supervision does not justify authorship. The order of authorship should be a joint decision of all the co-authors. Once submitted, the order will not be changed without written consent of all the co-authors.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors should submit a conflict of interest statement which will be published with every article. The purpose of the statement is to ensure that any factors - personal relationships, financial connections, sponsorships - that might bias the author of an article, are declared so that readers are aware of the potential conflict of interest and can include knowledge in the assessment of information. Stating a conflict of interest does not disqualify an author from publication.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the wrongful appropriation or purloining and publication as one's own, of the ideas, or the expression of the ideas of another. Plagiarism is considered by the journal as scientific or professional misconduct and authors and reviewers are advised to be careful to maintain high ethical standards.

Manuscript

The manuscript should be typed in single space throughout. Font size should be of UK English Arial 12 points. The identity of the author or institute should not be revealed in the manuscript, except for the title page. (For example, do not mention name of institute in Methods, citing previous study as 'our study', names on figure labels, name of institute in photographs etc).

The manuscript comprises (1) Title page, (2) Abstract and keywords, (3) Text, (4) References, (5) Tables, (6) Legends for illustrations and (7) Illustrations. All these must start on separate pages and in the above order.

  1. Title page - gives the title of the article, a short title , type of article (original article, case report etc), name(s) of the author(s), affiliations of author(s), place of work, names and addresses of the authors and word count (excluding abstract and references). Identify one author as corresponding author and give his/her postal address, direct telephone or mobile number and email address. The title should not exceed 60 characters. It should have no abbreviations.
  2. Abstract and Keywords - The abstract is a synopsis of the main article in about 200 words and gives an opportunity to the author to induce the reader to go through the article. It should be structured in to the headings: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusion, giving facts and not descriptions. Avoid abbreviations. No abstract is required for not more than 6 keywords.
  3. Text - The text should be divided into sections, e.g. Introduction, Material and Methods, Results and Discussion. Each should have its individuality and must not be mixed with others. Ensure that all references, tables and figures are cited in the text. Only authorized, internationally accepted abbreviations should be used. First time use of an abbreviation must always be preceded by its full form except for standard units of measurement. Abbreviations are to be avoided in title, abstract and keywords.
  4. References - Responsibility of accuracy of the references lies entirely with the authors. The authors are encouraged to use the facility available for checking the correctness Case Reports or Letters to the Editor. Give of references online. References should be in the style described in examples. References should be listed in the order in which they are cited in the text. Only relevant and recent references are encouraged. They should be indicated in the text by Arabic numerals superscripted with word or punctuation. Ensure that all the references cited in the text are included in the list and vice versa. List all authors, surname followed by initials when six or less; when seven or more, give only first three and add et al. Do not use full stops in abbreviations of journal names.
  5. Representative examples, based on formats used by NLM in Index Medicus are given below. Please refer to ICMJE guidelines for other types of references

    Type of Article Text (in words) Tables and figures References
    Review 4000 8 30
    Original Article 3000 8 30
    Contemporary Issue 2000 4 10
    Editorial 1500 - 10
    Short Communication 1500 2 10
    Case Report 1000 4 10
    Methods in medicine 1000 4 5

    Guidelines regarding maximum permissible size of text as well as number of Tables, Figures and References. Articles not adhering to the above specifications are likely to be rejected.

    Examples of Reference Formats
    1. Standard Journal Articles - You CH, Lee KY, Chey RY, Menguy R. Electrogastrographic study of patients with unexplained nausea, bloating and vomiting. Gastroenterology 1980; 79: 311-314.
    2. Organization as Author - The Royal Marsden Hospital Bone-Marrow Transplantation Team. Failure of syngeneric bone marrow graft without preconditioning in post-hepatitis marrow aplasia. Lancet 1977; 2 : 242-244.
    3. No Author Given - Coffee drinking and cancer of the pancreas [editorial]. BMJ 1981; 283 : 628.
    4. Volume with Supplement - Magni F, Rossoni G, Berti F. BN-52021 protects guinea-pig from heart anaphylaxis. Pharmacol Res Commun 1988; 20 Suppl 5 : 75-78.
    5. Issue with supplement - Gardis G, Cole JO, Haskell D, Marby D, Paine SS, Moore P. The natural history of tardive dyskinesia. J Clin Psychopharmacol 1988; 8 (4 Suppl) : 31S-37S.
    6. Type of article indicated as needed - Spargo PM, Manners JM. DDAVP and open heart surgery [letter]. Anaesthesia 1989; 44 : 363-364.
    7. Journal Paginated by Issue - Seaman WB. The case of the pancreatic pseudocyst. Hosp Pract 1981; 16 [Sep] : 24-25.
    Books and Other Monographs
    1. Personal Authors - Eisen HN. Immunology : an introduction to molecular and cellular principles of the immune response. 5th ed. New York : Harper and Row, 1974.
    2. Editor(s), compiler as Author - Dausset J, Colombani J, editors. Histocompatibility testing 1972. Copenhagen : Munksgaard, 1973.
    3. Chapter in a Book - Weinstein L, Swartz MN. Pathogenic properties of invading microorganisms. In : Sodeman WA Jr, Sodeman WA, editors. Pathologic physiology : mechanisms of disease. 3rd ed. Philadel-phia : WB Saunders, 1974; 457-472.
    4. Conference Papers - Harley NH. Comparing radon daughter dosimetric and risk models. In: Gammage RB, Kaye SV, editors. Indoor air and human health. Proceedings of the Seventh Life Sciences Symposium; 1984 Oct 29-31; Knoxville (TN). Chelsea: Lewis, 1985 : 69-78.
    5. Conference proceedings - Vivian VL, editor. Child abuse and neglect : A medical community response. Proceedings of the First AMA National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect; 1984 Mar 30-31; Chicago. Chicago : American Medical Association, 1985.
    6. Scientific or technical report - Akutsu T.
    7. Total heart replacement device. Bethesda (MD) : National Institute of Health, National Heart and Lung Institute; 1974 Apr. Report No. : NIH-NHLI-69-2185-4.
    8. Dissertation or Thesis - Cairns RB. Infra-red spectroscopic studies of solid oxygen [dissertation]. Berkeley, Univ. of California : 1965.
    9. Newspaper Articles - Rensberger B, Specter B, CFCs may be destroyed by natural process. The Washington Post 1989 Aug 7; Sect. A : 2 (col. 5).
    10. Magazine Articles - Roueche B. Annals of medicine : the Santa Claus Culture. The New Yorker 1971 Sep 4; 66-81.
    11. 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. Accessed on mm/yy.
  6. Tables - are to be typed on separate pages. They should be serially numbered in arabic numerals (Table 1, Table 2) and a short title should specify the contents. Horizontal lines in the body of the table except between a column heading and its sub-headings should be avoided. The vertical lines separating the columns should be totally omitted. A table should not exceed a page in length, and should not contain less than four lines of data. Tables should be self-explanatory and should not duplicate the data in the text.
  7. Figures/Illustrations/Photographs - Illustrations should be clear enough and of appropriate size (5 inch x 7 inch or larger) for better reproduction. If illustrations are scanned, then they should be scanned at minimum of 300 dpi. Colour images must be CMYK. Line art drawing must have a minimum resolution of 1200 dpi. Photographs and X-rays should be sent as black and white glossy prints. Photographs may be submitted as 'jpg', or 'tiff ' files in a zipped folder. In clinical photographs, identity of the subjects should be suitably masked; in case this is not possible, a written permission from the concerned person should accompany the manuscript. Permission to reproduce any borrowed illustration must be obtained from the author and the publisher.
  8. Legends to Figures - The Figure number (numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals), title and explanations of the Figures should appear in the legend (not on the Figure). Type the legends on a separate page. Enough information should be included to interpret the Figure with-out reference to the text.
  9. Units - All measurements must be in metric units, preferably with corresponding SI units in parentheses. No periods, no plural form (eg. '10 cm' not '10 cms').
Miscellaneous:

Use 'radiograph', 'radiographic' and 'radiographical' not 'X-ray', 'skiagram' and 'roentgenogram'.

'Significant' should be reserved for use in the statistical sense. Avoid duplication and repetition of material in results and discussion, in Tables and Text, and in Text and Legends.

Ethics

Do not use names and initials of the patients or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. When informed consent for the same has been taken from the subject, it should be mentioned in the manuscript. Any report of experimental investigation on human subjects must contain evidence of informed consent by the subjects and of approval by the institutional ethics committee.

Manuscript for various types of articles

Original Articles

These are scientific communications from research workers engaged in the field of medicine and include randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic tests, outcome studies, cost effective analyses, case control studies and surveys with high response rate.

Format - Abstract (Structured) & Keywords; Introduction; Material & Methods; Results; Discussion.

Case Reports:

A case report should communicate a message that transcends the individual patient and should describe rare interesting facets of a particular disease or an unusual entity.

Format - Keywords; Introduction; Case Report ; Discussion.

Discussion should highlight unusual features of the report and it should not be a review of literature.

Review Article, Update Article

These are invited from experts in the field. Prospective authors are requested to consult the Edi-tor in- Chief for prior approval of their topic.

Contemporary Issue

These are articles of topics of current interest, authored preferably by experienced practitioners.

Short Communication

This article describes briefly a research study or name and address of the publisher; year of publication; number of pages; number of illustrations; hard bound or soft bound; price, ISBN number, text of review. As a policy we do not encourage submission of reviews of books that are more than a year old.

Format - Introduction; Results; Discussion.

Methods in Medicine (including Drug and Equipment Update) These are brief descriptions of a specific technique or procedure, modification of a technique, or equipment of interest and should be supported by relevant diagrams and results of clinical and/or field trials.

Book Review

Title of the book; name of the editor/authors;

Others

These include Editorials, Guest Editorials and Symposia, which are solicited by the Editorial Board.


Review process: 

After the initial submission of manuscripts, the articles are screened by Editorial board for originality, serious scientific flaws, major ethical issues, absence of a message, article not related to journal, not of interest to majority of readers, and if found the articles are rejected. The decision on such articles is communicated to authors within two weeks. The articles qualifing the screening proces will be sent to reviewers having sufficient experience on the subject, in a ‘double blind fashion’. Period of submission to first decision varies from 3 weeks to 4 weeks depending on availability of reviewers, and timely response from them.



All editorial correspondence should be sent to:

Dr. K. Nagaraj

Editor –in-Chief
Department of Community Medicine
Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences
Sreepuram, Narketpally, Nalgonda District
Telangana State, India – 508 254
Phone : 08682 272999 Ext-314
E-mail : kimsjbcr@gmail.com