Guidelines for Authors

Guidelines for Authors

Online Manuscript submission

All the manuscripts should be submitted online as this is a more time-saving and economical method. It will immediately be followed by system-generated acknowledgement to the corresponding author. If our Editorial Board considers the manuscript fit for our journal, the author will be asked to complete the submission process by providing additional information that might include:

  • the full list and details of all the authors
  • any relevant ethical consents & copyrights
  • declaration of competing interest
  • whether the author wishes to post a pre-print of his paper on…

Note for authors:
In case the paper is returned to the authors for revision, they will have maximum of 30 days to submit their revised manuscripts.

Manuscript Format:

 

File Format MS Word (.docx or .doc) only.
Length No restriction but roughly a manuscript should have 10-20 pages.
Layout Double-spacing in manuscripts.
Language English only. Non-native authors who are not well versed in English need to get their paper proof read before its submission. Otherwise they may get it done by our editors on payment for the extra effort.
Abbreviations Define abbreviations as they first appear in the text. Non-standard abbreviations, if included, should be mentioned in alphabetical order at the beginning of the manuscripts.
Page numbers The pages need to be numbered.
Equations They should not be in the form of images. We recommend using MathType or Equation Editor etc. for this purpose.
Units Use the SI Units. If other units are necessary then includes the conversion factor and add the non –standard unit in parenthesis.
Symbols Define them in the text. Place an extensive list of symbols in the appendix, if necessary.

 

Manuscript Content:

The manuscript should be organized according to the below mentioned sections:

  • Title page
    The title must be relevant to the research being processed in the paper. It should be brief i.e. approximately of 15 words.
  • Author list, his/her contributions and affiliation
    Complete names (first, middle and last name) of all the authors along with the name, physical address, phone number, fax number and email of the corresponding author must be mentioned.
    Affiliations of the author and co-authors should be included in this section.
    At least one contribution of each other should be mentioned.
  • Abstract
    Abstract should be managed in 250 words, briefly describing the research method. It should be concise and include precise details about the background, methodology and the significance of the topic making sure that the most relevant details and the most important results are mentioned, only.
  • Keywords
    Appropriate words need to be selected as keywords at the bottom of abstract. It is better if these keywords are different from the words of the title. 5 words are enough to characterize the keywords.
  • Text organization. It should include the following sections:
    Introduction:
    The purpose of introduction is to provide a clear explanation of the problem under investigation hence the authors should state the significance and rationale for the study being conducted in this section.
    Materials and Methods:
    This section should include the details of materials and methods, enough for the reproduction of the findings. Mention the previously conducted studies on the topic with appropriate references, if required. Suggestions and further modifications can also be included.

Results and Discussion:
The results need to be clearly displayed through tables, figures and equations. Although clarity and brevity are encouraged, a comprehensive discussion on results is needed so as to bring out a reasonable conclusion.

Conclusion:
It should include the outcomes of the study and summarize the whole article.

  • Consent for Publication
    The authors must provide formal declaration or approval of the ethics committee and their reference number, wherever appropriate in the manuscripts, if they carry out experiments
    involving investigations on humans or animals.

In obtaining consent, the authors should discuss the purpose(s) of publication, the possible risks and benefits to the patient and the patient’s right to withhold or withdraw consent. In the case of a minor patient, consent should be obtained from the guardian(s).

In studies involving experiments on live vertebrates or higher invertebrates and plants, the authors must confirm that all experiments were performed in accordance with the national and international standards and guidelines.

In cases where the study has been exempted from requiring an ethical approval, it’s required by the authors to include the relevant details in their manuscripts. Furthermore, the Editor can request for further information regarding this, if the need arises.

The Editor holds the right of rejecting the manuscripts if he regards the research as not being carried out within an appropriate ethical framework or if the research involves procedures that are not consistent with the generally accepted norms of animal research.

  • Conflict of Interest
    The authors are required to declare any conflict of interest, either financial or non-financial. These conflicts should be included at the end of the manuscript, before the references, under the heading of “Conflict of Interest”.

The authors should disclose any past and present affiliations, funding sources, financial and personal interests related to the reported research that might raise questions about possible sources of bias.

The mention of such interests do not make the manuscripts unethical but they should be acknowledged as the editor must know about any competing interests that the author might have. In case of no conflict, the authors are required to include this in their manuscripts as well.

  • Acknowledgements
    Often a paper acquires its final shape through ideas generated by a number of people. In such cases it is important to mention all those names that have participated in execution of the paper. Even a minor participation requires acknowledgement so as to take care of grievances that may occur later on.
  • References
    References must be listed in the numerical system (Vancouver style).
    The authors are encouraged to use a recent version of End Note (version 5 and above) or Reference Manager (version 10), when formatting their reference list, as this allows references to be automatically extracted.

Points to remember:

All your sources and related available work should be cited in the reference list.

The material that can be cited includes published work, accepted manuscripts as well as manuscripts on pre-print servers.

Authors should note not to include any unpublished work or personal communications in the reference list.

Citations must not be included in the abstract rather all the citations should be numbered sequentially in square brackets [ ] in the text and listed in the same numerical order in the reference section. (for example, “We used the techniques developed by our colleagues [19] to analyze the data”).

The reference numbers must be finalized and the bibliography must be fully formatted before the submission of the manuscript.

Journal titles are abbreviated (to decipher abbreviations, see: PubMed Journals Database).

Only the first words of the article’s title are the ones which normally capitalized.
If the number of authors exceeds six then et al. will be used after six names (the term “et al.” should be in italics).

If the journal has continuous page numbering, you may omit month/issue number.

See below few examples of references listed in the correct Vancouver style:

 

Published [1] Shon HK, Vigneswaran S, Snyder SA. Effluent organic matter (EfOM) in wastewater: Constituents, effects, and treatment. Crit Rev Env Sci Tec 2006; 36(4): 327-74. [2] Suzuki Y, Rowedder M. Curriculum system and understanding of nutrition in school children. Int J Consumer Stud 2002; 2(26): 249-55.
Accepted articles Same as published articles but add “forthcoming” for page numbers of DOI
Typical chapter reference [3] Mason A. Population growth, aggregate SAVING and economic development. In: Salvatore D, Ed. World population trends and their impact on economic development. London: Greenwood Press 1988; pp. 45-58.
Book reference [4] Fleiss JL, Levin B, Paik MC. Statistical methods for rates and proportions. 3rd ed. New York: Wiley 2003.
Edited Book [5] Duchateau L, Janssen P. The Frailty Model. New York: Springer 2008.
Conference paper & proceedings [6] Vassiliadis P. Modeling multidimensional databases, cubes and cube operations. In Proc. of the 10th SSDBM Conference 1998; pp. 53-62. [7] An Y, Mylopoulos J, Borgida A. Building semantic mappings from databases to ontologies. In Proceedings of the Twenty-First National Conference on Articial Intelligence (AAAI-06) (Boston M, Ed.) 2006. .
Journal article on the internet [8] International Monetary Fund (IMF). World economic outlook: Growth resuming, dangers remain [Report on the internet]. IMF; 2012 [cited 2012 Sept 10]: Available from: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2012/01/pdf/text.pdf
JBook/Monograph on the Internet [9] Donaldson MS, editor. Measuring the quality of health care [monograph on the internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 1999 [cited 2004 Oct 8]:
Available from http://legacy.netlibrary.com/
Website/Homepage [10] United States Department of Agriculture. 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/dgas2010-policydocument.htm. (accessed April 11, 2012)
Journal with Part/Supplement If a journal carries continuous pagination throughout the volume, then the issue number can be omitted.
Issue with Supplement [11] Pignon JP, le Maitre A, Bourhis J. Meta-Analyses of chemotherapy in head and neck cancer (MACH-NC): an update. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2007; 69(2 Suppl): S112-4
Volume with Part [12] Vahter M. Methylation of inorganic arsenic in different mammalian species and population groups. Sci Prog 1999; 82(Pt 1): 69-88
Issue with Part [13] Harrabi I, Ghannem H, Gaha R, Hochlaf M, Limam K, Essoussi AS. Epidemiology of dyslipidemia among schoolchildren in Sousse, Tunisia. Diabetes Metab 2005; 31(3 Pt 1): 285-9
Patent [14] Sierra MA, Gómez-Gallego M, Alcázar R, Lucena JJ, Álvarez A, Yunta-Mezquita F. WO 02/00604 Patent 2002
E-citations [15] Citations for articles/material published, exclusively online or in open access, must contain the exact Web addresses (URLs) at the end of the reference(s) except those posted on an author’s website, unless editorially essential. For example, ‘Reference: Available from: URL’.

 

  • Appendices
    If supplementary material for the article is to be included in the paper, for the better understanding and comprehension of the study, then it should be placed under this heading. It should be included at the end of the article and should not be any longer than 2-3 pages. A single appendix should be titled APPENDIX, while more than one can be titled APPENDIX A, APPENDIX B, and so on
  • Figures, illustrations & tables etc. (if any)
    Illustrations:
    All illustrations should be provided in camera-ready form, suitable for reproduction (which may include reduction) without re-touching.
    All illustrations must be readable when reduced to a width of 75 mm (single column figure) or 160 mm (double column figure).
    All illustrations should be clearly marked on the back with the figure number and the author’s name.
    All figures are required to have a caption. Captions should be supplied on a separate sheet.Line drawing:Good quality printouts on white paper produced in black ink are required.
    Graphs lines and points on graphs should be sufficiently large and bold to permit reproduction when the diagram has been reduced to a size suitable for inclusion in the journal.
    Dye-line prints or photocopies are not suitable for reproduction.
    Do not use any type of shading on computer-generated illustrations.

    Photographs:
    Original photographs must be supplied as they are to be reproduced.
    If necessary, A scale should be marked on the photograph.
    Please note that photocopies of photographs are not acceptable.Colored photographs:
    If colored photographs are to be included in the hardcopies of the manuscripts, authors will be required to pay for their preparation. For further details, please contact us at [email protected].Tables:
    Tables should be numbered consecutively and each table should be produced on a separate sheet.
    Footnotes to tables should be typed below the tables and should be referred to by superscript lowercase letters.
    No vertical rules should be used.
    Tables should not duplicate result presented elsewhere in the manuscript (e.g.in graphs).

COVER LETTER

A separate file of cover letter should be uploaded in the submission system. It should have a limit of 600 words and it should cover the following areas:

  • The scientific question that is being addressed in your paper and the important findings in it.
  • The evidence provided to support your claims and conclusions.
  • Significance of your results for your respective field of study, the broader scientific community and for the public.
  • Any other unique findings in your paper.
  • Additional information that needs to be taken into account.

PROOFS

  • Proofs will be sent to the author (first named author, if no corresponding author is identified, of multi –authored papers).
  • It should be returned within 72 hours of receipt.
  • Corrections should be restricted to typesetting errors: any others may be charged to the author.
  • Any queries should be answered in full.
  • Please note that authors are urged to check their proofs carefully before return. Since the inclusion of late corrections cannot be guaranteed.

PUBLICATION AND MALPRACTICE POLICY FOR THE AUTHORS:

  1. Author’s must make sure that the manuscripts are free from any sort of plagiarism and fabrication of data. The work they report should be original.
  1. They should clearly and accurately acknowledge the work of each and every one of the contributors, not only the significant ones.
  2. They should provide the original source, correct references and accurate citations for the proper evaluation of their paper by the readers.
  3. It is required by them to disclose any conflict of interest, whether financial or non-financial, that might influence the interpretation of their work.
  4. Obtain permission from the relevant publishers if their paper contains material that is protected by copyright. Letters of permission must be sent to the Editorial Office before final acceptance of the paper.
  5. They should always link the accepted manuscripts, to the formal publication, via its DOI if they post preprints or share their manuscripts for non-commercial purposes.
  6. Authors must disclose any information that may lead to re-publishing or overlapping of the work.