Preparation of Manuscript
Manuscripts should be typed double spaced in a single column in A4 size only, font size of ‘12’ with font ‘Times New Roman’, and margin of 1” on each side.
It should be paginated on the bottom right hand corner of each page, beginning with the title page.
Author should use Arabic numbers in entire manuscript.
The manuscript must be in simple and explicit English language.
If needed, the authors should consult those experienced in scientific writing and communication.
Identity of the author(s) must NOT appear anywhere in the manuscript (except on the title page file).
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.
Specific requirement as per manuscript type is given below
|
Review manuscript |
Research manuscript |
Short communication |
| Abstract |
Unstructured, up to 250 words |
Unstructured, up to 250 words |
Unstructured, up to 200 words |
| Keywords |
3-5 |
3-5 |
3-5 |
| Running title |
Less than 50 words |
| Word limit |
6000 |
3500 |
1600 |
| Tables and Figures |
Upto 12 |
Upto 10 |
Upto 3 |
| References |
No limit |
No limit |
Upto 10 |
3.1. Manuscript structure
Subdivision - numbered sections: Divide your manuscript into clearly defined and numbered sections.
Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering).
Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to 'the text'.
Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.
3.1.1. Review Manuscript
Reviews are written by researchers of substantial experience in the field concerned. The authors should review the recent trends or advances in that field in the light of their own work.
The major portion of manuscript should deal with up-to-date developments in the field in last 3-5 years.
Authors are advised to search databases on internet, apart from collecting information using conventional methods.
The authors are encouraged to use flowcharts, boxes, cartoons, tables and figures for better presentation.
3.1.2. Original Research Manuscripts / Short Communications
Manuscript may be a full length research or a short communication and should be arranged into following sections:
- 1. Title of manuscript
- 2. Abstract and key words
- 3. Introduction
- 4. Materials and Methods
- 5. Results
- 6. Discussion (may be combined with results if it is required)
- 7. Conclusion
- 8. Acknowledgment
- 9. References
- 10.Tables
- 11.Figures
3.2 Covering letter:
The letter should introduce your work to the editor and explain why the manuscript will be of interest to the journal and its readers.
Conflict of interest, if any, should be clearly mentioned.
Also include name, address, contact details and mobile number of the corresponding author.
3.3. Title Page:
It should include the title of manuscript, authors’ names and affiliations, running title, address for correspondence along with e-mail.
Title: It must be informative, specific, short, with bold font of 16 size and should not exceed 150 characters.
Authors and affiliations: The names of authors and their affiliations should be given. It should be made clear which address relates to which author.
Running title: It should be not more than 50 characters in length.
Subject: Mention subject of manuscript (select from list provided under scope of journal)
Address for correspondence: The corresponding author’s address, E-mail ID and contact number should be written on the title page.
3.4. Abstract and Key Words
Abstract: The abstract must be concise, clear and informative rather than indicative. It should briefly explain what was intended, done, observed and concluded. The conclusions not found in the text of the article should not be given in the abstract.
Key words: Provide 3-5 keywords which will help readers or indexing agencies in cross-indexing the study.
3.5. Introduction:
It should start on a new page. Essentially this section must introduce the subject, give a concise background and briefly say how the idea for research originated.
Do not review literature extensively but provide the most recent work that has a direct bearing on the subject.
Justification for research aims and objectives must be clearly mentioned without any ambiguity.
3.6. Materials and Methods:
This section should deal with the materials used and the methodology (how the work was carried out).
The procedure adopted should be described in sufficient details to allow the experiment to be interpreted and repeated by the readers, if desired. The number of subjects, the number of groups, the study design, sources of drugs with dosage regimen or instruments used, statistical methods and ethical aspects must be mentioned under the section.
The data collection procedure must be described. If a procedure is a commonly used, giving a previously published reference would suffice.
If a method is not well known (though previously published) it is better to describe it briefly.
Give explicit descriptions of modifications or new methods so that the readers can judge their accuracy, reproducibility and reliability.
The nomenclature, the source of material and equipment used, with details of the manufacturer in parentheses, should be clearly mentioned.
Drugs and chemicals should be precisely identified using their non-proprietary names or generic names.
If necessary, the proprietary or commercial name may be inserted once in parentheses.
The first letter of the drug name should be small for generic name (e.g., dipyridamole, propranolol) but capitalized for proprietary names (e.g., Persantin, Inderal).
New or uncommon drug should be identified by the chemical name and structural formula.
The doses of drugs should be given as unit weight per kilogram body weight e.g., mg/kg and the concentrations should be given in terms of molarity e.g., nm or mM.
Statistical Methods: The variation of data should be expressed in terms of the standard error of mean (SEM) or the standard deviation (SD), along with the number of observations (n).
The details of statistical tests used and the level of significance should be stated.
If more than one test is used it is important to indicate which groups and parameters have been subjected to which test.
3.7. Results:
The results should be stated concisely without comments and presented in logical sequence in the text with appropriate reference to tables and/or figures.
The data given in tables or figures should not be repeated in the text.
The same data should not be presented in both tabular and graphic forms.
Simple data may be given in the text itself instead of figures or tables.
3.8. Discussion:
This section should deal with the interpretation, rather than recapitulation of results.
It is important to discuss the new and significant observations in the light of previous work.
Discuss also the weaknesses or pitfalls in the study.
New hypotheses or recommendations can be put forth.
Avoid unqualified statements which are not supported by the data.
Repetition of information given under introduction and results should be avoided.
Author may write combined results and discussion, if desired.
3.9. Conclusion:
Conclusions must be drawn considering the strengths and weaknesses of the study.
Make sure conclusions drawn should tally with the objectives stated under introduction.
3.10. Acknowledgements:
These should be typed on a new page. Acknowledge only those who have contributed to the scientific content or provided technical support.
Sources of financial support may be mentioned.
3.11. References:
It should begin on a new page. Majority of them should preferably recent ones.
References are to be cited in the text by number in square bracket e.g. [1], [1,2], [1-4], etc. and should be in the order in which they appear.
Authors’ name for reference should be avoided in the text as far as possible.
The references must be verified by the author(s) against the original documents.
The list of references should be typed double spaced in the style explained below.
Standard journal article
Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B. Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Annals of Internal Medicine 1996 1;124(11):980-3.
Book
Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 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. p. 465-78.
Patent
Larsen CE, Trip R, Johnson CR, in-ventors; Novoste Corporation, assignee. Methods for procedures related to the electrophysiology of the heart. US Patent 5,529,067. 1995 Jun 25.
Dissertation
Kaplan SJ. Post-hospital home health care: the elderly's access and utilization [dissertation]. St. Louis (MO): Washington Univ.; 1995.
Website
Fehrenbach MJ. Dental hygiene education [Internet]. [Place unknown]: Fehrenbach and Associates; 2000 [updated 2009 May 2; cited 2009 Jun 15]. Available from: http://www.dhed.net/Main.html
3.12. Tables:
Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters.
Avoid vertical lines. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Table caption must be place above the table in justify bold font.
Table should be cited as (Table 1) in text as well as in caption.
3.13. Figures:
Each figure must be numbered and a short descriptive caption must be provided.
A computer drawn figure with good contrast is acceptable. Sometimes, raw data for graphs may be required in Excel sheet when the article is accepted for publication. Graphic files for diagrams and figures may be converted to *.png, *.tiff, *.jpg format with minimum 300 dpi. These files should not exceed 2 MB in size. Figure legend must be place below the figure in justify bold font. Figure should be cite as (Figure 1) in text as well as in legend.
Figure legend should separately be mentioned at the end of manuscript.
