A manuscript will be reviewed for possible publication with the understanding that it is being submitted to Archives of Dental & Medical Research alone at that point in time and has not been published anywhere, simultaneously submitted, or already accepted for publication elsewhere. The journal expects that authors would authorize one of them to correspond with the Journal for all matters related to the manuscript. All manuscripts received are duly acknowledged. On submission, editors review all submitted manuscripts initially for suitability for formal review. Manuscripts with insufficient originality, serious scientific or technical flaws, or lack of a significant message are rejected before proceeding for formal peer-review. Manuscripts that are unlikely to be of interest to the Archives of Dental & Medical Research readers are also liable to be rejected at this stage itself.
Manuscripts that are found suitable for publication in Archives of Dental & Medical Research are sent to two or more expert reviewers. During submission, the contributor is requested to provide names of two or three qualified reviewers who have had experience in the subject of the submitted manuscript, but this is not mandatory. The reviewers should not be affiliated with the same institutes as the contributor/s. However, the selection of these reviewers is at the sole discretion of the editor. The journal follows a double-blind review process, wherein the reviewers and authors are unaware of each other’s identity. Every manuscript is also assigned to a member of the editorial team, who based on the comments from the reviewers takes a final decision on the manuscript. The comments and suggestions (acceptance/ rejection/ amendments in manuscript) received from reviewers are conveyed to the corresponding author. If required, the author is requested to provide a point by point response to reviewers’ comments and submit a revised version of the manuscript. This process is repeated till reviewers and editors are satisfied with the manuscript.
Manuscripts accepted for publication are copy edited for grammar, punctuation, print style, and format. Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author. The corresponding author is expected to return the corrected proofs within three days. It may not be possible to incorporate corrections received after that period. The whole process of submission of the manuscript to final decision and sending and receiving proofs is completed online. To achieve faster and greater dissemination of knowledge and information, the journal publishes articles online as ‘Ahead of Print’ immediately on acceptance.
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.
Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship. General supervision of the research group is not sufficient for authorship. Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content of the manuscript. The order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor towards the study and writing 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
TYPE OF MANUSCRIPT
Original articles
These scientific reports give results of original research. These should have a structured abstract and should follow the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion) format (upto 3000 words). Randomised controlled trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic test, outcome studies, case-control series, and surveys with high response rate.
Review articles
These provide an in-depth review of a specific topic by systemic critical assessments of literature and data sources. Appropriate use of tables and figures is encouraged. Where relevant, key messages and salient features may be provided up to 4000 words excluding references and abstract.
Clinical case reports
Previously undocumented disease process, a unique unreported manifestation or treatment of a known disease condition. (approx. 700 to 1200 words) will be given priority.
Short Communications
The research and technical communications section of this journal (maximum 3,000 words) is open to interesting results worthy of publication without requiring extensive introduction and discussion. This section should be organized as follows: Abstract, Introduction, Materials and methods, Results and discussion (combined). Not more than 10 references should be provided. Tables, figures and references are to be arranged in the same way as for research papers. Brevity of presentation is essential for this section.
MANUSCRIPT STRUCTURE
Manuscript preparation
The manuscript should be prepared in English using “MS Word” with 1 inch margin on all sides of the page. “Times New Roman” font should be used. The font size should be of 12pt but main Title should be of 14pt bold uppercase, main headings should be of 12pt bold uppercase, subheadings should be of 12pt bold lowercase. These subtitles should be typed in italics. Illustrations (Figures & Graphs) and tables must be inserted at the end of the reference section. Manuscript should be concisely typewritten in 1.5 spaces in A4 sized sheets. The length of article should not exceed 25 pages to include figures, tables and references. No abbreviations on acronyms shall be used in the titles or Abstract acronyms except for measurements. There shall not be decorative borders anywhere in the text including the title page. These entire MS word document with graphs and illustration pasted in it shall not exceed 4 MB. The manuscript should be starting with the covering letter and the text should be arranged in the following order:
# Covering letter
# Title Page
# Abstract
# Keywords
# Introduction
#Materials and Methods
#Results and Discussion
#Conclusion
#Acknowledgements (If any)
#References
# Tables
# Figures and/or Graphs
# Copyright Form
The covering letter should outline the importance of the paper and its appropriateness for publication in the Journal. It should specify the section of the Journal for which the submitted article is to be considered. It should also explain, with reasons, if there is any deviation from the IMRAD format. If the work has been previously published in part or whole (e.g. as an abstract or proceedings of a conference), this must be stated. Any conflicts of interest, or their absence, must be stated in writing.
Title Page
This should contain the title, short title, names of all the authors (without degrees or diplomas), names and full location of the departments and institutions where the work was performed, name of the corresponding author, acknowledgement of financial support and abbreviations used. Super-scripted numbers should be used after each authors name and the department and institution corresponding to each number should be specified on the page. Names of authors should appear in the order of authorship. The title should be brief but complete and should represent the major theme of the manuscript. It should include the animal species if appropriate. A subtitle can be added if necessary. Abbreviations should not be used. The short title should not exceed 60 characters (including inter-word spaces). It will be used as a running head. The name, telephone and fax numbers, and complete e-mail and postal addresses of the author to whom communications and requests for off prints are to be sent should be mentioned in the title page. In general, the use of abbreviations is discouraged unless they help in improving the readability of the text. The expanded form of each abbreviation should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement.
Structured Abstract
The abstract (250 words) should be structured and divided into four sections: Background, Methods, Results and Conclusion(s). It should be a concise and accurate summary of the article and should not contain abbreviations, tables, figures, footnotes or references. It should not draw conclusions stronger or more expansive than those in the body of the paper. Briefly, the background should explain why the study was done, the methods provide how the study was done, the results provide the salient results along with important data and the conclusions briefly highlight the message of the study.
Introduction
The introduction should state why the study was carried out and what the specific aims of the study were. It should describe the background for the study (the available knowledge), its importance and its goals. It should be brief but complete enough for the reader to understand the reasons for the study without having to read previous publications on the subject.
Methods
The validity of a study is judged by the methods used. These should be described in sufficient detail to permit evaluation and duplication of the work by others. The following should be described in this section:
· Study design
· Setting
· Selection of participants
· Interventions
· Methods of measurement
· Data collection and processing
· Loss of data such as dropouts or patients lost to follow up
· Statistical methods used
· Ethical guidelines followed by the investigators
Results
These should be concise and include only the tables and figures necessary to enhance understanding of the text. Results should be presented in a logical, sequential order that parallels the organization of the methods section. The text should be used to highlight the most important aspects of the figures and tables, and to convey unique information. Data presented in tables and figures should not be duplicated in the text. Drug names, wherever used, should be generic. If the use of proprietary names is deemed a must for the study, generic names should be mentioned in parentheses. Units of Measurement SI units should be used. When reporting values for commonly studied components such as cholesterol, blood glucose, blood urea and creatinine, report the value in SI units with traditional units given in parentheses. Temperature should be expressed in degrees Celsius and blood pressure in mmHg.
Discussion
The discussion should summarize how the study findings add to the current knowledge, provide explanations for the findings, compare the study findings with available studies, discuss the limitations of the study and the implications for future research. Only those published articles directly relevant to interpreting the results and placing them in context should be referenced.
Conclusion
This section should conclude with a brief summary statement. The conclusion should be based on and justified by the results of the study. The particular relevance of the results to healthcare in India should be stressed. Conclusions regarding cost-benefit should be drawn only if a specific economic analysis formed a part of the study design.
References
These should conform to the ICMJE style (www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html, www.icmje.org). References should be numbered in the order in which they appear in the text and these numbers should be inserted above the lines (superscripted) on each occasion the reference is cited. References included at the end of a sentence or part of a sentence should be placed after the punctuation mark. References cited only in tables or in legends to figures should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure. Avoid using abstracts as references. For papers accepted but not yet published mention the name of the journal, the year of publication and add in press in parentheses. Information from papers submitted for publication but not accepted should be cited in the text as unpublished observations with written permission from the source. Avoid citing a personal communication unless it is essential; such citations must list in parentheses in the text the name of the person and date of communication. Written permission, obtained from the author of such communications for their use in the manuscript, must be submitted to the Journal. Do not include personal communications in the list of references. At the end of the article, the full list of references should include the names of authors, the full title of the journal article or book chapters; the title of journals abbreviated according to the Index Medicus style (www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html) the year of publication, the volume number and the first and final page numbers of the article or chapter. If there are six or fewer authors in the study being cited, the names of all the authors should be given. If there are more than six authors, the names of the first six authors should be given followed by et al. The authors should check that the references are accurate; lack of accuracy may result in the rejection of an otherwise adequate manuscript.
Journal references
One author: Abada EA. Isolation and characterization of antimicrobial compound from Bacillus coagulans. Anim Cells Syst 2008; 12:41-6.
Two or more authors: Jagtap AG, Karkera SG. Potential of the aqueous extract of Terminalia chebula as an anticaries agent. J Ethnopharmacol 1999;68:299–306
Article in press: Ladines CA et al. Impaired renal D1-like and D2-like dopamine receptor interaction in the spontaneously hypertensive rat. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 2008 (in press).
Electronic publication ahead of print : Teeuwen PHE. Doppler-guided intra-operative fluid management during major abdominal surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Clin Pract (accessed 21 November 2007, epub ahead of print).
Corporate author: The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Clinical exercise stress testing. Safety and performance guidelines. Med J Aust 1996;164:282-4.
Article not in English : Sokolov S et al. Studies of neurotropic activity of new compounds isolated from Rhodiola rosea L. Khim Farm Zh 1985;19:1367–1 [in Russian]
Book references
Book by a single author: Crabtree RH. The Organometallic Chemistry of the Transition Metals, 3rd ed.; Wiley & Sons: New York, 2001.
An edited book : Ford HL, Sclafani RA, Degregori J. Cell Cycle Regulatory Casacade. In: Cell Cycle and Growth Control: Bimolecular Regulation and Cancer, 2nd ed, Stein GS, Pardee AB, Eds; Wiley- Liss: Hoboken, NJ, 2004;pp. 42-67.
An article in an edited book: Sanders PA. Aerosol packaging of pharmaceuticals. In: Banker GS, Rhodes CT, eds. Modern Pharmaceutics. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1979: 591–626.
Conference Proceedings: Jakeman DL, Withers SGE. In: Carbohydrate Bioengineering: Interdisciplinary Approaches, Proceedings of the 4th Carbohydrate Bioengineering Meeting, Stockholm, Sweden, June 10-13, 2001; Teeri TT, Svensson B, Gilbert HJ, Feizi T, Eds; Royal Society of Chemistry: Cambridge, UK, 2002; pp. 3-8.
Patents: Hoch JA, Huang S. Screening methods for the identification of novel antibiotics. U.S. Patent 6,043,045, March 28, 2000.
Websites: National Library of Medicine. Specialized Information Services: Toxicology and Environmental Health. http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/Tox/ToxMain.html (Accessed May 23, 2004).
Thesis: Mackel H. Capturing the Spectra of Silicon Solar Cells. PhD Thesis, The Australian National University: Canberra, December 2004.
Tables
These should be typed in double space, each table on a separate page with the table number and title above the table, and explanatory notes below the table. Tables should be so arranged that comparisons of interest are horizontal (across columns) and from left-to-right. The numbers of observations for each column or row (n) and marginal totals should be provided where appropriate. All abbreviations and symbols in the table must be explained in the footnote(s) to the table, even if the expanded forms have already been mentioned in the text. The units of measure must be mentioned.
Figures
Each image should be less than 400 kb in size. Size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep up to 1024 x 760 pixels or 5 inches). All image formats (jpeg, tiff, gif, bmp, png, eps, etc.) are acceptable; jpeg is most suitable. Do not zip the files.
Legends to figures
These should be typed in double space on a separate sheet and figure numbers, should correspond with the order in which the figures are presented in the text. The legend must include enough information to permit interpretation of the figure without reference to the text. Any labels or abbreviations within the figure must be explained in the legend.
Authorship
An author is someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a study.
In accordance with ICMJE guidelines (www.icmje.org), authorship credit requires all the following conditions to be met.
· Substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data.
· Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
· Final approval of the version to be published.
All authors should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. All authors must sign an undertaking accepting responsibility for the submitted manuscript. Authors are required to state their exact contribution to the study; the Journal may print this information. The order of authorship should be decided by all the authors. The journal strongly discourages alterations in the sequence or deletion/addition of authors at any time after submission of the manuscript.
Acknowledgements
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or statistical or writing assistance. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged.
Conflict of interest
A conflict of interest exists when a financial or personal relationship of the author may inappropriately influence his or her actions. Conflicts may be personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial. Some examples of financial conflicts of interest include employment, research funding (received or pending), stock or share ownership, payment for lectures or travel, consultancies and non-monetary support. Conflicts, or their absence, must be stated in writing by all authors at the time of submission of the article. The Journal may use information disclosed in conflict of interest and financial interest statements as a basis for editorial decisions. Sources of full or partial funding or other support for the research must be declared. For more information please see www.icmje.org.
Protection of human subjects and animals in research
All studies conducted on human subjects or animals should be approved by the ethics committee or the institutional review board of the institution where the study was performed. When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national). When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed (see ICMR guidelines: icmr.nic.in/ethics_SOP.pdf and icmr.nic.in/animal_ethics.htm).
Patient confidentiality
Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying information, including patients names, initials or hospital numbers, should not be revealed in written descriptions and photographs. If it is not possible to ensure anonymity, written, informed consent should be obtained from the patient and submitted to the Journal. Identifying details should be omitted if these are not essential but patient data should not be altered to attain anonymity.
Copyright
Authors must agree in writing to transfer to the Journal the copyright for all material submitted, in case of its publication by the Journal. The published manuscript may not be reproduced elsewhere, wholly or in part, without the prior written permission of the Journal.
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. This applies to all forms of documents, published (print or electronic) or unpublished. Authors should make sure that their manuscripts are free from plagiarized material. Providing a reference to the material quoted verbatim from previously published material does not absolve the user of plagiarism. Detection of plagiarism would lead to rejection of the manuscript and debar the publication of any material from the concerned authors for at least three years. The Journal may also send this information to the head of the institution where the authors work with a request for an inquiry in the matter. The Journal may also publish such correspondence in its pages to inform its readers of scientific misconduct study being cited, the names of all the authors should be given. If there are more than six authors, the names of the first six authors should be given followed by et al. The authors should check that the references are accurate; lack of accuracy may result in the rejection of an otherwise adequate manuscript.
Manuscripts that are found suitable for publication in Archives of Dental & Medical Research are sent to two or more expert reviewers. During submission, the contributor is requested to provide names of two or three qualified reviewers who have had experience in the subject of the submitted manuscript, but this is not mandatory. The reviewers should not be affiliated with the same institutes as the contributor/s. However, the selection of these reviewers is at the sole discretion of the editor. The journal follows a double-blind review process, wherein the reviewers and authors are unaware of each other’s identity. Every manuscript is also assigned to a member of the editorial team, who based on the comments from the reviewers takes a final decision on the manuscript. The comments and suggestions (acceptance/ rejection/ amendments in manuscript) received from reviewers are conveyed to the corresponding author. If required, the author is requested to provide a point by point response to reviewers’ comments and submit a revised version of the manuscript. This process is repeated till reviewers and editors are satisfied with the manuscript.
Manuscripts accepted for publication are copy edited for grammar, punctuation, print style, and format. Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author. The corresponding author is expected to return the corrected proofs within three days. It may not be possible to incorporate corrections received after that period. The whole process of submission of the manuscript to final decision and sending and receiving proofs is completed online. To achieve faster and greater dissemination of knowledge and information, the journal publishes articles online as ‘Ahead of Print’ immediately on acceptance.
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.
Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship. General supervision of the research group is not sufficient for authorship. Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content of the manuscript. The order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor towards the study and writing 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
TYPE OF MANUSCRIPT
Original articles
These scientific reports give results of original research. These should have a structured abstract and should follow the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion) format (upto 3000 words). Randomised controlled trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic test, outcome studies, case-control series, and surveys with high response rate.
Review articles
These provide an in-depth review of a specific topic by systemic critical assessments of literature and data sources. Appropriate use of tables and figures is encouraged. Where relevant, key messages and salient features may be provided up to 4000 words excluding references and abstract.
Clinical case reports
Previously undocumented disease process, a unique unreported manifestation or treatment of a known disease condition. (approx. 700 to 1200 words) will be given priority.
Short Communications
The research and technical communications section of this journal (maximum 3,000 words) is open to interesting results worthy of publication without requiring extensive introduction and discussion. This section should be organized as follows: Abstract, Introduction, Materials and methods, Results and discussion (combined). Not more than 10 references should be provided. Tables, figures and references are to be arranged in the same way as for research papers. Brevity of presentation is essential for this section.
MANUSCRIPT STRUCTURE
Manuscript preparation
The manuscript should be prepared in English using “MS Word” with 1 inch margin on all sides of the page. “Times New Roman” font should be used. The font size should be of 12pt but main Title should be of 14pt bold uppercase, main headings should be of 12pt bold uppercase, subheadings should be of 12pt bold lowercase. These subtitles should be typed in italics. Illustrations (Figures & Graphs) and tables must be inserted at the end of the reference section. Manuscript should be concisely typewritten in 1.5 spaces in A4 sized sheets. The length of article should not exceed 25 pages to include figures, tables and references. No abbreviations on acronyms shall be used in the titles or Abstract acronyms except for measurements. There shall not be decorative borders anywhere in the text including the title page. These entire MS word document with graphs and illustration pasted in it shall not exceed 4 MB. The manuscript should be starting with the covering letter and the text should be arranged in the following order:
# Covering letter
# Title Page
# Abstract
# Keywords
# Introduction
#Materials and Methods
#Results and Discussion
#Conclusion
#Acknowledgements (If any)
#References
# Tables
# Figures and/or Graphs
# Copyright Form
The covering letter should outline the importance of the paper and its appropriateness for publication in the Journal. It should specify the section of the Journal for which the submitted article is to be considered. It should also explain, with reasons, if there is any deviation from the IMRAD format. If the work has been previously published in part or whole (e.g. as an abstract or proceedings of a conference), this must be stated. Any conflicts of interest, or their absence, must be stated in writing.
Title Page
This should contain the title, short title, names of all the authors (without degrees or diplomas), names and full location of the departments and institutions where the work was performed, name of the corresponding author, acknowledgement of financial support and abbreviations used. Super-scripted numbers should be used after each authors name and the department and institution corresponding to each number should be specified on the page. Names of authors should appear in the order of authorship. The title should be brief but complete and should represent the major theme of the manuscript. It should include the animal species if appropriate. A subtitle can be added if necessary. Abbreviations should not be used. The short title should not exceed 60 characters (including inter-word spaces). It will be used as a running head. The name, telephone and fax numbers, and complete e-mail and postal addresses of the author to whom communications and requests for off prints are to be sent should be mentioned in the title page. In general, the use of abbreviations is discouraged unless they help in improving the readability of the text. The expanded form of each abbreviation should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement.
Structured Abstract
The abstract (250 words) should be structured and divided into four sections: Background, Methods, Results and Conclusion(s). It should be a concise and accurate summary of the article and should not contain abbreviations, tables, figures, footnotes or references. It should not draw conclusions stronger or more expansive than those in the body of the paper. Briefly, the background should explain why the study was done, the methods provide how the study was done, the results provide the salient results along with important data and the conclusions briefly highlight the message of the study.
Introduction
The introduction should state why the study was carried out and what the specific aims of the study were. It should describe the background for the study (the available knowledge), its importance and its goals. It should be brief but complete enough for the reader to understand the reasons for the study without having to read previous publications on the subject.
Methods
The validity of a study is judged by the methods used. These should be described in sufficient detail to permit evaluation and duplication of the work by others. The following should be described in this section:
· Study design
· Setting
· Selection of participants
· Interventions
· Methods of measurement
· Data collection and processing
· Loss of data such as dropouts or patients lost to follow up
· Statistical methods used
· Ethical guidelines followed by the investigators
Results
These should be concise and include only the tables and figures necessary to enhance understanding of the text. Results should be presented in a logical, sequential order that parallels the organization of the methods section. The text should be used to highlight the most important aspects of the figures and tables, and to convey unique information. Data presented in tables and figures should not be duplicated in the text. Drug names, wherever used, should be generic. If the use of proprietary names is deemed a must for the study, generic names should be mentioned in parentheses. Units of Measurement SI units should be used. When reporting values for commonly studied components such as cholesterol, blood glucose, blood urea and creatinine, report the value in SI units with traditional units given in parentheses. Temperature should be expressed in degrees Celsius and blood pressure in mmHg.
Discussion
The discussion should summarize how the study findings add to the current knowledge, provide explanations for the findings, compare the study findings with available studies, discuss the limitations of the study and the implications for future research. Only those published articles directly relevant to interpreting the results and placing them in context should be referenced.
Conclusion
This section should conclude with a brief summary statement. The conclusion should be based on and justified by the results of the study. The particular relevance of the results to healthcare in India should be stressed. Conclusions regarding cost-benefit should be drawn only if a specific economic analysis formed a part of the study design.
References
These should conform to the ICMJE style (www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html, www.icmje.org). References should be numbered in the order in which they appear in the text and these numbers should be inserted above the lines (superscripted) on each occasion the reference is cited. References included at the end of a sentence or part of a sentence should be placed after the punctuation mark. References cited only in tables or in legends to figures should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure. Avoid using abstracts as references. For papers accepted but not yet published mention the name of the journal, the year of publication and add in press in parentheses. Information from papers submitted for publication but not accepted should be cited in the text as unpublished observations with written permission from the source. Avoid citing a personal communication unless it is essential; such citations must list in parentheses in the text the name of the person and date of communication. Written permission, obtained from the author of such communications for their use in the manuscript, must be submitted to the Journal. Do not include personal communications in the list of references. At the end of the article, the full list of references should include the names of authors, the full title of the journal article or book chapters; the title of journals abbreviated according to the Index Medicus style (www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html) the year of publication, the volume number and the first and final page numbers of the article or chapter. If there are six or fewer authors in the study being cited, the names of all the authors should be given. If there are more than six authors, the names of the first six authors should be given followed by et al. The authors should check that the references are accurate; lack of accuracy may result in the rejection of an otherwise adequate manuscript.
Journal references
One author: Abada EA. Isolation and characterization of antimicrobial compound from Bacillus coagulans. Anim Cells Syst 2008; 12:41-6.
Two or more authors: Jagtap AG, Karkera SG. Potential of the aqueous extract of Terminalia chebula as an anticaries agent. J Ethnopharmacol 1999;68:299–306
Article in press: Ladines CA et al. Impaired renal D1-like and D2-like dopamine receptor interaction in the spontaneously hypertensive rat. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 2008 (in press).
Electronic publication ahead of print : Teeuwen PHE. Doppler-guided intra-operative fluid management during major abdominal surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Clin Pract (accessed 21 November 2007, epub ahead of print).
Corporate author: The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Clinical exercise stress testing. Safety and performance guidelines. Med J Aust 1996;164:282-4.
Article not in English : Sokolov S et al. Studies of neurotropic activity of new compounds isolated from Rhodiola rosea L. Khim Farm Zh 1985;19:1367–1 [in Russian]
Book references
Book by a single author: Crabtree RH. The Organometallic Chemistry of the Transition Metals, 3rd ed.; Wiley & Sons: New York, 2001.
An edited book : Ford HL, Sclafani RA, Degregori J. Cell Cycle Regulatory Casacade. In: Cell Cycle and Growth Control: Bimolecular Regulation and Cancer, 2nd ed, Stein GS, Pardee AB, Eds; Wiley- Liss: Hoboken, NJ, 2004;pp. 42-67.
An article in an edited book: Sanders PA. Aerosol packaging of pharmaceuticals. In: Banker GS, Rhodes CT, eds. Modern Pharmaceutics. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1979: 591–626.
Conference Proceedings: Jakeman DL, Withers SGE. In: Carbohydrate Bioengineering: Interdisciplinary Approaches, Proceedings of the 4th Carbohydrate Bioengineering Meeting, Stockholm, Sweden, June 10-13, 2001; Teeri TT, Svensson B, Gilbert HJ, Feizi T, Eds; Royal Society of Chemistry: Cambridge, UK, 2002; pp. 3-8.
Patents: Hoch JA, Huang S. Screening methods for the identification of novel antibiotics. U.S. Patent 6,043,045, March 28, 2000.
Websites: National Library of Medicine. Specialized Information Services: Toxicology and Environmental Health. http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/Tox/ToxMain.html (Accessed May 23, 2004).
Thesis: Mackel H. Capturing the Spectra of Silicon Solar Cells. PhD Thesis, The Australian National University: Canberra, December 2004.
Tables
These should be typed in double space, each table on a separate page with the table number and title above the table, and explanatory notes below the table. Tables should be so arranged that comparisons of interest are horizontal (across columns) and from left-to-right. The numbers of observations for each column or row (n) and marginal totals should be provided where appropriate. All abbreviations and symbols in the table must be explained in the footnote(s) to the table, even if the expanded forms have already been mentioned in the text. The units of measure must be mentioned.
Figures
Each image should be less than 400 kb in size. Size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep up to 1024 x 760 pixels or 5 inches). All image formats (jpeg, tiff, gif, bmp, png, eps, etc.) are acceptable; jpeg is most suitable. Do not zip the files.
Legends to figures
These should be typed in double space on a separate sheet and figure numbers, should correspond with the order in which the figures are presented in the text. The legend must include enough information to permit interpretation of the figure without reference to the text. Any labels or abbreviations within the figure must be explained in the legend.
Authorship
An author is someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a study.
In accordance with ICMJE guidelines (www.icmje.org), authorship credit requires all the following conditions to be met.
· Substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data.
· Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
· Final approval of the version to be published.
All authors should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. All authors must sign an undertaking accepting responsibility for the submitted manuscript. Authors are required to state their exact contribution to the study; the Journal may print this information. The order of authorship should be decided by all the authors. The journal strongly discourages alterations in the sequence or deletion/addition of authors at any time after submission of the manuscript.
Acknowledgements
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or statistical or writing assistance. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged.
Conflict of interest
A conflict of interest exists when a financial or personal relationship of the author may inappropriately influence his or her actions. Conflicts may be personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial. Some examples of financial conflicts of interest include employment, research funding (received or pending), stock or share ownership, payment for lectures or travel, consultancies and non-monetary support. Conflicts, or their absence, must be stated in writing by all authors at the time of submission of the article. The Journal may use information disclosed in conflict of interest and financial interest statements as a basis for editorial decisions. Sources of full or partial funding or other support for the research must be declared. For more information please see www.icmje.org.
Protection of human subjects and animals in research
All studies conducted on human subjects or animals should be approved by the ethics committee or the institutional review board of the institution where the study was performed. When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national). When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed (see ICMR guidelines: icmr.nic.in/ethics_SOP.pdf and icmr.nic.in/animal_ethics.htm).
Patient confidentiality
Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying information, including patients names, initials or hospital numbers, should not be revealed in written descriptions and photographs. If it is not possible to ensure anonymity, written, informed consent should be obtained from the patient and submitted to the Journal. Identifying details should be omitted if these are not essential but patient data should not be altered to attain anonymity.
Copyright
Authors must agree in writing to transfer to the Journal the copyright for all material submitted, in case of its publication by the Journal. The published manuscript may not be reproduced elsewhere, wholly or in part, without the prior written permission of the Journal.
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. This applies to all forms of documents, published (print or electronic) or unpublished. Authors should make sure that their manuscripts are free from plagiarized material. Providing a reference to the material quoted verbatim from previously published material does not absolve the user of plagiarism. Detection of plagiarism would lead to rejection of the manuscript and debar the publication of any material from the concerned authors for at least three years. The Journal may also send this information to the head of the institution where the authors work with a request for an inquiry in the matter. The Journal may also publish such correspondence in its pages to inform its readers of scientific misconduct study being cited, the names of all the authors should be given. If there are more than six authors, the names of the first six authors should be given followed by et al. The authors should check that the references are accurate; lack of accuracy may result in the rejection of an otherwise adequate manuscript.
