Guide Lines

GUIDE FOR AUTHORS

SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPT

The MJR does not charge for submission and processing of the manuscript.

All manuscripts submitted for publication to the MJR should include the following:

(1) First page file;

(2) Article file;

(3) Tables & figures;

(4) A scanned copy of ethical clearance certificate;

(5) Undertaking by authors & copyright transfer agreement. Details are given below.

1.. FIRST PAGE FILE

This should include a Covering letter, Title page and Author’s contribution in a single file.

The covering letter should explain why the paper should be published in the MJR, rather than a specialty journal. One of the authors should be identified as the corresponding author of the paper, who would be responsible for the contents of the paper as for communication with the Editorial office. Author should declare that the article was not published or under consideration, in part or whole, simultaneously in any other journal or proceedings.
Title page should include (i) name(s) of author(s); (ii) highest degree; (iii) name(s) of the Department(s); (iv) designations (academic position) of authors in the department; (v) complete postal addresses, mobile number and e-mail id of all authors; (vi) name of corresponding author with all above mentioned details.

Title page also should include: (i) Type of manuscript: original article/ review/ correspondence/ perspective/ view point/ clinical image/ letter to editor/ student MJR; (ii) Title; (iii) Short title; (iv) Number of Tables; (v) Number of Figures; (vi) Source of financial support in the form of grants; (vii) Registration number in case of Clinical Trials; (viii) STS number in case of Student MJR.

Specific author’s contribution should be given at the end in the Title page.

2. ARTICLE FILE

Manuscripts must be submitted online through the website www.journalonweb.com/MJR. First time users will have to register at this site. Registration is free but mandatory. Registered authors can keep track of their articles after logging into the site using their user name and password. Authors do not need to pay for submission, processing or publication of articles. Manuscripts should be presented in as concise form as possible, typewritten neatly. Pages should be numbered consecutively and the contents arranged in the following order:

Title

Title of the article should be short, continuous (broken or hyphenated titles are not acceptable) and yet sufficiently descriptive and informative so as to be useful in indexing and information retrieval.

Title Page

Title page should include name(s) of author(s) with highest degree , departmental affiliations, designation (position) in the department and complete postal addresses , mobile no. with e-mails.

A short running title not exceeding 6-7 words must also be provided.

Abstract and key words :

All manuscripts should (except reviews) have a structured abstract (of about 250 words) with subheadings of Background & objectives, Methods, Results, and Interpretation & conclusions. Abstract should be brief and indicate the scope and significant results of the paper. It should only highlight the principal findings and conclusions so that it can be used by abstracting services without modification. Conclusions and recommendations not found in the text of the articles should not be inserted in the Abstract.

A set of suitable key words (6-8 in number) arranged alphabetically should be provided.

Introduction

Introduction should be brief and state precisely the scope of the paper. Review of the literature should be restricted to reasons for undertaking the present study and provide only the most essential background. The objective of the study should be written clearly with adequate justification at the end of this section.

Material & Methods

The nomenclature, the source of material and equipment used, with the manufacturers details in parenthesis, should be clearly mentioned. The procedures adopted should be explicitly stated to enable other workers to reproduce the results, if necessary. New methods may be described in sufficient detail indicating their limitations. Established methods can be just mentioned with authentic references and significant deviations, if any given, with reasons for adopting them. While reporting experiments on human subjects and animals, it should be clearly mentioned that procedures followed are in accordance with the ethical standards laid down by the national bodies or organizations of the particular country. For example, for research carried out in India on human subjects, the ICMR’s Ethical guidelines for biomedical and health research on human participants (2017) should be adhered. Similarly, for experiments on laboratory animals the ICMR’s guidelines: Use of animals in scientific research (May 2006)/INSA’s guidelines for care and use of animals in scientific research (2000) or guidelines of the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) should be followed. Adequate information should be provided on the care and use of laboratory animals, source of animals, strain, age, sex, housing and nutrition, etc. Whenever needed, appropriate certification should be provided at the time of submission of the manuscripts. The drugs and chemicals used should be precisely identified, including generic name(s), dosage(s) and route(s) of administration.

Study design: Selection of the observational or experimental participants (patients or laboratory animals, including controls, whether randomly or consecutively) and basis of sample size calculation should be mentioned clearly, including eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population.

Contributors may consult the following Guidelines for specific study designs:

Sr. No.

Type of study

Source

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs)

CONSORT- http://www.consort-statement.org

Systematic reviews & meta-analysis

PRISMA guidelines- http://www.prisma-statement.org

Observational studies in epidemio

STROBE - http://www.strobe-statement.org/

Meta-analysis of observational studies in epidemiology

MOOSE - http://statswrite.eu/pdf/MOOSE%20Statement.pdf

Studies on diagnostic accuracy

STARD - http://www.stard-statement.org

* For any other type of study contributors may consult ICMJE website (www.icmje.org)

Period (with month and year) and place of the study should be clearly stated.

Studies based on clinical trials: All clinical trials should be registered in a Primary Clinical Trial Registry and the Registration number be given under Material & Methods. Articles presenting with results of randomized clinical trials should provide information on all major study elements, including the protocol, assignment of interventions (methods of randomization, concealment of allocation to treatment groups), and the method of masking (blinding), based on the CONSORT Statement (http://www.consort-statement.org/). It should be clearly stated that study protocol was approved by the institutional/local ethics committee and written consent obtained from the participants.

The statistical analysis done and statistical significance of the findings when appropriate, should be mentioned. Unless absolutely necessary for a clear understanding of the article, detailed description of statistical treatment may be avoided. Articles based heavily on statistical considerations, however, need to give details particularly when new or uncommon methods are employed. For standard and routine statistical methods employed, authors need to give only authentic references.

Results:

Only such data as are essential for understanding the discussion and main conclusions emerging from the study should be included. The data should be arranged in unified and coherent sequence so that the report develops clearly and logically. Data presented in Tables and Figures should not be repeated in the text. Only important observations need to be emphasized or summarized. The same data should not be presented both in tabular and graphic forms. Interpretation of the data should be taken up only under the Discussion and not under Results.

Discussion:

The discussion should deal with the interpretation of results without repeating information already presented under Results. It should relate new findings to the known ones and include logical deductions. It should also mention any weaknesses/limitations/lacunae of the study.

The conclusions can be linked with the goals of the study but unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by the data should be avoided. Claiming of priority on work that is ongoing should also be avoided. All hypotheses should, if warranted, clearly be identified as such; recommendations may be included as part of the Discussion, only when considered absolutely necessary and relevant. This section should preferably end with a concluding remark..

Acknowledgment:

Acknowledgment should be brief and made for specific scientific/technical assistance and financial support only and not for providing routine departmental facilities and encouragement or for help in the preparation of the manuscripts (including typing or secretarial assistance).

Conflicts of interest:

A conflict of interest exists if authors or their institutions have financial or personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their actions. A conflict can be actual or potential, and full disclosure to the Editor is absolute requirement. All submissions must include disclosure of all relationships that could be viewed as presenting a potential conflict of interest.

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. If there are no conflicts of interest, authors should state so.

References:

The total number of References should normally be restricted to a maximum of 30 for Original Research Articles.

References to literature cited should be numbered consecutively and placed at the end of the manuscript. In the text they should be indicated above the line (superior). As far as possible mentioning names of author(s) under references should be avoided in text.

Articles in Journals: The titles of the journals should be abbreviated according to the style used by the PubMed.

3. TABLES & FIGURES

Tables (and graphs in MS Word format) should be included in main Article file in MS Word file format. Tables should numbered consecutively with Roman numerals (I, II, III, etc). They should bear brief title and column headings should also be short. Units of measurement should be abbreviated and placed below the headings. Statistical measurement variations such as SD and SE should be identified. Inclusion of structural formule in Tables should be avoided. Abbreviations used be given in the footnote.

Figures should be submitted in JPEG or TIFF format (size not more than 1 MB), numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals with appropriate Title and explanation of symbols in the legends for illustrations. Within a multi-panel figure, different parts should be labelled as A, B, C,...etc. on top left corner.

xvi

Photomicrographs should have internal scale markers regarding details of magnification to facilitate reduction in size in final print. Symbols, arrows and letters used in the photomicrographs should be legible and in contrast with the background. Graphs in JPEG/TIFF format can be uploaded as Figures.

All published material should be acknowledged and copyright material should be submitted along with the written permission of the copyright holder.

Enzyme Nomenclature

For enzymes, only the trivial names recommended by the IUPAC-IUB Commission should be used. At its first citation in the text of the paper its code number and systematic name should be indicated.

Abbreviations

Only standard abbreviations are to be used. The abbreviations should conform to the International System of Units (SI), throughout the text, Tables and Figures. Generic names of the drugs should be used. If proprietary brands are used in research brand name, name of manufacturer and country should be given in parentheses after the generic name at the first place of use.

4. ETHICAL CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE

All studies conducted on patients / volunteers/ Human biological material/animals should submit a scanned copy of Ethical Clearance Certificate.

5 UNDERTAKING BY AUTHOR(S) & COPYRIGHT TRANSFER AGREEMENT

It is necessary that all the authors give an undertaking (in the format specified by the journal) indicating their consent to be co-authors in the sequence indicated on the title page. Each author should give his or her names as well as the address and appointment current at the time the work was done, plus a current address for correspondence including telephone and fax numbers and email address. A senior author may sign the Undertaking by Authors for a junior author who has left the institution and whose whereabouts are not known and take the responsibility.

A paper with corporate (collective) authorship must specify the key persons responsible for the article; others contributing to the work should be recognized separately.

Author(s) will be asked to sign a transfer of copyright agreement, which recognizes the common interest that both journal and author(s) have in the protection of copyright. It will also allow us to tackle copyright infringements ourselves without having to go back to authors each time.

PROOFS

Authors of accepted articles are supplied of printer’s proofs online on their Author centre and will also receive email alerts when proofs are available. Corrections on the page proofs should be restricted to printer’s errors only and no substantial additions/deletions should be made. No change in the names of the authors (by way of additions and deletions) is permissible at the proof stage. If there are valid reasons for such a change, after acceptance of a paper, the permission of the Editor-In-Chief must be sought.

Standard abbreviations to be used in MJR

The abbreviations should be used in the text, tables and illustrations without a full stop.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

submitted for publication in the Medical Journal of Research: -

1. The article mentioned above has not been published or submitted to or accepted for publication in any form, in any other journal.

3. I/We declare that I/We contributed significantly towards the research study i.e., (a) conception, design and/or analysis and interpretation of data and to (b) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content and on (c) final approval of the version to be published

UNDERTAKING BY AUTHORS

We, the undersigned, give an undertaking to the following effect with regard to our article entitled ""_________

________________________________________________________________________________________

submitted for publication in the Medical Journal of Research: -

1.The article mentioned above has not been published or submitted to or accepted for publication in any form, in any other journal.

2.We also vouchsafe that the authorship of this article will not be contested by anyone whose name(s) is/are not listed by us here.

4. I/We hereby acknowledge MJRs conflict of interest policy requirement to scrupulously avoid direct and indirect conflicts of interest and, accordingly, hereby agree to promptly inform the editor or editor’s designee of any business, commercial, or other proprietary support, relationships, or interests that I/We may have which relate directly or indirectly to the subject of the work.

5. I/We also agree to the authorship of the article in the following sequence:-

Authors' Names (in sequence) Signature of Authors

1. ______________________________ ______________________________

2. ______________________________ ______________________________

3. ______________________________ ______________________________

4. ______________________________ ______________________________

5. ______________________________ ______________________________

6. ______________________________ ______________________________

7. ______________________________ ______________________________

8. ______________________________ ______________________________

Important

(i). All the authors are required to sign independently in this form in the sequence given above. In case an author has left the institution/country and whose whereabouts are not known, the senior author may sign on his/her behalf taking the responsibility.

(ii). No addition/deletion/ or any change in the sequence of the authorship will be permissible at a later stage, without valid reasons and permission of the Editor -In-Chief.

(iii). If the authorship is contested at any stage, the article will be either returned or will not be processed for publication till the issue is solved.

This document must be signed by all authors and submitted with the manuscript.

The Medical Journal of Research(MJR) is published monthly by the Indian Council of Medical Research, V. Ramalingaswami Bhawan, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi-110029 (India).

The MJR and Authors hereby agree as follows: In consideration of MJR reviewing and editing the following describedwork for first publication on an exclusive basis:

Title of manuscript: _____________________________________________________________________________

The undersigned author(s) hereby assigns, conveys, and otherwise transfers all rights, title, interest, and copyright ownership of said work for publication. Work includes the material submitted for publication and any other related material submitted to MJR. In the event that MJR does not publish said work, the author(s) will be so notified and all rights assigned hereunder will revert to the author(s).

The assignment of rights to MJR includes but is not expressly limited to rights to edit, publish, reproduce, distribute copies, include in indexes or search databases in print, electronic, or other media, whether or not in use at the time of execution of this agreement, and claim copyright in said work throughout the world for the full duration of the copyright and any renewals or extensions thereof.

MJR shall own the work, including (1) copyright; (2) the right to grant permission to republish the article in whole or in part, with or without fee; (3) the right to produce preprints or reprints and translate into languages other than English for sale or free distribution; and (4) the right to republish the work in a collection of articles in any other mechanical or electronic format.

The article will be published under the terms of the latest Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License, unless the journal notifies the author otherwise in writing.

The author(s) hereby represents and warrants that they are sole author(s) of the work, that all authors have participated in and agree with the content and conclusions of the work, that the work is original, and does not infringe upon any copyright, propriety, or personal right of any third party, and that no part of it nor any work based on substantially similar data has been submitted to another publication.