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Author Guidelines
Dear Authors, the Editorial team and reviewers of Indian Journal of Community Health (IJCH) appreciate your thought of submitting your research to IJCH for publishing. To cut short the time from submission to acceptance of manuscripts the journal follows Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals.
The following information provides guidance in preparing manuscripts.
Manuscript Preparation and Submission:
Editorial: About 750 words on a topical issue of public health importance; may include up to five references. The text of articles is usually (but not necessarily) divided into the following sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. This so-called “IMRAD” structure is not an arbitrary publication format but rather a direct reflection of the process of scientific discovery. Long articles may need subheadings within some sections (especially Results and Discussion) to clarify their content. Other types of articles, such as reviews, and editorials, probably need to be formatted differently. Electronic formats have created opportunities for adding details or whole sections, layering information, cross-linking or extracting portions of articles, and the like only in the electronic version. Authors need to work closely with editors in developing or using such new publication formats and should submit supplementary electronic material for peer review. The files should be double-spacing all portions of the manuscript—including the title page, abstract, text, acknowledgments, references, individual tables, and legends to facilitate printing for reviewing and editing. Authors should number all of the pages of the manuscript consecutively, beginning with the title page, to facilitate the editorial process. Title Page The title page should have the following information: 1. Article title. Concise titles are easier to read than long, convoluted ones. Titles that are too short may, however, lack important information, such as study design (which is particularly important in identifying randomized, controlled trials). Authors should include all information in the title that will make electronic retrieval of the article both sensitive and specific. 2. Authors’ names and institutional affiliations. 3. The name of the department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed. 4. Disclaimers, if any.
Review Article: Covering a subject of public health relevance in the Region including systematic review/meta-analysis in about 3000 words. Can have up to 20 references, three to four tables / figures and an structured abstract of 250 words.
Original Article: Original research papers of public health relevance for the Region in about 3000 words with a structured text in IMRD format (Introduction, Methods, Results, & Discussion) with a 250-word structured abstract (Title, Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions, & 5-8 Key Words), up to 25 references, and 3-4 tables/figures.
Short Communication: Short report on a research project/ outbreak in about 1500 words; one table/figure, 10-15 references.
Report from the field: Articles that present innovations/best practices in about 1500 words with an unstructured abstract of 100 words, with one or two figures/tables and about 10 references.
Letters to the Editor: Communications of about 500 words from readers, raising an issue on articles published in the Journal, published along with a response from the author.
Book reviews: 500-word critical look at relevant books.
General Principles
6. Source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or all of these.
7. Word counts. A word count for the text only (excluding abstract, acknowledgments, figure legends, and references) i.e. Editorial: 750, Review Article: 3000, Original Article: 3000, Short Communication: 1500, Report from the Field: 1500, Letter to Editor: 500, Book Review; 500
8. The number of figures and tables.
Conflict of Interest Notification Page
To prevent potential conflicts of interest from being overlooked or misplaced, this information needs to be part of the manuscript. The IJCH follows ICMJE developed uniform disclosure form. Authors are advised to download the same form (http://www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf).
Abstract
Structured abstracts are preferred for original research and systematic reviews. The abstract should provide the context for the study and should state the study’s Background, Methods (selection of study subjects, observational and analytical methods), Results (giving specific effect sizes and their statistical significance, if possible), Conclusions. It should emphasize new and important aspects of the study or observations.
Because abstracts are the only substantive portion of the article indexed in many electronic databases, and the only portion many readers read, authors need to be careful that they accurately reflect the content of the article. Unfortunately, the information contained in many abstracts differs from that in the text. The prototype format for abstracts is as follows:
Abstract not in the above mentioned format will be out rightly rejected and authors need to modify, resubmit the it again before editorial team consider it for review.
Introduction
Provide a context or background for the study (that is, the nature of the problem and its significance). State the specific purpose or research objective of, or hypothesis tested by, the study or observation; the research objective is often more sharply focused when stated as a question. Both the main and secondary objectives should be clear, and any prespecified subgroup analyses should be described. Provide only directly pertinent references, and do not include data or conclusions from the work being reported.
Methods
The Methods section should include only information that was available at the time the plan or protocol for the study was being written; all information obtained during the study belongs in the Results section.
Selection and Description of Participants
Describe your selection of the observational or experimental participants (patients or laboratory animals, including controls) clearly, including eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population. Because the relevance of such variables as age and sex to the object of research is not always clear, authors should explain their use when they are included in a study report—for example, authors should explain why only participants of certain ages were included or why women were excluded. The guiding principle should be clarity about how and why a study was done in a particular way. When authors use such variables as race or ethnicity, they should define how they measured these variables and justify their relevance.
Technical Information
Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer’s name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow others to reproduce the results. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods (see below); provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well-known; describe new or substantially modified methods, give the reasons for using them, and evaluate their limitations. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration.
Authors submitting review manuscripts should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data. These methods should also be summarized in the abstract.
Statistics
Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Avoid relying solely on statistical hypothesis testing, such as P values, which fail to convey important information about effect size. References for the design of the study and statistical methods should be to standard works when possible (with pages stated). Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols. Specify the computer software used.
Results
Present your results in logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations, giving the main or most important findings first. Do not repeat all the data in the tables or illustrations in the text; emphasize or summarize only the most important observations. Extra or supplementary materials and technical detail can be placed in an appendix where they will be accessible but will not interrupt the flow of the text, or they can be published solely in the electronic version of the journal.
When data are summarized in the Results section, give numeric results not only as derivatives (for example, percentages) but also as the absolute numbers from which the derivatives were calculated, and specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess supporting data. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Avoid nontechnical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as “random” (which implies a randomizing device), “normal,” “significant,” “correlations,” and “sample.”
Where scientifically appropriate, analyses of the data by such variables as age and sex should be included.
Discussion
Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them in the context of the totality of the best available evidence. Do not repeat in detail data or other information given in the Introduction or the Results section. For experimental studies, it is useful to begin the discussion by briefly summarizing the main findings, then explore possible mechanisms or explanations for these findings, compare and contrast the results with other relevant studies, state the limitations of the study, and explore the implications of the findings for future research and for clinical practice.
Link the conclusions with the goals of the study but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not adequately supported by the data. In particular, avoid making statements on economic benefits and costs unless the manuscript includes the appropriate economic data and analyses. Avoid claiming priority or alluding to work that has not been completed. State new hypotheses when warranted, but label them clearly as such.
References
Although references to review articles can be an efficient way to guide readers to a body of literature, review articles do not always reflect original work accurately. Readers should therefore be provided with direct references to original research sources whenever possible. On the other hand, extensive lists of references to original work on a topic can use excessive space on the printed page. Small numbers of references to key original papers often serve as well as more exhaustive lists, particularly since references can now be added to the electronic version of published papers, and since electronic literature searching allows readers to retrieve published literature efficiently.
Avoid using abstracts as references. References to papers accepted but not yet published should be designated as “in press” or “forthcoming”; authors should obtain written permission to cite such papers as well as verification that they have been accepted for publication. Information from manuscripts submitted 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 provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text. For scientific articles, obtain written permission and confirmation of accuracy from the source of a personal communication.
Some but not all journals check the accuracy of all reference citations; thus, citation errors sometimes appear in the published version of articles. To minimize such errors, references should be verified using either an electronic bibliographic source, such as PubMed or print copies from original sources. Authors are responsible for checking that none of the references cite retracted articles except in the context of referring to the retraction. For articles published in journals indexed in MEDLINE, the ICMJE considers PubMed the authoritative source for information about retractions. Authors can identify retracted articles in MEDLINE by using the following search term, where pt in square brackets stands for publication type: Retracted publication [pt] in PubMed.
Reference Style and Format
The Uniform Requirements style for references is based largely on an American National Standards Institute style adapted by the NLM for its databases. Authors should consult NLM’s Citing Medicine for information on its recommended formats for a variety of reference types. Authors may also consult sample references, a list of examples extracted from or based on Citing Medicine for easy use by the ICMJE audience; these sample references are maintained by NLM.
References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in parentheses. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in the list of Journals Indexed for MEDLINE, posted by the NLM on the Library's Web site. Journals vary on whether they ask authors to cite electronic references within parentheses in the text or in numbered references following the text. Authors should consult with the journal to which they plan to submit their work.
Sample References:
1. Haynes RB, Mulrow CD, Huth EJ, Altman DG, Gardner MJ. More informative abstracts revisited. Ann Intern Med. 1990 Jul 1;113(1):69-76. Cited in PubMed; PMID: 2190518.
2. Hayward RS, Wilson MC, Tunis SR, Bass EB, Rubin HR, Haynes RB. More informative abstracts of articles describing clinical practice guidelines. Ann Intern Med. 1993 May 1;118(9):731-7. Cited in PubMed; PMID: 8460861. Available from: http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/118/9/731.
3. Sollaci LB, Pereira MG. The introduction, methods, results, and discussion (IMRAD) structure: a fifty-year survey. J Med Libr Assoc. 2004 Jul;92(3):364-7. Cited in PubMed; PMID: 15243643. Available from: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=15243643.
4. Nakayama T, Hirai N, Yamazaki S, Naito M. Adoption of structured abstracts by general medical journals and format for a structured abstract. J Med Libr Assoc. 2005 Apr;93(2):237-42. Cited in PubMed; PMID: 15858627. Available from: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=15858627.
5. Kulkarni H. Structured abstracts: still more. Ann Intern Med. 1996 Apr 1;124(7):695-6. Cited in PubMed; PMID: 8607606. Available from: http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/124/7/695-a.
6. Hopewell S, Clarke M, Moher D, Wager E, Middleton P, Altman DG, Schulz KF; CONSORT Group. CONSORT for reporting randomized controlled trials in journal and conference abstracts: explanation and elaboration. PLoS Med. 2008 Jan 22;5(1):e20. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0050020. Cited in PubMed; PMID: 18215107.
7. Harbourt AM, Knecht LS, and Humphreys BL. Structured abstracts in MEDLINE, 1989-1991. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1995 Apr; 83(2):190-5. Cited in PubMed; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7599584">PMID: 7599584. Available from: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=7599584.
8. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication. [updated 2010 Apr; cited 2010 Aug 2]. Available from: http://www.icmje.org.
Tables
Tables capture information concisely and display it efficiently; they also provide information at any desired level of detail and precision. Including data in tables rather than text frequently makes it possible to reduce the length of the text.
Type or print each table with double-spacing on a separate sheet of paper. Number tables consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each. Do not use internal horizontal or vertical lines. Give each column a short or an abbreviated heading. Authors should place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain all nonstandard abbreviations in footnotes, and use the following symbols, in sequence:
<;p>*, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, **, ††, ‡‡, §§, ||||, ¶¶, etc.Identify statistical measures of variations, such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean.
Be sure that each table is cited in the text.
If you use data from another published or unpublished source, obtain permission and acknowledge that source fully.
Additional tables containing backup data too extensive to publish in print may be appropriate for publication in the electronic version of the journal, deposited with an archival service, or made available to readers directly by the authors. An appropriate statement should be added to the text to inform readers that this additional information is available and where it is located. Submit such tables for consideration with the paper so that they will be available to the peer reviewers.
Illustrations (Figures)
Figures should be either professionally drawn and photographed, or submitted as photographic-quality digital prints. In addition to requiring a version of the figures suitable for printing, some journals now ask authors for electronic files of figures in a format (for example, JPEG or GIF) that will produce high-quality images in the Web version of the journal; authors should review the images of such files on a computer screen before submitting them to be sure they meet their own quality standards.
For x-ray films, scans, and other diagnostic images, as well as pictures of pathology specimens or photomicrographs, send sharp, glossy, black-and-white or color photographic prints, usually 127 x 173 mm (5 x 7 inches). Although some journals redraw figures, many do not. Letters, numbers, and symbols on figures should therefore be clear and consistent throughout, and large enough to remain legible when the figure is reduced for publication. Figures should be made as self-explanatory as possible, since many will be used directly in slide presentations. Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends--not on the illustrations themselves.
Photomicrographs should have internal scale markers. Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background.
Photographs of potentially identifiable people must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph.
Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been cited in the text. If a figure has been published previously, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the figure. Permission is required irrespective of authorship or publisher except for documents in the public domain.
For illustrations in color, ascertain whether the journal requires color negatives, positive transparencies, or color prints. Accompanying drawings marked to indicate the region to be reproduced might be useful to the editor. Some journals publish illustrations in color only if the author pays the additional cost.
Authors should consult the journal about requirements for figures submitted in electronic formats.
Legends for Illustrations (Figures)
Type or print out legends for illustrations using double spacing, starting on a separate page, with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations. When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, identify and explain each one clearly in the legend. Explain the internal scale and identify the method of staining in photomicrographs.
Units of Measurement
Measurements of length, height, weight, and volume should be reported in metric units (meter, kilogram, or liter) or their decimal multiples.
Temperatures should be in degrees Celsius. Blood pressures should be in millimeters of mercury, unless other units are specifically required by the journal.
<p>Journals vary in the units they use for reporting hematologic, clinical chemistry, and other measurements. Authors must consult the Information for Authors of the particular journal and should report laboratory information in both local and International System of Units (SI). Editors may request that authors add alternative or non-SI units, since SI units are not universally used. Drug concentrations may be reported in either SI or mass units, but the alternative should be provided in parentheses where appropriate.Abbreviations and Symbols
Use only standard abbreviations; use of nonstandard abbreviations can be confusing to readers. Avoid abbreviations in the title of the manuscript. The spelled-out abbreviation followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis should be used on first mention unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measurement.
Undertaking by Authors
We, the undersigned, give an undertaking to the following effect with regard to our article entitled
"__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________”
submitted for publication in the Indian Journal of Community Health:-
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.
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.
4. I/We hereby acknowledge IJHCs 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. ______________________________ ______________________________
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.
(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.
Copyright Transfer Agreement Form
This document must be signed by all authors and submitted with the manuscript.
COPYRIGHT TRANSFER AGREEMENT
The Indian Journal of Community Health (IJCH) is published quarterly by the Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand State Chapter (IAPSMUPUK State Chapter).
The IJCH and Authors hereby agree as follows: In consideration of IJCH reviewing and editing the following described work for first publication on an exclusive basis:
ID & 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 IJCH. In the event that IJCH 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 IJCH 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.
All accepted works become the property of IJCH and may not be published elsewhere without prior written permission from IJCH. 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.
Authors' Names (in sequence) Signature of Authors
1. ______________________________ ______________________________
2. ______________________________ ______________________________
3. ______________________________ ______________________________
4. ______________________________ ______________________________
5. ______________________________ ______________________________
Submission Preparation Checklist
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
- The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
- The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
- Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
- The text is double-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
- The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
- If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.
Privacy Statement
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.
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© Copyright 2011. Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine Uttar Pradesh & Uttarakhand (IAPSMUPUK) State Chapter.