Author Guidelines

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

Before submitting manuscript to the journal, please go through the following guidelines:

AUTHORS INFORMATION

All persons who qualify for authorship should be listed as authors. The authors listed should have participated and contributed in the study sufficiently and this should be assured by the corresponding author. Those who do not qualify for authorship should be addressed in the section for acknowledgements.

The author information must contain:

• First name and last name
• Complete affiliation, along with the country.
• E-mail (mandatory for corresponding author)

Submission Format

Submissions should contain the following, preferably in a zip file:

• Covering letter
• Final manuscript
• Figures and tables
• Supplementary material, if any.

Cover letter should:

• Contain a brief summary of the manuscript;
• Specify the journal to which your manuscript is relevant to;
• Specify the type of article (original research, short communication, review etc.)
• Indicate, if applicable, that it is submitted as a part of Special Issue
• Information of all qualified authors, including affiliation, country name.
• Funding information (if applicable)

 Acknowledgments and competing interests can be included too.

 MANUSCRIPT LAYOUT

 GENERAL LAYOUT FOR TYPES OF ARTICLES

 Original research article

An original research article has a word count of around 3500-4000 words.

General structure of a research article consists of the following sections:

• Title
• Authors and their affiliations
• Corresponding author details
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Introduction
• Materials & Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• Future direction
• References

Review article

A review article is written with an objective of giving a better understanding of a particular topic. Generally, a review article has a word limit of 6000 words.

A review article consists of the following sections:

• Title
• Authors and their affiliations
• Corresponding author details
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Introduction
• Materials & Methods
• Review
• Conclusion
• References

Mini review

Mini reviews are summaries of recent insights in a particular research area. A mini-review article has a word count of around 3000-4000 words.

General structure of a mini-review article consists of the following sections:

• Title
• Authors and their affiliations
• Corresponding author details
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Introduction
• Review
• Conclusion
• References

Short communication

Short communications are short papers of original work/material on a topic with significant impact published for rapid communication to readers.

Word count is around 2500-3000 words. General structure is as follows:

• Title
• Authors and their affiliations
• Corresponding author details
• Abstract
• Body
• References

Case Study

Case study is a research approach which investigates a phenomenon in its real life context. Word count is around 6000 words. General structure is as follows:

• Title
• Authors and their affiliations
• Corresponding author details
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Introduction
• Case Representation
• Conclusion
• References

Editorial

Editorials are written by Editorial Board Members or Invited Guest Editors on a currently published article/issue on variety of subjects of interest.

• Follows the outline of Title, Author(s) & affiliations, Corresponding author details; Text description, References.
• Word limit is 1500 words.
• Clinical Images
• Clinical Images are photographic depictions which include clinical images, diagnostic or investigative images especially images in radiology, endoscopy, pathology and cytopathology.
• Follows the outline of Title, Author(s) & affiliations, Corresponding author details; One short paragraph describing the Image.
• Word limit is 150 words.
• References and citations are not mandatory.

DETAILED MANUSCRIPT LAYOUT

Title: The title should not exceed 200 characters and should be written in title case. The title should be short, specific, and easily comprehensible to readers.

Abstract: Abstract should not exceed 300 words. It could be structured (with sub headings) or unstructured. Avoid citations and acronyms. The section should give a concise description of the study objective, methods used and briefly explain the results/conclusion of the study.

Keywords: Authors can provide upto 6 keywords. First letter of each keyword should be upper case and keywords should be separated by comma (,).

Main text

Introduction: This section gives a brief overview on the research problem, relevant literature on the topic and the proposed solution or approach. Introduction should be written in a general way to attract readers from a wide range of disciplines.

Materials & Methods: This section gives a complete overview on the design of the study, explaining the methodology used. Description of criteria for inclusion and exclusion in the study, if any and statistical analyses should be included in this section.

Results & Discussion: The results section should give information on all the data used to support the conclusions made in the study. Results and discussion may or may not be combined. The discussion section should provide the detailed interpretation of the data.

Conclusion: This section explains the conclusive parameters of the study.

Acknowledgments: This section should mention all the people who have contributed towards the study in one way or the other. Authors should ensure that the mentioned people have agreed to be named.

Funding Information: List all the sources of funding, including relevant research grant numbers, as applicable. Also, authors are encouraged to list all the contributing authors associated with specific funding, if applicable.

References: All published work should be cited in the reference list. While we follow specific reference formats, authors need not be concerned about adhering to it. They can submit the manuscripts formatted in any style of reference. Once the manuscript is accepted for publication, style will be formatted.

Reference format

Items are listed numerically in the order they are cited in the text.

Example for journal article format (1-5 authors): Li X, Zhu J, Liu N, Liu N, Zhang Z (2017) TNF-α in peripheral neuropathy patients with impaired glucose regulation. J Diabetes Res 11: 702-724

Example for journal article format (more than 5 authors): Mirza S, Hossain M, Mathews C, Martinez P, Pino P, et al. (2012) Type 2 diabetes is associated with elevated levels of TNF-α, IL-6 and adiponectin and low levels of leptin in a population of Mexican American: A cross sectional study. Cytok 57: 136-142.

Example for book: Llewelyn JG, Tomlinson DR, Thomas PK (2005) Diabetes Neuropathies. Elsevier, pp: 1951-1992.

Example for online article: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2019) Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Accessed on: March 19, 2020. Available online at: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/diagnosis.html

Inside the body text, for referencing an article, a number is used inside square brackets.

Eg. “….variety of debilitating neuropathies [2].”

In the references section, the articles should appear numerically in the order they are cited within the text.

Figures and Tables

Figures and tables should be included in the main text (manuscript) to help in the review process.

Figure captions and legends

All the figures should be included in the main document. Figure legends should immediately follow the figure. Figure captions should precede the tables. Figure captions should be short and specific. All figures should be numbered in sequence.

Table legends

Table legends should precede the tables. Tables should be cited in ascending order.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES

Research studies involving human or animal subjects must mention the details of the ethics committee which approved the study. In case of any experiments involving animals, authors must provide a declaration that all measures were taken to avoid animal suffering at each stage and also must furnish a detailed description of the procedures used.

PATIENT CONSENT

For research manuscripts involving patient case studies, authors should declare in the cover letter that they have obtained the patients’ consent. In certain instances, the Editorial Office might request the authors to provide a copy of the same.