Author Guidelines

The Editors invite contributions to the following sections of the Journal:
1. Original Research articles
2. Review articles
3. Short Communications
4. Letter to editor
5. Clinical Case Reports
6. Announcements of conferences, meetings, courses, awards

The journal to which you are submitting your manuscript utilizes a plagiarism detection system. By submitting your manuscript to this journal you admit that your manuscript may be screened for plagiarism against previously published works.

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 2500 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 a review of a specific topic by systemic critical assessments of literature and data sources. Where relevant, key messages and salient features may be provided up to 4000 words excluding references and abstract.

Short Communications or Correspondence

These are concise reports on original research (approx. 1200 to 1500 words). A short report may include up to 3 tables or figures and 15 to 20 refrences.

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.

Announcements

Announcements of conferences, meetings, courses, awards and other items likely to be of interest to the readers should be submitted with the name and address of the person from whom additional information can be obtained. Up to 100 words.

Covering Letter

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. 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. The title should be brief but complete and should represent the major theme of the manuscript. 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.

Structured Abstract

The abstract (250 words) should be structured and divided into four sections: Background, Methods, Results and Conclusion(s). 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:
1. Study design
2. Setting
3. Selection of participants
4. Interventions
5. Methods of measurement
6. Data collection and processing
7. Loss of data such as dropouts or patients lost to follow up
8. Statistical methods used
9. 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. 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 (e.g. Sinha12 confirmed other reports13,14...). 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 Articles

Singh HP, Shetty DC.A quantitative and qualitative comparative analysis of collagen fibers to determine the role of connective tissue stroma on biological behavior of odontogenic cysts: A histochemical study. Nat J Maxillofac Surg 2012;3(1):15-20.

Books

Stansfeld AG. Lymph node biopsy interpretation. New York:Churchill Livingstone; 1985.

Chapters in Books

Arezoo T. Probiotics and the reduction of dental caries risk. In: Li MY, editor. Contemporary Approach to Dental Caries, 1st ed. China: Intech; 2012. p. 271-88.

Articles available on the internet

Health Sciences Library, University of Buffalo, NY. Available at http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/hsl/infores/biomed.htm (accessed on 12 Nov 2012).

List of databases in medicine and related areas. Karolinska Institute, University Library. Available at http://kib.ki.se/tools/base/index_en.asp (accessed on 12 Nov 2012).

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

All images need to have at least 300 DPI resolution, 1800*1600 pixel or 12 cm*10 cm image size and should be in maximum quality Jpeg format. Figures in WORD or presentation software such as PowerPoint, Corel Draw or Harvard Graphics do not contain sufficient resolution for publication and will not be accepted.Do not zip the files.

Figures

These should be typed in double space on a separate sheet and figure numbers (in Arabic numerals), 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.
1. Substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data.
2. Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
3. 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 andicmr.nic.in/animal_ethics.htm). 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.