Submissions

Author Guidelines

• Instructions to Author

This page contains information regarding preparation of the manuscript for submission, general formatting requirements and authorship criteria. The sections below contain important information regarding the submission and formatting of the manuscripts and ethical considerations. Therefore, authors are strongly advised to read these guidelines and prepare manuscripts accordingly before submitting them to PMDJ to avoid any unnecessary delays. Manuscripts not prepared according to these guidelines will be returned to the authors for changes before proceeding any further. Only those manuscripts which will be of scientific importance and substantiate the existing knowledge will be accepted for publication.

Preparation of the Manuscript for Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted in electronic form through the online submission system under the submission tab. Following documents must be submitted along with the manuscript, without which JIIMC will not accept the manuscript for initial processing.

• Cover Letter
• PMDJ Check List
• PMDJ Conflict of Interest Performa
• PMDJ Copy Right and Undertaking Agreement
• IRC/IRB Certificate

Bank draft as initial processing fee (Original bank draft send to PMDJ Editor)

Template of these files is available in download section.

General Formatting Requirements

The manuscript should be written in the English language in Microsoft™ Word software on an A4 size page, with margins of 1-inch from each side, and should use appropriate font style (e.g. Times New Roman) size 12. The lines should be double-spaced and numbered consecutively. Pages should be numbered consecutively beginning with the title page. The body of the manuscript must be structured according to the headings given below (see sections a to l for the preparation of the manuscripts):

Title page

The first page of the manuscript must contain the following information:

      (1) Concise and informative title of the manuscript

      (2) Correct/complete names of all byline authors

      (3) Designation, institutional affiliation, and addresses of each author

      (4) Short running title (up to 50 characters)

      (5) Name, street address, and email address of the corresponding author, under the heading of "Correspondence to:"

For case reports, it is recommended that the number of authors should be limited to three. For complete authorship criteria and ethical issues, please see "Authorship criteria" at the bottom of the page. Authors should also enter complete/correct names of the authors, affiliations, and email addresses while submitting the manuscript online.

Conflict-of-interest statement

A conflict of interest statement must also be provided on the title page before the abstract. All authors should declare any conflict of interest involved in the study.  In case of no conflict of interest following statement must be included in the manuscript:

                   "All authors declared no conflict of interest exist"

Abstract Abstract must not contain more than 300 words. Use of abbreviations should be minimized and references not to be quoted in the abstract. The abstract must be structured under the following headings:

• Title
• Authors names & Affiliation
• Corresponding author detail

Background: It should explain the background of the study, a summary of the existing literature; give the importance or contribution of the study to existing knowledge, its aims, and objectives.

     Methods: How the study was performed and statistical tests used.

     Results: The main findings.

     Conclusions: It must be clearly stated in the end.

     Keywords: Three to ten keywords as per MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) reflecting the main content of the article should be given at end of the abstract.  

Original Article:

The original paper should be of about 2000-2500 words excluding abstract and references. The original research article should be prepared under the following sections:

 Introduction:

It should address background of the study and relevant existing literature with references, justify the importance of the study, how this study will contribute to the field and in the end clearly mention its aims and objectives.

Material & Methods:

The material and methods should include:

• Design, setting, duration and sample size of the study.
• Reference of the article that was used for sample size calculation.
• Characteristics of study population or description of materials used.
• Detail of all procedures and intervention. Generic names of the drug used in research should be used and mention the brand name in parentheses.
• Provide details of statistical analysis carried out for the study. Specify the level of significance used in statistical analysis.

Results:

Clearly state the findings of the study based on statistical analysis; subheadings may be used to describe the results.

Tables and Illustrations / Figures:

• There should be no more than four tables or illustrations
• Tables and figures must have a title, should be on separate page.
• Tables submitted as photographs will not be accepted.
• Photographs of patients if used, must be with written permission.
• All photographs should be very clear, sharp, glossy and of 5 x 7 inches in size.
• Figures must in JPEG format
• Results given in tables must not be duplicated in figures and vice versa.
• Figures and tables should be numbered according to the order in which they have been mentioned in the result section.
• Titles for figures/images/tables should be single spaced.

Discussion:

There must be discussion of the important findings in perspective of existing knowledge with references. Limitations of the study if any must be mentioned at the end of discussion.

Conclusions:

Clearly state the main conclusions and mention the importance of the study reported.

Limitations of the study (if any)

Recommendations of the study (if any)

Acknowledgments:

• All contributors must be mentioned in acknowledgments, such as a person who provided general support and material for the research. Financial support should also be acknowledged.
• Persons who reviewed the study proposal critically, collected data and took care of the study patients.

Source of Funding:

Source of funding should be declared.

Conflict of Interest:

All authors, reviewers and editorial board should declare conflict of interest if any.

Authors Contribution:

The contributions by all the authors should be mentioned.

References:

• References should be on a separate page.
• The number of references in an Original Article must not be more than 20
• The number of references in Review Articles must not be more than 60
• The references must be written in Vancouver style
• References must be single-spaced.
• If the authors are six or fewer list all authors, if more than six, list the first six followed by ‘et al’.
• In-text citations should be indicated with appropriate superscript and bold number(s) for example Kidney^3,6,9, Pneumonia^2-7,19,21.
• Write complete surname and convert first name and middle name to the initials, following each surname. e.g. Rimondini LR, Zolfanelli B, Bernardi F, Bez C
• Reference to journal articles should include in the following order: (1) authors, (2) title of the published article, (3) journal name abbreviation, (4) year of publication, (5) volume, (6) issue number and page number(s), while (7) publisher, volume and edition number must be mentioned in case of book.
• Following are examples of reference citation:
• Journal Article: Rahim M, Rahim M, Qureshi MA, Sharafat S, Shaikh Z. Serum insulin and insulin resistance in the offsprings of type 2 diabetes mellitus. J Diabetes Metab. 2014;5(425):21-25.
• Article within a journal by DOI

Momeni A, Behradmanesh MS, Kheiri S, Abasi F. Serum ferritin has correlation with HbA1c in type 2 diabetic patients. Adv Biomed Res. 2015;4(1):74-79. doi: 10.4103/2277-9175.153900

• Article within a journal supplement

Darshan A, Patil V, Yeshvant G. A comparative study of insulin resistance in offsprings of type 2 diabetes mellitus and non diabetic patients, a one year cross sectional hospital based study. J Evol Med Dent Sci. 2013;2(Suppl. 1):S7827-34.

• Books: Brooks A, Mahoney P, Rowlands B, editors. ABC of tubes, drains, lines and frames. Malden (MA): BMJ Books, Blackwell Pub.; 2008.
• Chapter in Book:  Whiteside TL, Heberman RB. Effectors of immunity and rationale for immunotherapy. In: Kufe DW, Pollock RE, Weichselbaum RR, Bast RC Jr, Gansler TS, Holland JF, Frei E, editors. Cancer medicine 6. Hamilton (ON): BC Decker Inc; 2003. p. 221-8.
• Online database

Stein, M. B., & Taylor, C. T. (2014). Approach to treating social anxiety disorder in adults. UpToDate. Retrieved September 17, 2014, from https://www.uptodate.com/contents/approach-to-treating-social-anxiety-disorder-in-adults.

Clinical Case Reports: Must be of academic & educational value and provide relevance of the disease being reported as unusual. It should have a non-structured abstract of about 100-150 words (case-specific) with around 5-6 references and 3 keywords.

Review Article: This should consist of a critical overview/analysis of some relatively narrow topic providing background and the recent development with the reference of original literature. It should incorporate the author’s original work on the same subject. The review article should be 2500 to 3000 words in length. It should have a non-structured abstract of 150 words with a minimum of 3 keywords. An author can write a review article only if he/she has written a minimum of three original research articles.

Systematic Review Article: It should consist of a well-defined research question and should provide a detailed review of a specific topic based on the existing literature. It should include the collection and analysis of data from all the relevant research in support of the research question being asked. The text should be 2500-3000 words. It should have a nonstructured abstract with a minimum of three keywords.

Meta-Analysis: It should comprise a statistical analysis of combined results of numerous scientific studies addressing the same research question. Meta-analysis is a quantitative and epidemiological study design that should critically analyze the results of previous scientific researches, mostly randomized controlled trials.

Letter to the Editor:  should normally not exceed 400 words, with not more than 5 references and be signed by all the authors-maximum 3 are allowed. Preference is given to those that take up points made in contributions published recently in the journal. Letters may be published with a response from the author of the article being discussed. Discussions beyond the initial letter and response will not be entertained for publication. Letters to the editor may be sent for peer review if they report a scientific data. Editorials are written upon invitation.

Short Communication:  should be of about 1000 - 1200 words, having a non-structured abstract of about 150 words with two tables or illustrations and not more than 6 references.

Three to 10 key words should be given for all the category of manuscripts under the abstracts as per mesh [medical subject heading].

 Review and Processing Protocol: An acknowledgment is sent on receipt of the manuscript. The manuscripts are checked by the editors and then sent for peer review. The reviewer’s comments are then communicated to the corresponding author. After correction/revision by the authors, acceptance letter for accepted article is issued, and the article is placed in queue for printing.

Instruction to Reviewers

Reviewers must assure that:

• Fill out review form which is given in download section
• Each manuscript is critical assessed for the originality, importance and quality of research work.
• The title and objectives of the study are in line with the conclusion.
• Rationale of the study is mentioned.
• Presence of Study design, inclusion & exclusion criteria, methodology and statistical analysis.
• Presentation of result must be supported by tables and figures
• New findings must have been discussed and compared with previous data.
• Conclusion, Strengths, limitations of the study and future recommendations must be mentioned.
• Reviewers should declare any conflict of interest to the editor and must complete the review within specified time period (usually four weeks). Reviewers should fill the review form sent with the manuscript.