:: Guidelines for Authors ::

The journals provide a medium for the publication of review and update articles on any aspect of medical study. It welcomes original articles, case reports, dilemmas of clinical practice, new investigations and surgical techniques.

All communications should be submitted to Editor, IJCP Group of Publications, Daryacha, 39, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi -110016.

Editorial policies: All articles must be submitted to the journal exclusively. A covering letter duly signed should accompany the manuscript and identify the author responsible for correspondence concerning the manuscript. The letter should state that the material contained in the manuscript is neither published or sumitted for publication elsewhere. Authors are advised to keep a copy of their manuscript. The preferred medium of submission is on disk with accompanying manuscript. Once the manuscript is published it becomes the property of the journal. The editor will have the right to edit, condense, alter, rearrange or rewrite approved articles, before publication, without reference to the authors concerned.

Authorship: for manuscripts with multiple authors, each author must qualify by having significantly participated in the study that is reported. Each author must make substantial contributions to first, concept and design or analysis and interpretation of data and second, writing the manuscript or revising it critically for content. Others contributing to the work should be recognized separately in the acknowledgement. Authors should mention their designations, Dept., etc. on the manuscript/covering letter.

General requirements for preparation of manuscripts: The original and one good-quality photocopy of the manuscript and two sets of color/black and white glossy prints of illustrations are required. Manuscripts must be typed double spaced on one side only on white bond paper with 2.5 cm margin at top, bottom and sides. Page numbers should be given consecutively at the top of each page starting with the title page. The authors are not bound to any particular form, however, subject matter should be organized under suitable headings and subheadings such as abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, acknowledgements and references. Footnotes should be avoided and their contents incorporated into the text. Articles sent on disks will be given preference.

Title page: The title page (page 1) should contain the title, name of authors (first name shortened to initials), degrees, affiliation of authors i.e., department, section or unit of an institution, hospital or organization and the city, state and or country where it is located, a list of 3-5 key words, and name and address of the author responsible for correspondence.

Abstract: A separate page must accommodate the abstract which should not exceed 200 words. A structured abstract is required for original research articles. A standard abstract is required for review and case report articles.

Structured abstract: A structured abstract limited to 200 words, should contain the following major headings, objective(s) study design, results and conclusion(s). The objective(s) reflects the purpose of the study, that is the hypothesis that is being tested. The study design should include the setting for the study, the subjects (number and type), the treatment or intervention, and the type of statistical analysis. The results include the outcome of the study and statistical significance if appropriate. The conclusion(s) state(s) the significance of the results.

Standard abstract: There are no subheadings in the standard abstract.

Text: Only standard abbreviations are to be used. The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement. Regular articles are customarily organized in the following sections: In the introduction, state concisely the purpose and rationale for the study and cite only the most pertinent references as background. In the material and methods section describe briefly the plan, the subjects, methods and procedures utilized, and the statistical methods employed. In the results section present the detailed findings. Include mention of all tables, and/or figures. Figures and tables should supplement not duplicate the text. Discussion should consider the results in relation to the hypothesis tested and should be put into context with those reported by other workers. Conclusions drawn should be completely supported by the data in the text. Review and update articles should preferably have highlights emphasizing crucial points in the text, typed on separate pages at the end of the text. Few MCQs (multiple choice questions) based on the text will also help increase readers interest in the article.

References: References must be numbered in order in which they first appear in the text. Identify references in text, tables and legends by arable numerals in parentheses. The style of reference and abbreviated title of journals must follow that of Index Medicus. For journal references, list all authors when 6 or less, when 7 or more list only first three and add et al. The title of the manuscript will be printed after the author’s names, before the abbreviated title of the journal e.g.,: De Cherney AH, Diamond MP, Lavy G and Polan ML. Endometrial ablation for intractable uterine bleeding. Obstet. Gynecol. 1987;70: 668-670. For book reference list all authors of the book, title, edition, city of publication, publisher, year of publication, chapter and page in that order. Goldrath MH and Garry R. Nd:YAG laser ablation of the endometrium In: Endoscopic Surgery for Gynaecologists 2nd Edition, Sutton C and Diamond N (Eds.), WB Saunders, London 1993:16-21. References should be limited to 20 except for the possible exception of special review articles, The editorial board of the journal has decided to adopt the Vancouver style of uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals (N. Engl. J. Med. 1991;324:421-428). These notes for contributors confirm with the Vancouver style.

Figures: The term figure includes all types of illustrations such as graphs, diagrams, photographs, flow charts and line drawings. Photographs should be supplied in high quality glossy paper usually 127 mm x 173 mm (5" x 7"). In case of microphotograph stains used and magnification should be mentioned. Each illustration should bear on its back the figure number, name of the forwarding author and an arrow indicating the top. All illustrations should be submitted in duplicate.

Legends of figures: Legends for all figures must be typed together in numerical order double spaced on a separate sheet. All illustrations and figures must be referred to in the text and abbreviated as “Fig.”

Tables: Tables should be typed on separate sheets of paper, one table to a page and included at the end of the text. They should be numbered in arable numerals. Titles should be brief yet indicate clearly the purpose or content of each table.

Acknowledgement: Acknowledgement should be made to funding institutions and organisations and if to persons, only to those who have made substantial contribution to the study.

Electronic manuscripts: Electronic manuscripts have the advantage that there is no need for the rekeying of text, thereby avoiding the possibility of introducing errors and fast processing of the article. Format your disk correctly and ensure that only the relevant file (one complete article only) is on the floppy disk. Also specify the type of computer and wordprocessing package used and label the disk with your name and the name of the file on the disk.