Guide for Authors

General information and policies

Duplicate publication:  The submitted articles should not have published in its current form or a substantially similar form (in print or electronically, including on a web site) elsewhere. 

Informed consent: informed written consent should be obtained in studies involving human subjects, human-derived materials or medical records.

For animal studies, it must be approved by the author’s institutional animal care and conducted according to the NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.

Copyright:  Each author must sign a statement transferring copyright ownership to IIMSJI.

Conflict of Interest: Financial contributions and any potential conflict of interest must be clearly acknowledged under the heading ‘Conflict of Interest’. Authors must list the source(s) of funding for the study. This should be done for each author.

Authorship: All authors should confirm that they have read and approved the paper.

Corresponding Authors: The editorial office must be supplied with phone and email address of the corresponding author.

Language: American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these.

Article Types:

Original Articles: Original, in-depth clinical and investigative laboratory research papers. A structured abstract should be included. The text should not exceed 3500 words, excluding the abstract, references, figures, and tables — not to exceed 8 figures or tables.

Reviews: A current review of a disease or treatment. The word count should not exceed 5000 words excluding the abstract, references, figures, and tables.

Case reports: They are formatted with introductory sentences, followed by a report of a case and comment; they should not exceed 1000 words, 4 figures, and 15 references.

Short Communication: short communication should contain original data as per the description is given under “original articles” but their length should not exceed 1500 word; 20 references; 2 figures/tables.

Letter to the editor: the content of a letter to the editor must relate to a specific article published in IIMSJ; max 250 words; 4 references; no figures/tables.

Systematic reviews and Meta-analysis: These manuscriptsare systematic assessments of the evidence available in the medical literature regarding specific issues, including pathophysiological mechanisms, diagnosis, prognosis, disease treatment, preventive management, etc.

Editorials: Editorial articles are commissioned by the Editor in Chief and aim to provide brief expert’s views on specific manuscripts published in a given IIMSJ issue. These articles should contain a max 1000 words; 10 references; 1 figure/table.

Student Contribution: IIMSJ is unique in allowing undergraduate students to have their own contributions in their college’s journal this may take the form of their researches on a given topic.

Meeting report and Conference proceedings: reporting a summary about the annual conference of the College of Medicine.

The corresponding author should apply the following data:

Give exact contact details:

• E-mail address

• Full postal address

• Phone numbers

All necessary files have been uploaded, and contain:

• Keywords

• All figure captions

• All tables (including title, description, and footnotes). 

Further considerations

• The manuscript has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-checked. Also, upon the reviewer’s recommendation, the paper might be requested to be sent to language editing /polishing by professionals and it will be done at the cost of the authors. Authors will be then informed.

• References are in the correct format for this journal

 • All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa

• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)

• Color figures are clearly marked as being intended for color reproduction on the Web (free of charge) and in print, or to be reproduced in color on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white in the print

MANUSCRIPT SECTIONS FOR PAPERS:

Manuscripts submitted for research, review articles and letters in the respective journal should be divided into the following sections:

  • Title
  • Title page
  • Structured Abstract
  • Text organization
  • Conclusion
  • List of abbreviations (if any)
  • Consent for Publication
  • Conflict of interest
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
  • Appendices
  • Figures/Illustrations (if any)
  • Chemical structures (if any)
  • Tables (if any)
  • Supportive/ supplementary material (if any) 

Title:

The title of the article should be precise and brief and must not be more than 120 characters. Authors should avoid the use of non-standard abbreviations and question marks in titles. The title must be written in title case except for articles, conjunctions, and prepositions.

Authors should also provide a short ‘running title’. The title, running title, byline correspondent footnote, and keywords should be written as presented in the original manuscript.

Title Page:

The title page should include paper title, author(s) full name and affiliation, corresponding author(s) names complete affiliation/address, along with phone, fax, and email.

Structured Abstract:

The abstract of an article should be its clear, concise and accurate summary, having no more than 250 words, and include the sub-headings (as in-line or run-in headings in bold). Use of abbreviations and citation of references should be avoided in the abstract. Ideally, each abstract should include the following sub-headings, but these may vary according to requirements of the article.

  • Background
  • Objective
  • Method
  • Results
  • Conclusion

Keywords:

6 to 8 keywords must be provided. Choose important and relevant keywords that researchers in your field will be searching for so that your paper will appear in a database search. 

Text Organization:

For review, the manuscript should be divided into the title page, abstract and the main text. The text may be subdivided further according to the areas to be discussed, which should be followed by the Acknowledgements and Reference sections. For Research Articles the manuscript should begin with the title page and abstract followed by the main text, which must be structured into separate sections as Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Ethics Approval, and Consent to Participate, Human and Animal Rights, Conflict of Interest, Acknowledgements, and References. The Review Article should mention any previous important recent and old reviews in the field and contain a comprehensive discussion starting with the general background of the field. It should then go on to discuss the salient features of recent developments. The authors should avoid presenting material which has already been published in a previous review. The authors are advised to present and discuss their observations in brief. The manuscript style must be uniform throughout the text and 12 pt Times New Roman fonts should be used. The full term for an abbreviation should precede its first appearance in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement. The reference numbers should be given in brackets in the text. Italics should be used for Binomial names of organisms (Genus and Species), for emphasis and for unfamiliar words or phrases. Non-assimilated words from Latin or other languages should also be italicized e.g. per se, et al., etc.

Section Headings:

Section headings should be numbered sequentially, left aligned and have the first letter capitalized, starting with the introduction. Sub-section headings, however, should be in lower-case and italicized with their initials capitalized. They should be numbered as 1.1, 1.2, etc.

INTRODUCTION:

The Introduction section should include the background and aims of the research in a comprehensive manner.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

This section provides details of the methodology used along with information on any previous efforts with corresponding references. Any details for further modifications and research should be included. 

EXPERIMENTAL:

Repeated information should not be reported in the text of an article. A calculation section must include experimental data, facts and practical development from a theoretical perspective.

RESULTS:

Results should be precise.

DISCUSSION:

This should explore the significance of the results of the work, and present reproducible procedure. Extensive citations and discussion of published literature should be avoided.

The Results and discussions may be presented individually or combined in a single section with short and informative headings.

CONCLUSION:

A small paragraph summarizing the contents of the article, presenting the final outcome of the research or proposing a further study on the subject, may be given at the end of the article under the Conclusion section.

Acknowledgments:

All individuals listed as authors must have contributed substantially to the design, performance, analysis, or reporting of the work and are required to indicate their specific contribution. Anyone (individual/company/institution) who has substantially contributed to the study for important intellectual content, or was involved in the in drafting or revising the manuscript must also be acknowledged.

References:

References must be listed in the numerical system (Vancouver). All references should be numbered sequentially [in square brackets] in the text and listed in the same numerical order in the reference section. The reference numbers must be finalized and the bibliography must be fully formatted before submission. 

See below a few examples of references listed in the correct Vancouver style:

Typical Paper Reference:

  • [1]  Botticelli D, Berglundh T, Lindhe J. Hard-tissue alterations following immediate implant placement in extraction sites. J Clin Periodont 2004; 10: 820-8.
  • [2]  Clarkson JJ. International collaborative research on fluoride. J Dent Res 2000; 79: 893-904.

Typical Chapter Reference:

  • [3]  Hilton TJ. In: Schwarts RS, Summitt JB, Robbins JW, Ed. Fundamentals of Operative Dentistry. Chicago, Quintessence Publishing 1996; 207-28.

Book Reference:

  • [4]  Lindhe J, Lang NP, Karring K. Periodontology and Implant Dentistry. 4th ed. Oxford: Blackwell Munksgaard 2003.

Conference Paper:

  • [6]  Anderson JC. Current status of chorion villus biopsy. In: Tudenhope D, Chenoweth J, Eds. Proceedings of the 4th congress of the Australian perinatal society; 1986: Brisbane, Queensland: Australian Perinatal Society 1987; pp. 190-6.

Conference Proceedings:

  • [7]  Harris AH, Ed. Economics and health: 1997: Proceedings of the 19th Australian conference of health economists; 1997 Sep 13-14; Sydney, Australia. Kensington, N.S.W.: School of Health Services Management, University of New South Wales 1998.

Journal Article on the Internet:

  • [9].  Shepherd JP, Thomas DW, Shepherd P. Privatising the NHS: dentistry paves the way. BMJ [serial on the Internet]. 1996 April 10; [cited 1996 April 13]; 312: [about 10 screens] Available from: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/312/7036/922 

Patent:

  • [10]  Seghatol M, inventor; Jean-Pierre Durand, assignee. Microwave polymerization system for dentistry. United States Patent US 6441354 2002 Aug.

Dissertation or Thesis:

  • [11]  Robert LK. Aspects of the use of design of magnetism in dentistry. Ph.D. diss., Dept. of Dentistry, Hong Kong Univ 1999b.

Forthcoming Publication:

  • [12]  Susan P, Ferris AM. Contemporary implant dentistry 1999 Vol. 12. Forthcoming.

E-citations:

  • [13]  Citations for articles/material published exclusively online or in open access (free-to-view), must contain the exact Web addresses (URLs) at the end of the reference(s), except those posted on an author’s Web site unless editorially essential, e.g. ‘Reference: Available from: URL’.

Some important points to remember: 

  • All references must be complete and accurate.
  • If the number of authors exceeds six then et al will be used after three names (the term “et al.” should be in italics).
  • Online citations should include the date of access.
  •  Journal abbreviations should follow the Index Medicus/MEDLINE.
  • Take special care of the punctuation convention as described in the above-mentioned examples.
  • Avoid using superscript in the in-text citations and reference section.
  • Abstracts, unpublished data and personal communications (which can only be included if prior permission has been obtained) should not be given in the reference section but they may be mentioned in the text and details provided as footnotes.
  • The authors are encouraged to use a recent version of EndNote (version 5 and above) or Reference Manager (version 10) when formatting their reference list, as this allows references to be automatically extracted. 

Appendixes:

In case there is a need to present lengthy, but essential methodological details, use appendixes, which can be a part of the article. An appendix must not exceed three pages (Times New Roman, 12 point fonts, 900 max. words per page). The information should be provided in a condensed form, ruling out the need for full sentences. A single appendix should be titled APPENDIX, while more than one can be titled APPENDIX A, APPENDIX B, and so on.

Figures/Illustrations (if any):

All authors must strictly follow the guidelines below for preparing illustrations for publication in IIMSJ. If the figures are found to be sub-standard, then the manuscripts will be rejected.

The authors are expected to submit good quality figure(s) in PDF, PPT, MS Word, TIFF or JPEG versions, which, if required, should be improved yourself or by professional graphic designers of your organization/ country.

Guideline for Figures/Illustrations

Illustrations must be provided according to the following guideline:

  • Illustrations should not be embedded in the text file and must be numbered consecutively in the order of their appearance. Each figure should include only a single illustration which should be cropped to minimize the amount of space occupied by the illustration.
  • If a figure is in separate parts, all parts of the figure must be provided in a single composite illustration file.
  • Photographs should be provided with a scale bar if appropriate, as well as high-resolution component files. 

Formats

Illustrations may be submitted in the following file formats:

  • Illustrator
  • EPS (preferred format for diagrams)
  • PDF (also especially suitable for diagrams)
  • PNG (preferred format for photos or images)
  • Microsoft Word (version 5 and above; figures must be a single page)
  • PowerPoint (figures must be a single page)
  • TIFF
  • JPEG (conversion should be done using the original file)

Requirement

Width = 8.5 inches (In-between the required size)

Height = 11 inches (In-between the required size)

Pixels/Inches = 300 (minimum dpi)

 All figures should be in vector scale (except halftone, photograph.) 

Tables

  • Data Tables should be submitted in Microsoft Word table format.
  • Each table should include a title/caption being explanatory in itself with respect to the details discussed in the table. Detailed legends may then follow.
  • Table number in bold font i.e. Table 1, should follow a title. The title should be in small case with the first letter in caps. A full stop should be placed at the end of the title.
  • Tables should be embedded in the text exactly according to their appropriate placement in the submitted manuscript.
  • Columns and rows of data should be made visibly distinct by ensuring that the borders of each cell are displayed as black lines.
  • Tables should be numbered in Arabic numerals sequentially in order of their citation in the body of the text.
  • If a reference is cited in both the table and text, please insert a lettered footnote in the table to refer to the numbered reference in the text.

How to format your manuscript for submission to MDSRJ?

  • Language: English
  • Font: 12- point, Times New Roman
  • Line Spacing: Double-spaced throughout
  • Margins: One Inch (2.5 cm) on all sides
  • Page Numbers: Use page numbers; start with the title page as page 1. Begin a new page for References, Tables, and Figure Legends.
  • Line Numbers: Don not number lines of text.
  • Order of Sections: Title Page, Abstract, Introduction, Results, Discussion (Results and Discussion may be combined into one section), Materials & Methods, Conflict of Interest, Acknowledgments, References, Tables, Figure Legends.
  • Heading styles: First level: ALL CAPS, BOLD; Second Level: Sentence Case, Bold Underline; Third Level: Sentence Case, Bold Italics.
  • Figure Legends: Provide both a brief, overall title and detailed legend of 125 words or fewer.
  • File Type: Text: Word (.doc or .docx file); separate image files.