Author Instructions

Journal of International Medical Sciences Academy Associate Member of Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences, Geneva; Memorandum of Understanding partners: INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL SCIENCES ACADEMY & ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS, GLASGOW, UK, Dr K Jagadeesan, President, Prof. Nadey Hakim, Vice President, Dr R K Thukral, Executive Director, Prof Narinder Pal Singh, Editor-in-Chief Instructions to Authors JIMSA is a multispecialty medical journal that aims to promote interdisciplinary dialogue. We accept manuscripts that may interest physicians researchers, health care workers and postgraduate students in diverse specialties of medical science. Highly technical manuscripts will be suitable for narrow-field specialty journals but not JIMSA. Announcement of breakthrough discoveries, summary of current status, eye-openers and technical innovations are the types of manuscripts that we look for publication. Besides educating our readers we also intend to entertain them by publishing poetry, photographs, essays, paintings, memoires, historical vignettes, opinions and criticisms that are pertinent to medical science and its practice. We accept manuscripts various forms to suit different themes. They include: Original articles: It is suitable for reporting research findings. It should be less than 3000 words (excluding Abstract, references and Table), and may contain up to 6 illustrations and 40 references. Suggested components of the text include. It would be divided into sections with the headings title of manuscript, Abstract (background, methods, results, conclusion), Key-words, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables and Figure legends. Review articles: It is critical summary of a currently relevant issue in medical science or of a rare entity. The article should not read like a textbook chapter. Preferably it should critically analyze diverse views, and synthesize opinions. The prescribed word count limit is 3000 words (excluding tables, references and abstract) and may contain up to 6 illustrations. The manuscript may have up to 90 references. The manuscript should have an unstructured Abstract (250 words) representing an accurate summary of the article. Case reports: It suitable to report novel methods employed in diagnosis or management of a single patient or a small group of patients not exceeding 5. Rarities when reported should aim to serve as eye-openers. The prescribed word count limit is 1200 words (excluding tables, references and unstructured abstract of 200 words) and may contain up to 3 illustrations. The manuscript may have up to 10 references. Letters to editors: It is suitable to comment on a published article. Such letters should be received within 3 months of publication of the concerned article. However, authors may write anything to the editor that may be of interest to the readers. The prescribed word count limit is 500 words (excluding references) and may contain up to 5 references and 1 illustration. Editorial: It is usually the prerogative of the editor. However, anyone may submit unsolicited thought provoking editorials. Images of medicine: It is suitable to illustrate a rare or important aspect of medical practice. Clinical and radiological images are appropriate. However, photographs capturing extraordinary human emotions pertinent to heath care will also be occasionally considered. Pictorial Essay: It is suitable to tell a story with a series of pictures. How I do it: It is suitable to describe as to how an existing method is modified by the author with improved outcome. Technical innovation: It is suitable to report a new method developed by the author. Basic and translation science: It is suitable to report findings of animal, cellular or molecular biology experiments that may of relevance to clinical practice. Basic and translation science: It is suitable to report findings of animal, cellular or molecular biology experiments that may of relevance to clinical practice. Hypothesis: It is suitable to discuss an interesting idea which yet to be tested. The idea should have been constructed based on established facts of medical science and it should sound plausible. Medical Research: It is suitable to discuss issues pertinent to medical research and its methodology Medical Education: It is suitable to discuss issues related to medical education and training. Debates: It is usually commissioned by the editor. Views and counterpoints are presented on a controversial subject matter. Poetry: Poetry should be pertinent to patient care, maladies, medical ethics, health policies, health education and such topics. Viewpoint: It is suitable to express a thought provoking opinion on any aspect of health care, health education or health politics. Drug Profile: It provides pharmacological details and prescription information of newly introduced drugs. Drugs not approved by drug approving agencies such as FDA will also be considered but they should be prominently identified so. Association News: Announcements and news pertinent to International Medical Sciences Academy. Medical News: A summary of important global news pertinent to medical practice. Historical vignettes: It is suitable to record moments in the history of Medicine, biographies of great personalities, history of great institutions evolution of diseases and their treatments. Book review: Critical evaluation of newly published books pertinent to medical sciences. Grand rounds: Detailed analytical description of a patient highlighting learning points. Obituaries: Announcement of death of members and fellows of International Medical Sciences Academy with a brief appreciation of their contribution to medical science and patient care. Occasionally editor may commission obituaries of non-IMSA members who have made great discoveries or innovations. Preparation of Manuscript American English is the official language of JIMSA. JIMSA subscribes to the “Uniform Requirement of Biomedical Manuscripts” proposed by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and World Journal of Medical Editors”. Detailed instructions can be accessed from ICMJE website http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf The submitted manuscripts that are not as per the “Instructions to Authors” would be returned to the authors for technical correction, before they undergo editorial/ peer-review. Generally, the manuscript should be submitted in the form of two separate files: 1. Title page file : Title page should contain Title of the manuscript, running title, type of manuscript (original article, case report, review article, Letter to editor, Images, etc.) and list of all contributory authors in the order. For each author full name, designation or institutional affiliation must be provided. In addition, email address, phone numbers of corresponding author must be provided. Corresponding author and guarantor of the manuscript should be clearly identified. Statistics regarding the number of text words, number of references, number of illustrations (color and black-white) should also be included in the Title page. Other than title page author name or other identifiable details should not appear in text pages. Source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or all of these should be mentioned in title page. Acknowledgment, if any and Conflicts of Interest of each author/ contributor must be mentioned in title page. A statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, and each author believes that the manuscript represents honest work. 2. Main file/blinded file : It belonging from abstract till references including tables should be in the main file. Main file must not contain any authors name or the institution at which the study was completed or acknowledgements. Manuscript title and running title may be included but not the author name. Don’t incorporate images in the file. Images should be email separately along with main file and title file. The pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the first page of the blinded article file. All the text portions of the manuscript as well as tables and legends should be submitted as Microsoft Word files. All figures should be submitted as JPEG or TIFF files. PDF, Excel or Microsoft PowerPoint submissions will not be accepted. Photographs and illustrations should be of minimum 3x5 inches in size with a minimum resolution of 600 dpi. Manuscript Processing: All submitted manuscripts will be assigned with a reference number and it will be communicated to the corresponding author by email. This number should be quoted in all future communications pertinent to the manuscript. The editorial team will scrutinize the submitted manuscript and decide if it is suitable for JIMSA. Manuscripts considered inappropriate shall be rejected without peer review within 7 working days. Those manuscripts that survive in-house scrutiny shall be sent to external peer reviewers. Usually opinion from 1 to 3 reviewers will be solicited depending upon the type of manuscripts. Based on the review comments editor will take any one the following decision: Rejection: Articles considered unsuitable for publication on the basis of peer review will be rejected within 16 weeks. Major modification: These manuscripts require re-drafting of a considerable portion of text or tables. After major modification the article will be again sent for peer review with feedback of corrections made. They are acceptable only when recommended by second time peer reviewing. Minor Modifications: Correction of spelling or grammatical errors, point of concern clarifications and deletion of few text portions or illustrations comprises minor modification. The manuscript is acceptable if authors agree to do the changes. Acceptance: This decision indicates the manuscript is accepted for publication yet may be subjected to copyediting by editorial team. Editor reserves the right to copyedit all accepted manuscripts to maintain uniformity of style. However, copyedited manuscripts shall be sent to authors for final approval in the form of galley proofs. Authors should respond to queries and requests of modifications within 6 weeks lest the manuscript will be considered as fresh submissions. Letters to editor, poetry, images of medicine, book reviews, obituaries, medical news, association news, editorials and viewpoints are usually not peer reviewed and they are accepted at the discretion of editor-in-chief. All other manuscripts shall be externally peer reviewed. JIMSA do not charge any processing fee for peer reviewing of manuscripts or publishing the final accepted form. However the authors may be asked to bear the cost of reproducing color photographs, lets they will be published in black-white. Post Publication: Authors shall be provided with PDF copy of their article upon publication of the same. Additional reprint copies can be purchased at rates quoted in JIMSA subscriptions. Comments and criticism of readers shall be considered for publication as post-publication peer review. They will be sent to authors for necessary clarifications or rebuttal. The comments of readers as well as the authors shall be published together. Plagiarism: Plagiarism of any kind will be viewed seriously and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken. Authors are advised to be wary of inadvertent plagiarism by copy-pasting of texts from internet or other source. Paraphrasing is recommended to avoid unnecessary accusation. Conflicts of Interest: Each and every author of a manuscript should mandatorily disclose all details that could have actually or potentially influenced judgment, interpretation or conclusion of their work. This includes financial grants received from industry, nepotism, bonding clause between employer and authors, marketing of products and such concerns. For details consult ICMJE/ WAME recommendations. https://www.wame.org/about/conflict-of-interest-in-peer-reviewed-medical Referencing style: Referencing style should be based on the formats used by NLM in index Medicus, Vancouver referencing style. Articles in Journals: For upto six authors: [e.g. Gandhi P, Gupta AK, Ganguli A, Singh NP. Patient Satisfaction with Out - Patient Services of a Public Health Facility - A Cross - Sectional Study in North Indian Population. J Int Med Sci Acad. 2022;35(1):36-41.] For more than six authors: List the first six contributors followed by et al. [e.g. Budhiraja S, Aggarwal M,Wig R, Tyagi A, Mishra RS, Mahajan M, et al. Long Term Health Consequences of COVID-19 in Hospitalized Patients from North India: A follow up study of upto 12 months. J Int Med Sci Acad. 2022;35(1): 13-22.] Book chapter: [e.g. Singh NP, Gupta AK, Puri S. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus with Sjögren’s Syndrome Manifesting as Multiple Cranial Nerve Palsies. In: Pareek KK, Mathur G (eds.). Interesting Clinical Cases in Medicine. 1st ed. New Delhi, India: Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) Ltd;2022.p.207-211.] Electronic sources as reference: [e.g. Australian medicines handbook online [Internet]. Adelaide (AU): Australian Medicines  Handbook Pty Ltd;  2020. Paracetamol; [updated 2021 Jul; cited 2021 Nov 10]; Available from: https://amhonline-amh-net-au.ezproxy.library.uq.edu.au/.] In text citation: References are numbered in the text, either in line with the text within square brackets [1].  For e.g. In all cases, it is important to note the outer diameter of the tube [1]. Publication Policy: JIMSA subscribes to the ethical standards of medical publishing promulgated by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). JIMSA periodically changes its policies in resonance with updates of these organizations. Updated policies of these organizations can be accessed from WAME: http://www.wame.org ICMJE: http://www.icmje.org Prof Narinder Pal Singh Editor-in-Chief