Submissions

Author Guidelines

1. All manuscripts are considered for publication on the understanding that they have been submitted solely to this Journal and that they have not previously been published. Only electronic submissions are allowed. Electronic submissions should be submitted through the website www.bjohns.in.
2. Authors should note that the editors may choose to publish accepted material in both paper and electronic formats or in electronic format only. Paper formats may also contain shortened articles, at the Editor’s discretion, with the full text version available in electronic format only.
3. All articles should be in English language.
4. The following will be considered:
   1. Main Articles: These should report clinical research or audit and should not normally exceed 3500 words. For main articles, the number of authors is limited to a maximum of eight.
   2. Case Series: These should report similar cases (three or more) which may be considered a part of a series. In case of rare conditions, case series with two cases may be considered at the discretion of the Editorial team. These should also be limited to a maximum of 2000 words and six authors.
   3. Review Articles and Meta-analyses - These should be limited to 4500 words and strictly follow the PRISMA guidelines. The number of authors are usually limited to eight but may be increased based on individual contributions and discretion of the Editorial team.
   4. Historical Articles - These should not exceed 4000 words unless specifically commissioned. The maximum number of authors is usually limited to six authors.
   5. Case Reports: These should be no more than 1500 words, with four authors as a maximum. To be accepted for publication, case reports must convey a clinical message of exceptional value.
   6. Young Researchers' Forum: This category is mainly for budding researchers - ALL the authors MUST be undergraduate or postgraduate medical students. The date of submission would be taken as cut-off point for consideration of eligibility. A bonafide certificate from the Head of the Department must be uploaded as a supplementary file with these submissions.These should report clinical research or audit and should not normally exceed 3500 words. The review process for this section would involve more hands-on support and guidance from the Editorial team as one of the main aims is to familiarise budding researchers about the process of peer-reviewed publishing of original research work. The number of authors is limited to a maximum of five but special consideration to include more authors (depending on the scale of the research work) may be given at the discretion of the Editorial team. The decision of the Editorial team would be final.
   7. Our Experience: These should be articles illustrating surgical technique or the use of technical innovation. As with Case reports, the manuscript should not exceed 1500 words and should have a maximum of four authors.
   8. Letters to the Editor : Any relevant supplementary notes, comments or correspondence concerning articles published in this journal. The nature of such correspondence should be strictly scientific or clinical in nature. Any interesting clinical observation or relevant scientific fact which cannot be classified into other categories or presented in a conventional format. These submissions should be limited to 1000 words.
   9. Invited articles : These are by invitation only. The Articles are requested from eminent personalities by the Editorial Staff.
5. The following instructions should be observed or the manuscript may be rejected outright:
   1. Each manuscript should be divided into sections. These should be: title page, structured abstract and keywords, text, acknowledgements, references, summary and tables. All text must be double spaced and should be typed in 12 point Times New Roman font.
   2. The submitted manuscript SHOULD NOT contain any mention or reference which may enable the reviewer to identify the author(s) or institution(s) related to the work. All such data should be entered during process of Entering the submission's metadata. This is absolutely essential to ensure a double-blinded peer review process.
   3. Written permission from the publisher to reproduce any material with copyright elsewhere must be obtained prior to submission.
   4. Abstract and key words: The abstract should be no longer than 250 words and should be structured. Keywords are used to index the article. Only the words appearing as Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) in the supplement to Index Medicus may ordinarily be used. These are also available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html
   5. Text: Main articles should usually contain the following headings: Introduction, Materials and methods, Results and analysis (including statistical analysis) and Discussion. Case Reports and other submissions should normally comprise Introduction, Case report and a brief Discussion. In all cases the Discussion should clearly indicate how the reported work fits with the current body of world literature. The text should be grammar and spell checked prior to submission. All measurements must normally be reported in metric units. Only approved drug names should be used.
   6. Acknowledgements: You may acknowledge individuals or organisations that provided advice, support (non-financial). Formal financial support and funding should be listed in the following section.
   7. Financial Support: Please provide details of the sources of financial support, including grant numbers, for all authors,. For example, “This work was supported by the Medical Research Council (grant number XXXXXXX)”. Multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma and space, and where research was funded by more than one agency the different agencies should be separated by a semi-colon, with “and” before the final funder. Grants held by different authors should be identified as belonging to individual authors by the authors’ initials. For example, “This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (A.B., grant numbers XXXX, YYYY), (C.D., grant number ZZZZ); the Natural Environment Research Council (E.F., grant number FFFF); and the National Institutes of Health (A.B., grant number GGGG), (E.F., grant number HHHH)”. Where no specific funding has been provided for research, please provide the following statement: “This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.”
   8. Conflict(s) of Interest: Please provide details of all known financial, professional and personal relationships with the potential to bias the work. Where no known conflicts of interest exist, please include the following statement: “None.”
   9. Ethical Standards: Where research involves human and/or animal experimentation, the following statements should be included (as applicable): “The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional guidelines on human experimentation (please name) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.” and “The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional guides on the care and use of laboratory animals (please name).”
   10. References: The authors are responsible for verifying the accuracy of the references. The Vancouver system should be used. The references should be identified in the text by superscript Arabic numerals and be numbered and listed consecutively at the end of the manuscript in the order in which they are cited. References must include: names and initials of all authors (when more than six, give the first six followed by et al.); the title of the paper; the journal title abbreviated as in Index Medicus; year of publication; volume number; first and last page numbers. References to books should give the author(s)/editor(s), book title, place of publication, publisher and year. References to chapters in books should also include the chapter title, first and last page numbers, and the names and initials of chapter authors.
   11. Tables: These should be adjuncts to the text and be included in the text itself; these should have a separate legend and should be numbered consecutively with Roman numerals.
   12. Illustrations: Where the photograph is of a patient a signed release giving specific consent to publication must also be submitted. For minors, signed parental permission is required. Otherwise, the photograph may be altered in such a way as to conceal the identity of the patient. Photomicrographs of histopathological specimens must be accompanied by details of the staining method and the magnification used.
   13. Informed consent: Obtaining informed consent from subjects participating in medical research is very important. All submitted articles should be submitted only after taking informed consent from the participants and clearance from the institutional ethical committee. The responsibility of the same lies solely with the author(s).