Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with “Uniform requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journal” developed by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (October 2001). The uniform requirements and specific requirement of Indian Journal of Medical Sciences are summarised below; detailed comments are available from the manuscript submission site. Articles can be submitted online from www.journalonweb.com/ . 

Scope of the Journal

The journal caters to the need to practicing clinicians. Hence, articles with clinical interest and implications, not too research oriented will be given preference. Traditionally, articles from social science, epidemiology, psychology, and traditional medicine have found place in the journal. 

The Editorial Process

The manuscripts will be reviewed for possible publication with the understanding that they are being submitted to one journal at a time and have not been published, simultaneously submitted, or already accepted for publication elsewhere. The Editors review all submitted manuscripts initially. Manuscripts with insufficient originality are rejected. The journal will not return the unaccepted manuscripts. Other manuscripts are sent to expert reviewer(s) without revealing the identity of the contributors to the reviewers. Within a period of twelve weeks, the contributors will be informed about the editorial decision. Articles accepted would be copy edited for grammar, punctuation and print style. 

Types of Manuscripts and word limits

Original contributions: Randomised controlled trials, intervention studied, studies of screening and diagnostic test, outcome studies, cost effectiveness analyses, case-control series, and surveys with high response rate. Up to 2500 words excluding references and abstract.

Review articles: Systemic critical assessments of literature and data sources. Up to 3000 words excluding references and abstract.

Case reports: new/interesting/very rare cases with clinical significance or implications can be reported. Up to 800 words excluding references and abstract, up to two photographs and up to 8references.
Letter to the Editor: Should be short, decisive observation. They should not be preliminary observations that need a later paper for validation. Up to 400 words and 4 references.

Limits for number of images and tables: for all the above-mentioned categories the number of images and tables should not be more than one per 500 words. 

Online submission of articles

Articles can also be submitted online from www.journalonweb.com/ . New authors will have to register as author, which is a simple two step procedure. For online submission articles should be prepared in two files (first page file and article file). Images should be submitted separately. If article is submitted online, the copyright form should be sent within two weeks to the journal office.
First Page File: Prepare the title page, covering letter, acknowledgement, etc. using a word processor program. All information which can reveal your identity should be here. Use text/rtf/doc/pdf files. Do not zip the files.

Article file: The main text of the article, beginning from Abstract till References (including tables) should be in this file. Do not include any information (such as acknowledgement, your names in page headers, etc.) in this file. Use text/rtf/doc/pdf files. Limit the file size to 400 kb. Do not incorporate images in the file. If file size is large, even graphs can be submitted as images separately.

Images: Submit good quality colour images. Each image should be less than 100 kb in size. Size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep up to 400 pixels or 3 inches). JPEG format is most suitable. 

Legends: Legends for the figures/images should be kept ready for copy-paste during the submission process. 

Sending the manuscript to the journal

Send three copies of the manuscript along with a covering letter, contributors’ form signed by all the contributors, checklist and floppy. The manuscript should be sent to

Dr. D. K. Sahu
Editor, Indian Journal of Medical Sciences
A-109, Kanara Business Center, 
Off Link Rd, Ghatkopar (E), 
Mumbai 400 075, India.
Fax – 91-22-5649 1817 
E-mail: ijms [AT] medknow [COM] com

Preparation of the manuscript

Send laser printout, on white thick paper, of A4 size, with margins of 1 inch from all the four sides. Type or print on only one side of the paper. Use double spacing throughout. Number pages consecutively. The language should be American English.

Title Page
Title page should provide type of manuscript, title of the article, running or short title, name of each contributor with institutional affiliation; name of the department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed; name, address, phone numbers, facsimile numbers and e-mail address of corresponding contributor; total number of pages, photographs and word counts separately for abstract and for the text (excluding the references and abstract); acknowledgment; and the organisation, place, and exact date on which the manuscript was presented as part at a meeting, if any. 

Abstract Page
The second page should carry the full title of the manuscript and an abstract (150 words for case reports and 250 words for original articles). For original articles the abstract should be structured and state the Context (Background), Aims, Settings and Design, Methods and Material, Statistical analysis used, Results and Conclusions. Below the abstract should provide 3 to 6 key words. 

Text of the Article
Text of an original article should be divided into standard IMRAD format (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion). Reports of randomised clinical trials should be based on the CONSORT statement (http://www.consort-statement.org). When reporting experiments on human subjects, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (available at http://www.wma.net/e/policy/17-c_e.html).

References
References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in superscript. Check www.icmje.org for details.

Standard journal article: Patel JC. Changing face of medical practice in the millennium as occurred in India. Indian J Med Sci 2001;55:1-20. List the first six contributors followed by et al. 

Tables
Tables should be self-explanatory and should not duplicate material in the text. Limit the number to minimum. Number tables, in Arabic numerals, consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table. For footnotes use the following symbols, in this sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||, , **, ††, ‡‡. 

Illustrations (Figures)
Submit three sets of sharp, glossy, un-mounted, colour photographic prints, with height of 4 inches and width of 6 inches. Computerised colour printouts are not acceptable Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text. Each figure should have a label pasted on its back indicating the number of the figure, the running title, top of the figure and the legends of the figure. Do not write on the back of figures. Type or print out legends (maximum 40 words, excluding the credit line) for illustrations with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations. 

Electronic Version
The manuscript must be accompanied by a 3.5 inch floppy containing the manuscript. Do not use ‘oh’ (O) for ‘zero’ (0), ‘el’ (l) for one (1). Do not use space bar for indentation. Do not break words at the end of lines. Do not insert a tab, indent, or extra spaces before beginning of a paragraph. Do not use software’s facility of automatic referencing, footnotes, headers, footers, etc. 

Sending a revised manuscript
While submitting a revised manuscript, contributors are requested to include, along with single copy of the final revised manuscript, a photocopy of the revised manuscript with the changes underlined in red and with the point to point clarification to each comment. The manuscript number should be written on each of these documents. 

If the manuscript is submitted online, the contributors’ form and copyright transfer form has to be submitted in original with the signatures of all the contributors within two weeks from submission. Hard copies of the images, for articles submitted online, should be sent to the journal office at the time of submission of a revised manuscript.

Reprints
Journal does not provide any free printed reprints. Reprints can be purchased at the time of submitting the proofs.

Checklist

Covering letter

• Signed by all contributors
• Previous publication / presentations mentioned
• Source of funding mentioned
• Conflicts of interest disclosed

Authors

• Middle name initials provided 
• Author for correspondence, with e-mail address provided
• Number of contributors restricted as per the instructions
• Identity not revealed in paper except title page (e.g. name of the institute in material and methods, citing previous study as ‘our study’, names on figure labels, name of institute in photographs, etc.)

Presentation and format

• Double spacing 
• Margins 2.5 cm from all four sides 
• Title page contains all the desired information (vide supra)
• Running title provided (not more than 50 characters)
• Abstract page contains the full title of the manuscript
• Abstract provided (not more than 150 words for case reports and 250 words for original articles)
• Structured abstract provided for an original article
• Key words provided (three or more)
• Key messages provided
• Introduction of 75-100 words
• Headings in title case (not ALL CAPITALS, not underlined)
• References cited in superscript in the text without brackets
• References according to the journal’s instructions.

Language and grammar

• Uniformly American English
• Abbreviations spelt out in full for the first time
• Numerals from 1 to 10 spelt out
• Numerals at the beginning of the sentence spelt out

Tables and figures

• No repetition of data in tables/graphs and in text
• Actual numbers from which graphs drawn, provided
• Figures necessary and of good quality (colour)
• Table and figure numbers in Arabic letters (not Roman)
• Labels pasted on back of the photographs (no names written)
• Figure legends provided (not more than 40 words)
• Patients’ privacy maintained (if not, written permission enclosed)

• Credit note for borrowed figures/tables provided
• Manuscript provided on a floppy (with single spacing.

Contributors' form

(to be modified as applicable and one singed copy attached with the manuscript)

Manuscript Title: 
Manuscript number: (For articles submitted online)

I/we certify that I/we have participated sufficiently in the intellectual content, conception and design of this work or the analysis and interpretation of the data (when applicable), as well as the writing of the manuscript, to take public responsibility for it and have agreed to have my/our name listed as a contributor. I/we believe the manuscript represents valid work. Neither this manuscript nor one with substantially similar content under my/our authorship has been published or is being considered for publication elsewhere, except as described in the covering letter. I/we certify that all the data collected during the study is presented in this manuscript and no data from the study has been or will be published separately. 

I/we attest that, if requested by the editors, I/we will provide the data/information or will cooperate fully in obtaining and providing the data/information on which the manuscript is based, for examination by the editors or their assignees. I/we also certify that we have taken all necessary permissions from our institution and/or department for conducting and publishing the present work.

Financial interests, direct or indirect, that exist or may be perceived to exist for individual contributors in connection with the content of this paper have been disclosed in the cover letter. Sources of outside support of the project are named in the cover letter. 

I/We hereby transfer(s), assign(s), or otherwise convey(s) all copyright ownership, including any and all rights incidental thereto, exclusively to the Indian Journal of Cancer, in the event that such work is published by the Indian Journal of Medical Sciences. The Indian Journal of Medical Sciences shall own the work, including 1) copyright; 2) the right to grant permission to republish the article in whole or in part, with or without fee; 3) the right to produce preprints or reprints and translate into languages other than English for sale or free distribution; and 4) the right to republish the work in a collection of articles in any other mechanical or electronic format. 

We give the rights to the corresponding author to make necessary changes as per the request of the journal, do the rest of the correspondence on our behalf and he/she will act as the guarantor for the manuscript on our behalf.

All persons who have made substantial contributions to the work reported in the manuscript, but who are not contributors, are named in the Acknowledgment and have given me/us their written permission to be named. If I/we do not include an Acknowledgment that means I/we have not received substantial contributions from non-contributors and no contributor has been omitted.

Name Signature Date signed

1.

2.