Formatting Guidelines

  1. HITEC Medical and Dental Journal (HMDJ) agrees to accept the manuscripts prepared in accordance with the ‘Uniform Requirements for a manuscript submitted to the Biomedical Journals as approved by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines.
  2. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS:
  3. Ethical / Legal matters:
  4. Authors are required to send approval letter from Institutional Review Board (IRB)/ Ethical Review

Committee (ERC) along with the original articles.

  1. A submitted manuscript must be an original contribution, not previously published (except

as an abstract or preliminary report), must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere, and if accepted, it must not be published elsewhere in a similar form.

iii. Manuscript must be accompanied by a certificate, signed by the author and all co-authors that they have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript.

  1. Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) should be registered and the trial registration number is mandatory.
  2. It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that the patient’s anonymity is carefully protected.
  3. Responsibility
  4. Although the editors and reviewers make every effort to ensure the validity of published manuscripts, the final responsibility rests with the authors, not with the Journal, its editors, or the publisher.
  5. Authorship
  6. Each person listed as an author is expected to have participated in the study and is accountable for

accuracy and integrity of the work. He/she should have substantial contribution to:

  1. Conception and design
  2. Acquisition of data
  3. Analysis and interpretation of data
  4. Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
  5. Those who provide technical support, writing assistance, or department chair who provided just general support should also be mentioned in acknowledgment
  6. Conflict of Interest: The authors must provide a formalstatement including any potential conflict of interest atthe time of submitting the article. In case of any conflictof interest, the author must submit an ICMJE form fordisclosure of potential conflicts of interest.
  7. Financial Disclosure: Each author should submit a financial disclosure, warranting that he or she has no commercial associations that might post a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article. All funding sources supporting the work and all institutional or corporate affiliations of the authors are acknowledged.
  8. Copyright: All authors must sign a copy of the HMDJ author’s certification proforma including information regarding the responsibilities of authors and copyright transfer and submit it with the article. The authors will be requested to sign an agreement to give copyright to the publishers.
  9. Plagiarism Policy: All the submitted manuscripts will be checked for plagiarism by “TURNITIN” software. Articles with a similarity index of more than 19% will not be published. The plagiarism certificate is sent to the corresponding author and the article is reconsidered after amendments.
  10. Other Publication Misconducts: Other publication misconducts including fabrication (picture as well), falsification, duplicate submission, redundant publication, multiple submission, selective and misleading reporting, selective and ‘misleading referencing are liable to strict action.
  11. Peer Review: The editors will select the reviewers from Journal reviewer database according to specialty and expertise. Each manuscript will be sent to two external peer reviewers. Once the reviewed manuscript is received from both the reviewers, their comment/suggestions (if any) are communicated to the author for correction. The revised manuscript received from the author is re-assessed by the editor and the final decision regarding article acceptance/rejection is also made by the editor.
  12. Article Publishing Charges: There will be no publication charges.
  13. SCOPE OF PUBLICATIONS:
  14. Original Articles: Original articles should report original research of relevance to clinical medicine. These include randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, and studies of screening /diagnostic tests, outcome studies and cost- effectiveness analysis. The article should not exceed 4000 words in length (excluding title page, abstract, tables, figures, and references). The article words count for quantitative study should be in range 2000 – 2500 words (excluding references and abstract) with at least 18-25 references and 3–5 figures or tables. For qualitative study article word count should be in range of 3000-4000 words (excluding references and abstract) with at least 20-30 references and 3–5 figures or tables. Studies more than three years old at the time of submission are not entertained as per journal’s policy. Any study ending three years before the date of submission is judged by the Editorial Board for its suitability as many changes take place over the time period, subject to the area of the study. The original article should contain the following sections.
  15. Title page: It should include the following information:
  16. Complete title as well as a short title of the article
  17. Name of author(s)
  18. Department(s)
  19. Institution(s) at which work was performed
  20. Author Affiliation
  21. Subject Specialty
  22. Corresponding authors phone/fax no, cell no,

personal e-mail address and postal address

  1. Short running title for header
  2. Abstract: It should contain a structured abstract of about 250 words and should include following sections
  3. Objective
  4. Study Design
  5. Place and duration of study
  6. Patients and Methods
  7. Results
  8. Conclusion
  9. Keywords 3–10 (Medical Subject Headings –MeSH) in alphabetical order. If suitable MeSH terms are not yet available for recently introduced terms, present terms may be used.

iii. Text

  1. Introduction: This should summarize the purpose and the rationale for the study. It should neither review the subject extensively nor should it have data or conclusions of the study. . At the end of the introduction, mention the rationale or scientific significance of the study.
  2. Patients and Methods: This should include exact method or observation or experiment. If an apparatus is used, its manufacturer’s name and address should be given in parenthesis. If the method is established, give reference but if the method is new, give enough information so that another author is able to perform it. If a drug is used, its generic name, dose and route of administration must be given. Methodology section should contain (without headings) study design, place and duration of study, sample size, sampling technique, inclusion and exclusion criteria, data collection and analysis procedure. Statistical method must be mentioned and specify any general computer programme used. The information system used should be clearly mentioned.
  3. Results: Must be presented in the form of text, tables and illustrations. The contents of the tables should not be repeated in the text. Instead, a reference to the table number may be given. Long articles may need sub-headings within some sections (especially the results and discussion parts) to clarify their contents. Extra or supplementary materials and technical details can be placed in an appendix where it is accessible. It may be omitted from the printed version but may be published in the electronic version of the journal.
  4. Discussion: This should emphasize present findings & the variations or similarities with other work done in the field by other workers. Detailed data should not be repeated in the discussion again. Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. It must be mentioned whether the hypothesis mentioned in the article is true, false or no conclusions can be derived.
  5. Conclusion: Should be in line with the objectives and results and should be same as given in abstract.
  6. Limitations of the study (if any)
  7. Recommendations of the study (if any)
  8. Acknowledgements (if any)
  9. References: References must be numbered as superscript consecutively according to their appearance in the text. References appearing in a table or figure should be numbered sequentially with those in text. References should be cited in the correct “Vancouver style” with a DOI number. List all authors if the total number of authors is six or less and for more than six authors use et al. after six. Journal names should be abbreviated according to the Index Medicus/MEDLINE. The date of access should be provided for online citations. Twenty Percent References should be last five years and all references listed consecutively as superscript.
  10. Standard journal article.
  11. You CH. Lee KY, Chey WY, Manguy R. Electrogastrographic study of patients with unexplained nausea, bloating and vomiting. Gastroenterology 1980; 79: 311-4.
  12. Chapter in a book:
  13. Weinstein L, Swartz MN. Pathogenic properties of invading micro organisms. In: Sodeman WA Jr, Sodeman WA, eds. Pathologic physiology: mechanisms of disease. WB Saunders, Philadelphia 1974; 457-72.
  14. Tables: All tables should be numbered with roman numerals. Headings should be placed above tables, left justified.
  15. Figures: All figures should be numbered with numeric numerals. Headings should be placed below figures, left justified.
  16. Clinical Case Reports: Must be of academic & educational value and provide relevance of the disease being reported as unusual. It should have a non-structured abstract of about 100-150 words (case specific) with around 5-6 references and 3 keywords.
  17. Letters to The Editor (LTE): It is usually a type of short communication that can be written on any topic that attracts the attention of the reader. There are different types of letters to the editor. If the purpose of the LTE is to comment on a published article, the first sentence of the LTE should include the name of the published article’s first author along with the title of the published article and then the comments. If the LTE is a reply to a previously submitted LTE, the first sentence should include the name of the letter’s author and cite the letter as a reference. The previously published article should then be referenced as well either in the body of the text or at the end of the response to the LTE.
  18. Review Article: Should consist of critical overview/analysis of some relatively narrow topic providing background and the recent development with the reference of original literature. It should incorporate the author’s original work on the same subject. The review article should be 2500 to 3000 words in length. It should have a non-structured abstract of 150 words with a minimum of 3 keywords. An author can write a review article only if he/she has written a minimum of three original research articles.
  19. Systematic Review Article: It should consist of a well-defined research question and should provide detailed review of a specific topic based on the existing literature. It should include the collection and analysis of data from all the relevant research in support of the research question being asked. The text should be 2500-3000 words. It should have a non- structured abstract with a minimum of three keywords.
  20. Meta-Analysis: It should comprise a statistical analysis of combined results of numerous scientific studies addressing the same research questions. Meta-analysis is a quantitative and epidemiological study design that should critically analyze the results of previous scientific researches, mostly randomized controlled trials.
  21. Short communication: Short communication or brief report of research works, containing new findings. The short communication consists: Title, Abstract (structured - no more than 150 words), Keywords (max. 5), Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Ethical Consideration, Acknowledgment and References. Short communications should not exceeding 2500 words from introduction through references. Short communications should contain no more than 3000 words totally. The number of tables/figures should be in maximum 3.
  22. Photo Essays: The journal accepts manuscripts for consideration as photo essays. These essays include the visual presentation of material where the prima, emphasis is on the images. These images can include colored images, angiograms, optical coherence tomography, histologic sections, x-rays, ultrasounds, and other studies. The images can be an outstanding presentation of classic findings, atypical findings or new findings. These are not case reports, but rather a visual presentation of material as a teaching tool. The images need to be of the highest quality. The accompanying manuscript should be limited to a total of 300 words. A maximum of 5 separate images and 5 references can be included. Please refer to the rest of the author’s instructions for other requirements for manuscripts submitted to HMDJ.
  23. SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPT
  24. All manuscript should be typed in double spacing on A-4 paper (8.25” x 11.70” = 21.0 cm x 29.70 cm) with one inch (2.5 cm) margin on both sides.
  25. All pages must be numbered starting with the title page being page one.
  26. Each figure and table must be submitted separately.