INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

Indian Journal of Geriatric Care is the official publication of Geriatric Society of India & OCT. The journal considers for publication original articles dealing with
different branches of Medical Sciences and in the fields of Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Pathology, Microbiology, Forensic Medicine, Internal Medicine & it’s further specialties and Community Medicine as well as social sciences. Only papers that make a significant contribution to the existing state of knowledge in a particular field will be published. The journal publishes original articles, review articles, special articles, case reports, technical communications, medical intelligence articles, book reviews.

Submission of Manuscripts:

Manuscripts should be submitted in a compact disk (CD) or Microsoft (MS) word format or e-mail (in addition to two hard copies). Typescripts including figures (in duplicate) should be sent to The Editor, Indian Journal of Geriatric Care at the secretarial office of GSI.

Manuscripts should be submitted with the undertaking that they are not under consideration elsewhere and have not been reported earlier partly/totally. Submission of a manuscript indicates tacit acknowledgement that all authors have made significant contributions to the study and have read and approved the contents. Manuscripts are acknowledged upon receipt.

Manuscripts are evaluated critically by the Editorial Board and then they are peer reviewed by at least two referees. Acceptance of manuscripts for publication is based on i) significance, originality and validity of the material presented; ii) proper analysis of scientific data; iii) clarity of presentation; and iv) ethical, acceptable design of the study. All accepted manuscripts are subject to manuscript editing.

Preparation of Manuscript:

Presentation of manuscripts should conform with the uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals.

General:

Manuscripts must be typewritten, double-spaced with wide margin on A-4 size good quality white, bond paper. Each of the above mentioned components of the manuscript should begin on a new page maintaining the sequence. Type or print on only one side of the paper using double spacing throughout. Number the pages consecutively in the upper right hand corner of each page, beginning with the title page.

Format, Style and Grammar: The article is expected to be written in simple and small sentences. Care has to be exercised by all the authors towards spelling, grammar and style of writing. The article needs to be written in ‘past-participle passive voice’ format.

• Title Page: This page should be as concise, functional and informative. It should be accurate and not be misleading. Very short and cryptic titles are to be avoided as the words in the title may be used by electronic search engines to identify and categories the article. List i) title, ii) the initials followed by the last name of each author, iii) the name of the department(s), and institution)s) to which the work should be attributed, and iv) the name and address, telephone number and e-mail ID of the author to whom queries, proofs, and requests for reprints should be sent.
• Abstract and Key words: The second page should carry a structured abstract (summary) of not more than 200 words with subheadings and Background and objectives, Methods, Results and Conclusions (unstructured abstract for case reports). It should be written for the readership of both clinicians and basic investigators and should state the hypothesis or central question of the study or investigation, the study subjects, controls or experimental animals, observational and analytical methods, the main findings, and a final statement of the principal conclusions. The abstract should reflect the paper and describe the message succinctly and accurately. A list of up to five key words relevant to the article’s content should be provided to assist indexers and archivists.
• Introduction: It should commence on separate page and should briefly review the current state of knowledge strictly concerning the topic of the paper. It should also make a clear statement on the reasons for undertaking the study being reported and what it hoped to achieve. Only 3-4 pertinent references for case reports, 10-12 for original articles and review articles may be given. No mention should be made of the results obtained or conclusions drawn.
• Material and Methods: The material (patients, experimental animals, etc) used for making observations must be described along with all other relevant information. The methods used in the study should be described, giving sufficient information to permit the work to be repeated. If a generally accepted technique has been used, only a reference to that is enough. If however, such a technique has been modified by the workers, the manner in which this has been done should be clearly stated. If statistical analysis of the data has been done, the methods used for analysis should be specified. This segment should answer the following questions: How the study was designed? How the study was carried out? And How the data were analyzed? The details of all drugs or chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration are to be clearly stated. If necessary brand names may be mentioned in brackets.
  • Ethics: While reporting experiments on human subjects, it is necessary to mention whether the procedures followed were in accordance with ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 as revised in 2006.
  • Legal considerations: It is necessary to avoid the use of names, initials, and hospital numbers which might lead to recognition of a patient. The patient must not be recognizable in the photographs unless written consent of the subject has been obtained. A table or illustration that has been published elsewhere should be accompanied by a statement that permission for reproduction has been obtained from the publishers.
  • Statistics: It is desirable to obtain information from a statistician while planning the study. The statistical methods provide details to verify the reported results. There should be a brief note on how you arrived at the chosen sample size of the study. The exact tests used to analyze the data statistically are to be provided.
  • Units of measurement: All measurement-length, height, weight and volume, etc should be reported in metric units (meter, kilogram, or liter) or their decimal multiples. Temperatures should be given in degree Celsius. Blood pressure should be given in millimeters of mercury. All haematological and clinical chemistry measurement should be reported in the metric system in terms of the International System of Units (SI).
  • Abbreviations and symbols: It is advised to use only standard abbreviations. Avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract. The full term for which an abbreviation stands for should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement.
• Results: This section should not include materials suitable for inclusion in ‘Material and Methods’ or ‘Discussion’. The results should be presented in logical sequence in the text, tables and illustrations. The data presented in the tables or figures should not be repeated in the text. Only important and significant observations should be included.
• Discussion: This should be limited to significance of results obtained and what can and what cannot be concluded. It should not be a repetition of the findings already given under ‘Results’. Results should be discussed in the light of others’ work in the field. Speculative and purely theoretical discussion to which results presented are not related will not be accepted.
• Conclusion: It is necessary to link the conclusions with the goals of the study. Avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by the data.
• Acknowledgements: Acknowledgement should be brief and made specific for scientific/technical assistance and financial supports in the form of grants/drugs/equipment only and for not providing routine departmental facilities and for help in the preparation of manuscript including typing/secretarial assistance).
• References: References form the corner stone on which the work of the study has been built. References should be typed on a separate page after the text and these 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 parentheses. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure. References should be quoted in ‘Vancouver style’. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. Consult the List of journals indexed in Index Medicus, published annually as a separate publication by the library and as a list in the January issue of Index Medicus. The list can also be obtained through the library’s web site (http://www/nlm.nih.gov). The references must be verified by the author(s) against the original document. Unpublished work should not be cited in references, but may be cited fully parenthetically within the text. List all the authors when there are six or fewer; but when there are seven or more, list the first six, then ‘et al’. Examples of correct form of references are given here:

Articles in Journals Examples:

1. Standard Journal article

Pasternak B, Hviid A. Use of Proton-Pump Inhibitors in Early Pregnancy and the Rick of Birth Defects. N Engl J Med 2010: 363; 2114-23 More than six authors

Gooley TA, Chien JW, Pergam SA, Hingorani S, Sorror MI, Boeckh M, et al. Reduced Mortality after Allogeneic Hematopoietic-Cell Transplantation. N Engl J Med. 2010: 363; 2091-101

2. Books and other monographs

(a) Personal author(s)
Behera D, Text Book of Pulmonary Medicine. Second Edn (in two volumes), New Delhi, Japee Brothers. 2010

(b) Editor(s), complier as authors
Shankar PS. (Ed) Respiratory Futurology, Mumbai, Academy of Respiratory Medicine, 2010

© Chapters in a book
Secli JR, Sandford K. Molecular mechanisms of disease in Boon NA, College NR, Walker BR, Hunter JAA (eds) Davidson’s Principles and Practice of Medicine, 20th edn, Edinburgh, Churchill Livingstone, 2006

Figures and Tables

Figures: Good quality, un-mounted, glossy print photographs (in duplicate0 are required (usually 10 cm x 8 cm); good black and white contrast is essential for good reproduction. All illustrations must be numbered and cited in the text. Legends should be provided for each illustration, listed on a separate page. All lettering must be done professionally. Freehand or typed lettering is not acceptable. All figures should bear author’s name, short title and an arrow indicating top of the figure in pencil on the back of the photographs.

Tables: Each table should be typed double-spaced on a separate sheet. They should have an underlined title followed by a legend, if any. Explanatory matter should be in a footnote, not in the title. The approximate position of each table in the text should be indicated in the margin of the manuscript. Papers which have been accepted published become the property of the Indian Journal of Geriatric Care and permission to re-publish them must be obtained from the Editor.