Submissions

Author Guidelines

Manuscripts for possible publication are received by IMA Kerala Medical Journal (IMA KMJ) provided they are not yet published elsewhere and is not simultaneously submitted elsewhere for publication.  All manuscript submissions to IMA KMJ are to be done through the web portal http://keralamedicaljournal.in only. Submissions through any other methods will be ignored.

Editorial Review process: IMA KMJ follows a double blind peer review process after the initial assessment by editorial team.

Preparing the manuscript for submission to IMA KMJ is a process that requires meticulous planning, diligent writing and attention to details.

The IMA KMJ accepts manuscripts in the category of review articles, original research, brief reports, case reports, letters to editor, and images in practice. The following word processor file formats are acceptable for the main manuscript document typed in unjustified format, using Arial font size 11 and 1.5 line spacing.

• Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX)

• Rich Text Format (RTF)

• Open Document Format (ODT)

General Guidelines for Manuscript Preparation

1. A covering letter by the main author/corresponding author indicating why the article is worth publishing. Manuscript must be seen and approved by all authors.

2. There should be a title page as a separate document that contains the title of the paper, the category of submission, detailed author information stating their designation, institution to which the particular research is attached and full contact details of corresponding author. Full names of authors must be used with initials expanded. Any one author can be corresponding author. The title page should be uploaded as a supplementary file while submitting the manuscript

2. The first page of the main document should contain the title, abstract and keywords. This is  followed by the full text of the article. The abstract and full text should not contain overt or covert information of the authors or their institution. This is to fecilitate unbiased peer-review process. The full text should incorporate everything including figures, tables, graphs, charts in appropriate places and list of references in the end. References should be indicated in the text as superscript in appropriate place in their chronological order. Legends to figures should be given following the list of references. This helps to provide our reviewers with a single file and avoiding the trouble of searching through multiple documents.

3. Plagiarism is a very common pitfall while writing scientific papers, and it often happens inadvertently. We use a robust and highly accurate plagiarism checking engine. Please make sure to read our plagiarism guidelines online before submitting.

4. Authors should try their best to use a professional writing style and avoid lay language.

5. Figures and tables should be sequentially numbered and pasted in appropriate locations in the document and should be resized to fit inside the page.

6. Graphs and Charts should use simple, two dimensional styles without any designer effects. We recommend MS Excel for creating charts.

7. Tables should use simple wireframe styles without any colours or effects and should be editable. Best created in the word processor programme itself.

8. Original full resolution jpeg versions of photographs (if any) should be uploaded as supplementary files while submitting the manuscript.

9. Endnotes section should contain List of abbreviations with expansions, Explanations of terminologies as required, Conflicts of Interest statement, Acknowledgements and Financial Support. (A conflict of interest or competing interest exists when your interpretation of data or presentation of information may be influenced by your personal or financial relationship with other people or organizations. Authors must disclose any financial competing interests; they should also reveal any non-financial competing interests that may cause them embarrassment were they to become public after the publication of the article.)

10. References should be created in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) format also known as the Vancouver style. We recommend using the free reference management programme Zotero for creating references.

11. Format used for data collection should be uploaded as supplementary file while submitting the manuscript.

Additional Guidelines for Research Articles

1. Word limit is 4000 for Review article and Original Research. Brief reports are short accounts of original studies or a series of cases, provided the number of cases is reasonably large. The pattern should follow the same as for original articles, and its word count is maximum 2500. For case reports word count is limited to 1500 divided into sections - abstract (75 words), introduction, case report and discussion. Letters to the Editor: commenting upon a recent article in IMA KMJ are welcome within 6 months of the article's publication. Letters may also relate to other topics of interest to practitioners and/or useful clinical observations. Its word count is limited to 150. Letters should  contain not more than one Figure/Table and 2 references. The text need not be divided into sections. Images in practice: Clinical photographs and accompanying imaging studies or pathological specimens could also be considered for publication. (50 words and 2 references)

 2. Title of the article should be descriptive and should contain enough information for readers to understand what the study is about.

3. Abstract should not be of more than 400 words and should be structured, containing background, objectives, methods, results and conclusions.

4. Keywords – four to eight comma separated keywords representing the topic of the article.

5. Full text should contain Background and Rationale, Objectives, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, End Notes and References.

6. Background – elaborating the existing knowledge scenario with regard to the research question and how this study would add to it.

7. Objectives of the Study – Numbered output indicators that the study tries to look into (aims of the study).

8. Methods – includes study design, study subjects, inclusion and exclusion criteria, sample size and sampling methods, materials used, duration, data collection, data analysis and ethical considerations.

9. Results – the findings of the study presented in the form of statistical indicators, figures and tables.

10. Discussion – Evaluation of the results in the light of existing evidence.

11. Conclusions – Final deductions arrived at and new knowledge obtained at the end of the study.

12. Limitations – describes the limitations of the study.

13. Endnotes section should contain List of abbreviations with expansions, Explanations of terminologies as required, Conflicts of Interest statement, Acknowledgements and Financial Support.

14. References should be in Vancouver style.

15. Figures should not reveal the identity of the human subject. Appropriate consent for publication of their data must be obtained from patients/their parents