Instructions for Authors

INDIAN PEDIATRICS 1 VOLUME 48__JANUARY 17, 2011

Indian Pediatrics, the official journal of theIndian Academy of Pediatrics, is a peer-reviewed journal with a subscription of about18,000 per month. The journal is indexed in

PubMed, Current Contents/Clinical Medicine,Science Citation Index Expanded, Medline, IndianScience Abstracts, getCITED, POPLINE,CANCERLIT, TOXLINE, Psych Line andDERMLINE. The journal gives priority to reports ofoutstanding clinical work, as well as importantcontributions related to common and topicalproblems related to children and adolescents. IndianPediatrics is also available online atwww.indianpediatrics.net (free access) and atwww.springer.com/medicine/pediatrics/journal/13312.

Impact factor and web presence: The Impactfactor of Indian Pediatrics for 2010 is 0.962. It is thetopmost ranking specialty journal of India. Alexa.comhas rated the website of Indian Pediatrics as the ‘MostPopular’ (worldwide) website in its category.

Manuscript Submission: Indian Pediatrics utilizesonline manuscript management and processingsystem of Editorial ManagerTM for manuscripts.Please log directly onto the site https://www.editorialmanager.com/inpe and upload your manu-script following the on-screen instructions [1].Electronic submissions need not be simultaneouslysent by post. Any hard copies such as photographsand/or figures and signed copyright statement by allthe authors (Annexure I) should be sent to ProfPiyush Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, Indian Pediatrics, P.OBox No. 3889, New Delhi 110 049, India. Registeredletters should be mailed to: Prof Piyush Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, Indian Pediatrics, 115/4, Ground Floor,Gautam Nagar, New Delhi 110 049, India.

CRITERIA FOR ACCEPTANCE

All manuscripts should meet the following criteria: thematerial is original, study methods are appropriate,data are sound, conclusions are reasonable andsupported by the data, and the information isimportant; the topic has general pediatric interest; and

that the article is written in reasonably good English.Knowledge, attitude, practice (KAP) studies aregenerally not accepted. The article should besubmitted strictly in the style of Indian Pediatrics(vide infra). Manuscripts which do not follow theguidelines are likely to be sent back to authors withoutinitiating the peer-review process.The currentacceptance rate of submitted articles is around 20%overall and <5% for case reports. All acceptedmanuscripts are subject to editorial modifications tosuit the language and style of Indian Pediatrics.Manuscripts once accepted will be edited inaccordance with ‘AMA Manual of Style’ andreturned to author for approval. Rejected manuscriptsare retained for three months to answer any queries,followed by final disposition from the system. Thejournal reserves the right to analyze the informationobtained from submitted manuscripts as a part ofeditorial research to improve the peer-review processand for teaching and training activities; this does notinclude use of the manuscript data.

Unauthorized use: The copyright of all acceptedand published manuscripts is with Indian Pediatrics;these cannot be reproduced elsewhere or distributedin any form, in whole or part, without the writtenpermission from the Editor-in-Chief. Massphotocopying of published article would also amountto copyright violation. The name, logo, thumbnail, orcontents of Indian Pediatrics cannot be used topromote commercial goods, in any form, without priorpermission. Unauthorized use will attract legalaction.

Review process: About half the submittedmanuscripts are rejected after an initial editorial boardreview. The usual reasons for rejection at this stageare insufficient originality, serious scientific flaws,major ethical issues, absence of a message, article notrelated to children or adolescents, not submitted indesired format, not of interest to majority of readers,or not in accordance with the current priorities of thejournal [2]. Decision on such papers is communicatedto authors within two weeks. Remaining articles aresent to two or more reviewers, having sufficient

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INDIAN PEDIATRICS 2 VOLUME 48__JANUARY 17, 2011 (E-PUB ONLY)

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

experience on the subject, in a ‘masked fashion’.Manuscripts are reviewed with due respect forauthors’ confidentiality. The peer reviewer identity isalso kept confidential. Period of decision makingprocess varies from 2-6 weeks depending on timelyresponse from reviewers, revision by the author(s),and reappraisal on revisions.

Duplicate submission and Plagiarism: Manu-scripts are considered with the understanding that theyhave not been published previously in print or electronicformat and are not under consideration by anotherpublication or electronic medium. The authors shouldalert the editor if the work includes subjects about whicha previous report has been published. A papersubmitted to the Indian Pediatrics should not overlapby more than 10% with previously published work, orwork submitted elsewhere. If in doubt, authors maysubmit copies of earlier published work or materialsubmitted elsewhere to the editorial board of IndianPediatrics to take the decision. If plagiarism orduplicate publication is attempted or occurs withoutsuch notification, authors should expect promptrejection/retraction and editorial board’s action such asbarring the author from submitting articles in future,notification in the journal/website, informing theauthors’ institute or other medical editors, etc.An articlewhich has, been previously rejected should not beresubmitted again under the original or modified title,especially if the content remains substantially same. Authors should provide full information regardingprevious submission, if any, as such violations areviewed seriously.

Previous publication: Indian Pediatrics would notpublish material that has already appeared elsewhere;but could accept some papers that have beenpublished as abstracts or have been partially reportedby the media at scientific meetings, and some thathave already appeared in non-English languagejournals.

Embargo policy: Authors need to maintainconfidentiality of contents of their manuscript, onceaccepted for publication. Information contained in orabout the accepted articles should not be released inprint/electronic form to any individual/media/agency,till the manuscript is published in print or electronicform in Indian Pediatrics.

Proofs and Reprints: The corresponding author ofthe accepted article shall be supplied the printers’proofs. Corrections on the proof should be mainlyrestricted to printers’ errors only. No addition,deletion, alteration in the sequence of authors orchange of corresponding authorship is permissible atthis stage. Reprints may be ordered on payment.

Categories of Articles: Articles can be submitted asResearch Papers, Research Briefs, Reviews,Perspective, Images, Case Reports, Research Lettersand Correspondence.

Research Papers: These articles should reportresearch relevant to clinical pediatrics includingrandomized clinical trials, intervention studies,studies of screening and diagnostic tests, cohortstudies, systematic reviews, cost-effectivenessanalyses, case control studies and cross-sectionalstudies. For reporting research, the authors areexpected to comply with the ‘Uniform Requirementsfor Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals’prepared by the International Committee of MedicalJournal Editors (ICMJE) [3]. Additionally, authorsneed to adhere to the standard recommendedreporting guidelines (Table I) depending on the studydesign of the submitted article.

Clinical trial. A clinical trial is any study thatprospectively assigns human subjects to someintervention (with or without a comparison group) toevaluate the relationship between a medicalintervention and a health outcome. In randomizedcontrolled clinical trials, individuals are randomlyallocated to receive or not receive a preventive,therapeutic, or diagnostic intervention and thenfollowed up to determine the effect of theintervention. Manuscripts reporting the results of arandomized controlled trial (RCT) should include theCONSORT flow diagram showing the progress ofpatients throughout the trial (see Fig.1). TheCONSORT checklist [4,5] should also be completedand submitted with the manuscript.

Trial registration: We urge the authors to registertheir clinical trials involving human subjects in CTRI(Clinical Trials Registry of India), available atwww.ctri.in, hosted by the Indian Council of MedicalResearch [10]. Preference will be accorded toregistered clinical trials. Registration in one of the



following trial registeries is also acceptable: http://www.actr.org.au; http://www.clinicaltrials.gov;http://isrctn.org; http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/index.asp; and http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr.

Each manuscript should be accompanied with astructured ABSTRACT in not more than 250 words usingthe following headings: Objective, Design, Setting,Participants/patients, Intervention (if any), MainOutcome Measures, Results, and Conclusions (Seeunder heading ‘Preparing the Manuscript’). Four tofive key words to facilitate indexing should beprovided in alphabetical order below the abstract. Thetext should be arranged in sections on INTRODUCTION,METHODS, RESULTS and DISCUSSION. Key messagesshould be provided at the end of the manuscript in abox under headings: ‘What is Already Known?’ and‘What this Study Adds?’. As far as possible, authorsshould restrict to a one line answer for each of thesetwo queries. Number of tables and figures should belimited to a maximum of 4 and 2, respectively. Extratables and figures, subject to clearance by editorialreview process, can be allowed on payment or may bemade available only at the journal website. The typicaltext length for such contributions is 1500-2000words (excluding title page, abstract, tables, figures,acknowledgments, key messages and references).Number of references should be limited to 25.

Research Briefs: Brief accounts of descriptive,observational studies, epidemiological assessments,and surveys are published as Research Briefs. A

series of cases can also be considered as ResearchBriefs. Abstract should be unstructured, limited to 100words, and highlight the aims, methods and mainresults. Provide 2-3 key words. The text shouldcontain no more than 1000 words, two illustrations/tables and up to 15 references, preferably recentpublications. The text should be arranged in order ofINTRODUCTION, METHODS, RESULTS and DISCUSSION.Also include a box entitled ‘What this Study Adds?’,highlighting the main result of the study. The numberof authors should be limited to five.

Review Article: State-of-the-art review articles orsystematic, critical assessments of literature are alsopublished. The authors may consult the Editor-in-Chief before submitting such articles, as similarreviews may already be in submission. Normally, areview article on a subject already published in IndianPediatrics in last 3 years is not accepted. The typicallength for review articles is 2500-3000 words(excluding tables, figures, and references). Authorssubmitting review articles should include an abstractof around 200 words describing the need and purposeof review, methods used for locating, selecting,extracting and synthesizing data, and mainconclusions. The number of references should belimited to 50.

Drug Review: Indian Pediatrics publishes state ofthe art reviews on drugs/agents meant for therapeuticor prophylactic use in children. It is expected that theauthors have sufficient credible experience in the

TABLE I DETAILS OF REPORTING GUIDELINES FOR DIFFERENT STUDY DESIGNS

Study Design Guideline/Statement Source

Randomized CONsolidated Standards Of http://www.consort-statement.org/controlled trial Reporting Trials (CONSORT)

Statement [4,5]Diagnostic STAndards for Reporting of http://www.equator-network.org/accuracy studies Diagnostic accuracy (STARD) [6] index.aspx?o=1050Observational studies STrengthening the Reporting of http://www.strobe-statement.org/

OBservational studies in index.php?id=available checklistsEpidemiology (STROBE) [7]

Systematic reviews/ Preferred Reporting Items for http://www.prisma-statement.orgMeta-analyses of RCT Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses

(PRISMA) [8]Meta-analyses of Meta-analysis Of Observational http://www.equator-network.org/observational studies Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) [9] index.aspx?o=1052



related field. The following guidelines should beadhered to when preparing a drug review:

1. Drug should be recently developed and should beavailable commercially for use in human subjects.Reviews related to agents under research anddevelopment, are generally not accepted.

2. Drug should preferably belong to a new class ofdrugs or having substantial difference inproperties and not just an addition to the existingdrugs having many similar properties/actions inthat class/group of compounds.

3. The drug should have the potential to be used on alarge scale for pediatric conditions. Drugsprimarily catering to other medical fields (e.g.adult medicine, dermatology or surgicalspecialities) are not preferred.

4. The drug and related review should have thepotential to influence practice, policy and researchrelated issues.

5. The review should be a systematic, criticalassessment of the literature and not just anelaboration of the information already provided bypharmaceutical companies.

Perspective: Articles published under this headingintend to cover challenging and controversial topicsof current interest in pediatric health care and theintersection between medicine and society. Therelated issues could be national, regional (South EastAsia) or global. Though the articles are usuallysolicited, we welcome submissions and proposalsfrom researchers and opinion makers, provided theyhave sufficient credible experience and recognition onthe subject for giving opinions. Some of the

No. Assessed for Eligibility

No. ExcludedNo. Not Meeting Inclusion CriteriaNo. Refused to ParticipateNo. Other Reasons

No. Randomized

No. Assigned to Receive Intervention No. Assigned to Receive InterventionNo. Received Intervention as Assigned No. Received Intervention as AssignedNo. Did Not receive Assigned Intervention No. Did Not receive Assigned Intervention

(Give Reasons) (Give Reasons)

No. Lost to Follow-up No. Lost to Follow-up(Give Reasons) (Give Reasons)

No. Discontinued Intervention No. Discontinued Intervention(Give Reasons) (Give Reasons)

No. Included in Analysis No. Included in AnalysisNo. Excluded From Analysis No. Excluded From Analysis

(Give Reasons) (Give Reasons)

FIG. 1 Profile of a Randomized Controlled Trial.



manuscripts submitted as ‘Review Articles’ may alsobe considered for publication under this section at thediscretion of editors. The following guidelines needto be followed:

1. The number of authors should be limited tomaximum of three.

2. The topic should be specific and related to childhealth in general.

3. Word limit: 2500 words and may include onefigure and one table.

4. Unstructured abstract of up to 150 words.

5. The views should be supported by appropriateevidence and references. Number of referencesshould be limited to a maximum of 30.

Clinical Practice Guidelines/Recommendations:In order to streamline the diagnosis, management andprevention of various childhood problems, IndianPediatrics periodically publishes guidelines andrecommendations formulated by various Chaptersand Task Forces constituted by Indian Academy ofPediatrics (IAP) or a similar National association/society. The 8 desirable attributes of practiceguidelines are validity, reliability and reproducibility,clinical applicability, flexibility, clarity,documentation, development by a multidisciplinaryprocess, and plans for review [11]. In order tomaintain uniformity of reporting and improvereadability and applicability of these practiceguidelines, the following 10-point policy should befollowed:

1. The Guideline/Recommendation should havebeen formalized through a consultative meeting/conference/workshop having a Nationalrepresentation approved by Indian Academy ofPediatrics (IAP) or a similar society. TheGuidelines emerging out of one such meetingshould be preferably presented in a single paper.

2. The date(s) and place of such meeting should beclearly mentioned in the Introduction. The namesof the chairperson, convener and participantsshould be listed as ‘Annexure’ at the end of thedraft.

3. For indexing purposes, the author of the guidelines

would be the name of the organization/workinggroup e.g., Indian Academy of Pediatrics:Nephrology Group. However, names of up to sixpersons as writing committee may be placed at theend of the manuscript before ‘References’.

4. The final guidelines should be cleared by therelated Society/Chapter. A letter to this effectshould be enclosed. It is presumed that thecorresponding author has obtained permissionfrom all members of the committee/expert groupto act in this capacity.

5. The manuscript should consist of an Abstract(250-300 words), Text (3000-4000 words), andReferences (limited to 50). The number of figuresand tables should be limited to maximum of 5each.

6. Abstract should be structured as Justification,Process, Objectives, and Recommendations.

7. Text should be arranged in headings ofIntroduction, Aims and Objectives, andRecommendations.

a. Introduction: Justify the need of formulatingthe guidelines/recommendations in a briefparagraph followed by the process ofarriving at the guidelines/recommendations.Describe the methods used to search theliterature, and criteria used to grade thequality of evidence.

b. Aims and Objectives: Should clearly state(in doable terms, using action verbs) theterms of reference of the consultativemeeting/ conference/ workshop. List 2-3main objectives only.

c. Text: The main text of the Guidelines/Recommendations should be mentionedunder the same terms of reference as peraims and objectives outlined earlier.Preferably, provide level of evidence foreach major recommendation.

d. The Recommendations should not provide‘Review of literature’ or ‘What is alreadyknown’ For example, if the guidelines pertainto management of Dengue fever, there is no



point in writing about the epidemiology,clinical features, differential diagnosis, etc. ofDengue fever. Background material on theconcerned subject will not be published.

e. If guidelines are adapted from statement ofsome other society or from earlierrecommendations, only changes need to behighlighted (preferably in a tabular form)without repeating the detailed guidelines.However, if there is a pressing need to repeatthe recommendations, it should be done aftertaking permission from the parent society/journal (as applicable) clearly mentioningand citing the source.

8. State, whether or not there is a plan to reviewthese guidelines and an expiration date for thisversion of the guideline.

9. Any competing interest including funding supportshould be declared.

10.We encourage the authors to attach a COGS(Conference on Guidelines Standardization)checklist for reporting clinical practice guidelines[12].

Case Reports: Clinical cases highlighting someunusual or new but clinically relevant aspects of acondition are published as Case Reports. Single casereports are not accepted, unless some new or unusualaspect regarding etiopathogenesis, diagnosis ormanagement is brought out that adds to the existingbody of knowledge. Genetic syndromes without amajor phenotypic reporting will be sent back toauthors without initiating the peer review process.Minor or clinically insignificant variations of rare butwell-known disorders are also not preferred. Rarity ofthe reported condition alone also will not be acriterion for acceptance.The text should not exceed1000 words and is arranged as introduction, casereport and discussion. Include a brief abstract ofabout 50 words. Number of tables/figures should belimited to 2. Include up to 10 most recent references.Photographs should be in black and white only. Fordetails, see below under Figures and Illustrations. Amaximum of three authors are permitted from a singledepartment. Case reports involving more than onedepartment can have a maximum of four authors. The patient’s written consent, or that of the next of

kin, to publication must be obtained. The authorswould be asked to submit a signed consent formbefore publication for all case reports and images.

Research Letters: Under this heading, shortcorrespondence pertaining to research would beincluded. Research Letters reporting originalresearch should not exceed 500 words of text and 10references. They may have no more than 4 authors;other persons who have contributed to the study maybe indicated in an acknowledgment section, with theirpermission. An abstract of up to 50 words reportingthe key findings should also be included. Letters mustnot duplicate other material published, submitted orplanned to be submitted for publication. In general,the matter of the letter should be unstructured butshould follow the general sequence of introduction,methods, results and discussion and all otherguidelines in ‘Preparing the Manuscript’.

Correspondence: Letters commenting upon recentarticles in Indian Pediatrics are welcome. Suchletters should be received within 3 months of thearticle’s publication. At the Editorial board’sdiscretion, the letter may be sent to the authors forreply and the letter alone or letter and reply togethermay be published after appropriate review. Lettersmay also relate to other topic of interest topediatricians, or useful clinical observations. Lettersshould not have more than 400 words; contain notmore than one Figure/Table and 5 most recentreferences. The text need not be divided into sections.The number of authors should not exceed two,including the authors’ reply in response to a lettercommenting upon an article published in IndianPediatrics. In the latter case, inclusion of only one ofthe authors (of the article in question) is permissible,besides the corresponding author. The correspondingauthor shall remain the first author for such a reply.Names of additional persons who have helped in dataacquisition can be mentioned in the acknowledgmentsection.

Reader Forum: Readers may send questions ofcommon interest. Editorial board will try to solicitanswers from the experts; and publish them, if foundsuitable.

Images: Only clinical photographs with/withoutaccompanying skiagrams or pathological images are



considered for publication. Image should clearlyidentify the condition and have the classicalcharacteristics of the clinical condition. Clinicalphotograph of condition which are very common,extremely rare, where diagnosis is obvious (e.g.,penile agenesis), or where diagnosis is not at allpossible on images alone would not be considered.Photographs should be of high quality, usually 127 ×173 mm (5 × 7 in) but no larger than 203 × 254 mm (8× 10 in). A short text of about 150 words depicting thecondition is needed. Figures should be submittedseparately from the text file. The electronicallysubmitted images should be of high resolution (>300dpi). The following file types are acceptable: CDR,TIFF, EPS, and JPEG. The number of authors shouldnot exceed three. The authors should ensure thatimages of similar nature have not been publishedearlier. Authors must obtain signed informed consentfrom the patient.

PREPARING THE MANUSCRIPT

Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance withthe ‘Uniform Requirements for ManuscriptsSubmitted to Biomedical Journals’ [3]. A summary oftechnical requirements for preparing the manuscriptis provided below:

• The manuscript is to be submitted electronically atwww.editorialmanager.com/inpe.

• Use American (US) English throughout.• Double-space throughout including title page,

abstract, text, acknowledgements, key messages,references, figure legends and tables. Start each ofthese sections (in same order) on a new page,numbered consecutively in the upper right handcorner, beginning with the title page.

• Use at least 12 point font size (Times New Romanor Arial) and leave margins of 2.5 cm on all sides.

• The electronically submitted images should be ofhigh resolution (>300 dpi). The following file typesare acceptable: CDR, TIFF, EPS, and JPEG.Submit any hard copies of photographs in aseparate heavy paper envelope (enclosed incardboard, to prevent bending during mailhandling).

• Units of measure: Conventional units arepreferred. The metric system is preferred for the

expression of length, area, mass and volume.• Use nonproprietary names of drugs, devices and

other products.• All accepted manuscripts should be finally

accompanied by a signed statement by allauthors regarding authorship criteria, responsi-bility, financial disclosure and acknowledge-ment,as per standard format (See Annexure I) of thejournal. The statement with original signatures isto be sent by post.

• Manuscripts not fulfilling the technicalrequirements shall be returned to the authorswithout initiating the peer-review process.

Title Page

The page should contain (i) the title of the article:which should be concise but informative (simpler thetitle the better; preferably it should contain all the keywords to help electronic retrieval reliably); (ii) a shortrunning title of not more than 40 characters; (iii)initials and surname (both are essential) of eachauthor with the highest academic degree(s) anddesignation at the time when the work was done;Initials will not be accepted for surnames. Forexample; ‘Vidya K’: here, ‘K’ will be considered asthe Initial and ‘Vidya’ will be indexed as surname; (iv)details of the contribution of each author; (v) name ofdepartment(s) and institution(s) to which the workshould be attributed; (vi) disclaimers, if any; (vii)name, address, telephone, fax, e-mail address of thecorresponding author, (viii) source(s) of support in theform of grants, equipment, drugs or all of these; and(ix) declaration on competing interests; and (x) wordcount (not including abstract, tables, figures,acknowledgments, key messages and references).Also indicate on top, the category (i.e. ResearchPaper, Short Communications, Review, Case Report,Images, Correspondence etc.) for which the article isbeing submitted.

Authorship Criteria

All persons designated as authors should qualify forthe authorship. Authorship credit should be based onsubstantial contributions to (i) concept and design, oracquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation ofdata; (ii) drafting the article or revising it critically forimportant intellectual content; and (iii) final approval



of the version to be published. Conditions (i), (ii) and(iii) must be met, for all authors, individually.Participation solely in the acquisition of funding orthe collection of data does not justify authorship. Allsuch people who contributed to the work but do notsatisfy all the conditions should be named in theacknowledgments. Authors are responsible forobtaining written permissions from everyoneacknowledged by name. One of the authors shall actas guarantor of the paper and he/she should take theresponsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole,from its inception to published article. Guarantorshould also take responsibility for obtainingpermission from appropriate authority, if any material(including tables, figures or text) is used in the articlefrom another publication. Copyright violations byauthors will be viewed seriously; and all authors willbe equally responsible for such acts. Authors shouldprovide a description of what each author contributedon the title page. Indian Pediatrics reserves the rightto satisfy itself regarding the specific role of eachlisted author to justify authorship. All authors mustgive signed consent to publication (Annexure I).Example of citing contributors’ credit i.e. specificcontribution of each author is given below:

Contributors: KDP concieved and designed thestudy and revised the manuscript for importantintellectual content. He will act as guarantor of thestudy. AI, and AK collected data and drafted thepaper. AI also conducted the laboratory tests, andinterpreted them. SK analysed the data and helped inmanuscript writing. The final manuscript wasapproved by all authors.

Group Authorship. All members of the Group (e.g.,Pediatric Nephrology Subchapter of IAP) must meetthe criteria of authorship as described above.

Competing Interests

Competing interest for a given manuscript exists whenthe author has ties to activities that couldinappropriately influence his or her judgment,whether or not judgment is in fact affected [13].Financial relationships with industry–for example,through employment, consultancies, stock ownership,honoraria, grant, expert testimony, either directly orthrough immediate family, are usually considered tobe the most important competing interests. However,

conflicts can occur for other reasons, such as personalrelationships, academic competition and intellectualpassion. If any of the authors have acceptedreimbursement for attending symposium, a fee forspeaking, fee for organizing educational activities,funds for research, funds for a member of the staff orconsultation fees from an organization that may in anyway gain or lose financially from the results of thestudy, review, editorial or letter, a competing interestwould be deemed to exist. If any of the authors hadbeen employed by an organization that may in anyway gain or lose financially from the publication, or ifany of them hold stocks or shares in such anorganization, competing interest would be deemed toexist. If competing interest exists, the author(s) mustdisclose them while submitting the manuscript.

Funding

Authors are also required to report all financial andmaterial support for the research and work.

Abstract and Key Words

Abstract is to be sent in case of research papers (250words), review articles (200 words), perspective (150words), short communications (100 words), researchletter (50 words), and case report (50 words). Forresearch papers, the abstract should be structuredusing the following headings:

Objective, Design, Setting, Participants/patients,Intervention, Main outcome measure(s), Results, andConclusions. For brevity, parts of the abstract may bewritten as phrases rather than complete sentences.Each section should include the following content:

Objective: State the precise objective or studyquestion addressed in the paper. If more than oneobjective is addressed, the main objective should beindicated and only key secondary objectives stated.

Design: Describe the basic design of the study (e.g.randomized controlled trial, case-control study,prospective, cross sectional etc.).

Setting: Describe the study setting to assist readers todetermine the applicability of the report to othercircumstances, for example, general community, aprimary care or referral center, private or institutionalpractice, or ambulatory or hospitalized care. State the



years of the study and the duration of follow-up.

Participants/patients: State the numbers ofparticipants, eligibility criteria, and the selectionprocess. For selection procedures, these terms shouldbe used, if appropriate: random sample (whererandom refers to a formal, randomized selection inwhich all eligible individuals have a fixed and usuallyequal chance of selection); population-based sample;referred sample; consecutive sample; volunteersample; or convenience sample. Include the numberof otherwise eligible individuals who wereapproached but refused. If matching is used forcomparison groups, characteristics that are matchedshould be specified. Provide key sociodemographicfeatures of participants. In follow-up studies, indicatethe proportion of participants who completed thestudy. For intervention studies, mention the numberof patients withdrawn because of adverse effects.

Intervention: The essential features of anyinterventions should be described, including theirmethod and duration of administration. Theintervention should be named by its most commonclinical name, and nonproprietary drug names shouldbe used. Include any co-intervention.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Indicate the primarystudy outcome measurement(s) as planned beforedata collection began. If the manuscript does notreport the main planned outcomes of a study, this factshould be stated and the reason indicated. Stateclearly if the hypothesis being tested was formulatedduring or after data collection. Explain outcomes ormeasurements unfamiliar to a general medicalreadership.

Results: The main outcomes of the study should bereported and quantified, and must include measures ofabsolute risks (such as increase/decrease or absolutedifferences between groups), along with 95%confidence intervals or P values. Measures of relativerisk also may be reported (eg, relative risk, hazardratios) and should include confidence intervals.Studies of screening and diagnostic tests should reportsensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratio. Allrandomized controlled trials should include the resultsof intention-to-treat analysis, and all surveys shouldinclude response rates.

Conclusions: Provide only conclusions of the studydirectly supported by the results, along withimplications for clinical practice. Avoid speculationand overgeneralization of the results. Emphasizeequally the important positive and negative findings.

Abstract for Short Communications: The abstractshould be unstructured and state the purpose of thestudy, basic methodology, main findings (givingspecific data and statistical significance) and keyconclusion(s), within 100 words.

Abstract for Reviews: Review articles should includean abstract of no more than 250 words with thefollowing sections: Context (describing the clinicalquestion or issue and its importance in clinicalpractice or public heath), Evidence acquisition(describing the data sources used, including thesearch strategies, years searched, and other sources), Results (major findings of the review with thegreatest emphasis laid on the findings based onhighest quality evidence), and Conclusions(emphasize how clinicians should apply currentknowledge).

Below the abstract, authors should provide 3-5 keywords for indexing; terms from the Medical SubjectHeadings (MESH) list of Index Medicus shouldpreferably be used.

Introduction

The introduction must clearly justify and state thequestion that the author(s) tried to answer in thestudy. It may be necessary to briefly review therelevant literature. Cite only those references that areessential to justify the proposed study.

Methods

The methods section should describe, in logicalsequence, how the study was designed (e.g. howrandomization was done), carried out (e.g. howsubjects were chosen or excluded, ethicalconsiderations, accurate details of materials used,exact drug dosage and form of treatment etc.) anddata were analyzed (e.g. an estimate of the power ofthe study, exact test used for statistical analysis etc.).For standard methods, appropriate references aresufficient, but if standard methods are modified these



should be clearly brought out. Authors should providecomplete details of any new methods or apparatusused. Commercial names of the drugs/equipmentmay be used once at first mention, with the initial lettercapitalized and manufacturer’s name and address inparentheses. Subsequently the scientific/non-propriety name is to be used throughout. Postfixing®or TM in superscript after the propriety name is notrequired .

Ethics: All studies involving human subjects mustaddress ethical issues. When reporting experiments onhuman subjects, indicate whether the proceduresfollowed were in accordance with the ethicalstandards of the responsible committee on humanexperimentation (institutional or regional) and with theHelsinki Declaration of 1964, as revised in 2008 [14].All such studies should have obtained ethical clearancein writing from a formally constituted Research EthicsCommittee or Institutional Review Board as the casemay be. Indian Pediatrics reserves the right todemand a copy of the relevant document whenevernecessary. Even when a study has been approved bya research ethics committee or institutional reviewboard, editors may be worried about the ethics of thework. Editors may then ask authors for more detailedinformation and ask them how they justified the ethicaland moral basis of the work. Editors may also askauthors to provide the contact details of the researchethics committee that reviewed the work, so that thejournal can request further information andjustification from that committee. For studies that havenot been reviewed by research ethics committees orinstitutional review boards, editors may ask authors toexplain what ethical issues they considered and howthey justified their work. Editors may consult othereditorial colleagues, association of medical editors ormore commonly the Ethical Committee of IndianPediatrics to evaluate the ethical aspects of anyarticle, and reserve the right to reject a manuscript onethical grounds, on the basis of recommendations ofits Ethical Committee, even if the research wascleared by the institutional research board. Besidesrejecting the manuscript, the journal reserves the rightof explaining such concerns to the head of theauthors’ institution or medical council in order toprevent unethical practice and to protect patients.Informed consent must be obtained in writing from all

human participants of a trial. Indian Pediatricsreserves the right of seeking from the authors thedetails of the information given to subjects about thedeviations from the normal, the risks involved and thepotential benefits to the society. Authors should notuse patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers,especially in illustrative material. Written consent mustbe obtained from patients or caregivers for publication(in print or electronic form) of clinical details or/andclinical photographs in all ‘Case Reports’, ‘Images’and qualitative research reports. The identity of thepatient in clinical photographs should be masked bysuitable methods.

Statistics: Describe statistical methods with enoughdetail to enable a knowledgeable reader with accessto the original data to verify the reported results.When possible, quantify findings and present themwith appropriate indicators of measurement error oruncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Provideactual P values, rather than stating as just < 0.05 or >0.05 etc. References for the design of the study andstatistical methods should be to standard works whenpossible (with pages stated) rather than to papers inwhich the designs or methods were originallyreported. Specify any general use computer programsused. Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and mostsymbols.

Results

This section should include only relevant,representative data and not all information collectedduring the study. Major findings should be presentedclearly and concisely. Text, tables, and illustrationsshould be used sensibly. Avoid repeating in the text allthe data depicted in the tables or illustrations;emphasize or summarize only importantobservations. Restrict tables and figures to thoseneeded to explain the argument of the paper and toassess its support. Cite the tables in the text and typethem on a new page. It may also be useful to mentionwhat the study did not find.

Discussion

Discussion ordinarily should not be more than onethird of the total length of the manuscript. Do notattempt a detailed review of literature. This sectionshould include, in the order specified: (i) a summary of



the major findings, (ii) their relationship to other similarstudies, (iii) strength and limitations of methods and(iv) implications of these findings in future research.Conclusions should be linked to the goals of the study.Avoid unqualified statements and conclusions notcompletely supported by the data. Authors should alsorefrain from making statements on economic benefitsand costs unless their manuscript includes economicdata and analyses.

Acknowledgments

List all contributors who do not meet the criteria forauthorship, such as a person who provided purelytechnical help, writing assistance, or a departmenthead who provided only general support. Financialand material support should also be acknowledged.Groups of persons who have contributed materially tothe paper but whose contributions do not justifyauthorship may be listed under a heading such as“clinical investigators” or “participatinginvestigators,” and their function or contributionshould be described – for example, “served asscientific advisers,” “critically reviewed the studyproposal,” “collected data,” or “provided and caredfor study patients.” A written consent is required fromall the persons acknowledged, indicating theiracceptance for the same.

References

Authors need to be accurate in citing and quotingreferences [15]. References should be numberedconsecutively in the order in which they are firstmentioned in the text. Identify references in text,tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in squareparentheses. References cited only in tables or inlegends to figures should be numbered in accordancewith the sequence established by the firstidentification in the text of the particular table orfigure. Use the style of the examples below. Thetitles of journals should be abbreviated according to thestyle used in Index Medicus. Do not use abstracts,unpublished observations and personalcommunications as references. References to papersaccepted but not yet published should be designatedas “in press”; authors should obtain writtenpermission to cite such papers as well as verificationthat they have been accepted for publication. Thereferences must be verified by the author against the

original documents. The Uniform Requirements style(the Vancouver style) is based largely on anAmerican National Standards Institute (ANSI)standard style adapted by the NLM for its databases.

Article in journals

List all authors when six or less. When seven or more,list only first six and add et al.

Swaminathan S, Datta M, Radhamani MP, Mathew S,Reetha AM, Rajajee S, et al. A profile ofbacteriologically confirmed pulmonary tuberculosisin children. Indian Pediatr. 2008;45:743-7.

Organization as author

Working Group on Management of Congenital HeartDiseases in India. Consensus on timing ofintervention for common congenital heart disease.Indian Pediatr. 2008;45:117-26.

Polio Eradication Committee, Indian Academy ofPediatrics (PEC,IAP), Vashishtha VM, John TJ,Agarwal RK, Kalra A. Universal immunizationprogram and polio eradication in India. IndianPediatr. 2008;45:807-13.

Personal author (book)

Singh M. Care of the Newborn, 5th ed. New Delhi:Sagar publications; 1999.

Chapter in a book

Gupta P, Shah D, Ghai OP. Micronutrients in healthand disease. In: Ghai OP, Gupta P, Paul VK, editors.Ghai Essential Pediatrics. 6th ed. New Delhi:CBSPublishers & Distributors;2004. p. 119-35.

Conference proceedings

Kimura J, Shibasaki H, editors. Recent advances inclinical neurophysiology. Proceedings of the 10thInternational Congress of EMG and ClinicalNeurophysiology; 1995 Oct 15-19; Kyoto, Japan.Amsterdam:Elsevier;1996.

Conference paper

Mukherjee DK, Chowdhury BH, Das MM.Intrauterine growth of low birth weight babies and itsrelation to various placental and maternal factors- Amultifaceted study. In: Choudhury P, Sachdev HPS,



Puri RK, Verma IC, editors. 8th Asian Congress ofPediatrics; 1994 Feb 6-11; New Delhi, India. NewDelhi:Jaypee Brothers;1994. p. 36.

Newspaper article

Bacteria boost. Hindustan Times 2008 Nov 23;NewDelhi:p.19 (col 1-4).

Dictionary and similar references

Stedman’s medical dictionary. 26th ed. Baltimore:Williams & Wilkins;1995. Apraxia;p. 119-120.

Unpublished accepted material

Gupta N, Shah D, Singh U, Tiwari A. Antenataldiagnosis of large sacro-coccygeal teratoma withfetal cardiomegaly and hydrops. Kathmandu UnivMed J. In press 2008.

Material from Internet

The IMRAD Research Paper Format. FIN-1 FinnishInstitutions Research Paper (Hopkins), Departmentof Translation Studies, University of Tampere.Available from: URL: http://www.uta.fi/FAST/FIN/RESEARCH/imrad.html. Accessed November 24,2008.

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.Sponsorship, Authorship, and Accountability. Availablefrom: URL: http://www.icmje.org/sponsor.htm.Accessed November 24, 2008.

Electronic material

Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) Training Aids[on CD-ROM]. National Neonatology Forum, NewDelhi, 2006.Hemodynamics III: the ups and downs ofhemodynamics [computer program]. Version 2.2.Orlando (FL): Computerized EducationalSystems;1993.

Tables

Type each table with double-spacing on a separatesheet of paper. Do not submit tables as photographs.Number tables consecutively (Roman numerals) inthe order of their first citation in the text, and supply abrief but self-explanatory title for each. Tables withonly two columns should be avoided. Give eachcolumn a short or abbreviated heading. Place

explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading.Explain in footnotes all nonstandard abbreviations thatare used in each table. For footnotes use the followingsymbols, in this sequence: *,†, ‡, §, ||, ¶, **,††, ‡‡, §§and so on. Identify statistical measures of variationssuch as standard deviation and standard error of themean. Do not use internal horizontal and vertical rules.Be sure that each table is cited in the text. If data isused from another published or unpublished source,obtain permission and acknowledge them fully.

Figures and Illustrations

Figures should be professionally drawn andphotographed; freehand or typewritten lettering isunacceptable. Instead of original drawings, X-rayfilms, and other material, send sharp, glossy, black-and-white photographic prints of high quality, usually127 × 173 mm (5 × 7 in) but no larger than 203 × 254mm (8 × 10 in). For color illustrations, providenegatives or positive transparencies, along with colorprints. Color photographs are not accepted, except forimages section. It is preferable to have the photographin portrait form rather than in landscape form to fiteasily into one column. Letters, numbers, andsymbols in photographs should be clearly legible.Each figure should have a label pasted on its backindicating the number of the figure, author’s name, andan arrow to mark the top and left side of the figure. Donot write on the back of figures or scratch or marthem by using paper clips. Do not bend figures ormount them on cardboard. The electronicallysubmitted images should be of high resolution (>300dpi). The following file types are acceptable: CDR,TIFF, EPS, and JPEG. Figures should be submittedseparately from the text file. If photographs ofindividual/people are used, either the subjects mustnot be identifiable or their pictures must beaccompanied by written permission to use thephotograph. It is advisable to cover the eyes unlessspecifically need to be shown. If a figure has beenpublished, acknowledge the original source andsubmit written permission from the copyright holder toreproduce the material. Figures should be numberedconsecutively (Arabic numerals) according to theorder in which they have been first cited in the text.

Legends for Illustrations



Type or print out legends for illustrations using double-spacing, starting on a separate page, with Arabicnumerals corresponding to the illustrations. Whensymbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used toidentify parts of the illustrations, identify and explaineach one clearly in the legend. Explain the internalscale and identify the method of staining inphotomicrographs.

Units of Measurement

Measurements of length, height, weight, and volumeshould be reported in metric units, i.e. meter (m), gram(g), or liter (L) or their decimal multiples. Milliliter ordeciliter should be expressed as mL or dL and not ml/dl. Red and White blood cell counts are to beexpressed as × 106/L and × 103/L respectively.Temperatures should be given in degrees Celsius.Blood pressures should be given in millimeters ofmercury (mm Hg). All hematological and clinicalchemistry measurements should be reported in theconventional system or in terms of the InternationalSystem of Units (SI) (See Annexure II).

Abbreviations and Symbols

Use only standard abbreviations. Avoid abbre-viationsin the title and abstract. The full term for which anabbreviation stands should precede its first use in thetext unless it is a standard unit of measurement. Year,month, day, hour, minute and second should beabbreviated as yr, mo, d, h, min, and s, respectively.

REFERENCES

1. Gupta P, Shah D. Another feather in the cap: Launch ofInternational edition and activation of online manuscriptmanagement system. Indian Pediatr. 2010;47:559-60.

2. Gupta P, Kaur G, Sharma B, Shah D, Choudhury P. What issubmitted and what gets accepted in Indian Pediatrics:Analysis of submissions, review process, decision making,and criteria for rejection. Indian Pediatr. 2006;43:479-89.

3. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted toBiomedical Journals (Updated April 2010). Available from:URL: http://www.icmje.org/urm_main.html. AccessedDecember 5, 2010.

4. Schulz KF, Altman DG, Moher D; CONSORT Group.CONSORT 2010 statement: updated guidelines forreporting parallel group randomized trials. Ann InternMed. 2010;152:726-32. (Also available from: URL: http://www.consort-statement.org/consort-statement/. AccessedDecember 5, 2010).

5. Moher D, Hopewell S, Schulz KF, Montori V, GøtzschePC, Devereaux PJ, et al. CONSORT 2010 explanation andelaboration: updated guidelines for reporting parallelgroup randomised trials. BMJ. 2010;340:c869. doi:10.1136/bmj.c869.

6. Bossuyt PM, Reitsma JB, Bruns DE, Gatsonis CA,Glasziou PP, Irwig LM, et al. for the STARD Group.Towards complete and accurate reporting of studies ofdiagnostic accuracy: The STARD Initiative. Clin Chem.2003;49:1-6.

7. STROBE checklist for cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies (combined). Available from: URL: http://www.strobe-statement.org/index.php?id=available-checklists. Accessed December 5, 2010.

8. Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG; PRISMAGroup. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviewsand meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. BMJ.2009;339:b2535, doi: 10.1136/bmj.b2535.

9. Stroup DF, Berlin JA, Morton SC, Olkin I, WilliamsonGD, Rennie D, et al. for the Meta-analysis of observationalstudies in epidemiology (MOOSE) Group. Meta-analysisof observational studies in epidemiology: a proposal forreporting. JAMA. 2000;283:2008-12.

10. Clinical Trials Registry - India. National Institute ofMedical Statistics (ICMR). Available from: URL: http://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials. Accessed December 5, 2010.

11. Institute of Medicine. Guidelines for Clinical Practice:From Development to Use. Washington DC: NationalAcademy Press; 1992.

12. Shiffman RN, Shekelle P, Overhage JM, Slutsky J,Grimshaw J, Deshpande AM. Standardized Reporting ofClinical Practice Guidelines: A proposal from theConference on Guideline Standardization. Ann InternMed. 2003;139:493-8.

13. Gupta P, Choudhury P. Declaring competing interests.Indian Pediatr. 2003;40:3-6.

14. 52nd WMA General Assembly. World MedicalAssociation Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical principles formedical research involving human subjects. Adopted1964. Updated 2008. Available from: URL: http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html. Accessed December 5, 2010.

15. Gupta P, Yadav M, Mohta A, Choudhury P. References inIndian Pediatrics: Authors need to be accurate. IndianPediatr. 2005;42:140-5.



ANNEXURE I

Authorship Criteria and Responsibility, Financial Disclosure, Acknowledgment, and CopyrightTransfer Form

Manuscript No.

Manuscript Title

I/We certify that the manuscript represents valid work and that neither this manuscript nor one withsubstantially similar content under my/our authorship has been published or is being considered forpublication elsewhere. For papers with more than 1 author, We agree to allow the corresponding author toserve as the primary correspondent with the editorial office, to review the edited typescript and proof.

I/We have seen and approved the submitted manuscript. All of us have participated sufficiently in the workto take public responsibility for the contents. All the authors have made substantial contributions to theintellectual content of the paper and fulfil at least 1 condition for each of the 3 categories of contributions: i.e.,Category 1 (conception and design, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data), Category 2(drafting of the manuscript, critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content) and Category3 (final approval of the version to be published).

I/We also certify that all my/our affiliations with or financial involvement with any organization or entitywith a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscriptare completely disclosed on the title page of the manuscript. My/our right to examine, analyze, and publish thedata is not infringed upon by any contractual agreement.

I/We certify that all persons who have made substantial contributions to the work reported in thismanuscript (e.g., data collection, writing or editing assistance) but who do not fulfill the authorship criteria arenamed along with their specific contributions in an acknowledgment section in the manuscript. If anacknowledgment section is not included, no other persons have made substantial contributions to thismanuscript.

I/We also certify that all persons named in the acknowledgment section have provided written permissionto be named.

The author(s) undersigned hereby transfer(s), assign(s), or otherwise convey(s) all copyright ownership,including any and all rights incidental thereto, exclusively to the Indian Pediatrics, in the event that such workis published in Indian Pediatrics.

Authors’ name(s) in order of appearance in the manuscript Signatures (date)

1.

2.

3.

4.



Parameter Conventional SI UnitUnit

Acid phosphatase units/L U/LAlanine aminotransferase (ALT) units/L U/LAlbumin g/dL g/LAlkaline phosphatase units/L U/LAmmonia (as NH3) µg/dL µmol/LAmylase units/L U/LAspartate aminotransferase (AST) units/L U/LBicarbonate mEq/L mmol/LBilirubin mg/dL µmol/LPaCO2 mm Hg mm HgpH pH units pH unitsPaO2 mm Hg mm HgCalcium mg/dL , mEq/L mmol/LCarbon dioxide mEq/L mmoI/LCeruloplasmin mg/dL mg/LChloride mEq/L mmol/LCholesterol mg/dL mmol/LCorticotropin (ACTH) pg/mL pmol/LCortisol µg/dL nmol/LCreatine mg/dL µmol/LCreatine kinase (CK) units/L U/LCreatinine mg/dL µmol/LCreatinine clearance mL/min mL/sErythrocyte sedimentation rate mm/h mm/hEstradiol pg/mL pmol/LEstriol ng/mL nmol/LEstrone ng/dL pmoI/LFerritin ng/mL pmol/Lα-fetoprotein ng/mL µg/LFollicle-stimulating hormone mIU/mL IU/LGlucose mg/dL mmol/LHematocrit % proportion of 1.0Hemoglobin (whole blood) g/dL g/LInsulin µIU/mL pmol/LIron, total µg/dL µmol/LLead µg/dL µmol/LLipids (total) mg/dL g/LLipoprotein (a) mg/dL µmol/LMagnesium mg/dL mEq/L mmol/LNitrogen, nonprotein mg/dL mmol/LOsmolality mOsm/kg mmoI/kgParathyroid hormone pg/mL ng/LPhenobarbital mg/L µmol/L

ANNEXURE II UNITS OF MEASUREMENTS



Phenytoin µg/mL µmoI/LPhosphorus mg/dL mmol/LPlatelets (thrombocytes) ×103/µL ×109/LPotassium mEq/L mmoI/LProgesterone ng/mL nmol/LProlactin µg/L pmolProtein, total g/dL g/LProthrombin time (PT) s sProtoporphyrin, erythrocyte µg/dL µmol/LRed blood cell count ×106/µL ×1012/LReticulocyte count % of RBCs Proportion of 1.0Sodium mEq/L mmol/LTestosterone ng/dL nmol/LThyroglobulin ng/mL µg/LTSH mIU/L mIU/LThyroxine, free (T4) ng/dL pmol/LThyroxine, total (T4) µg/dL nmol/LTransferrin mg/dL g/LTriglycerides mg/dL mmol/LTriiodothyronine, free (T3) pg/dL pmol/LTotal (T3) ng/dL nmol/LUrea nitrogen mg/dL mmol/LUric acid mg/dL µmol/LVitamin A (retinol) µg/dL µmoI/LVitamin B6 (pyridoxine) ng/mL nmol/LVitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin) pg/mL pmol/LVitamin C (ascorbic acid) mg/dL µmol/LVitamin D (1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D) pg/mL pmol/LVitamin D (25-Hydroxyvitamin D) ng/mL nmol/LVitamin E mg/dL µmoI/LVitamin K ng/mL nmol/LWhite blood cell count ×103/µL ×109/LWhite blood cell differential count % proportion of 1.0Zinc µg/dL µmoI/L

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Instructions for Authors