Instructions for Authors
JIST Manuscript Submission Guidelines:
The authors are requested to go through the following guidelines before preparing their manuscript to fulfil JIST’s Editorial requirements:
1. FILE FORMAT: Manuscripts in Microsoft Word file formats will only be considered.
2. TITLE: It is highly recommended to avoid novelistic ornamentation and sensationalism in your title. We recommend - for Original studies: your title should imply the exact aim/objective, nature (e.g. cross-sectional/retrospective/descriptive/analytical study, etc.) and duration of your study. For case-reports/series or reviews: title should precisely indicate the conclusion/outcome aim of the topic. For example: for an Original article - Accidental poisoning in rural India: A 5 year Institution based Cross sectional Study. For a case report/series - A report on Survived cases of Ayurvedic-medication induced Lead toxicity: a Case series, etc. If required, the geographic region of the study may also be used.
3. ABSTRACT: It should be specific and to the point (max. within 150-250 words). Please avoid unnecessary elaboration of background or introduction. At a glance, it should reflect the message of the whole topic without repeating the introduction/discussion parts. For original studies, we highly recommend to make your abstract in AMRC format [Aims & Objectives, Materials & Methods, Results, Conclusion].
Keywords: are short phrases that capture the main topics of the article. The probability of your article captured through a web search depends on the accuracy of your ‘keywords’. A minimum of 6 (MeSH compatible) Keywords are required, and separate each by semi-colon(;). Terms from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of Index Medicus should be used; if suitable MeSH terms are not yet available for recently introduced terms, present terms may be used. Make all keywords in small letters unless indicated & avoid abbreviations in keywords.
4. MANUSCRIPT : Design & Fonts: Preferably, follow these formats for designing your manuscript - for Original studies: IMRDC format (Introduction, Materials & Methods, Results, Discussion & Conclusion). For Reviews: Background, Discussion, and Conclusion. For case-reports or Case-series: Introduction, Case-report, Discussion, and Conclusion.
a. Please add subtitle ‘Conflicts of interest’ after Conclusion followed by ‘Limitations of study’ & Acknowledgements (if any).
b. TITLE: Font size 14 (First letter Upper case & rest small. Bold faced, center justified, No underline, No italics). May use colon or hyphen to separate parts of title. Max 40-50 words, e.g. Descriptive Analysis of Accidental Poisoning in Rural India: A Five year Institution based Cross-sectional Study.
c. SUB-TITLE: All sub-titles in capital, bold faced without italics. Font size 12 (All in Upper case & Bold faced). Please do NOT use underline, italics, hyphen/semicolon/colon marks, bullets numbering in Sub-titles.
d. Main text: Font size 12 (preferably Calibri). Mention In-text citations within square brackets AFTER punctuation mark at the end of sentence, e.g. in text citation.[Reference number]
i. Incorrect: Characteristic post-mortem findings were found in 42.85% cases of kerosene and 25% of copper sulphate poisoning; which is consistent with findings of Pillay VV, et al. and other authors[12].
ii. Correct: Characteristic post-mortem findings were found in 42.85% cases of kerosene and 25% of copper sulphate poisoning; which is consistent with findings of Pillay VV, et al. and other authors.[12]
5. INTRODUCTION:
a. Provide a context or background for the study only, i.e., the nature of the problem and its significance.
b. State the specific purpose or research objective of, or hypothesis tested by, the study or observation.
c. Give only strictly pertinent references and do not include data (discussion or conclusions) from the study being reported.
d. Restrict within 300-400 words.
6. MATERIALS & METHODS: It is the backbone of your study. So be extremely careful while writing this part.
a. Please ensure the following to be in your methodology section - duration & type of study, sample size & sampling methods, institution geographic location only (please avoid writing your Institute name, as we are using blinded peer-review methods), selection & exclusion criteria, statistical method & software, institute ethical clearance.
b. Selection and Description of Participants: Describe your selection of the observational or experimental participants (patients or laboratory animals) clearly, including eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population.
c. Technical information: Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer’s name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. For these you may use bulleted subheadings in this section. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods; provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well known; describe new or substantially modified methods, give reasons for using them, and evaluate their limitations. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration.
d. Statistics: Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols. Specify the computer statistical software & its version used.
e. Never forget to write about the institutional/ICMR ethical clearance status.
7. RESULTS: Results must be presented in logical sequence in the text, tables, and figures/graphs, mentioning the most important findings first; emphasize only important observations. Try to give a balanced mix of graphs, tables and charts for your observation. Please choose appropriate graphs/charts consistent to your data. In Results section, give numeric results not only as percentages but also as the absolute numbers from which the derivatives were calculated, and specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and unnecessary/deliberate use of tables/graphs/figures will not be considered. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables.
8. PHOTOGRAPHS/PHOTOMICROGRAPHS: Kindly provide photographs/ photomicrographs for all case-reports/case series
a. Please choose appropriate graphs & tables for demographic statistical data.
b. Maximum numbers of acceptable graphs, tables & figures for a particular manuscript is seven.
c. If photographs of people are used, either the subjects must not be identifiable or their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph.
d. Figures: Only digital, high quality images will be considered for publication. Scanned images: use min. 300dpi for black & white, and minimum 600dpi for colour. Never send PDF format.
e. Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text.
f. Tables (use separate MS Word files): Please keep tables with double spacing in MS Word file. Number tables consecutively in the order of their first mention in the text and supply a brief title for each.
g. In case of some explanatory matter for tables/fig, should be placed in footnotes below the table in font size 1pt lower than that of the table.
h. Please be sure that each table is cited in the text in the order of their appearance.
i. Do not bold & capitalise ‘Title’ of Table/Figure/Graphs, etc.
j. Illustrations: either drawn professionally, or photographed, or submitted as photographic quality digital prints. In addition to requiring a version of the figures suitable for printing, electronic files of figures in a format (e.g., JPEG or GIF) that will produce high quality images in the web version of the journal is desirable; authors should review the images of such files on a computer screen before submitting them, to be sure they meet their own quality standard.
k. Colour illustrations should be restricted to a maximum of 2 per paper.
l. Photomicrographs: should have internal pointers/markers. Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast against the background. Mention magnification value, type of staining, and type of microscopic method (if required).
9. LEGENDS: Please restrict within 20-40 words. Font size 12, smaller case, non-bold, non italic, no underlines, black colour. a. Please keep legends outside the box of tables/figures/graphs.
10. DISCUSSION: please avoid clubbing ‘Discussion’ with ‘Conclusion’. It is useful to begin the discussion by summarizing briefly the main findings, then explore possible mechanisms or explanations for these findings, compare and contrast your results against relevant references/studies. Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study so that you can make logical conclusions thereof.
11. CONCLUSION: must not be extensive & large, repeating the meaning of the paper again & again. It is better to make the Conclusion, concise and pointing to the exact outcome of your study (with or without limiting factors), e.g. analysing the implications of the findings for future research and for clinical practice. You may state the limitations of the study as well with feasible recommendations for future studies.
12. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY (Optional): it is a good practice to mention the limitations to your study. It increases the honesty quotient & acceptability of your study.
13. CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS: to declare conflicts of interest and the limitations of study, Acknowledgement (if any) after Conclusion.
14. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Optional
15. REFERENCES: Please strictly adhere to ICMJE format or Vancouver format of referencing. Number all references in text as per their order of appearance in text (in-text citations). The number of references indicates the degree of literature review made by the authors. Hence, it is requested, for Case reports the no. of references should not be less than 15-20 numbers; for original papers, minimum 20-25 and for review, not less than 30 references are accepted. Carefully check for typo errors, comma, punctuation mark errors in references. For your information, we have illustrated sample referencing format as follows:
Examples:
A. Standard journal articles:
a. Up to six authors: - Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med 2002;347:284-87.
- Tor M, Turker H. International approaches to the prescription of long-term oxygen therapy [letter]. Eur Respir J. 2002;20: 242.
b. More than 6 authors: Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res. 2002; 935: 40-46.
c. No author given: 21st century heart solution may have a sting in the tail. BMJ. 2002;325(7357):184.
d. Organization as author: Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group.Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002; 40: 679-86.
B. Journal article on the Internet [Edited 12 May 2009]
- Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12];102(6):[about 1 p.]. Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/ A JN/2002 June Wawatch htm Article.
- Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12];102(6):[about 1 p.]. Available from: http://www. nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/JuneWawatch htmArticle
- Zhang M, Holman CD, Price SD, Sanfilippo FM, Preen DB, Bulsara MK. Comorbidity and repeat admission to hospital for adverse drug reactions in older adults: retrospective cohort study. BMJ. 2009 Jan 7;338: a2752. doi: 10.1136/bmj. a2752.PubMed PMID: 19129307; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2615549.
- Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.nap. edu books/0309074029 html/.
C. Homepage/Web site/part of a homepage/Website:
- Cancer-Pain.org [Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2000 01 [updated 2002 May 16; cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http:/www. cancerpain.org/.
- American Medical Association [Internet]. Chicago: The Association; c1995-2002 [updated 2001 Aug 23; cited 2002 Aug 12]. AMA Office of Group Practice Liaison; [about 2 screens]. Available from:http:// www.amaassn.org/amapub/ category/1736. html.
D. Database (Open/Closed):
- Who’s Certified [Internet]. Evanston (IL): The American Board of Medical Specialists. c2000 [cited 2001 Mar 8]. Available from: http://www.abms.org/newsearch.asp.
- Jablonski S. Online Multiple Congenital Anomaly/ Mental Retardation (MCA/MR) Syndromes [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); c1999 [updated 2001 Nov 20; cited 2002 Aug 12]. Available from: http:/www nlm.nih.gov/archive//20061212/mesh/jablonskisyndrome_ title.html.
- MeSH Browser [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); 2002 - Meta-analysis [cited 2008 Jul 24]; [about 2 p.]. Available from: http://www.nlmnih.govcgimesh / 2008/MB cgi?mode=&index=6408 & view concept MeSH Unique ID: D017418.
E. Blogs: - Holt M. The Health Care Blog [Internet]. San Francisco: Matthew Holt. 2003 Oct - [cited 2009 Feb 13]. Available from:http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/the_health_care blog/
- KidneyNotes.com [Internet]. New York: Kidney Notes. c2006 - [cited 2009 Feb 13]. Available from:http://www.kidneynotes. com/.
- Wall Street Journal. HEALTH BLOG: WSJ’s blog on health and the business of health [Internet]. Hensley S, editor. New York: Dow Jones & Company, Inc. c2007 - [cited 2009 Feb 13]. Available from: http://blogs. wsj.com/health/.
F. Newspaper article: Tynan T. Medical improvements lower homicide rate: study sees drop in assault rate. The Washington Post. 2002 Aug 12;Sect. A:2 (col. 4).
G. Legal Material: Public law:Veterans Hearing Loss Compensation Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-9, 115 Stat. 11 (May 24, 2001).
H. Dictionary and similar references: Dorland’s illustrated medical dictionary. 29th ed. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders; 2000. Filamin; p. 675.
I. Books
- Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical Microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002.
- Gilstrap LC, Cunningham FG, VanDorsten JP, editors Operative Obstetrics. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw Hill; 2002.p.292-95
- Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The Genetic Basis of Human Cancer. New York: McGraw Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.
Units of Measurement
Measurements of length, height, weight, and volume should be reported in metric units (metre, kilogram, or litre) or their decimal multiples. Temperatures should be in degrees Celsius. Blood pressures should be in millimetres of mercury. For reporting hematological, clinical chemistry, and other measurements, International System of Units (SI) must be used. However, non-SI units may also be used if unavoidable. Drug concentrations may be reported in either SI or mass units, but the alternative should be provided in parentheses where appropriate.
Abbreviations and Symbols
Use only standard abbreviations; the full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement.
II. Sending the Manuscript to the Journal (JIST)
Dear Authors, For Submission of articles
2. Manuscripts with the email ID of Corresponding Author (as mentioned in the manuscript) will only be considered.
3. Cover letter: manuscripts must be accompanied by a cover letter, which should include the following information.
- A statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, that the requirements for authorship as stated earlier in this document have been met, and that each author believes that the manuscript represents honest work.
- The name, address, and telephone number of the corresponding author, who is responsible for communicating with the other authors about revisions and final approval of the proofs.
- The letter should give any additional information that may be helpful to the editor, such as the type or format of article in the particular journal that the manuscript represents. If the manuscript has been submitted previously to another journal, it is helpful to include the previous editor’s and reviewers’ comments with the submitted manuscript, along with the authors’ responses to those comments. Doing so may expedite the review process.
- Copyright cum Contributors form is available here:
https://www.jistox.in/copyright/declaration
Please download, print, fill-in, sign, scan and upload at the appropriate section of the Article submission page.
III. Payment for publications in JIST
Publication charges*:
| Per author (IST life member) | Rs. 500/- | (Rs. Five hundred only) |
| Per author (Non-member) | Rs. 1000/- | (Rs. One thousand only) |
*- Additional Rs 500/- if the author wants a hard copy of the journal.
Article submission: email to editorjist@gmail.com; with a cc to toxicology@aims.amrita.edu
IV. Payment after publication
For Payments: Please contact Dr VV Pillay, Treasurer, Indian Society of Toxicology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Cochin 682041, Kerala, India
Ph: +91 484-2858056 (Direct), +91 484-2851234 (Ext: 8050, 8056 ), Mobile: +91 9895282388, Fax: +91 484-2802020; Email: toxicology@aims.amrita.edu; poisonunit@aims.amrita.edu; WhatsApp: + 91 9895282388
Online A/c Transfer
Account name: Indian Society of Toxicology
Bank name: Dhanlaxmi Bank
Account No. 015505300000384
IFSC Code: DLXB0000155
Type of account: Current
V. Acceptance Letter
To avoid spurious use, JIST does not send paper/hard copy formats of Acceptance letter or in any other format like PDF/Scanned letterheads, etc. Accepted through the authorised email: editorjist@gmail.com
For article submission & related queries: editorjist@gmail.com
All queries regarding JIST and Paper submissions to be addressed to:
Dr. Anand Mugadlimath
Editor In Chief, JIST, Dept. of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology,
S N Medical College,
Bagalkot-587103, Karnataka
Email : editorjist@gmail.com
WhatsApp : +91 8888029210.
