Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the ‘Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals’ compiled by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (Ann. Intern. Med. 1992;96:766-767).
Indian Journal of Clinical Practice strongly disapproves of the submission of the same articles simultaneously to different journals for consideration as well as duplicate publication and will decline to accept fresh manuscripts submitted by authors who have done so.
The boxed checklist (provided at the end) will help authors in preparing their manuscript according to our requirements. Improperly prepared manuscripts may be returned to the author without review. The checklist should accompany each manuscript.
Authors may provide on the checklist, the names and addresses of experts from Asia and from other parts of the World who, in the authors’ opinion, are best qualified to review the paper.

Covering letter
– The covering letter should explain if there is any deviation from the standard IMRAD format (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion) and should outline the importance of the paper.
– Principal/Senior author must sign the covering letter indicating full responsibility for the paper submitted, preferably with signatures of all the authors.
– Articles must be accompanied by a declaration by all authors stating that the article has not been published in any other Journal/Book. Authors should mentioned complete designation and departments, etc. on the manuscript.

Manuscript
– Three complete sets of the manuscript should be submitted and preferably with a CD; typed double spaced throughout (including references, tables and legends to figures).
– The manuscript should be arranged as follow: Covering letter, Checklist, Title page, Abstract, Keywords (for indexing, if required), Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Tables, Legends to Figures and Figures.
– All pages should be numbered consecutively beginning with the title page.
Note: Please keep a copy of your manuscript as we are not responsible for its loss in the mail. Manuscripts will not be returned to authors.

Title page
Should contain the title, short title, names of all the authors (without degrees or diplomas), names and full location of the departments and institutions where the work was performed, name of the corresponding authors, acknowledgment of financial support and abbreviations used.
– The title should be of no more than 80 characters and should represent the major theme of the manuscript. A subtitle can be added if necessary. – A short title of not more than 50 characters (including inter-word spaces) for use as a running head should be included.
– The name, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and postal addresses of the author to whom communications are to be sent should be typed in the lower right corner of the title page.
– A list of abbreviations used in the paper should be included. In general, the use of abbreviations is discouraged unless they are essential for improving the readability of the text.

Summary
– The summary of not more than 200 words. It must convey the essential features of the paper.
– It should not contain abbreviations, footnotes or references.

Introduction
– The introduction should state why the study was carried out and what were its specific aims/objectives.

Methods
– These should be described in sufficient detail to permit evaluation and duplication of the work by others.
– Ethical guidelines followed by the investigations should be described.

Statistics
The following information should be given:
– The statistical universe i.e., the population from which the sample for the study is selected.
– Method of selecting the sample (cases, subjects, etc. from the statistical universe).
– Method of allocating the subjects into different groups.
– Statistical methods used for presentation and analysis of data i.e., in terms of mean and standard deviation values or percentages and statistical tests such as Student’s ‘t’ test, Chi-square test and analysis of variance or non-parametric tests and multivariate techniques.
– Confidence intervals for the measurements should be provided wherever appropriate.

Results
– These should be concise and include only the tables and figures necessary to enhance the understanding of the text.

Discussion
– This should consist of a review of the literature and relate the major findings of the article to other publications on the subject. The particular relevance of the results to healthcare in India should be stressed, e.g., practicality and cost.

References
These should conform to the Vancouver style. References should be numbered in the order in which they appear in the texts and these numbers should be inserted above the lines on each occasion the author is cited (Sinha12 confirmed other reports13,14...). References cited only in tables or in legends to figures should be numbered in the text of the particular table or illustration. Include among the references papers accepted but not yet published; designate the journal and add ‘in press’ (in parentheses). Information from manuscripts submitted but not yet accepted should be citedin the text as ‘unpublished observations’ (in parentheses).
At the end of the article the full list of references should include the names of all authors if there are fewer than seven or if there are more, the first six followed by et al., the full title of the journal article or book chapters; the title of journals abbreviated according to the style of the Index Medicus and the first and final page numbers of the article or chapter. The authors should check that the references are accurate. If they are not this may result in the rejection of an otherwise adequate contribution.

Examples of common forms of references are:

Articles
Paintal AS. Impulses in vagal afferent fibres from specific pulmonary deflation receptors. The response of those receptors to phenylguanide, potato S-hydroxytryptamine and their role in respiratory and cardiovascular reflexes. Q. J. Expt. Physiol. 1955;40:89-111.

Books
Stansfield AG. Lymph Node Biopsy Interpretation Churchill Livingstone, New York 1985.

Articles in Books
Strong MS. Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis. In: Scott Brown’s Otolaryngology. Paediatric Otolaryngology Evans JNG (Ed.), Butterworths, London 1987;6:466-470.

Tables
– These should be typed double spaced on separate sheets with the table number (in Roman Arabic numerals) and title above the table and explanatory notes below the table.

Legends
– These should be typed double spaces on a separate sheet and figure numbers (in Arabic numerals) corresponding with the order in which the figures are presented in the text.
– The legend must include enough information to permit interpretation of the figure without reference to the text.

Figures
– Two complete sets of glossy prints of high quality should be submitted. The labelling must be clear and neat.
– All photomicrographs should indicate the magnification of the print.
– Special features should be indicated by arrows or letters which contrast with the background.
– The back of each illustration should bear the first author’s last name, figure number and an arrow indicating the top. This should be written lightly in pencil only. Please do not use a hard pencil, ball point or felt pen.
– Color illustrations will be accepted if they make contribution to the understanding of the article.
– Do not use clips/staples on photographs and artwork.
– Illustrations must be drawn neatly by an artist and photographs must be sent on glossy paper.

No captions should be written directly on the photographs or illustration. Legends to all photographs and illustrations should be typed on a separate sheet of paper. All illustrations and figures must be referred to in the text and abbreviated as “Fig.”.


For Editorial Correspondence
Dr Nitin Kapoor
Editor
Asian Journal of Obesity

IJCP Group, 39, Daryacha, HauzKhas Village,
New Delhi - 110 016
E-mail: ajdijcp@gmail.com