How to submit article to magazines

Guidelines for submitting an article to Medical Journals – a standard format designed by  Homoeopathic Heritage

Research paper:

The outlines of a report should be planned in the following fashion –

1. Title – It should be attractive, descriptive. Also abbreviations or superfluous words should be expelled.
2. Abstract – Background, Materials and methods, Results and Conclusion. Key words to be mentioned here.
3. Introduction – should be simple, attractive, and informative and should be confined to the theme of the paper. Objectives of the study can be mentioned separately or within the introduction.
4. Materials and Methods – should not be ambiguous or non-conceivable. It should include the research methodology or design of the study, intervention, proper inclusion and exclusion criteria etc.
5. Results – should be presented succinctly by presentation of facts by data tables and figures with normal values but no comments.
6. Discussion with conclusion should essentially make a component of the report.
7. Summary – must be epigrammatic, clear and include essential points. It should be descriptive as well as informative or factual.

Case reports:

1. Introduction – should be informative regarding the particular disease with regard to the case and as to why the case has been chosen for presentation, with an indication of how the piece fits into the discipline of Homoeopathy.
2. Case history – should include highlights from the description of the patient, occupation etc., the chronological order of symptoms including previous type of treatment and its outcome, details of chief complaints including causation, modalities and an over view of the mental and general symptoms and also family medical history; so that a clear picture of totality  can be gained. Give your observation regarding patient’s appearance and behavior.
3. Give the diagnosis and explain differential diagnosis.
4. Case analysis – Analysis, evaluation of symptoms and repertorization should be included. Please explain your reasoning behind the remedy selection and potency choice. The remedy should reflect the characteristic symptoms of the case and be based on reliable Materia medica from proving; old or new. The cases where the case analysis or remedy selection is based purely on conjecture will not be accepted. Prognosis, treatment plan and reasons for use of any adjunctive therapy should be given. Insight into the difficulties or problems you encountered, mistakes you made and things you would do differently, will be particularly valuable.
5. Follow up – Appropriate follow up including practitioner’s assessment, repertorization and explanation regarding repetition or change of remedy to be mentioned. Chronic cases should be followed for at least one year or basing on the chances of recurrences. Acute cases, although obviously shorter, should be written out in similar manner.
6. Conclusion or Interpretation of the case mentioning the outcome to be given.

General articles (Homoeopathic philosophy, Materia medica, Repertory, Pharmacology, Practice of Medicine, Interviews etc.):

1. Title – Should be short, descriptive and appropriate to the article.
2. Introduction – Informative, focusing on the present scenario and how the topic/article fits in the discipline of Homoeopathy.
3. Headings – Detailing of the subject under various relevant headings.
4. Conclusion and Summary – Mentioning the learning from the subject dealt with etc.

Style:

1. Names (i.e. first and last names) should be written in italics (Aconitum napellus ) upon first citation and thereafter in normal font style (Aconitum napellus ). Potency number and scale to be specified, for example, 30C.
2. Write the case report in narrative form, use quotation marks to indicate direct quotes.
3. Passages that need to be highlighted should be written in bold typescript.
4. Add sub-heading where possible and structure the text as well as possible.
5. Figure legends and tables should be listed at the end of the document. Please save figures and tables as separate files. Tables and figures must be referred to in the text by Arabic numerals. They should not be integrated into the text document. The following graphic file formats should be used:

For coloured and black-and-white bitmaps:  *.tif, *.jpg, (resolution: 300 dpi).

For diagrams and line drawings: *.eps (resolution: 800 dpi).

Articles will be edited for minor grammatical, spelling and usage errors.

Size: The size of a write up in a letter form should not exceed 500 words; a short report 2000 words whereas original writings should not exceed more than 5000 words.

Included with each article should be an abstract of approximately 150-words and three to four keywords. Each manuscript must contain the title of the manuscript, authors’ name and full address, including e-mail-address and telephone and fax number of the corresponding author. Authors are requested to send us a few lines of biographical information, and if possible a photograph of yourself.

Permissions:
Authors must obtain permission to reproduce all maps, diagrams, figures and photographs. As a rule it is necessary to obtain permission for single passages of prose exceeding 250 words, or scattered passages totaling more than 400 words from any one work. Please supply the publisher with full information for all work cited, including author, dates published, and publisher and page references.  Patient’s or, where appropriate, parents/guardian’s consent must be obtained to use photographs of patients.

Abbreviations:
Abbreviations should generally be used sparingly. Non-standard abbreviations must be defined in the text following their first use. Abbreviations of homoeopathic remedies should be avoided unless in repertorisations. In those cases abbreviations used in common repertories should be applied.

References:
Appropriate acknowledgement and references to be mentioned at the end of the document/article. Reference numbers should be placed as superscripts at appropriate places with in the article. References should be numbered in the order in which they are cited in the text.

References from Books:
Name of author(s) followed by initial(s) (if more than six authors, give the first three and add et al), chapter title, full title of the book, volume, edition, publisher, year of publication and page number or range.

References from Journals:
Name of author(s) followed by initial(s) (if more than six authors, give the first three and add et al), full title of paper, name of journal, year of publication, volume number and page number(s).

References from websites:
Name of author(s) followed by initial(s) (if more than six authors, give the first three and add et al), full title of paper, full address of the website or the link(s).

Submission of Manuscripts:
Submission of articles via email attachments or on CD in Word document will be preferred. All manuscripts should be addressed 

P.S. The manuscripts will be evaluated according to the Journal’s usual procedures, and that the acceptance is not guaranteed. The rejected article will not be sent back and there is no claim for the same.

Courtesy : The Editor, The Homoeopathic Heritage
Website: www.bjainbooks.com