The Editorial Process

Types of Manuscripts and Limits

Original articles: Randomised controlled trials, intervention studied, studies of screening and diagnostic test, outcome studies, cost effectiveness analyses, case-control series, and surveys with high response rate. Up to 3000 words excluding references and abstract.

Review articles: Systemic critical assessments of literature and data sources. Up to 4000 words excluding references and abstract. The review articles should reflect systematic reviews and contain substantive citations from current literature. The authors must state how they selected the literature and wether and how they judged the study quality.

Case reports: new/interesting/very rare cases can be reported. Cases with clinical significance or implications will be given priority, whereas, mere reporting of a rare case may not be considered. Up to 1000 words excluding references and abstract and up to 10 references.

Letter to the Editor: Should be short, decisive observation. They should not be preliminary observations that need a later paper for validation. Up to 400 words and 4 references.

Announcements of conferences, meetings, courses, awards, and other items likely to be of interest to the readers should be submitted with the name and address of the person from whom additional information can be obtained. Up to 100 words.

Authorship Criteria

1. to conception and design or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data;
2. drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
3. final approval of the version to be published.

Sending the Manuscript to the Journal

1. A full statement to the editor about all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as redundant publication of the same or very similar work. Any such work should be referred to specifically, and referenced in the new paper. Copies of such material should be included with the submitted paper, to help the editor decide how to handle the matter.
2. A statement of financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest, if that information is not included in the manuscript itself or in an authors' form
3. 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, if that information is not provided in another form (see below); and
4. 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, if that information is not included on the manuscript itself.

Dr. A. K. Jain,
Editor, Indian Journal of Orthopaedics,
Department of Orthopaedics,
University College of Medical Sciences and GTB Hospital,
Dilshad Garden, 110095, Delhi, India.
E-mail: editor[at]ijoonline[dot]com.

The text and figures MUST exclude all references to the source of work and the authors, otherwise the paper may be returned to the author for correction before it is sent out for review.

Online Submission of the Manuscripts

First Page File: Prepare the title page, covering letter, acknowledgement, etc. using a word processor program. All information which can reveal your identity should be here. Use text/rtf/doc/pdf files. Do not zip the files.

Article file: The main text of the article, beginning from Abstract till References (including tables) should be in this file. Do not include any information (such as acknowledgement, your names in page headers, etc.) in this file. Use text/rtf/doc/pdf files. Do not zip the files. Limit the file size to 400 kb. Do not incorporate images in the file. If file size is large, graphs can be submitted as images separately without incorporating them in the article file to reduce the size of the file.

Images: Submit good quality color images. Each image should be less than 400 kb in size. Size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep up to 1024x760 pixels or 5 inches). All image formats (jpeg, tiff, gif, bmp, png, eps, etc.) are acceptable; jpeg is most suitable. Do not zip the files.

Legends: Legends for the figures/images should be included at the end of the article file. If the manuscript is submitted online, the contributors' form and copyright transfer form has to be submitted in original with the signatures of all the contributors within two weeks from submission. Hard copies of the images (one set), for articles submitted online, should be sent to the journal office at the time of submission of a revised manuscript.

Preparation of the Manuscript

1. Type of manuscript (e.g. Original article, Case Report)
2. The title of the article, which should be concise, but informative;
3. Running title or short title not more than 50 characters;
4. The name by which each contributor is known (Last name, First name and initials of middle name), with his or her highest academic degree(s) and institutional affiliation;
5. The name of the department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed;
6. The name, address, phone numbers, facsimile numbers and e-mail address of the contributor responsible for correspondence about the manuscript;
7. The total number of pages, total number of photographs and word counts separately for abstract and for the text (excluding the references and abstract);
8. Source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or all of these;
9. Acknowledgement, if any; and
10. If the manuscript was presented as part at a meeting, the organisation, place, and exact date on which it was read.

1. A complete assessment of quality of individual studies requires critical appraisal of all aspects of the study design.
2. A combination of results from two or more prior studies.
3. Studies provided consistent results.
4. Study was started before the first patient enrolled.
5. Patients treated one way (eg, cemented hip arthroplasty) compared with a group of patients treated in another way (eg, uncemented hip arthroplasty) at the same institution.
6. The study was started after the first patient enrolled.
7. Patients identified for the study based on their outcome, called "cases"; eg, failed total arthroplasty, are compared with patients who did not have outcome, called "controls"; e.g., successful total hip arthroplasty.
8. Patients treated one way with no comparison group of patients treated in another way.

Selection and Description of Participants: Describe your selection of the observational or experimental participants (patients or laboratory animals, including controls) clearly, including eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population. Because the relevance of such variables as age and sex to the object of research is not always clear, authors should explain their use when they are included in a study report; for example, authors should explain why only subjects of certain ages were included or why women were excluded. The guiding principle should be clarity about how and why a study was done in a particular way. When authors use variables such as race or ethnicity, they should define how they measured the variables and justify their relevance.

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. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods (see below); 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.

Ethics
When reporting experiments on human subjects, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (available at http://www.wma.net/e/policy/17-c_e.html). Do not use patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the institution's or a national research council's guide for, or any national law on the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

Statistics
Statistical methods should be described in detail. The statement "no significant difference was found between two groups" cannot be made unless a power study was done and the value of alpha or beta is reported. Use of the word significant requires reporting of a p value. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals are required whenever the results of survivorship analysis are given in the text or graphs. Use of the word correlation requires reporting of the correlation coefficient.

Results
These must be clearly expressed in simple language. Tables or similar diagrams can be used but must not duplicate material already expressed in the text. Provide a detailed report on the data obtained during the study. Results obtained after less than two years of follow-up are rarely accepted. For studies pertaining to joint replacement a minimum of five years follow up is desirable. All data in the text must be consistent throughout the manuscript, including any illustrations, legends, or tables. For studies of less than 20 subjects percentages should not be used. Extra or supplementary materials and technical detail can be placed in an appendix where it will be accessible but will not interrupt the flow of the text; alternatively, it can be published only in the electronic version of the journal.

Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Avoid non-technical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as "random" (which implies a randomizing device), "normal," "significant," "correlations," and "sample." Where scientifically appropriate, analyses of the data by variables such as age and sex should be included.

Discussion
This section must be succinct, pointing out the relevance of the work described in the paper and its contribution to current knowledge. The results must be interpreted clearly, and deficiencies expressed. Discussion of pertinent references must be concise and short. Be succinct. What does your study show? Is your hypothesis affirmed or refuted? Discuss the importance of this article with regard to the relevant world literature; a complete literature review is unnecessary. Analyze your data and discuss their strengths, their weaknesses, and the limitations of the study.

Acknowledgments
As an appendix to the text, one or more statements should specify

1. contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, such as general support by a departmental chair;
2. acknowledgments of technical help; and
3. acknowledgments of financial and material support, which should specify the nature of the support. This should be included in the title page of the manuscript.

Articles in Journals

Standard journal article:
Kulkarni SB, Chitre RG, Satoskar RS. Serum proteins in tuberculosis. J Postgrad Med 1960;6:113-20.
List the first six contributors followed by et al.

1. Volume with supplement: Shen HM, Zhang QF. Risk assessment of nickel carcinogenicity and occupational lung cancer. Environ Health Perspect 1994; 102 Suppl 1:275-82.
2. Issue with supplement: Payne DK, Sullivan MD, Massie MJ. Women's psychological reactions to breast cancer. Semin Oncol 1996; 23(1, Suppl 2):89-97.

Books and Other Monographs

1. Personal author(s): Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996.
2. Editor(s), compiler(s) as author: Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996.
3. Chapter in a book: Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. pp. 465-78.

• Tables should be self-explanatory and should not duplicate textual material.
• Tables with more than 10 columns and 25 rows are not acceptable.
• Type or print out each table with double spacing on a separate sheet of paper. If the table must be continued, repeat the title on a second sheet followed by "(contd.)".
• Number tables, in Arabic numerals, consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each.
• Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading.
• Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table.
• Obtain permission for all fully borrowed, adapted, and modified tables and provide a credit line in the footnote.
  For footnotes use the following symbols, in this sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||, , **, ††, ‡‡

• Submit three sets of figures.
• Send sharp, glossy, un-mounted, colour photographic prints, with height of 4 inches and width of 6 inches.
  Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text.
  Each figure should have a label pasted (avoid use of liquid gum for pasting) on its back indicating the number of the figure, the running title, top of the figure and the legends of the figure. Do not write the contributor/s' name/s. Do not write on the back of figures, scratch, or mark them by using paper clips.
• Labels, numbers, and symbols should be clear and of uniform size. The lettering for figures should be large enough to be legible after reduction to fit the width of a printed column.
• Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background and should marked neatly with transfer type or by tissue overlay and not by pen.
• Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends for illustrations not on the illustrations themselves.
  When graphs, scatter-grams or histograms are submitted the numerical data on which they are based should also be supplied.
• The photographs and figures should be trimmed to remove all the unwanted areas.
• 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.
• If a figure has been published, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. A credit line should appear in the legend for figures for such figures.
  Print outs of digital photographs are not acceptable. For digital images send TIFF files of minimum 1200 x 1600 pixel size.
• The Journal reserves the right to crop, rotate, reduce, or enlarge the photographs to an acceptable size.

• Type or print out legends (maximum 40 words, excluding the credit line) for illustrations using double spacing, with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations.
• When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, identify and explain each one in the legend.
• Explain the internal scale and identify the method of staining in photomicrographs.

Protection of Patients' Rights to Privacy

Electronic Version

• The manuscript must be accompanied by a CD containing the manuscript.
• Use a new diskette or fully format the CD before use. There should be no other document, file, and material on the CD other than the final manuscript. Text, references, tables and legends, all should be in one electronic file.
• Label each CD with first contributor's name, short title of the article, software (e.g. MS Word), version (e.g. 7.0) and file name. Name the file on the diskette with the corresponding contributor's last name (up to eight characters) and a three-letter extension to signify the format (e.g. sharma.doc). For a revised manuscript name the file with the manuscript number (e.g. jcrt58). Use any word-processing program (e.g. Microsoft Word, Word Perfect) or provide text files.
• Do not use 'oh' (O) for 'zero' (0), 'el' (l) for one (1). Do not use space bar for indentation. Do not type headings or any other text in ALL CAPITALS. Do not break words at the end of lines. Do not use an extra hard return/enter between paragraphs. Do not insert a tab, indent, or extra spaces before beginning of a paragraph. Do not use software's facility of automatic referencing, footnotes, headers, footers, etc.
• Use a hyphen only to hyphenate compound words. Use only one letter space at the end of sentence. Use hard return/enter only at the end of paragraphs and display lines (e.g. titles, headings and subheadings). Incorporate notes or footnotes in the text, within parentheses, rather than their usual place at the foot of the page.
• Use single space between lines for the manuscript on the CD. Provide the tables and charts at the appropriate place in the text and not at the end of the manuscript.
• Care should be taken to prevent damage to CD while sending it through post.

Sending a revised manuscript

Reprints

Copyrights

Checklist

• Signed by all contributors
• Previous publication / presentations mentioned
• Source of funding mentioned
• Conflicts of interest disclosed

• Middle name initials provided
• Author for correspondence, with e-mail address provided
• Number of contributors restricted as per the instructions
• Identity not revealed in paper except title page (e.g. name of the institute in Methods, citing previous study as 'our study', names on figure labels, name of institute in photographs, etc.)

• Double spacing
• Margins 2.5 cm from all four sides
• Title page contains all the desired information
• Running title provided (not more than 50 characters)
• Abstract page contains the full title of the manuscript
• Abstract provided (about 150 words for case reports and 250 words for original articles)
• Structured abstract provided for an original article
• Key words provided (three or more)
• Introduction of 75-100 words
• Headings in title case (not ALL CAPITALS)
• References cited in square brackets
• References according to the journal's instructions, punctuation marks checked

• Uniformly English
• Abbreviations spelt out in full for the first time
• Numerals from 1 to 10 spelt out
• Numerals at the beginning of the sentence spelt out

• No repetition of data in tables and graphs and in text
• Actual numbers from which graphs drawn, provided
• Figures necessary and of good quality (colour)
• Table and figure numbers in Arabic letters (not Roman)
• Labels pasted on back of the photographs (no names written)
• Figure legends provided (not more than 40 words)
• Patients' privacy maintained (if not permission taken)
• Credit note for borrowed figures/tables provided
• Manuscript provided on a CD (with single spacing)

Contributors' form

Manuscript Title: _______________________________________________________________

I/we certify that I/we have participated sufficiently in the intellectual content, conception and design of this work or the analysis and interpretation of the data (when applicable), as well as the writing of the manuscript, to take public responsibility for it and have agreed to have my/our name listed as a contributor. I/we believe the manuscript represents valid work. Neither this manuscript nor one with substantially similar content under my/our authorship has been published or is being considered for publication elsewhere, except as described in the covering letter. I/we certify that all the data collected during the study is presented in this manuscript and no data from the study has been or will be published separately. I/we attest that, if requested by the editors, I/we will provide the data/information or will cooperate fully in obtaining and providing the data/information on which the manuscript is based, for examination by the editors or their assignees. Financial interests, direct or indirect, that exist or may be perceived to exist for individual contributors in connection with the content of this paper have been disclosed in the cover letter. Sources of outside support of the project are named in the cover letter.

I/We hereby transfer(s), assign(s), or otherwise convey(s) all copyright ownership, including any and all rights incidental thereto, exclusively to the Indian Journal of Orthopaedics, in the event that such work is published by the Indian Journal of Orthopaedics. The Indian Journal of Orthopaedics shall own the work, including 1) copyright; 2) the right to grant permission to republish the article in whole or in part, with or without fee; 3) the right to produce preprints or reprints and translate into languages other than English for sale or free distribution; and 4) the right to republish the work in a collection of articles in any other mechanical or electronic format.

We give the rights to the corresponding author to make necessary changes as per the request of the journal, do the rest of the correspondence on our behalf and he/she will act as the guarantor for the manuscript on our behalf.
All persons who have made substantial contributions to the work reported in the manuscript, but who are not contributors, are named in the Acknowledgment and have given me/us their written permission to be named. If I/we do not include an Acknowledgment that means I/we have not received substantial contributions from non-contributors and no contributor has been omitted.

                  Name       Signature   Date signed
1                ------------   ---------         --------------
2                ------------   ---------         --------------
3                 ------------   ---------         --------------
4                ------------   ---------         --------------  (up to 4 contributors for case report/images/review)
5                 ------------   ---------         --------------
6                 ------------   ---------         -------------- (up to 6 contributors for original studies)