Journal Submission

General
The Indian Journal of Gastroenterology is the official publication of the Indian Society of Gastroenterology. This peer-reviewed Journal is published bimonthly (January, March, May, July, September, November), as a medium for articles related to the digestive tract, liver and biliary tract and their diseases. The Journal is indexed by the National Informatics Center, New Delhi, and indexed and abstracted by Excerpta Medica, the Netherlands, and Index Medicus and Medline, USA. The Journal is in agreement with instructions of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors for manuscript preparation (www.icmje.org).

Editorials and Review Articles will be by invitation from individuals with significant published experience in the field. Contributors who wish to submit reviews may discuss details by e-mail with the Editor-in-Chief prior to submission. Authors should be working in and have published papers in the area being reviewed and have sufficient expertise to critically evaluate the relevant literature. All reviews are subject to peer review. The length of an Editorial should not exceed 1000 words and 6 references. There are no length restrictions, within reasonable limits, on Reviews.

Original Articles should be less than 3000 words in length and can have up to 5 Tables and Figures taken together.

Short Reports are shorter papers reporting original research work of somewhat limited scope in a maximum of 1500 words with 2 Tables and/or Figures, and 12 or fewer references.

Case Reports are generally not accepted unless they illustrate some novel aspect of genetics or treatment. When novel treatments are described the ethical aspect,  including permissions if applicable, should be discussed. These may not exceed 750 words, one Table and one Figure.

Case Series which documentive prospective or retrospective data from a series of patients with a specific disease or condition that is not very common. They may provide a new or interesting perspective, or highlight interesting differences in the disease from a particular geographical area. These may contain up to 1500 words, and a maximum of 3 tables/ fi gures and 10 references.

Letters to the Editor usually discuss material published recently in the Journal in order to highlight alternate viewpoints or interpretations of the data. Letters may also be used to report preliminary observations that do not merit publication as Original Articles or Short Reports. Letters can be up to 750 words with a maximum of 1 Table or Figure and 10 references.

Images of Special Interest are occasionally published at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.

Clinico-Pathologic Conferences: These articles (up to 5000 words) are edited transcripts of the discussion of a patient (whose clinical details are provided) by a clinical discussant, followed by the findings at a definitive test (biopsy, autopsy, confi rmatory serological test, etc.) discussed by a pathologist. Appropriate radiological, histological and other images should be included.

Obituary: This should refer to a doctor working in India or of Indian origin, related to digestive sciences, who has left her/his mark on society or on the profession and whose contributions need to be highlighted. A brief sketch (up to 500 words) of the person’s personal and professional life along with a photograph may be submitted.

Manuscript Submission

Manuscripts are submitted to Indian Journal of Gastroenterology online via Editorial Manager. This will allow for quick and efficient processing of your manuscript. Please log directly at the Editorial Manager site at http://ijog.edmgr.com and upload your manuscript fi les following the instructions provided on the screen. Please note: If you have already registered on Editorial Manger, please use your provided username and password and log in as ‘Author’ to track your manuscript or to submit a ‘New’ manuscript. (Please do not register again as you will then be unable to track your manuscript). If you have not used Editorial Manager for the Journal, please click the ‘Register’ button and enter the requested information. Upon successful registration, you will receive an e-mail with instructions to verify your registration. If you have any questions or are unable to submit your manuscript online via Editorial Manager, please contact the editorial offi ce by e-mail at ijg@indianjgastroastro.com. Revised manuscripts should be submitted online using the user ID and password.

Editorial process

All manuscripts submitted to the Journal will undergo an initial screening to exclude articles that do not conform to the Journal’s instructions, are outside the Journal’s scope, or are much below its threshold. The manuscripts are usually reviewed by two experts using a double-blind approach. Additional statistical reviewer(s) may be used where required.
The Editorial Board reserves the right to revise or modify articles to conform to the Journal’s style. The views expressed in the articles will, however, remain the opinion of the authors; the editorial board and the publishers accept no responsibility for these. Articles which do not strictly abide by the Instructions mentioned here are likely to be rejected without further review. After an article is published online, further changes can be made only as an Erratum, which will be hyperlinked to the article. Ethical violations may lead to a published retraction of the printed article by the Journal. Accepted manuscripts become the permanent property of the Journal and may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the written permission of the editor.

Conflict of interest and ethical standards

Conflict of interest
When an author or the institution of the author has a relationship, fi nancial or otherwise, with individuals or organizations that could infl uence the author’s work inappropriately, a confl ict of interest may exist. Examples of potential confl icts of interest may include but are not limited to academic, personal, or political relationships; employment; consultancies or honoraria; and fi nancial connections such as stock ownership and funding. Although an author may feel that there are no confl icts, disclosure of relationships and interests that could be viewed by others as confl icts of interest affords a more transparent and prudent process. Therefore, all authors must disclose any actual or potential confl ict of interest. The Journal may publish such disclosures if judged to be important to readers.

Ethical standards –Informed consent
Manuscripts containing the results of experimental studies on human participants must disclose in the Methods section whether informed consent was obtained from patients in the study after the nature of the procedure had been fully explained to them. If informed consent was waived by institutional review board (IRB) for a study, that should be stated. In addition, a statement affi rming approval of the IRB should be included, if approved. The patient’s right to privacy should not be infringed. Information that would identify patients should not be published.

Ethical standards – Animal rights Authors are advised to comply with the guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals as described by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and to acknowledge their compliance with these guidelines in the Methods section of the manuscript.

Manuscript preparation

Title page

The title page should include:
• A concise and informative title
• Name(s) of author(s)
• Affi liation(s) and address(es) of the author(s)
• E-mail address, telephone and fax numbers of the corresponding author. Telephone / fax numbers should include country code and city code.

Abstract
Please provide a structured abstract of up to 250 words which should be divided into the following sections: Purpose/Aim (stating the main purposes and research question), Methods, Results, and Conclusion. Short reports and Case series should have a nonstructured abstract of up to 150 words. Reviews should have a nonstructured abstract of up to 250 words. The abstract should not contain any undefi ned abbreviations or references. The fi rst time an abbreviated term is used, spell it out in full and follow with the abbreviation in parentheses – for example: ultrasound (US).

Keywords
Please provide 4 to 6 keywords which can be used for indexing purposes.

Text
Organize the text into an introductory section that conveys the background and purpose of the report, and then into sections titled “Materials and Methods,” “Results,” and “Discussion.”

Text formatting

  • Articles should be formatted as Rich Text Format (.rtf) documents using Microsoft Word or equivalent software.
  • Use 12-point Times Roman font for text.
  • Use italics for emphasis.
  • Use the page numbering function to number the pages.
  • Do not use field functions.
  • Use tab stops or other commands for indents, not the space bar.
  • Use the table function, not spreadsheets, to make tables.
  • Use the equation editor or MathType for equations.
  • Do not insert figures in the text.

Note: If you use Word 2007, do not create the equations with the default equation editor but use MathType instead.

Save your file in two formats: doc and rtf. The journal does not accept docx files. Heading levels, numbering Please use no more than three levels of displayed headings. Abbreviations and acronyms Abbreviations should be defined at fi rst mention and used consistently thereafter. Terminology Generic names of drugs and chemicals are preferred; if trade names are used, the generic name should be given at fi rst mention. Equation Please use the standard mathematical notation for formulae, symbols, etc.

  • Italic for single letters that denote mathematical constants, variables, and unknown quantities.
  • Roman/upright for numerals, operators, and punctuation, and commonly defi ned functions or abbreviations, e.g., cos, det, e or exp, lim, log, max, min, sin, tan, d (for derivative)
  • Bold for vectors, tensors, and matrices.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments to individuals (other than authors) should be placed in a separate section before the reference list. The acknowledged individuals should have extended their direct help to the reported study. Names of funding organizations should be written in full. Authors are advised to obtain consent of those acknowledged.

Tables
• All tables should numbered using Arabic numerals.
• Tables should always be cited in text in consecutive numerical order.
• For each table, please supply a table heading. The table title should explain clearly and in brief all components of the table.
• Identify any previously published material by providing the original source in the form of a reference at the end of the table heading.

• Footnotes to tables should be indicated by superscript lower-case letters (or asterisks for signifi cance values and other statistical data) and included beneath the table body.

Figures
• All figures should numbered using Arabic numerals.

 

• Figure parts should be denoted by lowercase letters.
• Figures should always be cited in text in consecutive numerical order.
• For each figure, please supply a figure caption.
• Make sure to identify all elements found in the figure in the caption.
• Identify any previously published material by giving the original source in the form of a reference at the end of the caption.
• For further information about figures, please click the link: artwork instructions.
• All submitted photographs should be in 300 dpi and in TIFF format.
• All computer-generated graphs should be supplied as EPS fi les, ensure that the lines used in the graphs are at least 0.1 mm thick, with a minimum resolution of 1200 dpi.

References
The list of References should only include works that are cited in the text and that have been published or accepted for publication. Personal communications and unpublished works should only be mentioned as such in parentheses in the text. Do not use footnotes or endnotes as a substitute for a reference list. Citations in the text should be identifi ed by numbers in superscript font, after the punctuation mark.
Some examples:
1. Negotiation research spans many disciplines.3

2. This result was later contradicted by Becker and Seligman.5
3. This effect has been widely studied.1-3, 7
Reference list entries should be numbered consecutively. Please include the names of all authors if up to six; if the number is more than 6, the fi rst three authors’ names should be listed, followed by et al.
Journal article In references to journal articles, please include (1) surname and initials (without periods) of the fi rst six authors, and if the number is more than 6, please list the fi rst three authors’ names, followed by et al, (2) article title, (3) abbreviated journal name, (4) year, (5) volume number, and (6) inclusive page numbers, in that order. An example follows: Pandey D, Chun TW, Kang HL, Tan KC. Living donor liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: A single center experience. Indian J Gastroenterol 2008; 27:148–52 Vanbiervliet G, Dumas R, Demarquay JF, et al. Endoscopic palliative treatment of malignant colorectal stenosis with metallic stents: results in 41 patients. Acta Endoscopica 2004;34:327–34. Complete book In references to books, please include (1) surname and initials (without periods) of the fi rst three authors and et al for all others, (2) chapter title, if any, (3) editor(s), if any, (4) title of book, (5) city of publication, (6) publisher, (7) year, and (8) inclusive page numbers. Volume and edition numbers, and name of translator should be included when appropriate. Examples follow:
1. Gregersen, H. Biomechanics of the Gastrointestinal Tract: New Perspectives in Motility Research and Diagnostics Springer, 2003; pp 6–12.
2. Jones MC, Smith RB. Treatment of gastric cancer. In: Ford TL (ed) Cancer of the Digestive System, Berlin, Springer-Verlag, 1976; pp 140–54. Article by DOI Matsui H, Okamoto Y, Nabeshima K, et al. Endoscopyassisted gastric resection: a safe and reliable procedure for tumor clearance during laparoscopic high distal or proximal gastrectomy Surgical Endoscopy; doi: 10.1007/s00464- 009-0354-1 Online document Doe J (1999) Title of subordinate document. In: The dictionary of substances and their effects. Royal Society of Chemistry. Available via DIALOG. http://www.rsc.org/ dose/title of subordinate document. Accessed 15 Jan 1999 Note: Always use the standard abbreviation of a journal’s name according to the ISSN List of Title Word Abbreviations, see http://www.issn.org/2-22661-LTWA-online.php
After acceptance

Upon acceptance of an article, the text will be edited, typeset and sent to the corresponding author for fi nal approval. The fi nalized articles would be available at www. springerlink.com and a PDF fi le would be provided to the author for his/her academic use.

Reprints: Reprints order and payment for reprints must be placed at the time of approval of proofs. The Journal does not supply any free reprints. For more information, please visit the Journal website at http://www.springer.com.

Colour printing: Publication of colour illustrations is free of charge. Note: Correspondence related to publication and other matters concerning the Journal should be addressed to the Editor by e-mail at editor@indianjgastroastro.com

Legal requirements Submission of a manuscript implies: that the work described has not been published before; that it is not under consideration for publication anywhere else; that its publication has been approved by all co-authors, if any, as well as by the responsible authorities – tacitly or explicitly – at the institution where the work has been carried out. The Journal or the publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation. Authors wishing to include fi gures, tables, or text passages that have already been published elsewhere are required to obtain permission from the copyright owner(s) and to include evidence that such permission has been granted when submitting their papers. Any material received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from the authors. Authors will be asked to transfer copyright of the article to the Society (or grant the Publisher exclusive publication and dissemination rights). This will ensure the widest possible protection and dissemination of information under copyright laws. Authors should also state that they have full control of all primary data and that they agree to allow the journal to review their data if requested. Therefore the manuscript must be accompanied by the “Copyright Transfer Form”. This form can be obtained from http://www.springer.com/journal/12664. Submissions received without the signed Authors’ Declaration will not be processed.