Submissions

Author Guidelines

Author Instructions

Editorial Process        

All manuscripts (but see the exceptions below) are reviewed by two or more independent (“blind”) assessors. There are three sequential steps in the review process.

An initial quick review of the submitted manuscript is made by the Editor or his nominated representative (generally the Executive Editor) and decision made regarding the necessity and appropriateness for the detailed peer review process. If found unsuitable for the Journal, the authors are usually intimated about this within one week of submission with a brief note on the grounds for non-suitability of the submission, so that they may not lose time in the review process and start seeking a more suitable home for their work.

Once the submission has been found suitable ‘in principle’ for detailed evaluation, it is passed through a Checklist for format and style. This checklist helps to spot areas where corrections or improvements are required before the article can be submitted for detailed evaluation. This process is also usually completed within a week. The authors are advised to rectify and re-submit in case of substantive deficiencies in formatting and style.

Finally, following the successful completion of the two previous steps, the article is sent to two (occasionally three, in case of a ‘tie’) independent assessors (after anonymizing the article to the fullest extent possible) for a detailed content-focused peer review process. We aim to typically complete this process in 3-4 weeks, though it might take longer. All in all, our aim is to conclude the entire review process in 6-8 weeks’ time. This detailed review process as mentioned above is not applicable for certain types of submissions that include “Invited Matter” (Commentaries, Perspectives/Viewpoints, Debates, etc.

Authorship Criteria   

Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to each of the three components mentioned below:

• Concept and design of study or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data;
• Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
• Final approval of the version to be published.

The order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor towards the study and writing the manuscript. Once submitted the order cannot be changed without written consent of all the contributors. The journal prescribes a maximum number of authors for manuscripts depending upon the type of manuscript, its scope and number of institutions involved (vide infra). The authors should provide a justification, if the number of authors exceeds these limits.

Contribution Details: Contributors should provide a description of contributions made by each of them towards the manuscript. Description should be divided in following categories, as applicable: concept, design, definition of intellectual content, literature search, clinical studies, experimental studies, data acquisition, data analysis, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, manuscript editing and manuscript review. Authors' contributions will be printed along with the article. One or more author should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole from inception to published article and should be designated as 'guarantor'.

Conflicts of Interest/ Competing Interests: Authors should disclose at the time of submission any financial arrangements they might have with a company or any organization. It should be clearly mentioned in the cover note which should accompany manuscripts during submission. Such information will be held in confidence while the paper is under review and will not influence the editorial decision but, if the article is accepted for publication, the Editor will usually discuss with the authors the manner in which such information is to be communicated to the reader.

Submission of Manuscripts: The journal now accepts only online submission through the centralized submission system (www.annalsofpsyj.com). First time users will have to register at this site. Registration is free but mandatory and the authors can keep track of their articles after logging into the site using their username and password. Authors do not have to pay for submission, processing or publication of articles.

The manuscript should be processed electronically using a standard word processor (e.g., Microsoft Word). All parts of the manuscript should be double-spaced throughout with a minimum margin of 1 inch on all sides. Number pages consecutively on the Article File (see later). The spellings should be American English.

The manuscript should be arranged in the following order, with two mandatory separate Word files: a) cover letter-cum-title page (“First Page File”), b) article file, containing the following in this order: abstract (if required), text matter, references, and tables. Figures, if any, should be prepared and uploaded separately.

1. a) Cover Letter-cum-Title Page (“First Page File”): Cover letter should include: title of the article, name of corresponding author, intent for submission to IJSP for possible publication, statement regarding authorship, disclosure of any potential conflict of interest, and a statement on under which section the authors want their manuscripts to be considered.

The Title Page (a fresh page immediately after the Cover Letter but in the same file) should also be prepared. It should contain the title of the article, and the name(s) and address(es) of the author(s), and position titles at their respective institutions/places of employment. The full postal address, telephone and facsimile numbers, and Email address of the author who will receive correspondence and check the proofs should be included, as well as the present address of any author if different from that where the work was carried out. Addresses for authors other than the correspondence author should contain the department, institution, city and country. Other entries on the title page include: a short running title of not more than 50 characters (including spaces), word count (abstract, if applicable), word count (text, excluding abstract, references and tables etc.), declaration of any conflict of interest (if none, please write so), and acknowledgements if any.

1. b) Article File: The remaining part of the submission should be combined into a single file (the “Article File”) and uploaded as such. Tables can be entered in this file itself (at the end, after References, each Table starting on a fresh page). Figures, however, need to be uploaded separately, each figure as a separate file.

Description of each of the components of the article file follows:

Abstract: A summary of the review, research and brief communication articles must be in the form of a structured abstract of no more than 250 words using the format below. However, abstract may be unstructured for ‘Perspectives/Viewpoint/Debate’ articles (as mentioned above). Commentaries, Case reports, letters, and film/book reviews do not require any abstract.

Background/Objectives: need for the study/review with specific aim or objectives; Methods: design, setting, sample, interventions (if appropriate), chief outcome measures, and methodology of data search, selection and organization (for review articles or other non-primary data based article); Results: provide main findings on which the conclusions are based; Conclusions: only those related to results, both positive and negative, and their immediate implications (not far-fetched or beyond the scope of the study results).

Keywords: 3-6 key words that will assist indexers in cross-referencing the article should be supplied. Use of the medical subject headings (MeSH) list from Index Medicus is encouraged but not mandatory.

Text Matter: For research articles (full-length and brief reports) the usual IMRD format should be used: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. For other types of articles, authors’ own or innovative headings and subheadings may be used.

Pejorative Language: Do not use pejorative labels like ‘addicts’, ‘schizophrenics’, ‘psychotics’ and ‘neurotics’. Instead refer to ‘patients with schizophrenia’, etc.

Abbreviations: Key phrases or full names may be abbreviated if they are used repeatedly (e.g., CNS, OCD etc). When first used in the text, they should be spelt out in full followed by the abbreviation in brackets. After this, only abbreviated form should be used.

State the purpose of the article and summarize the rationale for the study or observation in Introduction. For case reports give reference of similar cases in past if available.

Describe the selection of the observational or experimental subjects clearly in Methods section. Identify the age, sex, and other important characteristics of the subjects. Identify the methods, research instruments (with references and basic details), apparatus (give the manufacturer’s name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to enable others to understand and replicate if needed. Give references to established methods, 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. Reports of randomized clinical trials should be based on the CONSORT statement (http://www.consort-statement.org).

When reporting experiments on human subjects, procedures followed should be in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/17-c_e.html). Do not use patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material.

Present the results in logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables or illustrations; emphasize or summarize only important observations. Use standard guidelines for statistics (See Ann Intern Med 1988;108:266-73).

Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them along with implications of the findings and their limitations in the Discussion section.

Images: Submit good quality color images. Each image should be less than 2 MB in size. Size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep up to 1600 x 1200 pixels or 5-6 inches). Images can be submitted as jpeg files. Do not zip the files. Legends for the figures/images should be included at the end of the article file.

The contributors'/copyright transfer form (template provided below): The Journal requires approval of manuscript submission by all authors in addition to transfer of copyright to the Indian Association for Social Psychiatry so that the author(s) and the Association are protected from misuse of copyrighted material. A copyright transfer form will need to be completed, which must be signed by the Corresponding Author who would agree to take public responsibility on behalf of ALL THE AUTHORS upon acceptance of the paper.

Accepted manuscripts will not be scheduled for publication until a completed form has been received in the editorial office. It is the corresponding author’s responsibility to obtain the approval of individuals before acknowledging their assistance in the paper.

Preparation of Manuscripts: Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with "Uniform requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals" developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (October 2008). The uniform requirements and specific requirements of “Annals of psychiatric Research” are summarized below.

“Annals of psychiatric Research” accepts manuscripts written in American English.

Copies of any permission(s): It is the responsibility of authors/ contributors to obtain permissions for reproducing any copyrighted material. A copy of the permission obtained must accompany the manuscript. Copies of any and all published articles or other manuscripts in preparation or submitted elsewhere that are related to the manuscript must also accompany the manuscript.

Types of Manuscripts

Review Article:

Reviews are usually invited by the Editor. However, good quality reviews on pertinent topics can be submitted for publication. The maximum length of reviews is 5000 words (excluding abstract and references). Abstract has to be structured (Background/Objectives; Methods; Results; Conclusions) and should not exceed 250 words. A few (3 to 6) keywords should be provided.

Research Article:

Original quantitative as well as qualitative research papers are published under this section. Maximum word limit for research articles is 3000 words (excluding abstract and references). Abstract has to be structured (Background/Objectives; Methods; Results; Conclusions) and should not exceed 250 words. A few (3 to 6) keywords should be provided

Introduction: State the purpose and summarize the rationale for the study or observation.

Materials and Methods: It should include and describe the following aspects:

Ethics: When reporting studies on human beings, 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 https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/). For prospective studies involving human participants, authors are expected to mention about approval of (regional/ national/ institutional or independent Ethics Committee or Review Board, obtaining informed consent from adult research participants and obtaining assent for children aged over 7 years participating in the trial. The age beyond which assent would be required could vary as per regional and/ or national guidelines. Ensure confidentiality of subjects by desisting from mentioning participants’ 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.

Evidence for approval by a local Ethics Committee (for both human as well as animal studies) must be supplied by the authors on demand. Animal experimental procedures should be as humane as possible and the details of anesthetics and analgesics used should be clearly stated. The ethical standards of experiments must be in accordance with the guidelines provided by the CPCSEA and World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Humans for studies involving experimental animals and human beings, respectively). The journal will not consider any paper which is ethically unacceptable. A statement on ethics committee permission and ethical practices must be included in all research articles under the ‘Materials and Methods’ section.

A statement on ethics committee permission and ethical practices (Institutional Ethics Committee /Institutional Review Board approval statement, Approval reference number and date) and Patient consent information (Patient Consent Declaration statement along with the reason for obtaining the consent) should be mentioned in the manuscripts and must be included in all research articles as shown below. A copy of the ethics approval statement should also be uploaded. 

Ethical statement

This study was approved by Institutional Ethics Committee with reference number ---------------- obtained on---------------.

Declaration of Patient Consent
Patient consent statement was taken from each patient as per institutional ethics committee approval along with consent taken for participation in the study and publication of the scientific results / clinical information /image without revealing their identity, name or initials. The patient is aware that though confidentiality would be maintained anonymity cannot be guaranteed.

Study design:

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.

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.

Reports of randomized clinical trials should present information on all major study elements, including the protocol, assignment of interventions (methods of randomization, concealment of allocation to treatment groups), and the method of masking (blinding), based on the CONSORT Statement (http://www.consort-statement.org).

Statistics: Whenever possible quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Authors should report losses to observation (such as, dropouts from a clinical trial). When data are summarized in the Results section, specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Avoid non-technical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as 'random' (which implies a randomizing device), 'normal', 'significant', 'correlations', and 'sample'. Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols. Specify the computer software used. Use upper italics (P 0.048). For all P values include the exact value and not less than 0.05 or 0.001. Mean differences in continuous variables, proportions in categorical variables and relative risks including odds ratios and hazard ratios should be accompanied by their confidence intervals.

Results: Present your results in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations, giving the main or most important findings first. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables or illustrations; emphasize or summarize only important observations. 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.

When data are summarized in the Results section, give numeric results not only as derivatives (for example, 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 to assess its support. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Where scientifically appropriate, analyses of the data by variables such as age and sex should be included.

Discussion: Include summary of key findings (primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, results as they relate to a prior hypothesis); Strengths and limitations of the study (study question, study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation); Interpretation and implications in the context of the totality of evidence (is there a systematic review to refer to, if not, could one be reasonably done here and now?, what this study adds to the available evidence, effects on patient care and health policy, possible mechanisms); Controversies raised by this study; and Future research directions (for this particular research collaboration, underlying mechanisms, clinical research).

Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction or the Results section. In particular, contributors should avoid making statements on economic benefits and costs unless their manuscript includes economic data and analyses. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed. New hypotheses may be stated if needed, however they should be clearly labeled as such. About 30 references can be included. These articles generally should not have more than six authors.

Brief Communication:

Under this section data from preliminary studies, studies done with smaller sample size, worthwhile replication studies, or negative studies of important topics are published. Single case reports do not meet the criteria for this section but can be submitted as Letter to Editor. Brief Communications should not exceed 1500 words (excluding abstract and references). Abstract has to be structured (Background/Objectives; Methods; Results; Conclusions) and should not exceed 250 words. No more than one table or one figure can be included.

Letter to the Editor:

These should be short, decisive observation with the notation ‘for publication’. The word limit is 500 words and up to 5 references. Letters critical to an article published in the Journal must be received within 8 weeks of publication of the article. It could be generally authored by not more than four authors.

Commentary, Debate, Perspective, Viewpoint:

These are usually (but not necessarily) invited articles, either commenting/debating on an article to be published in the same issue or fresh submissions on topics of broad relevance to psychiatry. The views and perspectives are of the authors, not necessarily of the Journal. They are purported to raise awareness, generate meaningful dialogue, and create an atmosphere of healthy debate and controversies. There is no mandatory length of such articles but in general they should not exceed 4000 words (excluding references, which should be kept to a minimum). Commentaries may be briefer (up to 1500 words) and more focused. An abstract is not required for Commentaries, but an unstructured abstract will be required for the “Debate / Perspective / Viewpoint” articles (maximum 250 words).

References

References should include a list of all articles, book chapters, books and various web resources at the end of the paper. Avoid using old unpublished abstracts, unpublished observations, and personal communication as references. Abstracts may be cited only if they have been published in a scientific journal (not souvenirs) in the preceding 5 years. Only those, and all those, references cited in the text should be included in the Reference Section.

Identifying references in the text of the article: References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in superscript within square brackets [ ], which must be placed immediately AFTER a punctuation mark (period, comma, semicolon, etc.) or after a particular word or author name. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure.

Citing references in the Reference Section: Follow the same numerical order of referencing as identified in the text. The reference citation styles are the same as in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts (the “Vancouver Style”, now formally called the “ICMJE Recommendations”). Detailed guidelines with sample references can be obtained from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html, but some common examples are mentioned below.^Example

1. Standard journal article: Seshadri L, George SS, Vasudevan B, Krishna S. Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and human papilloma virus infection in renal transplant recipients. Indian J Cancer 2001;38:92-5.

[In case of many authors, list the first six contributors followed by ‘et al.’]

[Indian Journal of Social Psychiatry should be abbreviated as “Indian J Soc Psychiatry”]

Personal author(s) for book: Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996.

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.

Web citations: Use of various web or Internet-based resources as citation material has been increasing progressively. There are no fixed rules for citation because the exact source, format, content and other details vary from one type of source to another. At times, authors have to be innovative in their citation style. However, some basic requirements are:

Identify how you are going to refer to the particular web resource. For example, while referring to the Mental Health Advocacy Section of the World Health Organization website, one may cite this as (World Health Organization, 2012) in the text, and mention it in the Reference Section. Next, the topic of citation may be mentioned, e.g., Mental health advocacy. This must be followed by the most important part: the actual and complete web link where one can access that page or material. This should be written as: Available at http://www.who.int/mental_health/advocacy/en/ followed by date when last accessed (in brackets). Thus, this example should be referenced as:

World Health Organization (2012) Mental health advocacy. Available at http://www.who.int/mental_health/advocacy/en/ (last accessed on April 30, 2012).

Please refer to http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html for other types of references such as electronic media, newspaper items, etc.

Tables: Tables should be included at the end of the Article File (each table starting on a fresh page), numbered with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3…) and accompanied by short titles at the top. Each table must be referred to in the text in consecutive order where they are mentioned (e.g., in the Results Section). Tables should be self-explanatory and should not merely duplicate text material. Tables with more than 10 columns and 25 rows are not acceptable. Limit the number to minimum required. Data presented should, in general, not be duplicated in the text or figures. Explanatory matter should be placed in footnotes below the tabular matter and not included in the title. All non-standard abbreviations should also be explained in the footnotes. Footnotes should be indicated by *, +, §. Obtain permission for all fully borrowed, adapted, and modified tables and provide a credit line in the footnote.

Illustrations (Figures/Images): Figures should be numbered in Arabic and referred to in the text at appropriate places. Line drawings and graphs should be professionally drawn. All lettering should be done professionally and should be of adequate size to retain clarity after reduction. The figures should be of good quality (colour images are acceptable), but 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 800 pixels or 4 inches). All image formats (jpg, tiff, gif, bmp, png, eps, etc.) are acceptable, but jpg is the preferred format. Do not zip the files. 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.

Formatting Instructions:

1. The submission should utilize a commonly used word processor such as MS Word.
2. The font should be TIMES NEW ROMAN, font size 12, color black (do not use other colors other than in exceptional circumstances).
3. The language is American (USA) English, and is to be used consistently throughout your article (other than references and direct quotations). For example, please use the spellings “anemia”, “color”, “behavior”, and “organize" (all examples of American English), stick to these spellings throughout your article and do not use “anaemia”, “colour”, “behaviour” or “organise” (all U.K. English spellings).
4. Major (first-level) headings such as Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, etc. should be Bold. Second-level headings such as Sample, Statistics, and next-level headings in Introduction or Discussion etc. should be in Bold italics. Further, third-level sub-headings, if used, (Inclusion and Exclusion criteria, Specific assessment instruments, etc.) should be in plain italics (not bold) followed by a fresh paragraph.

Protection of Patients' Rights to Privacy: Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, sonograms, CT scans, etc., and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian, wherever applicable) gives informed consent for publication. Authors should remove patients' names from figures unless they have obtained informed consent from the patients. The journal abides by ICMJE guidelines:

Authors, not the journals nor the publisher, need to obtain the patient consent form before the publication and have the form properly archived. The consent forms are not to be uploaded with the cover letter or sent through email to editorial or publisher offices.

If the manuscript contains patient images that preclude anonymity, or a description that has obvious indication to the identity of the patient, a statement about obtaining informed patient consent should be indicated in the manuscript.

Sending a revised manuscript: The revised version of the manuscript should be submitted online in a manner similar to that used for submission of the manuscript for the first time. However, there is no need to submit the “First Page” or “Covering Letter” file while submitting a revised version. When submitting a revised manuscript, contributors are requested to include, the ‘referees’ remarks along with point to point clarification at the beginning in the revised file itself. In addition, they are expected to mark the changes as underlined or colored text in the article.

Manuscript submission, processing and publication charges

The journal does not charge for submission and processing of the manuscripts.

Checklist

Covering letter

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

Authors

• Last name and given name provided along with Middle name initials (where applicable)
• 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.)

Presentation and format

• Double spacing
• Margins 2.5 cm from all four sides
• Page numbers included at bottom
• 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 (structured abstract of 250 words for original articles, unstructured abstracts of about 150 words for all other manuscripts excluding letters to the Editor)
• Key words provided (three or more)
• Introduction of 75-100 words
• Headings in title case (not ALL CAPITALS)
• The references cited in the text should be after punctuation marks, in superscript with square bracket.
• References according to the journal's instructions, punctuation marks checked
• Send the article file without ‘Track Changes’

Language and grammar

• Uniformly American English
• Write the full term for each abbreviation at its first use in the title, abstract, keywords and text separately unless it is a standard unit of measure. Numerals from 1 to 10 spelt out
• Numerals at the beginning of the sentence spelt out
• Check the manuscript for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors
• If a brand name is cited, supply the manufacturer's name and address (city and state/country).
• Species names should be in italics

Tables and figures

• 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

Write the full term for each abbreviation used in the table as a footnote