Author Guidelines

• Manuscript Preparation
• Types of articles accepted
• Plagiarism
• Alteration to authorship or contributor ship
• Rejection
• Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Scientific Writing
• Consequences of AI use in manuscript

Manuscript Preparation

Each of these documents (A to E) should be submitted separately. You may use the templates given at the end of this page for reference.

1. Title Page
   The title page should mention the following in order:
   1. Title of the Article: Should be concise and focused (within 25 words).
   2. Author Information: List all the authors in order of contribution. Mentions affiliations of each author (department, institution, city, country, email id).
   3. Corresponding author details: Name, full postal address, phone number and email for correspondence.
   4. Word count: for abstract (if applicable) and the manuscript (excluding abstract, keywords, tables, figure legends, and references).
   5. Number of figures and tables.
   6. Conflict of interest statement: The authors must declare any conflicts of interest. If there are no conflicts of interest to declare, they may state- “The authors report no conflicts of interest”.
   7. Funding statement: The authors declare any financial support received. If there is no funding to declare, they may state- “The authors report no financial sources of support”.
   8. Consent: The authors must state whether informed consent for publication has been taken from the parents, guardians or caretaker of the child.
2. Manuscript file
   The manuscript file should contain the following sections in order:
   1. Abstract: An unstructured abstract of less than 250 words is required for case reports and case reports with review of literature. The abstract should address what is unique about the case and how it contributes to existing literature.
   2. Keywords: Three to six keywords should be mentioned separated by commas for indexing purposes.
   3. Introduction
   4. Case
   5. Discussion and/or review of literature
   6. Conclusion
   7. References: The authors are responsible for the accuracy of their references. References should be in Vancouver style. If there are more than 6 authors, name only the first three authors and then use “et al.” Write the last name first followed by initial letters of first and middle names in capital letters without full stop. Authors must cite references in the text in the order of their appearance, with citation numbers within square brackets as superscripts before the punctuation.
      Examples of the references:
      Articles in Journals
      1. Person as author(s)
         Journal name should be standard PubMed abbreviation, full journal name should not be written. This is followed by year of publication. Then the volume number is written. Finally, page numbers appear (380-390 to be written as 380-90). Thus, a standard journal article is written as:
         Echeverria RF, Baitello AL, Pereira de Godoy JM, Espada PC, Morioka RY. Prevalence of death due to pulmonary embolism after trauma. Lung India 2010;27:72-4.
         
      2. Organization as author
         If an article is written by some organization in place of a particular author (s), the reference should start with the name of the organization. For example-
         The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Clinical exercise stress testing. Safety and performance guidelines. Med J Aust 1996; 164:282-4.
      3. Article in Press
         Leshner AI. Molecular mechanisms of cocaine addiction. N Engl J Med. In Press 1996.
      4. Electronic Material
         For journal article in electronic format some additional information should be provided, like:
         Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 1995 Jan-Mar [cited 1996 Jun5]; 1(1): [24 screens]. Available from URL : http://www.cdc.gov/ ncidod/EID eid.htm. Accessed on (date).
         Books and other Monographs
         It also starts with authors names in same style as mentioned in journal article. Then editor's name, text books title, edition number and publishers name should appear in sequence. This is followed by year and page numbers. For example-
         • Personal author(s): Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996. Editor(s), complier(s) as author Norman IJ, Redfern SJ. editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996. 5.
         • Chapter in a book:
           Name(s) of author (s) of the chapter is followed by title of chapter. Other information is written in the similar style as above:
           Philips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York : Raven Press: 1995. p. 465-78. 6.
   8. Tables: should be submitted in the main manuscript draft after the references. Tables should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear in the text. All tables should have a title that is descriptive of the contents of the table. All abbreviations used in the table should appear with their expanded form in the footnotes below the table.
   9. Abbreviations and symbols: Only standard abbreviations should be used. Abbreviations should not be used in the title of the article. The expanded form of the abbreviation should precede its first use in the text. Mathematical symbols (<, >, + etc.) and greek letters (, , etc.) are permissible whenever necessary.
   10. Units of measurement: International System of Units (SI units) should be followed.
3. Figures
   Figures should be submitted as separate files. The following file types are acceptable: JPG, JPEG, PNG, TIF, and TIFF. Images should be clear, of good quality and of high resolution (>300 dpi). Figures should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first cited in the text. Labels (letters, numbers, symbols, arrows) on figures should be clearly legible and accurately and appropriately placed. Figures should be accompanied by a footnote clearly explaining the image and its contents in the manuscript file after the references. If photographs of patients are used, they must not be identifiable and their eyes should be covered unless they specifically need to be shown. Figures should be original, however, if they have already been published, the original source should be acknowledged and written permission should be submitted from the copyright holder allowing the authors to reproduce the material.
4. Copyright form
   Copyright form should be signed by all the authors. Download the copyright form here.
5. Patient Consent form
   Informed consent for publication should be taken from the parents, guardians or caretaker of the child. Download the patient consent form here.

Types of articles accepted

Plagiarism

1. All submissions are screened using iThenticate.
2. Acceptable similarity index: <20% (excluding references and methods)
3. Types of plagiarism that warrant rejection:
   • Verbatim copying without attribution
   • Paraphrasing without credit
   • Self-plagiarism (reusing substantial portions of author's prior work)
4. Consequences
   • First offense: Immediate rejection and 1-year submission ban
   • Repeat offenses: Permanent blacklisting of all authors
5. Suspected plagiarism in published articles will trigger investigation per COPE guidelines.

Alteration to authorship or contributor ship

1. Formal written request signed by all authors
2. Clear justification for addition/removal/reordering
3. Approval from journal Editor-in-Chief
4. For accepted manuscripts: Changes only permitted before final proofs

1. "Ghost," "gift," or coerced authorship
2. Retrospective addition of authors without valid contribution
3. Removal of authors who meet ICMJE criteria

Rejection

1. Editorial Rejection (without review):
   • Out of scope (non-pediatric or non-infectious disease focus)
   • Format non-compliance
   • Obvious methodological flaws
2. Post-Review Rejection:
   • Insufficient novelty for case reports
   • Inadequate clinical relevance
   • Poor quality images/illustrations
   • Unresolved ethical concerns

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Scientific Writing

Consequences of AI use in manuscript

• First offense: Immediate rejection and 1-year submission ban
• Repeat offenses: Permanent blacklisting of all authors