For Authors

Getting Started

Interested in submitting to this journal? We recommend that you review the About the Journal page for the journal's aims & scope, as well as the Author Guidelines. Authors need to register with the journal prior to submitting or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the five-step process.

Submission of Articles

Articles should be submitted online via Online Journal System (OJS) Platform: https://efi.org.in/journal/index.php/JEFI.

Before submitting your article, please read and carefully follow the Instructions for Authors outlined below.

All articles should be submitted in English. If English is not your first language, you are encouraged to seek a professional editing service before submission. If the quality of English is not considered adequate, the manuscript will be returned without review. Authors are given the opportunity to re-submit a revised version that has been edited and i m proved. Manuscripts may only be actively under consideration by one journal at any given time.

Authorship Criteria

JEFI follows the ICMJE Criteria For Authorship and Non-Author Contributors. Broadly this is represented below:

The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:

Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
Final approval of the version to be published; AND
Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work he or she has done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.

For Authorship: All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Those who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged. These authorship criteria are intended to reserve the status of authorship for those who deserve credit and can take responsibility for the work. The criteria are not intended for use as a means to disqualify colleagues from authorship who otherwise meet authorship criteria by denying them the opportunity to meet criterion #s 2 or 3. Therefore, all individuals who meet the first criterion should have the opportunity to participate in the review, drafting, and final approval of the manuscript.

Non-Author Contributors: Contributors who meet fewer than all 4 of the above criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors, but they should be acknowledged. Examples of activities that alone (without other contributions) do not qualify a contributor for authorship are acquisition of funding; general supervision of a research group or general administrative support; and writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading. Those whose contributions do not justify authorship may be acknowledged individually or together as a group under a single heading (e.g. "Clinical Investigators" or "Participating Investigators"), and their contributions should be specified (e.g., "served as scientific advisors," "critically reviewed the study proposal," "collected data," "provided and cared for study patients", "participated in writing or technical editing of the manuscript").

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. 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'.

Peer Review

All submissions to JEFI are subject to double-anonymised peer review which requires authors to submit an anonymous version of their manuscript file (to be uploaded as the Manuscript File including abstract). All submitted manuscripts will undergo a three-step review process: i) preliminary check, ii) plagiarism check and iii) peer review.

Preliminary Check: All submitted manuscripts will be reviewed by the journal’s editorial office for compliance with guidelines for preparation of articles. Articles that do not comply with the guidelines will be sent back to the authors.

Plagiarism Check: Articles that are in compliance with the guidelines will be subjected to plagiarism check. We work with Cross Ref to use iThenticate to detect plagiarism. iThenticate gives a 'similarity index', which is the word-by-word copying of materials from previously published literature. We use similarity index to make a decision. Even if the original source was cited, articles with more than 20% similarity index will be returned to the authors without peer review for re-writing. For articles with similarity index between 1-10%, we follow the guidelines of COPE on text recycling to make a decision. Articles that pass the plagiarism check will be reviewed by experts in the field.

Peer Review: JEFI employs a double-blind peer review process, in which the author identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process. The entire editorial workflow is performed using OJS. Once a manuscript is submitted, the manuscript is assigned to an Editor most appropriate to handle it based on the subject of the manuscript and the availability of the Editors. If the Editor determines that the manuscript is not of sufficient quality to go through the normal review process or if the subject of the manuscript is not appropriate to the journal scope, the Editor rejects the manuscript with no further processing.

If the Editor determines that the submitted manuscript is of sufficient quality and falls within the scope of the journal, he/she assigns the manuscript to a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5 external reviewers for peer-review.

The reviewers submit their reports on the manuscripts along with their recommendation of one of the following actions to the Editor:

Accept Submission / Revision Required / Resubmit for Review / Resubmit Elsewhere / Decline Submission / See Comments

Selection of reviewers: JEFI Editorial Team will find appropriate experts to review the manuscripts. Authors may suggest potential reviewers; however, there is no guarantee that these reviewers will be invited to review. Potential reviewers will be personally contacted by the editorial staff to seek expression of interest to review the paper. The email will contain the details of the authors and the abstract. Also, the reviewers will be asked to disclose conflict of interest. If the reviewers agree to review, and if there is no potential conflict of interest, they will receive the official invitation from the journal containing the link to access the manuscript.

Reviewer responsibilities: All reviewers are requested to adhere to a set of basic principles and standards during the peer review process; these are based on the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. The reviewers will remain anonymous. Reviewers are expected to keep the manuscript confidential, provide an unbiased scientific opinion of the manuscript and declare any conflict of interest. Also, reviewers are expected to submit their comments within the indicated time frame.

Criteria for assessing original articles:

Does the abstract convey the major theme of the paper?
Does the manuscript require language editing?
Does the introduction describe the rationale for the study in the context of the available literature?
Where relevant, have appropriate ethics approval and informed consent been obtained?
Are the methods adequately described?
Is the number of samples, number of repeats, equipment and chemicals used clearly mentioned?
Are statistical methods clearly stated?
Is the discussion well-balanced in light of the available literature and the research findings?
Is conflict of interest stated?

Criteria for assessing review articles:

Does the manuscript require language editing?
Does the abstract convey the major theme of the article?
Does the article comprehensively and critically evaluate an existing problem in the context of the available literature?
If relevant does the article suggest a possible solution to the problem?
Is conflict of interest stated?

Editorial decision: When all reviewers have submitted their reports, the Editor can make one of the following editorial recommendations. The corresponding author will be notified of the decision.

Accept Submission / Revision Required / Resubmit for Review / Decline Submission

If the Editor recommends “Accept Submission” the manuscript is accepted for publication.

If the Editor recommends “Revision Required” the authors are notified to prepare and submit a final copy of their manuscript with the required changes suggested by the reviewers. Only the Editor reviews the revised manuscript after the changes have been made by the authors. Once the Editor is satisfied with the final manuscript, the manuscript can be accepted.

If the Editor recommends “Resubmit for Review” the authors are notified to prepare and submit a revised copy of their manuscript with the required changes suggested by the reviewers. The revised manuscript after the changes have been made by the authors wiil again go under a fresh peer review.

If the Editor recommends "Decline Submission", the manuscript is immediately rejected. Also, if two of the reviewers recommend Decline Submission, the manuscript is immediately rejected.

The editorial workflow gives the Editors the authority in rejecting any manuscript because of inappropriateness of its subject, lack of quality, or incorrectness of its results.

This review process is to ensure a high-quality, fair, and unbiased double blinded peer-review process of every manuscript submitted to the journal, since any manuscript must be recommended by one or more (usually two or more) external reviewers along with the Editor in charge of the manuscript in order for it to be accepted for publication in the journal.

Each published article will be assigned a DOI, deposited with Cross Ref and permanently archived with various abstracting and indexing agency.

Moreover, even the finally published articles’ readers and authors have ample opportunities to review the publications and correspondingly communicate to JEFI in case if the published materials correspondingly warrant any publication of erratum/corrections in future JEFI issues.

Submitting 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.

Proofs: Authors of accepted articles are supplied of printer's proofs online on their Author dashboard and will also receive email alerts when proofs are available. Corrections on the page proofs should be restricted to printer's errors only and no substantial additions/deletions should be made. No change in the names of the authors (by way of additions and deletions) is permissible at the proof stage. If there are valid reasons for such a change, after acceptance of a paper, the permission of the Editor-In-Chief must be sought and updated Contributor form to be uploaded.

In-house submissions: In-house submissions that contain the work of any editorial board member are not allowed to be reviewed by that editorial board member, and an independent editor makes all decisions regarding this manuscript. In addition, these manuscripts are reviewed by two external reviewers. This is also disclosed in the published manuscript under the section of Conflict of Interest.

Article Processing Charges (APC)

JEFI is an open access journal which does not levy an Article Processing Charge (APC). There are no submission or page charges, and no colour charges. In order to support the publication, the journal does not depend on any external grant or advertisement subscription income from any public or private sources. To support an Open Access System and in order to cover offset expenses for journal management systems, pre-publication production, publication and archiving. The Epidemiology Foundation of India (EFI) covers the publication cost of accepted manuscripts.

Preparation of Manuscript

American spellings should be used. Authors are requested to adhere to the word limits. Authors must mention the word count on the main article file. Articles exceeding the word limit for a particular category of the manuscript would not be processed further. Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts (URM) submitted to Biomedical Journals should be consulted before submission of the manuscript (http://www.icmje.org). All articles should mention how the human and animal ethical aspect of the study was addressed. Whether informed consent was taken or not? Identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. (http://www.wma.net).

Formatting: The manuscript should be double-spaced, with a 2.5 cm margin, 12-point Calibri, and justified. The pages of the manuscript should be numbered on the bottom right corner. Each of the following sections should begin on a separate page. There should be uniform continuous double line spacing maintained throughout the manuscript along with Line numbering.

Language and Writing Style: The manuscript should be written in American English. The author should write the full term for each abbreviation at its first use in the title, abstract, keywords, and text separately unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measure. The use of acronyms and abbreviations must be kept to a minimum. When used, they are defined at first mention, followed by the acronym or abbreviation in parentheses. If a brand name is cited, supply the manufacturer’s name and address (city, state, and country). Manuscripts will be altered to meet the style guidelines of the JEFI. The authors are requested to check the manuscript for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors before submission. Headings and titles must be in sentence case and not in Capitals.

Online Manuscript Submission Checklist

Covering letter and Title page should be submitted as single file in Title page file.
Manuscript with Abstract & Key words should be submitted as an Article file.
Tables and graphs should be submitted in supporting material in Image section (word document format). Figures (excluding graphs) should be submitted in Image section (jpeg format with minimum 300 dpi).
A scanned image of Ethical Clearance certificate should be submitted.
The copyright process is now digital to streamline manuscript submissions. Please follow these guidelines for a smooth submission process:

The submitting author must ensure that all co-authors, with their correct email addresses [mandatory], are added in the 'Authors and Institutions' section during the third step of online submission.
After submission, all co-authors will receive an email with a link to provide their digital copyright consent. Please ensure all co-authors complete this process within seven days of submission.

The submitting author can track the copyright status of their co-authors in the 'Manuscript Information' page by clicking the manuscript ID on their dashboard.
Do not upload scanned copies of signed copyright forms during submission.
Manuscript review will proceed only after all co-authors have submitted their digital copyright consent.
In the event that the article is accepted for publication, authors will transfer, assign or otherwise convey all copyright ownership, including any and all rights incidental thereto, exclusively to the Journal.

All manuscripts submitted for publication to the JEFI should include the following:

1. Title Page file

2. An Article file

3. Tables & Figures

4. A scanned copy of the ethical clearance certificate

5. Undertaking by authors & copyright transfer agreement.

Details are given below:

1. Title Page File: Number all pages in sequence beginning with the title page. This should include a Covering letter, Title page, and Author's contribution in a single file. This should contain the title of the manuscript, a short title (not more than 40 letters) to be used as the running title, the Word count of the abstract and main text, the number of references, figures, and the table should also be mentioned in the title page.

· The covering letter should explain why the paper should be published in the JEFI, rather than a specialty journal. One of the authors should be identified as the corresponding author of the paper, who would be responsible for the contents of the paper as for communication with the Editorial office. Author should declare that the article was not published or under consideration, in part or whole, simultaneously in any other journal or proceedings.

· Title page should include (i) Name(s) of author(s); (ii) Highest degree; (iii) Name(s) of the Department(s); (iv) Designations (academic position) of authors in the Department; (v) Complete postal addresses, mobile number and e-mail id of all authors; (vi) name of corresponding author with all above mentioned details.

· Title page also should include: (i) Type of manuscript: original article/ review/ correspondence/ perspective/ view point/ clinical image/ letter to editor; (ii) Title; (iii) Short title; (iv) Number of Tables; (v) Number of Figures; (vi) Source of financial support in the form of grants; (vii) Registration number in case of Clinical Trials;

· Specific author's contribution should be given at the end in the Title page.

2. An Article File

Title: The title of the article should be short, continuous (broken or hyphenated titles are not acceptable), and yet sufficiently descriptive and informative so as to be useful in indexing and information retrieval.

A short running title not exceeding 6-7 words must also be provided.

Abstract: This should be a structured condensation of the work not exceeding 250 words for original article/ reviews / systematic reviews and 200 words for short communication/ Letter to Editor/ Perspectives/ View Point. It should be structured under the following headings: Background, Materials & Methods, Results, Conclusions, and 5-8 keywords to index the subject matter of the article arranged alphabetically. Please do not make any other heading.

Text: It must be concise and should follow the IMRAD format: Background, Materials and Methods, Result, Discussion and Conclusion. The matter must be written in a manner, which is easy to understand, and should be restricted to the topic being presented. Each Table and Figure should be on a separate page and should be given at the end of the manuscript after the references. Please do not insert tables etc. within the text nor attach/upload them separately.

Background: A brief introduction stating the scope of the paper precisely should be given. Review of the literature should be restricted to reasons for undertaking the present study and provide only the most essential background. The objective of the study should be written clearly with adequate justification at the end of this section.

Material & Methods: The nomenclature, the source of material and equipment used, within the manufacturer's details in parenthesis, should be clearly mentioned. The procedures adopted should be explicitly stated to enable other workers to reproduce the results, if necessary. New methods may be described in sufficient detail indicating their limitations. Established methods can be just mentioned with authentic references and significant deviations, if any given, with reasons for adopting them. While reporting experiments on human subjects and animals, it should be clearly mentioned that the procedures followed are in accordance with the ethical standards laid down by the national bodies or organizations of the particular country. For example, for research carried out in India on human subjects, the ICMR's Ethical guidelines for biomedical and health research on human participants (2017) should be adhered to Click Here for view. Similarly, for experiments on laboratory animals the ICMR's guidelines: Use of animals in scientific research (May 2006)/INSA's guidelines for care and use of animals in scientific research (2000) or guidelines of the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA: https://ccsea.gov.in/Auth/index.aspx) should be followed. Adequate information should be provided on the care and use of laboratory animals, source of animals, strain, age, sex, housing and nutrition, etc. Whenever needed, appropriate certification should be provided at the time of submission of the manuscripts. The drugs and chemicals used should be precisely identified, including generic name(s), dosage(s), and route(s) of administration.

Study design: Selection of the observational or experimental participants (patients or laboratory animals, including controls, whether randomly or consecutively) and basis of sample size calculation should be mentioned clearly, including eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population.

Contributors may consult the following Guidelines for specific study designs:

SN	Type of Study	Source
1.	Randomized controlled trials (RCTs)	CONSORT- http://www.consort-statement.org
2.	Systematic reviews & meta-analysis	PRISMA guidelines- http://www.prisma-statement.org
3.	Observational studies in epidemiology	STROBE - http://www.strobe-statement.org/
4.	Meta-analysis of observational studies in epidemiology	MOOSE - https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/meta-analysis-of-observational-studies-in-epidemiology-a-proposal-for-reporting-meta-analysis-of-observational-studies-in-epidemiology-moose-group/
5.	Studies on diagnostic accuracy	STARD - http://www.stard-statement.org

* For any other type of study contributors may consult ICMJE website (www.icmje.org)

Clinical Trials: All clinical trials should be registered in a Primary Clinical Trial Registry and the Registration number be given under Material & Methods.

Articles presenting with results of randomized clinical trials should provide 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/). It should be clearly stated that study protocol was approved by the institutional/local ethics committee and written consent obtained from the participants.

The statistical analysis done and statistical significance of the findings when appropriate, should be mentioned. Unless absolutely necessary for a clear understanding of the article, detailed description of statistical treatment may be avoided. Articles based heavily on statistical considerations, however, need to give details particularly when new or uncommon methods are employed. For standard and routine statistical methods employed, authors need to give only authentic references.

Results: Only such data as are essential for understanding the discussion and main conclusions emerging from the study should be included. The data should be arranged in unified and coherent sequence so that the report develops clearly and logically. Data presented in Tables and Figures should not be repeated in the text. Only important observations need to be emphasized or summarized. The same data should not be presented both in tabular and graphic forms. Interpretation of the data should be taken up only under the Discussion and not under Results.

Discussion: The discussion should deal with the interpretation of results without repeating information already presented under Results. It should relate new findings to the known ones and include logical deductions. It should also mention any weaknesses/limitations/lacunae of the study.

Conclusion: The conclusions can be linked with the goals of the study but unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by the data should be avoided. Claiming of priority on work that is ongoing should also be avoided. All hypotheses should, if warranted, clearly be identified as such; recommendations may be included as part of the Discussion, only when considered absolutely necessary and relevant. This section should preferably end with a concluding remark.

Declarations / Acknowledgment: These should be placed as the last element of the text before references. Written permissions of persons/agencies acknowledged should be provided.

Financial support & Sponsorship: A statement should be made for funding support and /or sponsorship received from national or international funding agencies.

Conflict of interest: A brief statement on the source of funding and conflict of interest should be included. It should be included on a separate page immediately following the title page.

References:

In citing other work only reference consulted in the original should be included. If it is against citation by others, this should be so stated. Signed permission is required for use of data from persons cited in personal communication. ANSI standard style adapted by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) should be followed. (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html)

References should be numbered and listed consecutively in the order in which they are first cited in the text and should be identified in the text, tables and, legends by Arabic numerals as superscripts in square brackets (Vancouver). The full list of references at the end of the paper should include; the names and initials of all authors up to six (if more than 6, only the first 6 are given followed by et al.); the title of the paper, the journal title abbreviation according to the style of Index Medicus (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=journals), year of publication; volume number; first and last page numbers. Reference of books should give the names and initials of the authors, book title, place of publication, publisher, and year; those with multiple authors should also include the chapter title, first and last page numbers, and names and initials of editors. For citing website references, give the complete URL of the website, followed by the date of accession of the website. Quote such references as – the author's name, the title of the article, the website address, and the date of accession.

Example: …… with no evidence of intratubular testicular neoplasia.[1]

Unpublished data or articles submitted for publication are not to be cited in the reference list. They are cited within parenthesis in the text. (Example: Aaron J, unpublished data). Papers presented at meetings are not cited in the reference list. They are cited within parenthesis in the text. (Example: Aaron J et al., presented at the 2009 annual meeting of the Society).

References follow the ICMJE guidelines. The author’s surname is followed by the author’s initials in capitals without spaces or full stops. All references show page numbers in the format (121-26). Refer to the List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus for abbreviations of journal names, or access the list from here.

Sample references are given below:

Articles in Journals

1. Olson MC, Posniak HV, Fisher SG, ME Flisak, CG Salomon, RC Flanigan, et al. Directed and random biopsies of the prostate: indications based on combined results of transrectal sonography and prostate-specific antigen density determinations. Am J Roentgenol 1994;163:1407–11.

List the first six contributors followed by et al in all references.

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.

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.

Books and Other Monographs

Personal Author(s):

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

Editor(s), compiler(s) as author:

Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996.

Chapter in A Book

Turgut AT, Dogra VS. Prostate carcinoma: Evaluation using transrectal sonography. In: Hayat MA, ed. Methods of cancer diagnosis, therapy and prognosis. 1st ed. New York, NA: Elsevier; 2008. p. 499-520.

Electronic Sources as Reference

Refer APA’s Quick guide on reference for electronic references.

Monograph on the Internet format: Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [monograph on the Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9].

Refer Homepage/Web site and Part of a homepage/Web site formats in the hyperlink provided

1. Journals: Mehta MN, Mehta NJ. Serum lipids and ABO Blood group in cord blood of neonates. Indian J Pediatr. 1984; 51:39-43.

2. Book: Smith GDL. Chronic ear disease. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 1980.

3. Chapter in the Book: Malhotra KC. Medicogenetics problems of Indian tribes. In: Verma IC, editor. Medical genetics in India. vol. 2. Pondicherry: Auroma Entrprises; 1978. p. 51-55.

4. Papers accepted but not yet published should be included in the references followed by 'in press'. Those in preparation, personal communications, and unpublished observations should be referred to as such in the text only.

3. Tables and Figures

The count of tables/ figures are restricted to (5) Original articles, (3) Review article ; (2) Perspective/View points and (1) Short communication/ Letter to Editor. There should be minimum number of tables/figures in the Systematic Reviews. The extra table/figure may be uploaded as a Supplementary file which would be available only online (Not in the print version).

Tables: These must be self-explanatory and must not duplicate information in the text. Each table must have a title and should be numbered with Arabic numerals. Each table should be typed in double space, on a separate page and included at the end of the manuscript after the references. No internal horizontal or vertical lines should be used. All tables should be cited in the text. Tables should be prepared in APA standard format. Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals (1,2,3…etc). They should bear a brief title and column headings should also be short. Units of measurement should be abbreviated and placed below the headings. Statistical measurement variations such as SD and SE should be identified. Inclusion of structural formula in Tables should be avoided. Abbreviations used to be given in the footnote.

Illustration / Figures: These should be of the highest quality, submit glossy black and white photographs. Graphs should be drawn by the artist or prepared using standard computer software. Number all illustrations with Arabic numerals (1,2,3….). Figures should be submitted in JPEG or TIFF format (size not more than 1 MB and minimum 300 dpi) with appropriate Title and explanation of symbols in the legends for illustrations. Within a multi-panel figure, different parts should be labelled as A, B, C,...etc. on top left corner. Photomicrographs should have internal scale markers regarding details of magnification to facilitate reduction in size in final print. Symbols, arrows and letters used in the photomicrographs should be legible and in contrast with the background. Graphs in JPEG/TIFF format can be uploaded as Figures.

All published material should be acknowledged and copyright material should be submitted along with the written permission of the copyright holder.

Legends: A descriptive legend must accompany each illustration and must define all abbreviations used therein.

Click here to download the powerpoint presentation on common reference styles and using the reference checking facility on the manuscript submission site.

Abbreviation: The abbreviations should be used in the text, tables and illustrations without a full stop. Authors should define new abbreviations when used first in the text.

Standard abbreviations to be used in JEFI

Molar (mole/litre)	M*	counts per minute	cpm
milli molar (m mole/litre)	mM	Curie	Ci
Micromolar (mole/litre)	μM	rad	rad
mole (quantity of substance)	mol	Roentgen	R
normal	N	gravity	g
metre	m	ortho	o
centimetre	cm	meta	m
square centimetre	cm2	para	p
millimetre	mm	intramuscular	im
micrometre	μm	intraperitoneal	ip
nanometre	nm	intravenous	iv
picometre	pm	subcutaneous	sc
mg/ 100 ml	mg/dl	oral	po
Angstrom	Å	lethal dose-50	LD50
litre	1	Ampere	A
millilitre	ml	milli Ampere	mA
microlitre	μl	Watt	W
gram	g	anti meridiem (before noon)	am
milligram	mg	post meridiem (after noon)	pm
kilogram	kg	volume	vol
hour(s)	h	volume ratio	vol/vol
minute(s)	min	(volume per volume)
second(s)	sec	weight	wt
week(s)	wk	weight per volume	wt/vol
year(s)	yr	weight ratio	wt/wt
Probability
(statistical significance)	P	(weight per weight)

*Should not be used as an abbreviation for mole.

4. Ethical Clearance Certificate

All studies conducted on patients / volunteers/ Human biological material/animals should submit a scanned copy of Ethical Clearance Certificate.

5. Undertaking By Author(S) & Copyright Transfer Agreement

It is necessary that all the authors give an undertaking (in the format specified by the journal) indicating their consent to be co-authors in the sequence indicated on the title page. Each author should give his or her names as well as the address and appointment at the time the work was done, additionally current address for correspondence including telephone and email address. A senior author may sign the Undertaking by Authors for a junior author who has left the institution and whose whereabouts are not known and take responsibility.

A paper with corporate (collective) authorship must specify the key persons responsible for the article; others contributing to the work should be recognized separately.

Author(s) will be asked to sign a transfer of copyright agreement, which recognizes the common interest that both journal and author(s) have in the protection of copyright. It will also allow us to tackle copyright infringements ourselves without having to go back to authors each time.

FORMAT OF SUBMITTED ARTICLES

The formats for different types of articles are summarized as follows:

Article type	Pages*	Word limit	Figure or Table	References	Abstract
Original Article (including also Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis)	6	2500	Up to 5	35 (50 for Systematic Reviews and meta-analyses)	200 words
Review (State of the Art, Guidelines/Consensus)	10	3500	Up to 5	70	200 words
Minireview	5	2000	3–4	40	150 words
Letter	3	1100	1	15	No
Correspondence	2	600	1	10	No
Editorial	1–3	500- 1400	1-2	25	100 words

*Number stated refers to the maximum number of typeset pages before fees apply

Papers that do not conform to these guidelines will either be rejected, returned to the authors for revision prior to peer review, or subject to fees for excess page charges (see below).

Types of Manuscripts

Original research

Original research articles report original data. This article type includes all research reviews that systematically synthesise evidence. Research submissions should have a clear, justified research question. Please include the key messages of your article after your abstract using the following headings. This section should be no more than 3-5 sentences and should be distinct from the abstract; be succinct, specific and accurate. This will be published as a summary box after the abstract in the final published article.

What is already known on this topic – summarise the state of scientific knowledge on this subject before you did your study and why this study needed to be done

What this study adds – summarise what we now know as a result of this study that we did not know before

How this study might affect research, practice or policy – summarise the implications of this study

Word count and style: up to 5,000 words, follow the IMRaD style (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion) and written in accordance with the relevant research reporting guideline from the Equator Network Title: include the research question and the study design or review type Structured abstract: up to 350 words Abstract headings: Objectives, Design, Setting, Participants, Interventions, Main outcome measures, Results, Conclusions, Registration (these can be modified for clinical trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses) Tables/illustrations: up to 5 References: up to 100

Review

A narrative review is a comprehensive overview of the literature that synthesises the current research, presents the key findings, and highlights gaps in the existing literature. Narrative reviews are an important tool for researchers to identify research trends and to inform future research directions. Authors are welcome to discuss possible topics for review directly with the Editor.

Word count: up to 5,000 Summary: up to 250 words Tables/Illustrations: up to 6 References: up to 100

Case Report

A case report presents an unusual, novel or well recognised problem as a case that offers valuable lessons. They do not extensively review all literature related to the topic, but emphasise how the case fundamentally adds to our existing knowledge. Case reports should have a maximum of 4 authors and include no more than three cases.

Word count: up to 2,000 Abstract: up to 250 words Tables/Illustrations: up to 3 References: up to 20

Correspondence

Correspondence responds to research articles recently published in the journal. It could also cover items in the news, media reports or new policies. It provides a platform for discussion and dialogue between readers and the journal.

Word count: up to 800 Tables/illustrations: up to 1 References: up to 10

Opinion

Opinion articles provide authors with an opportunity to express their opinion on a specific topic or them.

Word count: up to 1,200 Tables/illustrations: up to 1 References: up to 10

Editorial and Commentary

These are usually commissioned. Please contact the editorial office with a proposal before submitting.

Word count: up to 1,200 Tables/illustrations: up to 1 References: up to 10

Abstracting & Indexing

JEFI is currently registered with leading abstracting partners, including:

Google Scholars l Crossref l ISSN l Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research l Scilit l Index Copernicus l Open Alex l Elsevier Solutions

Indexing processes with Web of Science Core Collection, DOAJ, PubMed, and EMBASE/Scopus are underway.

Ahead of Print Policy

The editors of JEFI are pleased to offer electronic publication of accepted titles prior to issue publication.

Articles appearing in “Ahead of Print” section have been peer-reviewed and to achieve faster and greater dissemination of knowledge and information, the journal publishes articles online as ‘Ahead of Print’ immediately on acceptance.

Articles appearing here may contain statements, opinions, and information that have errors in facts, figures, or interpretation.

Journal reprints

Sponsored reprints, supplements, and customised projects:

Journal reprints provide scientific evidence that establishes epidemiological ground breaking research. JEFI provide reprint services including articles, supplements, entire issue reprints, and conference proceedings on demand.

Archiving Policy

JEFI archives its content with LOCKSS and CLOCKSS.

The LOCKSS program offers decentralized and distributed preservation, seamless perpetual access, and preservation of the authentic original version of the content.

The PKP PN ensures that journals that are not part of any other digital preservation service (such as CLOCKSS or Portico) can be preserved for long-term access. For additional details about the PKP PN, see the high-level overview (an early discussion document). All URLs are OAI-qualified

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Copyrights

The articles published in JEFI are under Indian and international copyrights. The Journal provides open access to its content, granting users a free, irrevocable, worldwide and perpetual right to read, download and share the work subject to the terms of the applicable open access license applied to the work. Users must provide appropriate attribution to the original authors and source, and comply with any additional terms specified by the license under which the content is published.

Open Access Policy and Creative Commons Licensing

JEFI is an open-access journal, and manuscripts published are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 License (CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0), which allows others to remix, transform, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

Content License: This work is licensed under a https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

You are free to:

Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.

The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms:

Attribution: You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

Non commercial: You may not use the material for commercial purposes.

No Derivatives: If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.

No additional restrictions: You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Notices: You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation. No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.

Compliance with Funder-Mandated Open Access Policies

An author whose work is funded by an organization that mandates the use of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 License is able to meet that requirement through the available open-access license for approved funders.

Protection of Patients' Right 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:

1. 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.

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

Copyright and Open Access Statement

All of the content published in the JEFI is protected under the International copyright law, defined by Creative Commons and International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The author of an article retains the academic copyright of the content and can self-archive the article. The journal retains the commercial rights of the published content and publisher executes the commercial rights on behalf of the journal. The journal also grants to all readers and users a free, irrevocable, global, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute and display the content publicly and to make and distribute derivative works in any digital medium for any reasonable and non-commercial purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship and ownership of the copyrights under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International Public License.

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