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Start SubmissionThe Journal of the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine (JPGIM) is an editorially independent journal published by the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo. It is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. It strictly abides by the criteria specified by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
The primary aim of the JPGIM is to provide a platform for publishing articles originating from all fields of medicine, in relation to clinical medicine and preventive medicine. The JPGIM encourages publications arising from postgraduate research in Sri Lanka. The journal aims to publish articles relevant to clinicians, policymakers, and researchers across a range of settings that address the major biological, environmental, social, and political determinants of health. The editors make decisions on submissions based upon their potential to directly and substantially inform clinical practice or health policy, and their relevance to our national and international audience.
Articles accepted for publication include original articles, brief communications, reviews, case reports and letters. These will be peer reviewed by clinicians or researchers who are experts in the relevant field. We aim to provide an initial response within six (6) weeks of receipt of a manuscript that conforms to the specified format.
Articles are published, throughout the year and each volume of the Journal consists of articles published during a calendar year.
All submissions to this journal and all correspondence should be via the submission system. http://jpgim.sljol.info/author/login/?submit=True
1. Submission Meta data: should be entered by the authors via the submission system.
Authors: Name, ORCID, affiliation, country, competing interests and bio statement of each author should be added.
Authorship requirements
All authors must meet the criteria for authorship as outlined in the authorship policy. Those who contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship can be mentioned in the Acknowledgments.
Author names and affiliations
Enter author names on the title page of the manuscript and in the online submission system in the following order:
Each author on the list must have an affiliation. The affiliation includes department, university, or organizational affiliation and its location, including city, state/province (if applicable), and country.
If an author has multiple affiliations, enter all affiliations on the title page only. In the submission system, enter only the preferred or primary affiliation.
Corresponding author
The submitting author is automatically designated as the corresponding author in the submission system. The corresponding author is the primary contact for the journal office and the only author able to view or change the manuscript while it is under editorial consideration. Only one corresponding author can be designated in the submission system, but this does not restrict the number of corresponding authors that may be listed on the article in the event of publication.
Group authorship
If a manuscript is submitted on behalf of a consortium or group, include the consortium or group name in the author list, and include the full list of members in the Acknowledgments or in a supporting information file.
Author Contributions
JPGIM has adopted the CRediT Taxonomy of author contributions. Enter all author contributions in the submission system during submission. The contributions of all authors must be described using the CRediT Taxonomy of author roles. The submitting author is responsible for completing this information at submission, and it is expected that all authors will have reviewed, discussed, and agreed to their individual contributions ahead of this time.
Title: should be concise, specific and informative (reflecting the general objective of the study)
Abstract: The abstract text should be entered in the submission system.
Indexing information: Academic discipline and sub-disciplines, Keywords, Geo-spatial coverage, Chronological or historical coverage, Research sample characteristics, Type, method or approach
Key words: A maximum of five and a minimum of three key words should be stated and should be taken from those recommended by the US National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) browser list at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html.
2. Cover letter
Upload a cover letter as a supplement file in the online system.
The cover letter should address the following questions:
Confirmation that all authors have approved the final version of the manuscript that is submitted to the journal, and agree to the author list and author contributions. The signatures of all authors are required.
Upload a copy of ethics approval as a supplement file in the online system.
All research involving human participants or animals should obtain ethics clearance from a recognized Ethics Review Committee (ERC) and a statement to that effect should be included in the Methods section of the manuscript including the name of the ERC. The Journal is governed by the ethical principles described in the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association.
4. Patient Privacy and Informed Consent for Publication
We uphold the right to anonymity and take all necessary steps to protect the privacy of those who participate in research. Authors must avoid providing identifying information unless strictly necessary for the submission.
All submissions are checked for documentation of patient consent for publication and for any potentially identifying information. Submissions that include identifying patient information without appropriate patient consent will not be considered for publication.
If identifying information is discovered after publication, the article will be temporarily withdrawn while any content compromising participant privacy is removed.
5. Copyright
Authors of articles published in the Journal of the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine retain the copyright of their articles. They are free to reproduce and disseminate their work. The source (JPGIM) should be cited when articles published in the JPGIM are reproduced or stored in a repository.
Articles in the Journal of the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
6. Manuscript file
6.1. Title page
The title, names and affiliations of all authors and postal address, e-mail address, telephone, and fax numbers of the corresponding author should be included on a title page as the first page of the manuscript file.
Word count of the main text and abstract, excluding title page, abstract, references, figures and tables should be indicated in the title page
6.2. Abstract
The Abstract page comes after the title page in the manuscript file. The abstract text is also entered in a separate field in the submission system.
The Abstract concisely introduces the contents of the paper so that the reader gets the essence of the paper without referring to the main article. It should not exceed 300 words. It should mention the techniques used without going into methodological detail and summarize the most important results with important numerical results given.
The Abstract is conceptually divided into the following sections with these headings:
Do not include any citations in the Abstract. Avoid specialist abbreviations.
6.3 Key words
A maximum of five and a minimum of three key words should be stated below the abstract and should be taken from those recommended by the US National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) browser list at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html. The key words are also entered in a separate field in the submission system.
6.4 Introduction
The Introduction should put the focus of the manuscript into a broader context. As you compose the Introduction, think of readers who are not experts in this field. Include a brief review of the key literature. If there are relevant controversies or disagreements in the field, they should be mentioned so that a non-expert reader can delve into these issues further. The Introduction should conclude with a brief statement of the overall aim of the experiments and a comment about whether that aim was achieved.
6.5 Methods
This section should provide enough detail for reproduction of the findings. Protocols for new methods should be included, but well-established protocols may simply be referenced.
This section should also include a section with descriptions of any statistical methods employed. These should conform to the criteria outlined by the Uniform Requirements, as follows:
[Describe statistical methods with sufficient detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to judge its appropriateness for the study and to verify the reported results. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Avoid relying solely on statistical hypothesis testing, such as P values, which fail to convey important information about effect size and precision of estimates. References for the design of the study and statistical methods should be to standard works when possible (with pages stated). Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols. Specify the statistical software package(s) and versions used. Distinguish pre specified from exploratory analyses, including subgroup analyses.]
6.6 Results
The Results section should include all relevant positive and negative findings. The section may be divided into subsections, each with a concise subheading. The Results section should be written in past tense.
As outlined in the Uniform Requirements, authors that present statistical data in the Results section should do the following:
[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 significance attached to them, if any. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess supporting data. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Avoid nontechnical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as ‘random’ (which implies a randomizing device), ‘normal’, ‘significant’, ‘correlations’, and ‘sample’]
6.7 Discussion
The Discussion should be concise and well argued. It should start with a brief summary of the main findings. It should include paragraphs on the generalizability, clinical relevance, strengths, and limitations of your study.
You may also wish to discuss the following points:
6.8 Acknowledgments
6.9 References
Any and all available works can be cited in the reference list. Acceptable sources include:
Do not cite the following sources in the reference list:
References are listed at the end of the manuscript and numbered in the order that they appear in the text. In the text, cite the reference number in square brackets (e.g., “We used the techniques developed by our colleagues [19] to analyze the data”). JPGIM uses the numbered citation (citation-sequence) method and first six authors, et al.
Do not include citations in abstracts. Make sure the parts of the manuscript are in the correct order before ordering the citations.
Formatting references
Proper formatting of the references is crucial because all references will be linked electronically as much as possible to the papers they cite.
JPGIM uses the reference style outlined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), also referred to as the “Vancouver” style. Example formats are listed below. Additional examples are in the ICMJE sample references.
A reference management tool, EndNote, offers a current style file that can assist you with the formatting of your references. If you have problems with any reference management program, please contact the source company's technical support.
Journal name abbreviations should be those found in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) databases.
Published articles
Hou WR, Hou YL, Wu GF, Song Y, Su XL, Sun B, et al. cDNA, genomic sequence cloning and overexpression of ribosomal protein gene L9 (rpL9) of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). Genet Mol Res. 2011;10: 1576-1588.
Devaraju P, Gulati R, Antony PT, Mithun CB, Negi VS. Susceptibility to SLE in South Indian Tamils may be influenced by genetic selection pressure on TLR2 and TLR9 genes. Mol Immunol. 2014 Nov 22. pii: S0161-5890(14)00313-7. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2014.11.005
Note: A DOI number for the full-text article is acceptable as an alternative to or in addition to traditional volume and page numbers.
Accepted, unpublished articles
Same as published articles, but substitute “Forthcoming” for page numbers or DOI.
Websites or online articles
Huynen MMTE, Martens P, Hilderlink HBM. The health impacts of globalisation: a conceptual framework. Global Health. 2005;1: 14. Available from: http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/1/1/14.
Books
Bates B. Bargaining for life: A social history of tuberculosis. 1st ed. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press; 1992.
Book Chapters
Hansen B. New York City epidemics and history for the public. In: Harden VA, Risse GB, editors. AIDS and the historian. Bethesda: National Institutes of Health; 1991. pp. 21-28.
Published Media (print or online newspapers and magazine articles)
Fountain H. For Already Vulnerable Penguins, Study Finds Climate Change Is Another Danger. The New York Times. 29 Jan 2014. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/30/science/earth/climate-change-taking-toll-on-penguins-study-finds.html. Cited 17 March 2014.
Masters' theses or doctoral dissertations
Wells A. Exploring the development of the independent, electronic, scholarly journal. M.Sc. Thesis, The University of Sheffield. 1999. Available from: http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?2e09
The use of British style of English is recommended and a few examples are: aetiology; oestradiol; anaemia; haemorrhage; foetus
Use “s” instead of “z” when spelling words such as: minimise; organisation; capitalisation
All measurements must be given in SI units (except for blood pressure values which are reported in mm Hg) as outlined in the latest edition of Units, Symbols and Abbreviations: A Guide for Medical and Scientific Editors and Authors (Royal Society of Medicine Press, London). Statistics and measurements should be written as numerals (eg: 20 mm), except when a sentence is begun with a number in which case it should be written as a word (eg: “Sixty percent were females” and not “60% were females”). Referral to numbers in the text, which do not arise from measurements, should be spelt out if it is less than 10. When using abbreviations/ acronyms, write the full phrase/ term, followed by the abbreviation/ acronym in parentheses in the first instance and thereafter continue with the abbreviation/ acronym. However use of abbreviations/ acronyms should be done sparingly and are recommended only when it makes the reader’s task of repeating long technical terms cumbersome. Following abbreviations should only be used in parentheses (eg. and ie.). Use of only the generic name is recommended for drugs.
Original Articles
The word count should be less than 4000 words (excluding title page, abstract, references, figures and tables) with a maximum of fifty (50) references. The maximum number of tables or figures allowed is 5. The manuscript should be organised as indicated below.
Tables: see JPGIM Tables
Figures: see JPGIM Figures
Appendices: When data is too unwieldy to be presented easily as text or in figure form, the use of appendices for the purpose will be allowed. Appendices should be submitted as a supplementary file to the manuscript.
Please note that even if a manuscript is submitted to be considered as a full length article, the editors can decide to publish it as a Brief Communication. The ultimate decision with regard to the type of article under which a manuscript is published lies with the Editors.
Brief Communications
The word count should be between 1000 to 1500 word with a maximum of twenty (20) references. The number of tables or figures allowed is two. The Abstract should be unstructured and consist of no more than six lines.
Instructions relating to the title page, first page, text, measurements and abbreviations, tables, figures references and appendices for submission of original articles should be followed when formulating the manuscript of a brief communication.
Letters to the Editor
The word count is limited to 500, with a maximum of 10 references. These may include comments regarding medical and scientific issues or previously published papers. With regard to the latter, the authors will be allowed the right of response which also should not exceed 500 words. Instructions relating to the title page, first page, measurements and abbreviations, and references for submission of original articles should be followed when formulating letters to the Editor.
Case Reports
These may cover either research or practice.
There are four categories:
The latter category may be considered as original research and should conform to PRISMA standards available at http://www.prisma-statement.org/. Instructions relating to the title page, first page, text, measurements and abbreviations, tables, figures references and appendices for submission of original articles should be followed when formulating the review.
Peer Review
All manuscripts, except otherwise indicated, are peer reviewed by two reviewers and the review process is blinded. The Editors reserve the right to modify manuscripts to remove ambiguity and/or repetition and to reject contentious material from being published.
Review, Editing and Production
All new, revised and resubmitted manuscripts shall be submitted online. The review process will take one to two months from the date of submission and shall be double blinded as indicated above until acceptance. The time from submission to acceptance is one to three months on average. Upon acceptance, authors will be asked to submit the final version source files for editing and production. The edited manuscripts will be sent via the submission system for proof reading before publishing.
Proofs
Revisions to the proofs are limited to misprints and errors of facts. Major alterations to the content will not be accepted at this stage. Proofs not returned during the time specified will be assumed to be acceptable.
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
Authors of articles published in the Journal of the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine retain the copyright of their articles. They are free to reproduce and disseminate their work. The source (JPGIM) should be cited when articles published in the JPGIM are reproduced or stored in a repository.
Articles in the Journal of the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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. For more information, see the full Privacy Policy here.