Author Guidelines

Publication Policy

All manuscripts accepted by IJCTM are published online in open-access format. The official publication date corresponds to the date of online availability. Articles may be published Ahead of Print (Online First) ahead of assignment to a specific issue. Each published article receives a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) registered with CrossRef.

ICMJE Compliance

IJCTM adheres to the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the ethical standards outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The following policies apply to all submissions.

1. Prior Publication

Submission implies the work has not been previously published and is not under simultaneous consideration elsewhere, except in the form of abstracts (≤250 words). Authors must obtain permission for any previously published figures or tables and provide appropriate acknowledgement. Copyright compliance is the sole responsibility of the authors.

2. Authorship Criteria (ICMJE)

Authorship requires ALL of the following contributions:

•       Substantial contribution to conception, design, data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation

•       Drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content

•       Final approval of the version submitted for publication

•       Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work

Contributions of all authors must be described using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) framework. Ghost writing and guest authorship are strictly prohibited. Changes to authorship after submission require written agreement from all co-authors and are generally not permitted after acceptance.

3. Conflict of Interest

All authors must disclose any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest that could influence the study, including funding sources, affiliations, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, or personal relationships. Disclosure statements are published alongside accepted articles. Authors with no conflicts must state: "The authors declare no competing interests."

4. Research Integrity

IJCTM maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism. All submissions are screened using iThenticate or equivalent plagiarism detection tools. Similarity scores are assessed contextually. Confirmed misconduct leads to rejection or retraction and may be reported to relevant institutional authorities in accordance with COPE guidelines.

5. Copyright Policy

Authors retain copyright and grant IJCTM a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to publish, reproduce, and distribute the article under CC BY 4.0. Authors may reproduce their work in other publications with appropriate acknowledgement of original publication in IJCTM.

6. Ethical Approval & Consent

All studies involving human participants, animals, biological materials, or identifiable data must have prior approval from an Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) or Institutional Review Board (IRB). Authors must confirm adherence to the Declaration of Helsinki and provide:

•       Name of the approving ethics committee and approval/reference number

•       Statement confirming informed consent from all participants

•       Justification if ethical approval was waived (e.g., secondary data, anonymised records)

 Retrospective ethical approval is not acceptable. Manuscripts lacking appropriate ethical clearance will be rejected.

Cover Letter Requirements

A cover letter addressed to the Editor-in-Chief must accompany all submissions. The cover letter should include:

•       Title of the manuscript and article type

•       A brief statement (2–3 sentences) explaining the significance of the work and its suitability for IJCTM

•       Confirmation that the manuscript has not been published elsewhere and is not under simultaneous review

•       Disclosure of any prior presentation of the work at conferences

•       Names and institutional email addresses of at least 3 suggested expert reviewers (who are not co-authors or from the same institution)

•       Names of any individuals or institutions who should be excluded from reviewing, with justification

•       Any request for expedited review, with justification

Language & Editing Policy

All manuscripts must be written in clear, concise, grammatically correct American English. Non-native English speakers are strongly encouraged to seek professional language editing or statistical review prior to submission to ensure their work is assessed on scientific merit.

Manuscripts with significant language issues that impede comprehension may be returned prior to peer review. IJCTM does not endorse specific language editing services but recommends that authors use reputable services and disclose this in the Acknowledgements.

Generative AI & AI-Assisted Writing Policy

IJCTM aligns with ICMJE, COPE, and major publisher policies on the use of generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Grammarly AI, Google Bard) in manuscript preparation:

•       AI tools may not be listed as authors. Authorship requires accountability, which AI cannot assume.

•       Any use of AI tools in drafting, editing, data analysis, or image generation must be disclosed in the Methods section or Acknowledgements, specifying the tool used and the nature of its contribution.

•       Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical compliance of all AI-assisted content.

•       AI-generated references, fabricated citations, or hallucinated data constitute research misconduct and may lead to retraction.

Manuscript Preparation

Manuscripts must be written in clear, concise American English and submitted in .doc, .docx, or .rtf format using Times New Roman or Arial (12 pt), double-spaced, with continuous line numbering and 2.5 cm margins.

Article Types and Word Limits

Article Type

Word Limit

Abstract

References

Figures / Tables

Reporting Guideline

Original Article

3,000

Structured ≤250 w

30

Up to 8

CONSORT / STROBE

Review Article

6,000

Structured ≤350 w

50

Up to 6

PRISMA / AGREE II

Systematic Review / Meta-analysis

8,000

Structured ≤350 w

60

Up to 8

PRISMA 2020

Case Report

3,000

Unstructured ≤250 w

30

Up to 8

CARE

Short Communication

800

Unstructured ≤150 w

10

Up to 2

As applicable

Qualitative Study

5,000

Structured ≤300 w

40

Up to 6

COREQ / SRQR

Clinical Trial

3,500

Structured ≤300 w

35

Up to 8

CONSORT + SPIRIT

Editorial

1,500

None required

15

1

—

Letter to Editor

500

None required

5

—

—

 

Structure of Manuscripts

Original Research Articles

•       Title Page (separate file): Title, authors, affiliations, corresponding author details, ORCID iDs, word count, conflict of interest summary, funding

•       Structured Abstract (≤250 words): Background, Methods, Results, Conclusion

•       Keywords: 5–7 MeSH-compliant terms

•       Introduction: Rationale, gaps in knowledge, clear research objective/hypothesis

•       Materials & Methods: Detailed enough for independent reproducibility; include ethics approval, statistical methods, software used, and registration number for clinical trials

•       Results: Clear, sequential presentation; no interpretation; supported by tables/figures

•       Discussion: Interpretation in context of existing literature; acknowledge limitations

•       Conclusion: Concise; aligned with stated objectives; no new data

•       Acknowledgements, Conflict of Interest, Funding

•       Author Contributions (CRediT taxonomy)

•       Data Availability Statement

•       References (Vancouver/ICMJE format)

•       Tables and Figures (with captions)

Review Articles & Systematic Reviews

•       Title Page, Structured Abstract (≤350 words), Keywords

•       Introduction, Methods (search strategy, inclusion/exclusion criteria, PRISMA flow diagram), Results, Discussion, Conclusion

•       PRISMA 2020 checklist mandatory for systematic reviews

•       AGREE II checklist mandatory for clinical practice guidelines

Case Reports

Case reports must follow the CARE (CAse REport) guideline. Structure: Title Page, Abstract (unstructured, ≤250 words), Introduction, Case Presentation, Discussion (including relevant literature), Patient Perspective (where applicable), Conclusion, Patient Consent statement.

Qualitative Studies

Qualitative studies must follow COREQ (for focus groups/interviews) or SRQR (for broader qualitative designs). The Methods section must describe sampling strategy, data collection, reflexivity, and analytical approach in sufficient detail for replication.

Key Section Requirements

Abstract: Structured, ≤250 words (original articles); must include all four elements: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusion. Trial registration number required for clinical trials.

Keywords: 5–7 MeSH-compliant terms; do not repeat words from the title.

Methods: Detailed for reproducibility; state statistical software, version, and significance threshold; report effect sizes and confidence intervals.

Results: Present sequentially; do not repeat data in text and tables; all figures / tables must be cited in text.

Discussion: Interpret findings; compare with existing literature; explicitly state study limitations.

Conclusion: Concise; no new data; include implications for clinical practice or future research.

Figures and Tables

Figures must be high-resolution (minimum 300 dpi) in standard formats (TIFF, JPG, EPS, PNG). Composite figures should be assembled prior to submission. All figures and tables must be numbered consecutively and cited in the text. Legends must be self-explanatory and placed immediately below each figure.

Tables must be formatted as editable Word tables (not images). Data presented in tables should not duplicate textual descriptions. Statistical notation (e.g., p-values, CI) must be consistent throughout.

Colour figures are published online at no extra charge. If colour is used to convey data, authors must ensure the figure is interpretable in greyscale.

Supplementary Data

Authors are encouraged to submit supplementary materials (datasets, additional figures, videos, protocols, code) to enhance transparency and reproducibility. Supplementary data will be peer-reviewed alongside the main manuscript and published online upon acceptance with appropriate identifiers.

Reference Style (Vancouver / ICMJE)

References must follow the Vancouver style as per ICMJE recommendations. References are numbered consecutively in order of first citation and appear as superscript Arabic numerals in the text. Journal names must be abbreviated according to the NLM catalogue. A maximum of 6 authors should be listed; if more, list the first 6 followed by "et al."

Examples:

•       Journal article: Sharma R, Patel A, Singh B, Kumar D, Mehta S, Jain P, et al. Outcomes in type 2 diabetes management. J Clin Med. 2023;12(4):1152–9.

•       Book: Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Pfaller MA. Medical Microbiology. 8th ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier; 2016.

•  Online source: World Health Organization. Global tuberculosis report 2023 [Internet]. Geneva: WHO; 2023 [cited 2024 Jan 15]. Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240083851

•       Dataset: Dryad repository: [Author(s)]. [Title]. Dryad Digital Repository. [Year]. https://doi.org/[DOI]

Clinical Trial Registration

In accordance with ICMJE requirements, all clinical trials must be registered in a publicly accessible, recognised registry before enrolment of the first participant. Accepted registries include:

•       Clinical Trials Registry – India (CTRI; ctri.nic.in)

•       ClinicalTrials.gov (USA)

•       ISRCTN Registry (UK)

•       DRKS (Germany)

•       UMIN-CTR (Japan)

•       ANZCTR (Australia & New Zealand)

•       SLCTR (Sri Lanka) and other WHO-approved registries

 The registry name and unique registration number must be stated in the abstract and Methods section. Prospective observational studies with an interventional component also require registration. Manuscripts reporting unregistered trials will not be considered for publication.

ORCID Policy

The ORCID iD (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) of the corresponding author is mandatory and will be published alongside the article. All co-authors are strongly encouraged to provide their ORCID iDs. ORCID iDs improve author discoverability, reduce name ambiguity, and are used by major indexing databases including PubMed, Scopus, and CrossRef. Authors may register for a free ORCID iD at https://orcid.org.

Revised Manuscripts

Revisions must be submitted within the specified timeframe (2 weeks for minor revisions; 4–6 weeks for major revisions). Revisions must include:

•       A tracked-changes version of the revised manuscript

•       A point-by-point response letter addressing each reviewer and editor comment

•       A clean (non-tracked) final version for editorial processing

 Failure to resubmit within the specified period without notification may result in the manuscript being treated as a new submission.

Author Declarations

The following statements are mandatory and must be submitted during online submission:

•       Data Availability Statement — state whether data are available and provide repository DOI if applicable

•       Ethics Statement — name of ethics committee, approval number, and compliance declaration

•       Author Contributions — using CRediT taxonomy (e.g., Conceptualization: A.B.; Methodology: C.D.)

•       Funding Disclosure — all sources of financial support; state 'None' if no funding received

•       Acknowledgements — individuals and institutions who contributed but do not meet authorship criteria

•       Conflict of Interest Declaration — all financial and non-financial competing interests

•       AI Usage Disclosure — disclose any use of generative AI tools with tool name and nature of use; state 'None' if no AI tools were used

•       Suggested Reviewers — minimum 3 external expert reviewers with institutional affiliation and email; specify any exclusions with justification

Post-Acceptance Author Proofing

Upon acceptance, manuscripts undergo technical editing, copyediting, typesetting, and layout formatting. Authors will receive a PDF proof for final review and approval.

 Authors must review proofs carefully and return corrections within 48 hours. Corrections are limited to factual errors, typographical mistakes, and incorrect data. Substantive changes to the scientific content at proof stage are not permitted. Failure to return proofs within 48 hours may result in publication proceeding without author corrections.

Pre-Submission Checklist

Authors must ensure all applicable items are completed before submitting. Incomplete submissions will be returned without review.

#

Item

Mandatory

1

Manuscript file (.docx/.rtf) with title page, abstract, keywords, full text

Yes

2

Structured abstract ≤250 words with Background, Methods, Results, Conclusion

Yes

3

5–7 MeSH-compliant keywords

Yes

4

Vancouver-style reference list (ICMJE format)

Yes

5

Figures at ≥300 dpi (TIFF/JPG/EPS) with numbered captions

Yes

6

Tables formatted in Word (not images)

Yes

7

Reporting guideline checklist (CONSORT/PRISMA/STROBE/CARE etc.)

Yes

8

Ethics committee approval letter and approval number

Yes

9

Informed consent statement

Yes

10

ORCID iD of corresponding author

Yes

11

Clinical trial registration number and registry name

Conditional

12

Author Contribution Statement (CRediT taxonomy)

Yes

13

Conflict of Interest declaration

Yes

14

Funding disclosure

Yes

15

Data Availability Statement

Yes

16

AI Usage Disclosure (if AI tools were used in preparation)

Conditional

17

Cover letter addressed to Editor-in-Chief

Yes

18

Suggested reviewers (minimum 3) with institutional email addresses

Recommended

19

Supplementary data files (if applicable)

Conditional

 For submission queries: editor@ijctm.com  |  submissions@ijctm.com