About the Journal 

Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences is a peer-reviewed, open access online and print International journal published biannually. The journal's full text is available online at http://www.amhsjournal.org. The journal allows free access (Open Access) to its contents and permits authors to self-archive final accepted version of the articles on any OAI-compliant institutional / subject-based repository. The journal does not charge for submission, processing or publication of manuscripts and even for color reproduction of photographs.

Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences (AMHS, Print ISSN 2321-4848,) is a peer reviewed open access international journal that is dedicated to the publication of scholarly and outstanding peer-reviewed articles to foster education, research and professionalism in the fields of Internal Medicine, Clinical and Allied Health Sciences including Nursing, Physiotherapy, Dental and Medical Education. AMHS's philosophy is to provide online free and open access since research networks in the global research community should be transparent without borders, barriers or discrimination. Its main objective is to reflect multidisciplinary scientific research and collaboration among academicians, educators, clinicians and researchers from India as well as international medical community. To ensure international relevance, to maintain high quality, and guarantee a rigorous peer-review process, AMHS has Editorial Board members who are experts in their respective specialties from all around the world. Editorial content includes Invited Editorial, Original Research Articles, Reviews, Case reports & Short communications, Special Articles, Medical Education Articles, Medical History Articles, Teaching Images and Letters to the Editor. AMHS is published biannually in June and December.

Scope of the journal 

AMHS invites concise, succinct and educative papers covering the diverse fields of Internal Medicine, Clinical and Allied Health Sciences including Nursing, Physiotherapy, Dental and Medical Education.   

The Editorial and Peer Review Process

A manuscript will be reviewed for possible publication with the understanding that it is being submitted to Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences alone at that point in time and has not been published anywhere, simultaneously submitted, or already accepted for publication elsewhere. The journal expects that authors would authorize one of them to correspond with the Journal for all matters related to the manuscript. All manuscripts received are duly acknowledged. On submission, editors review all submitted manuscripts initially for suitability for formal review and plagiarism. Manuscripts with insufficient originality, serious scientific or technical flaws, or lack of a significant message are rejected before proceeding for formal peer-review. Manuscripts that are unlikely to be of interest to the Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences readers are also liable to be rejected at this stage itself.

Manuscripts received from Editorial Board members will be screened by the Editor in Chief and sent to external peer reviewers. The editorial board members who are authors will be excluded from publication decisions.

Manuscripts that are found suitable for publication in Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences are sent to two or more expert reviewers. During submission, the contributor is requested to provide names of two or three qualified reviewers who have had experience in the subject of the submitted manuscript, but this is not mandatory. The reviewers should not be affiliated with the same institutes as the contributor/s. However, the selection of these reviewers is at the sole discretion of the editor. The journal follows a double-blind review process, wherein the reviewers and authors are unaware of each other's identity. Every manuscript is also assigned to a member of the editorial team, who based on the comments from the reviewers takes a final decision on the manuscript. The comments and suggestions (acceptance/ rejection/ amendments in manuscript) received from reviewers are conveyed to the corresponding author. If required, the author is requested to provide a point by point response to reviewers' comments and submit a revised version of the manuscript. This process is repeated till reviewers and editors are satisfied with the manuscript.
Manuscripts accepted for publication are copy edited for grammar, punctuation, print style, and format. Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author. The corresponding author is expected to return the corrected proofs within three days. It may not be possible to incorporate corrections received after that period. The whole process of submission of the manuscript to final decision and sending and receiving proofs is completed online. To achieve faster and greater dissemination of knowledge and information, the journal publishes articles online as 'Ahead of Print' immediately on acceptance.

Process for Appeals

The authors do have the right to appeal if they have a genuine cause to believe that the editorial board has wrongly rejected the paper. If the authors wish to appeal the decision, they should email the editorial office (email: [email protected]) explaining in detail the reason for the appeal. The appeals will be acknowledged by the editorial office and will be investigated in an unbiased manner. The processing of appeals will be done within 6 – 8 weeks. While under appeal, the said manuscript should not be submitted to other journals. The final decision rests with the Editor in Chief of the journal. Second appeals are not considered.

Anti-Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism includes duplicate publication of the author's own work, in whole or in part without proper citation or mispresenting other's ideas, words, and other creative expressions as one's own. The Journal follows a strict anti-plagiarism policy. All manuscripts submitted to the Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences undergoes plagiarism check with commercially available software. Based on the extent of plagiarism, authors may be asked to address any minor duplication or similarity with the previously published work. In order to avoid any consequences of plagiarism, Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences recommends the overall 'Similarity Index' to be less than 15% if the text is common with more than 100 sources with nothing over 3% from a single source, and even 7% is not acceptable if it is common with just one source. Submitted manuscripts that do not fulfill this criterion will be returned without the opportunity for the peer review process. If plagiarism is detected after publication, the Journal will investigate. If plagiarism is established, the journal will notify the authors' institution and funding bodies and will retract the plagiarised article. To report plagiarism, contact the journal office (email: [email protected]). 

Clinical trial registry  

Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences favors registration of clinical trials and is a signatory to the Statement on publishing clinical trials in Indian biomedical journals. Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences would publish clinical trials that have been registered with a clinical trial registry that allows free online access to public. Registration in the following trial registers is acceptable: http://www.ctri.nic.in/; http://www.anzctr.org.au/; http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/; http://isrctn.org/; http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/index.asp; and http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr. This is applicable to clinical trials that have begun enrollment of subjects in or after June 2018. Clinical trials that have commenced enrollment of subjects prior to June 2018 would be considered for publication in Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences only if they have been registered retrospectively with clinical trial registry that allows unhindered online access to public without charging any fees.

Authorship Criteria

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommends checklist for authorship. These include (a) substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work or the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data related to the work; (b) drafting the work or revising it extensively with substantial intellectual inputs; (c) final approval of the version to be published; and (d) agreement to be responsible for accuracy and integrity of the work. Available from: (i) International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors, 2016; and (ii) Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, 2017 http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf

An author is defined as a person who made a substantive intellectual contribution to the submitted manuscript. This should be based only on substantial contributions to each of the three components

1.      Concept and design of study or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data;

2.      Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and

3.      Final approval of the version to be published.

Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship. General supervision of the research group is not sufficient for authorship. Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content of the manuscript. 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.All Authors must also sign Copyright Transfer Agreement forms before a manuscript is accepted for publication.

Changes in Authorship after Submission

The corresponding author must bring to the notice of the editorial office/editor in chief and provide an explanation if there is any change in authorship status (addition, omission, or author order) after the initial manuscript submission. The corresponding author must request and gather letters of agreement from all authors of the manuscript including the author who is being added or omitted. At revision, these statements can be uploaded as additional files in the online manuscript management system.

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'. 

Potential Conflicts of Interest and Copyright Transfer Form

All authors of must disclose any and all conflicts of interest they may have with publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or is important to the outcome of the study presented. Authors should also disclose conflict of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript.

The contributors' / copyright transfer form (template provided below) has to be submitted in original with the signatures of all the contributors within two weeks of submission via courier, fax or email as a scanned image. Print ready hard copies of the images (one set) or digital images should be sent to the journal office at the time of submitting revised manuscript. High resolution images (up to 5 MB each) can be sent by email. Contributors' form / copyright transfer form can be submitted online from the authors' area on https://review.jow.medknow.com/amhs

Submission of Manuscripts

All manuscripts must be submitted on-line through the website https://review.jow.medknow.com/amhs. First time users will have to register at this site. Registration is free but mandatory. Registered authors can keep track of their articles after logging into the site using their user name and password. Authors do not have to pay for submission, processing or publication of articles. Authors/Reviewers experiencing any technical problems with the manuscript management system may please contact [email protected]

The submitted manuscripts that are not as per the “Instructions to Authors" would be returned to the authors for technical correction, before they undergo editorial/ peer-review. Generally, the manuscript should be submitted in the form of two separate files:

[1] Title Page/First Page File/covering letter:

Covering Letter

Covering letter signed by all authors confirming the following:

1.      The total number of pages, total number of photographs and word counts separately for abstract and for the text

2.      Authorship criteria- criteria for inclusion in the authors'/ contributors' list

3.      That all authors have approved of the manuscript-a statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, that the requirements for authorship as stated earlier in this document have been met, and that each author believes that the manuscript represents honest work, if that information is not provided in another form

4.      That the manuscript or portions thereof are not under consideration by another journal or electronic publication and the manuscript is not submitted or published elsewhere.

5.      Acknowledgement & Conflicts of interest

6.      Date and signature-covering letter

This file should provide

1.      The type of manuscript (original article, case report, review article, Letter to editor, Images, etc.) title of the manuscript, running title, names of all authors/ contributors (with their highest academic degrees, designation and affiliations) and name(s) of department(s) and/ or institution(s) to which the work should be credited. A running title for your submission should not exceed 50 characters. The title of the article should be concise, self-explanatory and representative. All information which can reveal your identity should be here. Use text/rtf/doc files. Do not zip the files.

2.      The total number of pages, total number of photographs and word counts separately for abstract and for the text (excluding the references, tables and abstract), word counts for introduction + discussion in case of an original article should be typed in the upper right corner of the title page.

3.      Source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or all of these;

4.      Acknowledgement, if any. One or more statements should specify 1) contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, such as general support by a departmental chair; 2) acknowledgments of technical help; and 3) acknowledgments of financial and material support, which should specify the nature of the support. This should be included in the title page of the manuscript and not in the main article file.

5.      If the manuscript was presented as part at a meeting, the organization, place, and exact date on which it was read. A full statement to the editor about all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as redundant publication of the same or very similar work. Any such work should be referred to specifically, and referenced in the new paper. Copies of such material should be included with the submitted paper, to help the editor decide how to handle the matter.

6.      Registration number in case of a clinical trial and where it is registered (name of the registry and its URL)

7.      Conflicts of Interest of each author/ contributor. A statement of financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest, if that information is not included in the manuscript itself or in an authors' form

8.      Criteria for inclusion in the authors'/ contributors' list

9.      A statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, that the requirements for authorship as stated earlier in this document have been met, and that each author believes that the manuscript represents honest work, if that information is not provided in another form (see below); and

10.   The name, address, e-mail, and telephone number of the corresponding author, who is responsible for communicating with the other authors about revisions and final approval of the proofs, if that information is not included on the manuscript itself.

[2] Blinded Article file: The main text of the article, beginning from Abstract till References (including tables) should be in this file. The file must not contain any mention of the authors' names or initials or the institution at which the study was done or acknowledgements. Page headers/running title can include the title but not the authors' names. Manuscripts not in compliance with the Journal's blinding policy will be returned to the corresponding author. Use rtf/doc files. Do not zip the files. Limit the file size to 1 MB. Do not incorporate images in the file. If file size is large, graphs can be submitted as images separately without incorporating them in the article file to reduce the size of the file. The pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the first page of the blinded article file.

[3] 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.

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 (updated in December 2021). The uniform requirements and specific requirement of Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences are summarized below. Before submitting a manuscript, contributors are requested to check for the latest instructions available. Instructions are also available from the website of the journal (http://www.amhsjournal.org) and from the manuscript submission site https://review.jow.medknow.com/amhs).

All the authors and the corresponding author in particular take the responsibility to ensure that the text of the article does not contain portions copied from any other published material which amounts to plagiarism. We also request the authors to familiarize themselves with the good publication ethics principles as per COPE guidelines [https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Guidelines] before finalizing their manuscripts.
Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences accepts manuscripts written in American English.

Main Manuscript

The main manuscript needs to be submitted as a separate document at the time of online submission. It should contain the Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, References, and Legends to figures. An original article should contain a structured abstract of not more than 250 words and the total length of the manuscript having a maximum of 4000 words (not including abstract, figure legends, table legends, and references).

Abstract
 
The Editorial Board of Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences follow a double-blind peer-review process and hence, no identification should be provided in the manuscript except for the Title page. The title should be mentioned on the top of the Abstract without any names of authors or institutional affiliations. The abstract is a summary of the article and is used for indexing purposes. It should not exceed 250 words in cases of original articles and review articles, 150 words for Short Communications. For original articles, a structured abstract is required and should be provided under the following headings- Background and Aim, Materials and Methods, Results and Conclusion. The abstract page should have the title on the top followed by the abstract without the names of authors since this page will go to the peer-reviewers. At the bottom of the Abstract, at least 3 Key words (maximum 10) should be provided which will be used to index the article. It is mandatory that the Key words are selected from the MeSH (www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/Mbrowser.html). Figures should be provided separately and not embedded in the text file. The use of abbreviations is discouraged. Wherever necessary, at the first mention it should be mentioned in full with the abbreviation mentioned in brackets.A running head no more than 40 characters (count letters and spaces) should be provided.

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

Materials and Methods

The type of the study, the study setting, the duration and the techniques used for sampling, the sampling size estimation, inclusion and exclusion criteria and statistical methods employed should be clearly mentioned. Authors should indicate categorically if an informed written process was followed, and do not use patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. All research studies should conform to ethical principles as laid down in the Helsinki Declaration, and it should be explicitly stated if permission of an IRB /Human or Animal Ethics Committee was taken.

Kindly ensure the following information is provided. a) IRB board name, approval number, approved date (for clinical trials – the clinical registry number) b) statement that written informed consent was obtained for participation in the study and use of the patient data for research and educational purposes c) statement that the procedures follows the guidelines laid down in Declaration of Helsinki (year). 

Describe the selection of the observational or experimental subjects (patients or laboratory animals, including controls) clearly. Identify the age, sex, and other important characteristics of the subjects. Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods; 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. The methodology section must mandatorily abide by the  STROBE/ARRIVE guidelines . When data are summarized in the Results section, specify the statistical methods used to analyse them.

Results

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; emphasise or summarise only important observations.

Discussion

This section should primarily be of the results obtained, whether the results fulfil the aims and objectives of the study, whether the results are at variance with the published literature, and to compare results with similar studies. Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction or the Results section. Include in the Discussion section the implications of the findings and their limitations, including implications for future research. Relate the observations to other relevant studies. 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. State new hypotheses when warranted, but clearly label them as such.

Acknowledgements

As an appendix to the text, one or more statements should specify 1) contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, such as general support by a departmental chair; 2) acknowledgments of technical help; and 3) acknowledgments of financial and material support, which should specify the nature of the support. This should be the last page of the manuscript.

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. 

Categories of Manuscripts

Original articles:

Articles are full-length reports of original research.These include randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic test, outcome studies, cost effectiveness analyses, case-control series, and surveys with high response rate. The text of original articles amounting to up to 4000 words (excluding Abstract, references and Tables) should be divided into sections with the headings Abstract, Key-words, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Tables and Figure legends. Structured Abstract with a maximum of 250 words. Limit of 40 references. Limit of 5 figures and tables total. Figure legends must explain what is represented in the figure.

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 ammended in 2013 (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.

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.

The reporting guidelines https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/ should be followed consistently in all the articles. 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).    

Reporting Guidelines for Specific Study Designs

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 40 references can be included. These articles generally should not have more than six authors.

Review Articles:

It is expected that these articles would be written by individuals who have done substantial work on the subject or are considered experts in the field. A short summary of the work done by the contributor(s) in the field of review should accompany the manuscript.

The prescribed word count is up to 5000 words excluding tables, references and abstract. The manuscript may have about 60 references. The manuscript should have an unstructured Abstract (250 words) representing an accurate summary of the article. The section titles would depend upon the topic reviewed. Authors submitting review article should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data. These methods should also be summarized in the abstract.The author should cite the most important papers in the field. No more than 6 tables or figures.

The journal expects the contributors to give post-publication updates on the subject of review. The update should be brief, covering the advances in the field after the publication of the article and should be sent as a letter to editor, as and when major development occurs in the field.

The Journal prefers systematic reviews that have been registered in PROSPERO https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/. The PROSPERO registry number should be provided in the review article under the “methodology" section.

Case Reports/Short Communications:

New, interesting and rare cases can be reported. They should be unique, describing a great diagnostic or therapeutic challenge and providing a learning point for the readers. Cases with clinical significance or implications will be given priority ,whereas, mere reporting of a rare case may not be considered. This category will also include preliminary observations or pilot studies or presentation of one or a few informative cases. These communications could be of up to 2000 words (excluding Abstract and references) and should have the following headings: Abstract (unstructured with a amximum of 200 words), Key-words, Introduction, Case report, Discussion, Reference, Tables and Legends in that order. Case Reports could be authored by up to four authors. No more than 4 tables or figures. Case reports has to contain the details as per CARE guidelines.

Special Articles

Special articles are published as an attempt to sum up the current state of the research on a particular topic. It should focus on recent major advances and discoveries, the significant gaps in the research, the current debates, and hypothesis of where research might go next. Special Articles are virtual gold mines that document the key articles for a given topic. Up to 5000 words excluding references and abstract and up to a maximum of 60 references.

Systematic reviews are also welcome in this catergory, especially with PROSPERO registered and/or listing of systematic reviews 
Medical Education

Our peer reviewed journal explores new developments and perspectives in the field of medical education from premedical to postgraduate and continuing medical education. It examines the quantitative and qualitative aspects of prominent issues relating to the education, training and maintenance of health care professionals. Furthermore, it provides a forum for discussion specific to the challenges faced by medical education practitioners in India and internationally. Any papers that will contribute to advance in understanding of educationally relevant issues in areas related to the training of healthcare professionals, including undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education in the disciplines of medicine, nursing, dental and allied health sciences. Importance will be given on articles that focus on curriculum development, evaluations of performance, assessment of training needs and evidence-based medicine and innovations in teaching-learning methods.

Medical History

Encourages articles on unique topics in the history of medicine, allied health sciences, dental and nursing and medical history from classical and ancient medicine to historical developments in modern medicine. Maximum length of 2500 words. An abstract is not required; a maximum of 30 references with no more than 4 tables or figures.

Teaching Images

Pictorial CME / Medical Images that are interesting, previously unpublished photomicrographs, patient photographs, radiologic images, or other pictorial material will be accepted. No more than two figures. A title of 96 characters maximum (including spaces and punctuation) A legend of 50 words or less. A case summary of 300 words or less, and no more than 2 figures/tables. No more than 6 references.

Letters to the Editor:

Letters to the Editor include brief constructive criticism concerning previously published articles in Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences. It should begin with the reference to the published article about which the author is commenting and the maximum word count should not exceed 1000 words, references should not exceed more than ten, with a maximum of three photographs. There are no subheadings within the letter. The Editors are also willing to consider letters of subjects of direct relevance to the Journal's interest.

References
References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text (not in alphabetic order). Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in superscript with square bracket after the punctuation marks. 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. Use the style of the examples below, which are based on the formats used by the NLM in Index Medicus. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. Use complete name of the journal for non-indexed journals. Avoid using abstracts as references. Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as "unpublished observations" with written permission from the source. Avoid citing a "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text.
The commonly cited types of references are shown here, for other types of references such as newspaper items please refer to ICMJE Guidelines (http://www.icmje.org or http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html).

Articles in Journals

1.      Standard journal article (for up to six authors): Parija S C, Ravinder PT, Shariff M. Detection of hydatid antigen in the fluid samples from hydatid cysts by co-agglutination. Trans. R.Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg.1996; 90:255–256.

2.      Standard journal article (for more than six authors): List the first six contributors followed by et al. 

Roddy P, Goiri J, Flevaud L, Palma PP, Morote S, Lima N. et al., Field Evaluation of a Rapid Immunochromatographic Assay for Detection of Trypanosoma cruzi Infection by Use of Whole Blood. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2008; 46: 2022-2027.

3.      Volume with supplement: Otranto D, Capelli G, Genchi C: Changing distribution patterns of canine vector borne diseases in Italy: leishmaniosis vs. dirofilariosis.Parasites & Vectors 2009; Suppl 1:S2. 

Books and Other Monographs

1.      Personal author(s): Parija SC. Textbook of Medical Parasitology. 3rd ed. All India Publishers and Distributors. 2008.

2.      Editor(s), compiler(s) as author: Garcia LS, Filarial Nematodes In: Garcia LS (editor) Diagnostic Medical Parasitology ASM press Washington DC 2007: pp 319-356.

3.      Chapter in a book: Nesheim M C. Ascariasis and human nutrition. In Ascariasis and its prevention and control, D. W. T. Crompton, M. C. Nesbemi, and Z. S. Pawlowski (eds.). Taylor and Francis,London, U.K.1989, pp. 87–100.

Electronic Sources as reference

Journal article on the Internet: Parija SC, Khairnar K. Detection of excretory Entamoeba histolytica DNA in the urine, and detection of E. histolytica DNA and lectin antigen in the liver abscess pus for the diagnosis of amoebic liver abscess .BMC Microbiology 2007, 7:41.doi:10.1186/1471-2180-7-41. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2180/7/41

Tables

• Tables should be self-explanatory and should not duplicate textual material.
• Tables with more than 10 columns and 25 rows are not acceptable.
• Number tables, in Arabic numerals, consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each.
• Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading.
• Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table.
• Obtain permission for all fully borrowed, adapted, and modified tables and provide a credit line in the footnote.
• For footnotes use the following symbols, in this sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||,¶ , **, ††, ‡‡
• Tables with their legends should be provided at the end of the text after the references. The tables along with their number should be cited at the relevant place in the text

Illustrations (Figures)

• Upload the images in JPEG format. The file size should be within 1024 kb in size while uploading.
• Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text.
• Labels, numbers, and symbols should be clear and of uniform size. The lettering for figures should be large enough to be legible after reduction to fit the width of a printed column.
• Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background and should be marked neatly with transfer type or by tissue overlay and not by pen.
• Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends for illustrations not on the illustrations themselves.
• When graphs, scatter-grams or histograms are submitted the numerical data on which they are based should also be supplied.
• The photographs and figures should be trimmed to remove all the unwanted areas.
• If photographs of individuals are used, their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph.
• If a figure has been published elsewhere, 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 such figures.
• Legends for illustrations: Type or print out legends (maximum 40 words, excluding the credit line) for illustrations using double spacing, with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations. When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, identify and explain each one in the legend. Explain the internal scale (magnification) and identify the method of staining in photomicrographs.
• Final figures for print production: Send sharp, glossy, un-mounted, color photographic prints, with height of 4 inches and width of 6 inches at the time of submitting the revised manuscript. Print outs of digital photographs are not acceptable. If digital images are the only source of images, ensure that the image has minimum resolution of 300 dpi or 1800 x 1600 pixels in TIFF format. Send the images on a CD. Each figure should have a label pasted (avoid use of liquid gum for pasting) on its back indicating the number of the figure, the running title, top of the figure and the legends of the figure. Do not write the contributor/s' name/s. Do not write on the back of figures, scratch, or mark them by using paper clips.
• The Journal reserves the right to crop, rotate, reduce, or enlarge the photographs to an acceptable size.

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:
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 obvious indication to the identity of the patient, a statement about obtaining informed patient consent should be indicated in the manuscript.

3.      In order to protect the patient's identity, the recognizable facial features not related to the study should be digitally blurred

4.      Written informed consent is the preferred method for obtaining consent. If verbal consent is obtained, the authors must ensure that the verbal consent is recorded in the medical case record of the patient and duly signed by witness. 

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.

Reprints and proofs 

Journal provides no free printed reprints. Authors can purchase reprints, payment for which should be done at the time of submitting the proofs.

Publication schedule

The journal publishes articles on its website immediately on acceptance and follows a 'continuous publication' schedule. Articles are compiled for 'print on demand' semiannual issues.

Manuscript submission, processing and publication charges 

Journal does not charge the authors or authors' institutions for the submission, processing and/or publications of manuscripts.

Copyrights  
The entire contents of the Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences are protected under Indian and international copyrights. The Journal, however, grants to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, perform and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works in any digital medium for any reasonable non-commercial purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship and ownership of the rights. The journal also grants the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal non-commercial use under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International Public License.

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

PUBLICATION ETHICS

We expect our authors to comply with, best practice in publication ethics as well as in quality of their articles

MANUSCRIPT WITHDRAWAL POLICY

Withdrawal is not welcome by the publishers. The Journal will levy a penalty (manuscript withdrawal charges) for authors who unethically withdraw their paper/s. This will be useful to prevent such ethics misconduct event.
Authors should not withdraw their submitted papers because the withdrawal wastes voluntary works devoted by the Editorial team and reviewers. But, we accept the withdrawal of a submitted paper if authors have unavoidable, valid, and compelling reasons.

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) published international standards of publication ethics for the authors and these standards have also been adopted by the journals appearing in the international scientific indices. According to these standards, if an authors request to withdraw their already submitted article for publishing to a journal, a letter signed by all authors stating their request and reasons for withdrawal must be sent to journal Editor in Chief regardless of the stage of the review process. Withdrawal of a manuscript by the authors after initiation of the evaluation for the publication is unacceptable unless the manuscript has serious concerns (errors) about the reliability of the data or validity of the results presented in a manuscript withdrawal letter.

In event of the eligible reasons for article withdrawal are not presented by the authors, the editor may not accept the request for withdrawal. The journal will continue publication process until the manuscript withdrawal request letter with valid and unavoidable reasons are cited and signed by all authors has been received. Please upload a The Manuscript Withdrawal letter signed by all authors as supplementary file indicating the reasons for withdrawing the manuscript. This letter must include the title and identification number of the manuscript, names and signatures of all contributing authors, date and the reasons why the paper must be withdrawn. Editor will send an acknowledgment letter to the authors whether their withdrawal request is acceptable or not. Therefore, authors must wait until they have received appropriate notification from the editorial office.

Manuscript withdrawal charges
 
If the author(s) insist on withdrawal of the manuscript without any valid reason, the journal will claim monetary compensation for the spent time and resources for the assessment of submitted paper If the author withdraws manuscript any time after the manuscript has been sent to peer review till the final decision, then unless there are compelling reasons, a penalty for unwarranted withdrawal of manuscript in the form of payment to journal for its time and resources spent. The penalty will be Rs 2000 + 18% GST or USD 100 as Manuscript Withdrawal Charges Liable

Unethical Manuscript withdrawal

The withdrawal of a manuscript by the author or authors at the final step of the publication process, after the paper is accepted for publication or after publication is possible but an undesired event and the withdrawal is not permitted in principle. Advanced stage in the editorial process, when peer reviews were near completion is unacceptable unless there are compelling reasons cited above. It is not acceptable practice to withdraw a manuscript in the event of acceptance at another journal

MANUSCRIPT RETRACTION

How I can withdraw my published article?
Published articles may be withdrawn by their authors, because of pervasive error or unsubstantiated or irreproducible data or any other reason. In this situation, author(s) needs to pay withdrawal fee of Rs 4000+ 18% GST. The Editor in Chief can retract a published manuscript in the presence of severe ethics misconduct (duplication, plagiarism, publication fraud, etc.) or serious errors in the study results. The published manuscripts (in online or printed version) can be withdrawn by the Editor in Chief (retraction)​