​​​​The Editorial Process

A manuscript will be reviewed for possible publication with the understanding that it is being submitted to Indian Dermatology Online Journal alone at that point of 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, preferably a senior author to correspond [on email ONLY] with the Journal for all matters related to the manuscript. All manuscripts received are duly acknowledged through an email. On submission, the editorial team reviews all submitted manuscripts initially for suitability for a formal peer review. Manuscripts with insufficient originality, serious scientific or technical flaws, lack of a significant message and those not following journal instructions are rejected before procee​ding for formal peer-review. Manuscripts that are unlikely to be of interest to the Indian Dermatology Online Journal 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. If the authors are from the editorial board, they will be excluded from publication decisions.

Manuscripts that are found suitable for publication in Indian Dermatology Online Journal are sent to two or more expert reviewers for blind peer review. 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 editors. The Editor may or may not send the manuscript to the suggested review​ers for review. The journal follows a double-blind review process, wherein the reviewers and authors are unaware of each other's identity. The comments and suggestions (acceptance/rejection/revision, major or minor ) received from reviewers are conveyed to the corresponding author through the system. The author is requested to provide a point by point response to the reviewers' comments and submit a revised version of the manuscript.

The manuscript will not be considered for re-review if the author fails to make the changes according to the comments of the reviewers/editors or justify not doing so. The changes made pointwise need to be drafted in the comment form/referee remarks file available as a download on the journal website.  We strongly suggest reading the FAQ[ Frequently Asked Questions] and Authors Instructions before submission in order to shorten the time between submission, review and final acceptance. As an editorial policy, all manuscripts that are left unattended to at the author's end for more than one year will be considered as not interested to continue the publication and all such submissions will be set to 'withdrawn' status by the editorial team without any notice to the author. However, if the authors would like to continue with the submission of the same manuscript after update/revision after the said one year, they may do so by resubmitting it as a new manuscript on the system. It is mandatory to mention the earlier manuscript number in the first page file at the time of the new submission.

Manuscripts accepted for publication are copy edited for grammar, punctuation, print style, and format. Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author through the system to the registered email. 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.

Article review Process

Processes 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 expression as one's own. The Journal follows strict anti-plagiarism policy. All manuscripts submitted to Indian Dermatology Online Journal 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 previous published work. 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]).

Any attempts to plagiarise or submit in duplicate [simultaneously submitting articles here and to other journal] if found may even invite punitive measure like disqualifying the author from the journal from further submissions.

Clinica​l trial registry

Indian Dermatology Online Journal favours registration of clinical trials and is a signatory to the Statement on publishing clinical trials in Indian biomedical journals. Indian Dermatology Online Journal will 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: https://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/login.php; http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/; http://isrctn.org/; and http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr​. This is applicable to clinical trials that have begun enrolment of subjects in or after June 2018. Clinical trials that have commenced enrolment of subjects prior to June 2018 would be considered for publication in Indian Dermatology Online Journal only if they have been registered retrospectively with clinical trial registry that allows unhindered online access to public without charging any fees.

Authorship Criteria

In accordance with the ICMJE [International Committee of Medical Journal Editors] , Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to each of the three components mentioned below: 

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. [It is mandatory that the same order to be maintained while signing the contributor/copyright form also]. 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.

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 author [by default this is vested with the corresponding author] should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole from inception to published article and should be designated as 'guarantor'.

Conflicts of Interest/ Competing Interests

All authors must disclose conflicts of interest they may have with publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and 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. If necessary  the authors may be asked to explain or mention in detail the roles by external agencies or industry sources if they have had any role including preparing the manuscript or drawings, images etc.

Submission of Manuscripts

All manuscripts should be submitted online through the website https://review.jow.medknow.com/idoj. We do not accept email based submissions or hard copies. First time users have to sign up as author on site https://review.jow.medknow.com/idoj. Registration is free but mandatory. 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. Print orders and reprints may be charged details of which are available from the publisher. For any queries on any matters, the editorial office can be contacted by  e-mail at [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 as two separate files:

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

This file should provide

1.      The type of manuscript (original article, brief report, case report, review article,  quiz, Letter to editor, Through the Lens 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/authors belong to. All information which can reveal your identity should be mentioned only here. Use text/rtf/doc files. Do not zip the files. Please note that requests for change of author sequence and spelling correction are strongly discouraged in the later stage article processing.

2.      The total number of pages, total number of photographs and word counts separately for abstract and for the text (excluding the references, legends,  tables ),

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 department 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,

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 and correspondence in general after publication with reference to any query on the article from any quarter, including from readers.

The cover letter should be addressed to the Editor in Chief and preferably mentions the crux of the study, what is new and why it should be accepted for publication in Indian Dermatology Online Journal.

[2]  Blinded Article file: Authors are requested to pay utmost importance to preparation of the manuscript file to avoid unnecessary delay in the manuscript processing after submission. The title of the article should be mentioned at the beginning of the first page in bold letters. The main text of the article, beginning from abstract till references (including tables and figure legends) 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. The manuscript should be typed with double space with adequate margins for easily readability of the editor and reviewers and finally the publishing house. Please use Times New Roman font with font size 12 . The article file should be page numbered and line numbered. This continuous line numbering will help our reviewers with writing their comments and should speed the peer-review process.

To add page number select Insert tab, in the Header & Footer group, click Page Number and choose Top of Page and save changes. To add line numbers to your Word manuscript file, select File/Page Setup/Layout/Line Numbering/Add line numbering/Continuous, and save the changes.

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 embed the images in this file in Word format.

[​3]  Images: Submit good quality color images. Each image should be less than 4 MB in size. Size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep up to 1800 x 1200 pixels or 5-6 inches) or 300 DPI resolution. Images can be uploaded as jpeg files. Rotation of the images should be correct at the time of submission. Adequate cropping has to be done to make the image distraction free. Histopathology images should not have the black rim along the borders [as shot from the microscope directly]. Such images should be adequately cropped prior to submission. Please keep epidermis/ epithelium at the top of the image in case of micrographic images. Legends for the figures/images should be included at the end of the article file. The legends of histopathology images should have the magnification and staining mentioned at the end of the sentence [Eg. H&E 40X]. Dermoscopy image legends should also specifically mention the dermoscope used, magnification and the mode -contact/polarized light (or if any other specific mode like multispectral or UV) used. The Journal reserves the right to rotate, reduce, crop, or enlarge the images, depending on the need.  

[4]   The contributors'  / copyright transfer form has to be submitted in original with the signatures of all the contributors at the initial time of submission of the manuscript itself. The form is also available in the download area upon login as an author.  The form has to be printed and signed by all authors in the sequential order of authorship. The signed form may be scanned and uploaded as jpg file or pdf file along with the manuscript [under supplementary files] at the time of submission. Manuscripts without the correct copyright forms will not be processed. 

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 (October 2008). The uniform requirements and specific requirement of Indian Dermatology Online Journal 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 (https://www.idoj.in)and from the manuscript submission site (https://review.jow.medknow.com/idoj).

Undocumented claims (Eg, "firstedness," "safe and effective")

Please do not claim that yours is the first report. If such a claim is deemed necessary, authors should explain their reasoning in the cover letter and provide a detailed Appendix describing how they came to this conclusion. Describe search strategies, search terms, databases queried, and how far back these were checked. Also list textbooks and monographs that were searched to substantiate the claim. Authors are best discouraged from using the words rare, very rare, unusual, extra ordinary etc in the title and body of the manuscripts.

Indian Dermatology Online Journal accepts manuscripts written in American English.

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.  

Types of Manuscripts

The Indian Dermatology Online Journal publishes articles in the following categories

• Editorial
• Guest Editorial
• Original Article
• Review Article
• Brief Reports
• Case reports
• Letters to the Editor
• Resident's Area
• Innovations
• Images in Clinical Practice
• Through the Dermoscope
• SkIndia Quiz

·         Musings, Opinions, Tips and Experiences:

• Drug profile
• History
• Announcements
• Book Review
• Supplements

Original articles:

These include randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic test, outcome studies, cost effectiveness analyses, case-control series, systematic reviews/ meta-analyses, and surveys with high response rate. The text of original articles amounting to up to 2500 words (excluding abstract, references and tables) should be divided into sections with the headings Abstract (structured abstract of 250 words), Keywords, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, Limitations, Conclusions, References, Tables and Figure legends. Statement of limitations is strongly encouraged. This does not impose limitation on acceptance of your article in the Indian Dermatology Online Journal. It simply helps the Editors on assessing the clarity of the investigators on their research and the readers on how to go forward with further research from here.

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 revised in 2003 (available at 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 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.

Animal experimental procedures should be as humane as possible and the details of anaesthetics 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  and the approval number must be included in all research articles under the 'Materials and Methods' section. The local Ethics committee approval letter has to be submitted as supplement material.

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.

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).

The reporting guidelines for other type of studies can be found at https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/. 

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 analyse 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.

Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction or the Results section. In particular, authors should avoid making statements on economic benefits and costs unless their manuscript includes economic data and analyses. About 30 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. It is preferred to contact the Editor-in-Chief regarding the subject before submission.

The prescribed word count is up to 3000 words excluding  abstract, tables, references and figure legends. The manuscript may not have more than 90 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 in case of systematic review and meta-analysis. These methods should also be summarized in the abstract.

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. These articles generally should not have more than four authors.

Brief report:

Brief clinical and experimental data, not qualifying for an original article and case series of exceptional interest are published as brief reports. Short reports must include a structured abstract (250 words) and should not exceed 1500 words of body text, 4 figures/tables and 20 references. The text should be divided into sections with the headings Abstract, Key-words, Introduction, Material and Methods/report of cases, Results, Discussion, References, Tables and Figure legends. The other general guidelines advocated for the original article should be followed. These articles generally should not have more than six authors.

Case Reports:

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. These communications could be of up to 800 words (excluding abstract and references) and should have the following headings: Abstract (unstructured up to 150 words), Keywords, Introduction, Case report, Discussion, Reference, Tables and Legends in that order. Up to 10 references and maximum 4 authors can be included.When preparing manuscripts to this section, please also refer to the information furnished in the heading above  Undocumented claims (Eg, "firstedness," "safe and effective")

Letter to the Editor:

These should be short and decisive observations. Interesting cases  and  letters related to articles previously published in the Journal can be submitted in this section. The letter could have up to 750 words, 5 references and maximum of 3 images. It could be generally authored by not more than 4 authors. Abstract is not required.

Resident's Area

Short articles (Up to 1000 words) , which are useful to  residents to improve their clinical skills and examination performance are considered.  No abstract is required. Maximum of three authors are allowed in such manuscripts.

Innovations

This is a section aimed to promote out of the box thinking in the form of innovative ideas, techniques or procedures in clinical and procedural dermatology. Authors can submit their novel and ingenious concepts, approach and tricks towards solving a clinical and therapeutic challenge or a surgical problem in patient care scenarios. The manuscript should consist of two sections. The first part describing the clinical / therapeutic / surgical problem and the second part briefly describing the solution suggested to address the problem. The innovation should be novel, practical and easy to apply.  

Significant modifications and simplifications of existing methods, techniques or instruments with distinct advantages can also be submitted to this section. Each manuscript can have maximum of three authors, should not be longer than 300 words and should be supported with maximum of 3 pictures [panel counted as 1], videos [optional] and up to 3 references. The video files should be in MPG or MP4 format [Not more than 30MB file size] and should not have any noise or voice audible in the video and free of any significant distractions. No watermarking [like the ones that appear when recorded using a mobile phone] are permissible. It is sole responsibility of the authors to get mandatory patient consent for the videos submitted along with manuscript.

Images in Clinical Practice  

A classic photograph of a rare entity, a sign of dermatological relevance with minimum words (100 words). As the name suggests we encourage you to post a photograph that “Speaks for itself". The write up along with the clinical photograph has to be submitted along with any other relevant detail and references. In view of the high volume of submissions in this section, the chances of delay in publication are high (even if the paper is accepted).Submission to this section can be authored by up to 3 authors only..

Through The Dermoscope

This section is to emphasize the use of dermoscopy in clinical dermatology. Manuscript should not be more than 250 words and not more than 2 dermoscopy images in addition to a clinical image. The clinical image has to be labelled as 'Figure 1' and if there are two dermoscopy images they may be made into a panel -top and bottom- in landscape orientation and the panel should be labelled 2A and 2B. Any area of special interest within the field is to be marked with coloured arrows and explained in the legends. The clinical image should be very sharp and from the same patient. The format of the manuscript can be brief clinical history, dermoscopy finding with images and histologic diagnosis where relevant. A separate histopathology image if available may also be uploaded as supporting material for review purposes. References (maximum 5) are optional and can be used to support the dermoscopic diagnosis. The legends should also specifically mention the dermoscope used, magnification and the mode (contact/polarized light or if any other specific mode like multispectral or UV) used . Submission to this section can have a maximum of 3 authors only. In view of the high volume of submissions in this section, the chances of delay in publication are high (even if the paper is accepted).

SkIndia Quiz

Contributors are required to submit a short quiz with relevant clinical and histological photograph/s with brief history and discussion. We solicit submissions of a rare entity, a syndrome, a sign etc., which encourages the reader to think. A maximum of 200 words and three photographs including histology when applicable are required for the Question part which should be followed by the answer in the form of the diagnosis and a short review of the condition which can be up to 500 words and a maximum of 5 references). Contributions can be submitted along the lines of regular submission of articles. Submission to this section can be authored by up to 3 authors.

Musings, Opinions, Tips and Experiences

The title is self-explanatory. This section is based on personal experiences/opinions which we encourage the authors to share with the readership. These can be up to 1000 words long and references are not always essential depending on the type of manuscript. Submission to this section can be authored by maximum of  4 authors. The final decision to publish this will rest with the editor and editorial team. 

Drug Profile

A profile of any drug relevant in dermatology will be reviewed in this section. Newer practically oriented drug in the Indian context will be given preference. It could be up to 1000 words and should have up to 5 references. It is preferable to contact the editor with an offer to write up a particular drug. Submission to this section can be authored by up to 3 authors.

History

A short historical perspective of a person, institution, disease, drug etc. It can be up to 500 words with 2 photographs and 4 references. Submission to this section can be authored by up to 2 authors.

Others

Editorial, Guest Editorial, Obituary and Commentary are solicited by the editorial board.

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 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

Standard journal article (for up to six authors):

1. Shafiq N, Bhattacharjee S, Malhotra S. Severe Cutaneous Adverse Reaction(SCAR): Clinical pharmacologists' view point.  Indian Dermatol Online J 2022;13:10-2

2. ​Standard journal article (for more than six authors): List the first six contributors followed by et al.  Manvi S, Mahajan VK, Mehta KS, Chauhan PS, Vashist S, Singh R et al. The clinical characteristics, putative drugs and optimal management of 62 patients with Stevens-Johnson syndrome and/or toxic epidermal necrolysis: A retrospective observational study. Indian Dermatol online J 2022:13:23-31.

3. 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. 

4. Issue with supplement: Dashore S, Chouhan K, Nanda S, Sharma A. Preparation of platelet rich plasma: National IADVL PRP taskforce recommendations. Indian Dermatol Online J 2021;12,Suppl S1:12-23

Books and Other Monographs

1. Personal author(s): Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996. 
2. Editor(s), compiler(s) as author: Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996. 
3. ​Chapter in a book: Yates VM, Walker SL. Mycobacterial Infections. In: Griffiths C, Barker J, Bleiker T, editors. Rook's Textbook of Dermatology. 9th ed. Oxford: Blackwell Science; 2016. p. 27. 13-27

Electronic Sources as reference

Journal article on the Internet

Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [serial on the Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12];102(6):[about 3 p.]. Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htm

Monograph on the Internet

Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [monograph on the Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309074029/html/.

Homepage/Web site

Cancer-Pain.org [homepage on the Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2000-01 [updated 2002 May 16; cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.cancer-pain.org/.

Part of a homepage/Website

American Medical Association [homepage on the Internet]. Chicago: The Association; c1995-2002 [updated 2001 Aug 23; cited 2002 Aug 12]. AMA Office of Group Practice Liaison; [about 2 screens]. Available from: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/1736.html

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 4 MB 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 diagrams or histograms are submitted the numerical data on which they are based should also be supplied.
• The photographs and figures should be cropped 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 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. Mention the stain used and magnification for photomicrographs.
• Final figures for print production: If uploaded images are not printable quality, the publication office may request for higher resolution images which can be submitted at the time of submission of revised manuscript.  Ensure that the image has minimum resolution of 300 dpi or 1800 x 1600 pixels in TIFF format.
• 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. 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 to be uploaded as supplement materials at the time of submission.                               
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. Manuscript without proper consent forms will not go beyond the editorial review and will invariably be rejected.

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 revised version. When submitting revised manuscript, contributors are requested to include, the 'referees' remarks along with point to point clarification in the COMMENTS FORM / REFREE REMARKS FILE and uploaded in the appropriate place. In addition, for ease of the editorial team, the authors are expected to mark the changes as underlined or coloured text in the article.

Reprints and proofs

Journal provides no free printed reprints. Authors can purchase reprints and all such requests are best directed to printing, [email protected]

Reproduced Material

Please verify that all information and materials in the manuscript are original. Indian Dermatology Online Journal generally does not republish text, tables, figures, or other material from other publishers. If you believe that you must include content that is owned by a third party, please let us know and provide information about all material that has been previously published and, when applicable, include author(s), title of article, title of journal or book or other publication, and complete citation, doi, and/or URL. The publisher or other third party's permission to reproduce in print and online and in licensed versions of Indian Dermatology Online Journal should be submitted at the time of manuscript submission.

Manuscript submission, processing and publication charges

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

Ahead of Print (AOP)

The journal has now introduced ahead of print policy. Articles published online under the Ahead of Print are considered published and can be cited and quoted using the DOI as the reference source. Any changes will not be made after AOP publication of an article without following accepted procedures for making corrections to the scientific record.

Copyrights

The entire contents of the Indian Dermatology Online Journal 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-Non commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International Public License. Requests to reuse images, graphs, charts or any such published material should be routed to [email protected] with a copy of the email to [email protected]

Checklist  

Checklist

Covering letter

• Brief letter explaining the reasons to publish
• 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 manuscript page  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 and continuous line numbering of the manuscript
• Margins 2.5 cm from all four sides
• Page numbers included at top right corner
• 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 250 words for review articles and 150 words for case reports.  No abstract to letters to the Editor)
• Keywords provided (three or more)
• Introduction of 75-100 words, for article type where introduction is required.
• Headings in title case (not ALL CAPITALS), for article type where heading is required.
• The references cited in the text should be after punctuation marks, in superscript
• References according to the journal's instructions, punctuation marks checked
• Submit 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 at the beginning of the sentence spelt out
• Check the manuscript for spelling, grammar and punctuation error. 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)
• Figure legends provided (not more than 40 words)
• Patients' privacy maintained - Informed consent of the patient/ legally acceptable representative to be taken
• Appropriate credits to be provided  for borrowed figures/tables
• Write the full term for each abbreviation used in the table as a footnote

Contributors' form and Patient Consent form

(May be modified as applicable and one copy signed by all authors has to be uploaded with the manuscript)

Copyright:

​Click here to download Copyright form

1   the right to grant permission to republish the article in whole or in part, with or without fee;

2    the right to produce preprints or reprints and translate into languages other than English for sale or free distribution; and

3    the right to republish the work in a collection of articles in any other mechanical or electronic format.

We give the rights to the corresponding author to make necessary changes as per the request of the journal, do the rest of the correspondence on our behalf and he/she will act as the guarantor for the manuscript on our behalf.

All persons who have made substantial contributions to the work reported in the manuscript, but who are not contributors, are named in the Acknowledgment and have given me/us their written permission to be named. If I/we do not include an Acknowledgment that means I/we have not received substantial contributions from non-contributors and no contributor has been omitted.

 Name                                    Signature                              Date signed

1 ---------------                         ---------------                            ---------------

2 ---------------                         ---------------                            ---------------

3 ---------------                         ---------------                            ---------------

4 ---------------                         ---------------                            --------------- (up to 4 contributors for case report/ images/ review)

5 ---------------                         ---------------                            ---------------

6 ---------------                         ---------------                            --------------- (up to 6 contributors for original studies)

Template of the patient consent form.

(May be modified as applicable and one signed copy uploaded as "other document" along with the manuscript)

 Consent form for use of photograph and other clinical material for publication in Indian Dermatology online Journal

Manuscript Title: ______________________________________________________________

Author(s):  ____________________________________________________________

I________________________________ (Name of the patient) hereby give my consent for use of images and other relevant clinical information relating to my case to be used for publication in Indian Dermatology Online Journal. I understand that my name, initials, or any protected health information such as my identification number, billing information, address, etc. will not be published and that efforts will be made to conceal my identity, but that anonymity cannot be guaranteed. I understand that the material may be published in the above journal, on above journal's Web site and in products derived from the journal. As a result, I understand that the material may be seen by the general public. The said information has been explained to me in the language I understand.

Name of patient_______________________________ _______________________

Signature of patient (or signature of the person giving consent on behalf of the patient)

___________________________________________________________________

 If relative please specify the relation ____________________________

(The person giving consent should be a substitute decision maker or legal guardian or should hold power of attorney for the patient.)

Why is the patient not able to give consent? (Eg. is the patient a minor, incapacitated, or deceased?)____________________________

If images of the patient's face or distinctive body markings are to be published, the following section should be signed in addition to the first section:

I give permission for images of my face or distinctive body markings to be published and recognize that I might therefore be identifiable even though my name and initials will not be published.

_______________________________ _______________________Signature of patient (or signature of the person giving consent on behalf of the patient)

Date: ________________

Checklist for Authors  

Prior to submission, please ensure that the following important aspects are taken care of with respect to your manuscript so that you do not face any hindrances in the submission process.  Submissions not adhering to these will be returned to the author for technical modifications and will delay your paper reaching editorial and or per review stage.

1. The submission should not be previously published or is not in any stage after submission in another journal. Duplicate submissions is considered as plagiarism.
2. Please write the title of the article legibly in the beginning of the manuscript file
3. The manuscript file SHOULD NOT contain any information revealing personal identity of the author(s) or the place where the research has been carried out.
4. Complete manuscript as a word document, is double spaced, page numbered and line numbered (preferable Font size 12 Times New Roman )
5. Manuscript file does not contain any image or graph embedded in MS word file.
6. The corresponding figure legends are mentioned at the end of the document and also are cited in text.
7. All histopathology images are cited in the text and the staining and magnification mentioned in the figure legends in the end [Eg. H&E 100x]. Legend need not mention “histopathology image showing…" just start with findings
8. Tables if any are cited in text, with details of their sources if any
9. References cited in numerical order
10. Conflict of interest if any has been elaborated.
11. Patient consent form as per the template from author instructions has to be uploaded.
12. Contributors/copyright transfer form filled and SIGNED by all authors in order (to be uploaded as a scanned file or pdf in the other forms area and NOT as an image) with title as same as in the manuscript.
13. In the Dermoscopy articles, the legends should also specifically mention the dermoscope used, magnification and ​the mode -contact/polarized light (or if any other specific mode like multispectral or UV) used

Time from Submission of manuscripts to Publication

At Indian Dermatology Online Journal, we strive to get your manuscript published as early as possible. Factors like technical modifications required for manuscripts not prepared as per journal instructions and time taken by reviewers and authors to submit appropriate responses are beyond the control of the editorial team and may affect the time taken for final decision.

Also, there are practical limitations to include all the accepted papers in an immediate issue. Some sections cannot accommodate more than one paper at a time where as certain sections have a huge number of submissions and longer queue for publication.

.

Hence we have introduced the Ahead of Print [AOP] section on the journal website so that your accepted manuscripts can reach the readers at the earliest. All AOP articles will also have DOI number which can be used by the authors for their resume and other professional and academic purposes. In the year 2021, time taken by editorial team to decision was average 5 days and time from first submission to acceptance of manuscripts was 46 days and time from acceptance to publication in a specific issue was 73  days  We do not have any fast- track manuscript processing system in our journal policy.