• Original articles: This includes reports of trials, studies of diagnostic tests or surveys that are up to 2500 words in length (excluding references and abstract). Please write a structured abstract (including 5 headings: Background, Aims, Methods, Results, Conclusion) of not more than 290 words and add key words (3-5 words). The article should include an introduction, methods, results, discussion, acknowledgement if any, and references. Permission from ethics committee/ Institutional Review Board (IRB), statement of sources of support and conflict of interest is mandatory. IRB approval must be mentioned in the “methods” section of all manuscripts. Short reports of preliminary studies may be submitted for the category of Brief reports.
  
• Case reports: Reports of an unusual manifestation of a disease or a new disease (1000 words and up to 10 references) should be submitted with photographs. An unstructured abstract of not more than 190 words should be submitted along with 3-5 key words. The article should include introduction, case report(s), discussion and references.
  
• Reviews: Systematic critical assessments of literature and data sources of about 3000 words should be submitted only after consulting the Editor regarding the subject. Add an unstructured abstract of 290 words, with key words. Please add 10 multiple choice questions (MCQs) with four options based on the review article.
  
• Images in clinical practice: A new section (no more than 500 words in length) being introduced, which has 2 parts - first paragraph including brief history, examination, and relevant investigations to arrive at the diagnosis and 2nd paragraph will discuss the finding being given due importance relevant to the case. No references need to be cited for the text and at the end. The manuscript submitted in this section can have a maximum of three authors.
  
• View point: A view point of 500-1000 words length, with approximately 5 references. The author may express his or her opinion without complete documentation. No abstract is required.
  
• History: An article (up to 2500 words in length) on the history of dermatology, skin diseases, sexually transmitted infections or leprosy, also a biographic account of a historic or noteworthy figure in dermatology, venereology and leprosy. No abstract is required.
  
• Letters to the Editor: These should normally be no more than 750 words in length, may have up to 5 references and a maximum of three photographs. There are no sub-headings within the letter.
  
• Residents’ page: Short articles (up to 1000 words) that are educational for postgraduates or help improve their learning skills or ability to perform in examinations would be considered. No abstract is required.
  
• Focus: Short reviews (up to 1500 words) on instruments or equipment or drugs or procedure of current interest may be submitted after consulting the Editor on the selection of subject. No abstract is required.
  
• Quiz: Classical cases with one to three good photographs will be considered. A short history, examination and investigation findings (up to 150 words) should be followed by the answer in the form of the diagnosis and a short review of the condition (up to 500 words and up to 5 references), if necessary with additional photographs.
  
• Current best evidence: This section will include clinical research abstracts for dermatologists, venerologists and leprologists.
  
• For publication as net study, net case, net letter, net quiz for the net version of IJDVL, the title, credits and an abstract (190 words for net case, and 290 words structured abstract for net study) of the article will appear in the print version of the journal only. The article will not be printed but only will be uploaded on the journal site www.ijdvl.com .
  
• Announcements: Announcements of conferences, meetings, courses, awards, and other items that are likely to be of interest to readers should be submitted with the name and address of the person from whom additional information can be obtained (up to 100 words). Paid half page insertions are allowed from IADVL members only.
  
• Book Review: Please send two copies for book reviews along with a print or high resolution digital photograph of the front cover.
  
• Supplements: Supplements undergo peer review and are processed in the same fashion as regular submissions to the journal. Enquiries about proposed supplements should be directed to the editor before submitting the supplement.

# MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION AND TRACKING

Type the manuscript following the instructions mentioned below under ‘Preparation of manuscript’ and submit it online through the web-site http://www.journalonweb.com . All manuscripts received online are automatically acknowledged by e-mail which mentions tracking article number for future reference. In case you do not receive acknowledging e-mail, please resubmit the article. Do not send articles by e-mail or post. The progress of a manuscript through the editorial process can be subsequently tracked by authors on the web-site. The copyright form, covering letter and other documents mentioned in Appendix I below should be sent to the Editorial office (within 15 days of the online submission) at the following address:

Dr. DM Thappa
Editor, IJDVL
Department of Dermatology and STD
Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER)
Pondicherry – 605 006 INDIA.

Manuscripts are sent to at least two independent reviewers without revealing the identity of the contributors. A small number of papers are rejected after the editorial review when editors deem that the paper is not appropriate for this journal. Authors may suggest the names and e-mail addresses of one or two reviewers who have had some experience in the subject of the submitted manuscript but who are not affiliated to the same institute as the authors. Authors will be informed about the reviewers’ comments and acceptance or rejection of their manuscript within eight to ten weeks. Galley proofs will be e-mailed to the corresponding author and need to be returned within three days. Corrections received after that period may not be included. The editors reserve the customary right to style, to abridge the article to ensure clarity and conciseness and to decide the time of publication. There are no charges for submission and publication of manuscripts, including colour images. Reprints are not free and should be requested in a reprint request form that will be sent with the acceptance letter.
 

# Preparation of Manuscript

Manuscript in incorrect format may result in rejection. Manuscript text should be submitted in word (.doc), rich text format (.rtf) or PDF (.pdf) format. Authors should note that word 2007 is not yet compatible with journal production systems. Unfortunately the journal cannot accept MS word 2007 documents until such time as a stable production version is released. Please use word’s ‘Save as’ option therefore to save your document as an older (.doc) file type.

1. Please be consistent. The same elements should be keyed in exactly the same way throughout the manuscript
2. Prepare the manuscript using MS Word, Times New Roman 12 font, with double line spacing for A4 size paper with a 1 inch margin on all sides.
3. The space bar should only be used as a word separator. Use TAB when indenting paragraphs or separating columns in tables.
4. Enter only one space after the full-stop at the end of a sentence.
5. Do not use the lowercase l for 1 (one) or the uppercase O for 0 (zero)..
6. Do not type headings or any other text in ALL CAPITALS.
7. Do not use the software’s facility for a header, footer or footnotes.

A manuscript should be divided into the following two files:

1. First page file: This document should carry 1. Title of the article; 2. Short running title of not more than 90 characters; 3. Names of all contributors (first name, middle name initial, and surname in that sequence), highest academic degrees, and their professional affiliations; 4. Word count (text only, exclusive of title, abstract, references, tables, and figure legends); 5. Number of figures; 6. Number of tables; 7. Statement of conflict of interest; 8. Sources of support if any; 9. Address for correspondence - the name, address, phone numbers and email address of the corresponding contributor and 10. Acknowledgment if any. The corresponding author should promptly inform the editor of any change in e-mail id or mailing address.
   
2. Article file: This should have the main article manuscript without any identifying information about authors or their affiliations. The article file should have sections of Abstract, Key words, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Tables, Illustrations (drawings only; do not embed the images in the text file as these have to submitted separately online) and Legends for illustrations in that order. For detailed information, please refer to the website www.ijdvl.com  or the issue of January 2009. 

Tables: Authors should exercise particular care in the preparation, notation and description of tables and figures. Tables should be included in the article file document. Make self-explanatory tables that do not duplicate the text. 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. 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: *, †, ‡, §, ||, **, ††, ‡‡

Illustrations: Sketches/flow diagrams should be included in the article file document (MS Word). Clinical and histopathology photographs should be uploaded online simultaneously at the time of submission of the manuscript (after scanning if printed ) as jpeg files of a size less than 100 KB each. Please follow necessary instructions on the journal website. Type legends (maximum 20 words) for illustrations/figures using double line spacing. Use Arabic numerals for numbering illustrations and should be referred to in the text as "Figure". For histopathology photographs, please mention the magnification scale and the method of staining. Legends should also be incorporated in the article file after the references. Illustrations must be cited in the text and numbered in the order of mention.

For print photographs, indicate the number of the figure, the first contributor's surname and the top of the figure on a label pasted (avoid the use of liquid gum) on the back of each print or mount of a slide. The IJDVL reserves the right to crop, rotate, reduce, or enlarge the photographs to an acceptable size. 

For clinical photographs, either the subjects must not be identifiable or their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph. If a figure or table has been published before, 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. 

Please note that the images loaded at the time of submission are low resolution images. On acceptance of the article, high resolution digital images (resolution not less than 1200 X 2400 pixels and preferably of the tiff type, at least 1 MB in size each) can be emailed ( dmthappa@gmail.com ) or sent on a CD or print photographs (4 inches x 6 inches) will need to be submitted to editorial office.

References: In citing other work, only references consulted in the original should be included. Use the sequential numbering system. Personal communications should not be cited in the reference list but may appear parenthetically in the text. Arrange the reference list in the sequence in which the references are first cited. In the text, references cited should be superscripted and should appear on top of the line after the punctuation. Check all references for accuracy and completeness.

The journal follows the Vancouver system of references.

Format for references:
List the first six authors followed by et al. List the Surname, followed by the initials, for each author; the title of the paper; journal title (abbreviated according to the style of Index Medicus [ www.nlm.nih.gov ]; in case the journal is not listed in the Index Medicus, the full journal title should be given); year of publication; volume number; first and last page numbers. Please observe the interpunctuation most carefully.

Examples of references:

For journal articles:
Sehgal VN, Srivastava G, Dogra S. Adult onset pityriasis rubra pilaris. Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol 2008;74:311-21.

For books:
Hunt TK, editor. Wound healing and wound infection: theory and surgical practice. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts; 1980.

For chapters in books:
Lever WF, Schaumberg Lever G. Pityriasis rubra pilaris. In: Lever WF, Schaumberg Lever G, editors. Histopathology of the skin. 7 th ed. Philadelphia: JB Lippincott; 1996. p. 176-8.

For electronic media:
Bhatia A, Prakash S. Topical phenytoin for wound healing.Dermatology Online Journal. Available at: http://dermatology.cdlib.org. Accessed November 3, 2004.

Abbreviations: Abbreviations should be avoided in the title and abstract. A term or a disease must be spelt out at first mention, with the abbreviation following in parentheses in the text file.

N.B. In case of any doubt, please refer to ‘Uniform requirement for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals’ at the web page www.icmje.org or in the Annals of Internal Medicine (Ann Intern Med 1997; 126:36-47) for more detailed guidelines.
 

# Appendix I

Covering letter and other documents: A covering letter (signed by all authors), stating the title of the paper and the following points, and accompanied by the relevant documents, wherever applicable should reach the editorial office within 15 days of submitting the manuscript online.:

Authorship:
All the authors have contributed enough towards this publication to justify authorship criteria.

Copyright:
We transfer all copyright ownership of the enclosed manuscript to the Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology if it is accepted for publication.
We warrant that this paper is original and has not been in part or in whole simultaneously submitted to or published in another journal. It may be downloaded from the website, printed, duly filled, scanned (reduced to a size less than 400 KB for uploading) and uploaded directly from the “Article cycle” in the author’s manuscript submission area.

Sources of support:
For studies, add 'This study was supported (or not supported) financially or otherwise (specify) by ………………………………….'

Conflict of interest:
There is no conflict of interest of any of the authors with the results of this study. In case conflict of interest exists, please elaborate.

Ethics committee / Institutional review board's permission:
We also declare that the study was assessed and approved by the institutional ethics committee / institutional review board and that the letter of approval is available with us for examination. Please attach a copy of the approval letter.

Permission:
Copy of permission(s), if any, to reproduce published material is enclosed.

Patient's consent:
The patient's consent to use photographs that may reveal the identity of the patient is enclosed.
 

# Checklist for submission of articles to IJDVL

For online submission:

1. Prepare first page file
2. Prepare article file including legends to photographs. Do not include author names or affiliations or correspondence address in any part of the article file
3. Scan photographs and save as jpeg files of less than 100 KB each
4. Register as an author at the web-site www.journalonweb.com/ijdvl (not needed if you have registered earlier)
5. Follow instructions for submission in your work area.
6. Fill up the authorship responsibility form, copyright form, and other appropriate documents given in Appendix I above and send them by post to the editorial office. The documents may be sent by e-mail to editor@ijdvl.com  after scanning the printed and signed forms.
7. On receipt of an e-mail regarding acceptance or revision, login as an author and do the needful as per the editor’s remarks.