Writing and Publishing Manuscript:

Steps To Follow

Publication Process

Pre-writing: Step 1• Identify the target journal• Read authors instructions

Writings: Step 2• Follow ICMJE guidelines for

content development• Writings and reviewing• Format the manuscript as

per the journal guideline

Publishing: Step3• Pre-submission checklist• Manuscript tracking

Identifying Target Journal

• Identifying a target journal is a pre-requisite for manuscripts• Selection of journal is based on

– Scope of the journal– Target audience of the journal– Types of articles published– Open access option– Impact factor– Journal indexing– Acceptance rate– Frequency of publication

Reading Author’s Instructions

• Ethical guidelines• Authorship criteria• Conflict of interest• Copy rights• Review process• Manuscript preparation (formatting as per ICMJE guidelines)• Submission procedure

Writing Title Page• Article title: Precise and informative title with study design can provide

description of the full article• Author information: Authors complete information with affiliations and full

contact details should be provided and also should mark the Corresponding author • Sources of financial support: Grants, equipment, drugs, and/or other support

that facilitated to conduct the research work• Word count: Word count excluding abstract, acknowledgments, tables, figure

legends, and references • Number of tables and figures: Specifications on number of tables and figures

are also required

Writing Abstract

• Summary of the main text in the article• Original research, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses require structured

abstracts (i.e. should follow IMRAD format)• Key information about the background, purpose and main findings along

with the conclusion of the study• Should be understandable and informative but not too detailed

Writing Introduction

• Background for the study i.e., the nature of the problem and its significance• Highlight the unmet needs and rationale for conducting the study• State the specific purpose or research objective of, or hypothesis tested • Cite recent and only directly relevant references • Do not include data values or conclusions from the work being reported

Writing Methods• Study design: Clearly mention about the type of study, how and why a study

was done in a particular way• Selection and description of participants: Describe selection of

participants (must include eligibility and exclusion criteria)• Study endpoints: Specify study’s main and secondary objectives• Statistics: Must be described in detail so that a person can judge its

appropriateness for the study and verify the reported results– Avoid relying completely on statistical hypothesis testing, such as p-values,

as they do not convey important information about effect size and precision of estimates

Writing Results

• Presentation of results in logical sequence in text, tables, and figures,• Give the key or most important findings first• Do not repeat all the data in the tables or figures in the text• Include data on all primary and secondary outcomes identified in the

methods section• Additional information related to methods and/or results can be included in

the supplementary material

Writing Discussion and Conclusion

• Discussion should begin with brief summary of the main findings and possible explanation of these findings

• Specify the novelty and important aspect of study • Avoid repetition of data or other information which is already mentioned in

the article• Strength and limitations of the study must be addressed• Conclusion should highlight the significant findings of the study and indicate

possible improvement with future studies• Should end with clear and concise “take home message”

Writing References

• Provide direct references of original research articles • References of review articles are good way of guiding readers to body of

literature but they do not always reflect original work accurately • Conferences abstract should not be used as references• References of paper accepted or not yet published should be marked as “in

press” or “forthcoming”• Manuscript submitted but not published should be referred as “unpublished

observation” with written permission from source

Making Tables

• Displays information concisely and efficiently• Possibly reduces the length of text• Each table should be numbered consecutively in the order of their first

citation in the text and should have a title• Title of table should be short, self-explanatory and informative enough to

allow reader to understand table’s content without going back to text• Each column should have short and abbreviated heading• Explanatory matters should be kept in footnotes (e.g. nonstandard

abbreviations, symbols to explain information etc)

Adding Illustrations (Figures)

• Digital images must be in suitable format for print publication• Figures must be either professionally drawn and photographed or submitted

as photographic-quality digital prints • Should be self explanatory• Photomicrographs should have internal scale markers• Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with

the background

Publishing Manuscript

• Pre-submission checklist– List of authors with their affiliations– Cover letter– Manuscript file– Figures file– Table file– Conflict of interest form– Signed author disclosure form – Supplementary materials

• Submission process in journal– Selection of article type– Enter the title of the manuscript– Add authors’ name– Submit abstract– Enter keywords– Add attachments (manuscript,

tables, figures, conflict of interest, other relevant file)

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