The Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR) (accessible online at www.ijmr.org.in) is an open access peer-reviewed journal committed to publishing high-quality articles in line with the priorities of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in supporting and promoting biomedical research. The IJMR aims to disseminate quality biomedical research to all its readers in India as well as globally with its mission to provide a platform to publish biomedical and public health investigations of national, regional and global interest. The Journal invites articles from a wide range of potential contributors conducting research based on quantitative, qualitative or mixed-method approach. Ease of access to expanding knowledge base is ensured by the IJMR through its policy of free dissemination of contents to its readers.
The journal is registered with the following abstracting partners: CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), EBSCO Publishing Electronic Databases, Google Scholar, National Science Library, ProQuest.
The Journal is indexed with, or included in, the following: Index Medicus for South-East Asia Region, Indian Science Abstracts, MEDLINE/Index Medicus, EMBASE/ Excerpta Medica, PubMed Central, Scimago Journal Ranking, SCOPUS, Science Citation Index Expanded, Web of Science
The Journal follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing and publication of scholarly work in medical journals.1 Indian Journal of Medical Research is a member journal of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).2 The Impact factor (2023) of IJMR is 2.7; and the Scopus Cite Score (as per SJR 2024) is 5.8
IJMR does not charge any fee for article processing.
Broad domains covered under IJMR: Cardiovascular diseases, Endocrinology, Reproductive & Child Health, Gynaecological Disorders, Virology, Bacteriology, Parasitology, Infectious Diseases, Oncology, Public Health, Basic & Laboratory Sciences, Demography & Disease Burden, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Community Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Innovative Health Technologies.
Disciplines NOT considered for IJMR: Anatomy, plant biotechnology, computational biology, nursing sciences, dental sciences except in case of intervention studies, Ayurveda/Unani/Siddha related studies except in case of comparative studies and registered clinical trials, Radiological imaging data, hard core machine learning/deep leaning data with no projected clinical implications, surgical methodology papers, hard core receptor signalling studies, pure animal experiments with no clinical application.
Authors should identify the manuscript type and follow the specific preparation guidelines, as described below. Authors are to submit their manuscripts through the online submission platform available at https://editorialassist.com/ijmr.
All first-time users can first register themselves free of cost. Once registered, authors can log into their authors centre on the platform using their username and password to submit and keep track of their articles. In case of any unforeseen technical issues, the authors may contact the Technical Assistance at technical.team@editorialassist.com or the IJMR Editorial office at editorialijmr@gmail.com.
All the relevant editable source files should be submitted with every submission and revision. Provide your manuscript text in .docx format. Include a signed Copyright Transfer Form and an Author Undertaking Form with all manuscripts. IJMR scrutinizes all manuscripts through a technical check. Authors should go through the IJMR checklist for Level 1 Technical check and adhere to it. Manuscripts not clearing the technical check will be returned within 72 hours.
To Download Level 1 Technical Checklist click here
To Download Copyright Transfer form click here
To Download Author Undertaking Form click here
To Download Template of First Page File click here
To Download Instructions to Authors click here
As part of the screening process, all submitted manuscripts to the IJMR are initially subjected to in-house screening for scope, format, relevance, novelty, duplicacy, etc. Manuscripts not adhering to any of the above are not processed further and returned to authors within 72 hours. Manuscripts with significant textual similarity are also returned to the author. Those manuscripts which are screened positively will be are subject to double blind peer review process. Authors need to certify in the covering letter that their manuscript has not been submitted to any other journal simultaneously. Manuscripts beyond the scope of IJMR, those not addressing a relatively novel research question, and those with gross methodological errors will be rejected without initiating the peer-review process. Those found suitable are sent to 2-3 technical reviewers and one statistical expert based on the need. Manuscripts are judged based on originality, relevance, methodological rigor, scientific merit, ethical standards and sound conclusions. After peer review, suitable manuscripts will be edited for language and style to fit IJMR guidelines.
Where an Editor/Editorial Board Member is listed as an author or has any other competing interest regarding a specific manuscript, another member of the Editorial Board will be assigned to oversee the handling of that article including peer-review, and the concerned Editorial Board member be blocked from accessing the manuscript related information from the system. These submissions will undergo the same review process as any other manuscript, irrespective of the institutional affiliations of the authors. The Editorial Board Member status of any of the authors has no bearing on editorial decisions.
Indian Journal of Medical Research publishes manuscripts ((based on quantitative, qualitative or mixed-method investigation approaches) in the following categories:
Original Article
Review Article (including Scoping/Mapping/Rapid Reviews)
Systematic Review (including Meta-analysis)
Health Technology Innovation (Fast Track Section)
Perspectives/Viewpoint
Student IJMR
Research Briefs
Research Correspondence
Editorials
Special Articles
Letter to the Editor
Pre -print Policy: Articles already uploaded as Pre-prints are not considered in the IJMR
Manuscript types not considered in the IJMR: Study protocols, Review protocols, Case reports/Case series are not considered in the IJMR
1. Original Research Articles
The approximate length of article should preferably be up to 3000 words (excluding Abstract and References). Original research articles should include a structured abstract (of 250 words maximum) under four subheadings: (i) Background & objectives, (ii) Methods, (iii) Results, and (iv) Interpretation & conclusions, followed by 5-8 key words arranged alphabetically. The main article should include the sections in following order: Introduction, Material & Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgment (if any), References, Tables, Legends to Figures, and Figures. Upto four Tables and figures are preferably in submitted manuscripts. Inclusion of any additional figures/Tables will be decided based on the need and discretion of the Editorial office once the article is accepted for publication. Additional tables and figures can be provided on the journal website as web tables or web figures, pending approval by the editorial review process. The permission from Ethics Committee/ Institutional Review Board (IRB) is mandatory for all studies on human participants. and animals and this should be mentioned in the Methods section. Registration of clinical trials is mandatory and registration number/CTR number should be mentioned.
2. Reviews
Various types of review articles are published in the IJMR including but not limited to rapid, mapping, scoping, etc. Review articles written by scientist(s)/ expert(s) working in a particular area and who has/have published quality original research, will be considered. The article could be up to 4000 words (excluding Abstract and References) with not more than 100 references (recent & relevant), clear methodology enumerating the search strategy employed and an unstructured abstract of about 250 words. Tables and Figures could be included as per requirement. Copyright permission should be obtained from the copyright holder in advance, if a published Table/Figure is reproduced in part or whole. Authors should consult the Editor-in-Chief before submitting, as similar reviews may already be in process.
3. Systematic Reviews (Including Meta-analysis)
The articles under this section will be critical appraisals of different studies on important topics of clinical/public health significance to obtain an unbiased quantitative estimate of the overall effect of an intervention or variable for a defined outcome. The focus could be on cause, diagnosis, prognosis, therapy, prevention, etc. These would be thoroughly researched articles giving comprehensive and balanced perspective. Systematic reviews could be about up to 2500 words with minimum number of Tables/Figures. A structured abstract of 250 words is required, including sections: Context (clinical question or issue and its significance), Objective, Evidence Acquisition (data sources used, search strategies, years searched), Results (major findings with emphasis on highest quality evidence), Limitations, and Conclusions (application of current knowledge by clinicians). The protocol of all systematic reviews submitted to IJMR should be registered in review registries such as PRISMA (https://www.prisma-statement.org/protocols), PROSPERO (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/), etc.
4. Health Technology Innovations
Articles under this section will include research evaluating innovative indigenous low-cost health technologies with clinical validation which are seeking regulatory approval or are being recommended for adoption by national health programmes. The manuscripts found suitable for consideration under this section by the Editors will undergo peer-review. To ensure high quality, its acceptance depends on satisfactory reviews with comments that can be quickly addressed by the authors and rapid revision by the authors within 7 days. Accepted manuscripts will be published online within 6 weeks of submission. These manuscripts would be about 1500-2000 words (excluding Title, Abstract and References) and contain a 4-point structured abstract (similar to Original Articles) of 200-250 words, a combined Results & Discussion section not exceeding 500 words, maximum of 25 references and one Figure or 1-2 Tables. Work that has been completed within 6 months of manuscript submission will be given preference.
The manuscripts being submitted for this section must be accompanied by a Letter/Correspondence with regulatory authority from whom approval is being sought, or from the concerned authority recommending adoption of technology to the Government or the need for peer-reviewed efficacy data for the technology. Manuscripts having clinical evaluation will be required to submit a letter of approval from an Institutional Ethics Committee.
5. Perspectives/ Viewpoint
Articles should address current controversial and challenging topics in health care. These could be an intersection between topics in medicine and the society. These are primarily opinion pieces written by senior scientists, public health experts and policy makers with sufficient credible experience and recognition on the subject. Such papers will be generally written by a single author. These should not exceed 1500 words and are subject to peer review. Support views with evidence and references.
6. Student IJMR
Aimed to encourage and promote the participation of students in medical research, this section is meant exclusively for medical undergraduate students. This section would also include reports of important scientific developments that will impact patient care, public health and/or career advancement. This section may also carry Abstracts of research done by students as part of ICMR’s Short Term Studentship, DST’s Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana, etc. The length of the papers should not be more than 1000 words. All the content in this section will be published subject to peer review.
7. Research Brief
Original research manuscripts containing well defined study design and sample size; or submissions with preliminary investigative data with limited methodology and sample size but having important clinical implications can be submitted as Research Briefs. These would be about 1500-2000 words and contain a 4-point structured abstract (like Original Articles) of 150-200 words. A Research Brief can have 1-2 Tables/Figures. Finally, these papers will be published under the category of ‘Original articles’ only.
8. Research Correspondence
A Research Correspondence would be either a preliminary/pilot study or a post-implicative report of around 1000 words with an unstructured Abstract of 100 words. A Research Correspondence would be containing either a Table or a Figure.
9. Editorials
These are solicited pieces related to a current topic or related to an article published in the same issue of the Journal. Editorials will be around 1000 words with 10 references and no abstract.
10. Special Articles
This section includes reviews on Medical Education, Medical Ethics, Health Economics, Digital Health, and any pertinent topics of current interest. The specific instructions for authors for review articles will be applicable.
11.Letters to Editor
Letters on recent articles in IJMR are welcome within 3 months of publication. The Editor may seek a reply from the authors and publish the letter and reply after review. Each letter must have a distinct title and should not exceed 500 words with up to 5 recent references.
For reporting of research, the authors are expected to comply with the “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (ICMJE Recommendations) by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors” (ICMJE) (www.icmje.org)1. In addition to this, authors are to adhere to the recommended standard reporting guidelines based on the study design of the submitted article (www.equator-network.org)3.
Contributors may consult the following Guidelines for specific study designs:
The reporting guidelines for other types of studies can be found at https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/.
| Sr. No. | Type of Study | Source / Guideline |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) | CONSORT – http://www.consort-statement.org |
| 2 | Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses | PRISMA Guidelines – http://www.prisma-statement.org |
| 3 | Observational Studies in Epidemiology | STROBE – http://www.strobe-statement.org |
| 4 | Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology | MOOSE – http://statswrite.eu/pdf/MOOSE Statement.pdf |
| 5 | Studies on Diagnostic Accuracy | STARD – http://www.stard-statement.org |
* For any other type of study contributors may consult ICMJE website (www.icmje.org)
The manuscript is to be submitted electronically at https://editorialassist.com/ijmr
Use British (UK) English throughout.
The manuscript should be typed in ‘portrait’ layout, 1.5 spacing, with a 2.5 cm margin, 12-point Times New Roman font, and justified. The pages of the manuscript should be numbered (bottom-centre alignment).
All abbreviations used in text should be expanded upon first use (acronym in parentheses) in the title, abstract, and text separately unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measure. The use of acronyms and abbreviations must be kept to a minimum.
Non-proprietary names of drugs, devices, and other products should be used. If proprietary names are provided, they should not include superscript ©, TM, or ® symbols; only the first letter should be capitalized. This should be followed by the name of the manufacturer in parentheses.
Units: Use conventional units for measurement. Prefer the metric system for length, area, mass, and volume.
Include a single file with Covering Letter, Title Page, and Author’s Contribution.
AI tools may improve language but must be documented in Methods. AI cannot be listed as author.
Disclose financial ties and funding sources (grants, equipment, drugs).
Manuscript must not be previously published or under consideration elsewhere. Disclose abstracts, theses, or prior publication in cover letter.
Include repository location, DOI/accession number or permanent link, and restrictions with justification.
No author or institution names should appear in this file.
Structured abstract; highlight principal findings only. Keywords: 4–6, alphabetical, preferably MESH terms.
Brief, essential background, and study objectives.
Include setting, duration, population, design, participant selection, outcome variables, sample size, intervention & follow-up, statistical analysis, ethical issues.
Describe tools, version, prompts.
Include CONSORT flow diagram.
Include registration number.
Eligibility, exclusion criteria, source population.
Include methods and significance.
Conform to national guidelines; obtain consent/assent; remove patient identifiers.
Present essential data; do not repeat tables/figures; include absolute numbers and percentages.
Use metric (SI) units; P values up to 3 decimal places.
Use standard abbreviations; expand on first use.
Interpret results; include major findings, limitations, comparison with similar studies, and generalizability.
Numbered consecutively; prefer original research. Examples: journal articles, books, proceedings, online sources.
Include in main article file. Number consecutively with Roman numerals. Short titles/column headings. SD/SE if applicable. Columns: 3–5, Rows: 4–16.
Upload JPEG/TIF, ≤20 MB. Number consecutively. Clear labels and symbols. Legends contain title/details (not on figure). Remove patient identifiers.
| Type | Format & DPI | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Black & White | JPEG/TIF, Grayscale, 600 DPI preferred (min 300), ≥6x5 in | – |
| Color | 600 DPI preferred, no layered files, CMYK | – |
| Line Art | 1200 DPI, Grayscale/JPEG, CMYK | – |
| Photomicrographs | Include scale markers, symbols contrast background | Explain scale & staining in legend |
Scanned copy required for human/animal studies.
All authors must consent to co-authorship in specified order. Provide name, address, appointment at time of work, correspondence address. Senior author may sign for deceased/unknown co-authors. Corporate authors: specify key persons. Copyright transfer allows journal to manage infringements.
Received online; corrections limited to indicated errors. No substantial changes or author name changes permitted.
IJMR content under international copyright. Authors retain academic rights; journal retains commercial rights. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0.
| Quantity | Base Unit Name | SI Unit Symbol |
|---|---|---|
| Length | meter | m |
| Mass | kilogram | kg |
| Time | second | s |
| Electric current | ampere | A |
| Thermodynamic temperature | kelvin | K |
| Luminous intensity | candela | Cd |
| Amount of substance | mole | mol |
| Quantity | Base Unit Name | SI Unit Symbol | Derivation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Area | square meter | m² | m² |
| Volume | Litre | L | L |
| Speed | meter per second | m/s | m/s |
| Density | kilogram per cubic meter | kg/m³ | kg/m³ |
| Specific volume | cubic meter per kilogram | m³/kg | m³/kg |
| Concentration | mole per cubic meter | mol/m³ | mol/m³ |
| Frequency | hertz | Hz | s⁻¹ |
| Force | newton | N | kg·m·s⁻² |
| Pressure | pascal | Pa | kg·m⁻¹·s⁻² (N/m²) |
| Work, energy | joule | J | kg·m²·s⁻² (N·m) |
| Luminous flux | lumen | lm | m²·m⁻²·cd = cd |
| Power | watt | W | kg·m²·s⁻³ (J/s) |
| Electric potential | volt | V | kg·m²·s⁻³·A⁻¹ |
| Electric charge | coulomb | C | A·s |
| Electric resistance | ohm | Ω | kg·m²·s⁻³·A⁻² (V/A) |
| Capacitance | farad | F | kg⁻¹·m⁻²·s⁴·A² (C/V) |
| Magnetic flux | weber | Wb | kg·m²·s⁻²·A⁻¹ (V·s) |
| Magnetic flux density | tesla | T | kg·s⁻²·A⁻¹ (Wb/m²) |
| Inductance | henry | H | kg·m²·s⁻²·A⁻² |
| Factor | Prefix | Symbol |
|---|---|---|
| 10²⁴ | yotta | Y |
| 10²¹ | zetta | Z |
| 10¹⁸ | exa | E |
| 10¹⁵ | peta | P |
| 10¹² | tera | T |
| 10⁹ | giga | G |
| 10⁶ | mega | M |
| 10³ | kilo | k |
| 10² | hecto | h |
| 10¹ | deca | da |
| 10⁻¹ | deci | d |
| 10⁻² | centi | c |
| 10⁻³ | milli | m |
| 10⁻⁶ | micro | μ |
| 10⁻⁹ | nano | n |
| 10⁻¹² | pico | p |
| 10⁻¹⁵ | femto | f |
| 10⁻¹⁸ | atto | a |
| 10⁻²¹ | zepto | z |
| 10⁻²⁴ | yocto | y |