Submissions

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

The submission file is in Microsoft Word or OpenOffice file format.
The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; Times New Roman font, employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
A website link (URL) needs to be provided to all references for PubMed, PMCID, DOI and Full Text (all or as much as available). Please note that, without this we will not be able to move forward with processing your manuscript.
The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
Supplementary Files: Supplementary files listed below need to be submitted along with your manuscript.

1. Cover letter
2. Declaration of authorship responsibility, financial disclosure, competing interest, copyright transfer, and acknowledgement
3. Ethical Approval letter (for original research article)
4. Appropriate reporting guideline checklist (for research article) as mentioned below
For Research Article: Authors must check the EQUATOR Network, CONSORT and STROBE sites for any reporting guidelines that apply to the study design and ensure they include any required supporting information recommended by the relevant guidelines. Documentation (checklist) for specific studies should be uploaded as supporting information during manuscript submission.
Please add all co-authors (in stage 3. Enter Metadata) in the list of contributors (add contributor) during the submission process.
ORCID of all authors need to be submitted in the 'List of contributors' and/or the manuscript file.
For Case Report: A Case Report consent form duly signed by the subject has to be submitted as supplementary information during manuscript submission.
If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.

Author Guidelines

(Thank you for choosing Journal of Kathmandu Medical College (JKMC) for submitting your scientific work. These guidelines are meant to help authors to familiarise with the requirements of JKMC for submission of articles, format it follows and other information that may be helpful for preparing the manuscript. Hence we suggest authors to first go through the guidelines in order to make the preparation of your manuscript easier and to increase the chance of publication of the article in JKMC. Please note that our requirements are more or less based on the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals, more details of which is available from www.icmje.org)

Introduction:

JKMC is a multidisciplinary, peer reviewed, open access, quarterly journal which publishes a wide range of scientific works including original research paper, case reports, reviews, audits, editorials, book reviews and articles from medical students. It includes work from basic science, clinical science, dental, nursing and other related medical fields.

Being a journal from a rapidly growing medical institution, both clinically and academically, JKMC welcomes scientific works from different institutions, both national and international.

What does JKMC publish?

JKMC publishes high quality research papers under the following sections (for detailed description of each type, please go through the section “Guidelines for individual article types”)

- Full-length Original Research Articles and Short Communications across the entire spectrum of medical research including basic sciences, medical, surgical, dental and nursing fields as well.

- Case reports/series illustrating a point of general interest or discussing a different presentation/management or contributing new information in the field of medicine.

- Reviews on current topics.

- Audits which are of good quality and with significant implications, especially the ones which have compared the findings with similar and contrasting situations.

- Editorials

- Letter to the editor on matters arising from published material.

- Book reviews

- Medical Education

- Student JKMC

Please note that JKMC does not charge submission fees.

Before you submit your manuscript to us, please make sure of the following:

- Ethical clearance: Authors are required to sign the declaration file mentioning that an ethical clearance has been obtained from the respective ethics board/Institutional Review Board (IRB) / Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC). The researchers must have followed internationally accepted ethical standards such as the Declaration of Helsinki. Every case report must have a written informed consent from the patient/patient’s guardian (in case of minor), and care should be taken that the identity of the patient are not disclosed in any manner. However, we do NOT require the letter of ethical clearance or the consent to be attached during the manuscript submission. However, if need arises, we might ask for it and the author needs to present a copy of the ethical clearance and/ or consent to the journal.

- Authorship: An “author” is someone who has made significant intellectual contribution to the study. Not everyone who works for a research is necessarily an author of a manuscript. An author must take responsibility for at least one component of the work, should be able to identify who is responsible for each other component, and should ideally be confident in their co-authors’ ability and integrity. Regarding authorship, JKMC follows the International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations which states that authorship credit should be based on:

1. Substantial contribution to conception and design, 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.

(More details on authorship can be found in our Editorial policy)

All authors must abide to good publication practices and if found to be involved in any kind of misconduct, JKMC will hold the right to deal/penalize the article and all the authors, accordingly.

Any change in authorship later on should be corresponded in time to the editor and a signed letter from all the authors, along with a valid justification of the change is expected. Please refer to our declaration file for more information on the terms you have to abide by before submitting your manuscript.

- License to publish: Submission of manuscript to JKMC endows JKMC the right to publish it in print and online format. Authors are not allowed to submit it anywhere else unless it is rejected by JKMC or withdrawn formally by the authors. For withdrawal, authors are required to send a letter of withdrawal to JKMC with valid reasons and it should be approved by the Editorial Board of JKMC.

Manuscript Submission:

Manuscript should be addressed to the Chief Editor and be submitted via the submission portal at www.jkmc.com.np, after registering and signing in as an Author. JKMC will not entertain any submission by e-mail, post or otherwise. The following files should be attached at the time of submission:

1. Cover Letter (to be downloaded from our website: http://www.jkmc.com.np and filled by the chief author/corresponding author on behalf of all authors)

2. Declaration file (to be downloaded from our website: http://www.jkmc.com.np, filled and signed by ALL authors. Please download this file, print it, fill the required fields, get it signed by all authors, scan it and attach the scanned file.)

3. Manuscript (to be written in the format suggested subsequently)

4. Additional files like images (figures/pictures), tables, graphs. (In the format suggested subsequently).

Instructions to authors regarding manuscript format:

Brief information about individual manuscript types:

[For detailed information, see the guidelines for individual article types.]

- Original article, short communication, and audit should have following sections: Title, Structured abstract with keywords, Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, and References.

- Case report should have following sections: Title, Unstructured abstract with keywords, Introduction, Case report, Discussion, Conclusion, and References.

- Review should have following sections: Title, Unstructured abstract with keywords, Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, and References. It may also have additional sections if needed by the topic, as in meta-analysis.

- Editorials should have following sections: Title, Main body, and References if necessary.

- Letter to editor should be written in concise, reasonable paragraph format.

- Book review should have the name and all pertinent information about the book, including the price (if possible). It must have name of the author(s)/editor(s), edition, publisher, year of publication, pages, and price along with the review. If required, you may add Reference section to it.

- Student JKMC will be an optional section. It will have articles relating to medical students’ experiences, career prospects, and related topics. It will be board reviewed rather than peer-reviewed.

Manuscript File:

- File format: Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx). We do not accept .pdf files or scanned images of the manuscript.

- Language and grammar: British (UK) English.

- Spacing: single. Margins: moderate

- Contents should be concise, fitting into word limit, but detailed enough to make the study clear to the readers.

Images:

- Colour: All images should be in colour, except for images which are originally in greyscale e.g. electron microscopy slides.

- Caption and Numbering: All images must be numbered as: Figure “number (in Arabic numerals)” with a title describing the image, placed below the image. The caption should read like “Figure 1: Figure title”.

The captions should be placed where the image is meant to be in the manuscript with one line spacing above and below the caption.

Tables:

- Title and Numbering: Title of table should be placed above the table. The title should read like "Table 1: Table title".

- Table may be placed within the text of manuscript or attached as a separate file. In the latter case, the title of the table should be placed where the table is meant to be placed with a line spacing above and below the title.

Graphs/Charts:

- Caption and Numbering: same as Images.

- If possible, please send us the graphs/charts as part of Microsoft Worksheet along with the data used to generate the graph/chart.

Units of measurements should be in SI units (International system of units) as far as possible.

Abbreviations (Acronyms): Abbreviations should be avoided in abstract. In the main text of the article, abbreviations should be written in parenthesis along with full form for the first time. Subsequently abbreviation alone may be used. Standard English abbreviation can be used without its full form. For example: "e.g." for "example"

When starting a sentence with a number, please spell the number. For e.g. “Seventy one percent of subjects had...”

Single digit numbers should be spelled out. For e.g. “..was found in two percent..”.

When using drug names, generic names should be used. Trade names are not allowed.

Please do not write in contractions. For e.g. write “do not” instead of “don’t”.

Referencing: JKMC follows modified Vancouver system as devised in the NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers for referencing, which is available as a book: “Citing Medicine, 2nd edition”. The book can be downloaded free of cost at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7256/

(A brief, quick illustration of NLM style referencing is available in our guidelines for individual article types).

- A website link (URL) needs to be provided to all references for PubMed, PMCID, DOI and Full Text (all or as much as available).

- Please note that JKMC follows a few adaptations of the Vancouver system like:

- Superscripts should be used for citation numbers rather than brackets in text.

- Numbers should be inserted to the left of colons and semi-colons.

- Full stops are placed after the reference number.

JKMC follows ICMJE, WAME, CSE, COPE's guidelines as standard ones. For details please visit the respective sites.

Additional information:

- If authors of a published article become aware of a significant error in it, a notification letter should be sent as soon as possible to the editor. If the error is judged significant enough to warrant a published correction, the correction will be made as an “erratum” if the fault is JKMC’s and as “correction” if the fault is the author’s.

- We will correspond with the corresponding author via the email address provided, initially after the manuscript has passed through the initial Screening Process. We expect response to our mail as soon as possible i.e. within three days of receiving the mail. Further correspondences will be after completion of peer review. We do not entertain personal calls to any member of the editorial board regarding your manuscript. Kindly mail to us in our official email address if you have any queries. Personal calls for publication, undue influence, if identified will drastically lower the chances of acceptance.

- Appeal: The author has the right to appeal for re-consideration of decision on rejection and comments regarding his /her manuscript provided he/she has valid reasons for it, within a week of receiving information about the decision. The final decision, however, rests on the editorial board.

- Any irregularities, misinformation, or manipulation of the data tending to skew the conclusion towards the side that does not represent the actual finding, if found, can result in the manuscript to be rejected or retracted (if already published).

Any case of breach of publication ethics will be dealt with in accordance with accepted standard guidelines such as those of COPE, ICMJE, WAME, CSE. JKMC may proceed with legal actions if needed in appropriate cases. JKMC might black-list the author(s) of the manuscript and also circulate the news and recommendation in public media and/or other journals.

If you have any queries, please contact us via email at editor@jkmc.com.np or visit our website https://www.jkmc.com.np. We are always ready to help.

Copyright Notice

Copyright © Journal of Kathmandu Medical College
The ideas and opinions expressed by authors or articles summarized, quoted, or published in full text in this journal represent only the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of Journal of Kathmandu Medical College or the institute with which the author(s) is/are affiliated, unless so specified.

Authors convey all copyright ownership, including any and all rights incidental thereto, exclusively to JKMC, in the event that such work is published by JKMC. JKMC shall own the work, including 1) copyright; 2) the right to grant permission to republish the article in whole or in part, with or without fee; 3) the right to produce preprints or reprints and translate into languages other than English for sale or free distribution; and 4) the right to republish the work in a collection of articles in any other mechanical or electronic format.

Privacy Statement

Nepal Journals Online (NepJOL) is a member of the Ubiquity Partner Network coordinated by Ubiquity Press. According to the EU definitions, NepJOL is the data controller, and Ubiquity Press are the service providers and data processors. Ubiquity Press provide the technical platform and some publishing services to NepJOL and operate under the principle of data minimisation where only the minimal amount of personal data that is required to carry out a task is obtained.

More information on the type of data that is required can be found in Ubiquity Press’ privacy policy below.

Ubiquity Press Privacy Policy

We take seriously our duty to process your personal data in a fair and transparent way. We collect and manage user data according to the following Privacy Policy. This document is part of our Terms of Service, and by using the press portal, affiliated journals, book, conference and repository websites (the “Websites”), you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy and the Terms of Service. Please read the Terms of Service in their entirety, and refer to those for definitions and contacts.

What type of personal data do we handle?

There are four main categories of personal data stored by our journal platform, our press platform, and our book management system; Website User data, Author data, Reviewer data and Editor data.

The minimum personal data that are stored are:

full name
email address
affiliation (department, and institution)
country of residence

Optionally, the user can provide:

salutation
gender
associated URL
phone number
fax number
reviewing interests
mailing address
ORCiD
a short biography
interests
Twitter profile
LinkedIn profile
ImpactStory profile
profile picture

The data subjects have complete control of this data through their profile, and can request for it to be removed by contacting info@ubiquitypress.com

What do we do to keep that data secure?

We regularly backup our databases, and we use reliable cloud service providers (Amazon, Google Cloud, Linode) to ensure they are kept securely. Backups are regularly rotated and the old data is permanently deleted. We have a clear internal data handling policy, restricting access to the data and backups to key employees only. In case of a data breach, we will report the breach to the affected users, and to the press/journal contacts within 72 hours.

How do we use the data?

Personal information is only used to deliver the services provided by the publisher. Personal data is not shared externally except for author names, affiliations, emails, and links to ORCiD and social media accounts (if provided) in published articles and books which are displayed as part of the article/book and shared externally to indexes and databases. If a journal operates under open peer review then the reviewer details are published alongside the reviewer details.

How we collect and use your data:

1. When using the website

1.1 what data we collect

When you browse our website, we collect anonymised data about your use of the website; for example, we collect information about which pages you view, which files you download, what browser you are using, and when you were using the site.
When you comment on an article or book using Disqus, we are not collecting, controlling or processing the data. More details on the DISQUS privacy policy can be found on their website.
When you annotate an article or book, this is done via a 3rd party plugin to the website called Hypothes.is. In using this plugin we are not collecting, controlling or processing the data. More details on the Hypothes.is privacy policy can be found on their website.

1.2 why we collect the data

We use anonymised website usage data to monitor traffic, help fix bugs, and see overall patterns that inform future redesigns of the website, and provide reports on how frequently the publications on our site have been accessed from within their IP ranges.

1.3 what we do (and don’t do) with the data

We do not collect personal information that can be used to identify you when you browse the website.
We currently use Google Analytics for publication reports, and to improve the website and services through traffic analysis, but no personal identifying data is shared with Google (for example your computer’s IP is anonymised before transmission).

1.4 what to do if you want to get a copy of your data, or want your data to be removed

Please contact info@ubiquitypress.com to request a copy of your data, or for your data to be removed/anonymised.

2. When registering as an author, and submitting an article or book

2.1 what data we collect

When registering an account we ask you to log in and provide certain personal information (such as your name and email address), and there is the option to register using an ORCiD which will pre-fill the registration form.
As part of submitting an article for publication, you will need to provide personally identifying information which will be used for the peer review process, and will be published. This can include ‘Affiliation’, ‘Competing interests’, ‘Acknowledgements’.

2.2 why we collect the data

Registering an account allows you to log in, manage your profile, and participate as an author/reviewer/editor. We use cookies and session information to streamline your use of the website (for example in order for you to remain logged-in when you return to a journal). You can block or delete cookies and still be able to use the websites, although if you do you will then need to enter your username and password to login. In order to take advantage of certain features of the websites, you may also choose to provide us with other personal information, such as your ORCiD, but your decision to utilize these features and provide such data will always be voluntary.
Personal data submitted with the article or book is collected to allow follow good publication ethics during the review process, and will form part of the official published record in order for the provenance of the work to be established, and for the work to be correctly attributed.

2.3 what we do (and don’t do) with the data

We do not share your personal information with third parties, other than as part of providing the publishing service.
As a registered author in the system you may be contacted by the journal editor to submit another article.
Any books published on the platform are freely available to download from the publisher website in PDF, EPUB and MOBI formats on the publisher’s site.
Any personal data accompanying an article or a book (that will have been added by the submitting author) is published alongside it. The published data includes the names, affiliations and email addresses of all authors.
Any articles published on the platform are freely available to download from the publisher website in various formats (e.g. PDF, XML).
Ubiquity Press books and articles are typeset by SiliconChips and Diacritech.This process involves them receiving the book and book associated metadata and contacting the authors to finalise the layout. Ubiquity Press work with these suppliers to ensure that personal data is only used for the purposes of typesetting and proofing.
For physical purchases of books on the platform Ubiquity Press use print on demand services via Lightning Source who are responsible for printing and distribution via retailers. (For example; Amazon, Book Repository, Waterstones). Lightning Source’s privacy policy and details on data handling can be found on their website.

2.4 why we store the data

We store the account data so that you may choose to become a reviewer and be able to perform those tasks, or to become an author and submit an article and then track progress of that article.
Published personal data that accompanies an article or a book forms part of the official published record in order for the provenance of the work to be established, and for the work to be correctly attributed.

2.5 what to do if you want to get a copy of your data, or want your data to be removed

You are able to view, change and remove your data associated with your profile. Should you choose to completely delete your account, please contact us at support@ubiquitypress.com and we will follow up with your request as soon as possible.
To conform to publication ethics and best practice any personal data that is published alongside an article or book cannot be removed. If you have a query about a publication to which you are attributed please contact info@ubiquitypress.com

3. When registering as a reviewer

3.1 what data we collect

To become a reviewer you must first register as a user on the website, and set your preference that you would like to be considered as a reviewer. No new personal data is collected when a registered user elects to become a reviewer.
When registering an account we ask you to log in and provide certain personal information (such as your name and email address), and there is the option to register using an ORCiD which will pre-fill the registration form.
Reviewers can also be registered by editors who invite them to review a specific article. This requires the editor to provide the reviewer’s First Name, Last Name, and Email address. Normally this will be done as part of the process of inviting you to review the article or book.
On submitting a review, the reviewer includes a competing interest statement, they may answer questions about the quality of the article, and they will submit their recommendation.

3.2 why we collect the data

The data entered is used to invite the reviewer to peer review the article or book, and to contact the reviewer during and the review process.
If you submit a review then the details of your review, including your recommendation, your responses to any review form, your free-form responses, your competing interests statement, and any cover letter are recorded.

3.3 what we do (and don’t do) with the data

This data is not shared publicly and is only accessible by the Editor and system administrators of that journal or press.
The data will only be used in connection with that journal or press.
Data that is retained post final decision is kept to conform to publication ethics and best practice, to provide evidence of peer review, and to resolve any disputes relating to the peer review of the article or book.
For journals or presses that publish the peer reviews, you will be asked to give consent to your review being published, and a subset of the data you have submitted will become part of the published record.

3.4 what to do if you want to get a copy of your data, or want your data to be removed

If you would no longer like to be registered as a reviewer you can edit your profile and tick the box ‘stop being a reviewer’. This will remove you from the reviewer database, however any existing reviews you may have carried out will remain.
If you have been contacted by an editor to peer review an article this means that you have been registered in the system. If you would not like to be contacted for peer review you can reply to the email requesting that your data be deleted.

4. When being registered as a co-author

4.1 what data we collect

Co-author data is entered by the submitting author. The submitting author will already have a user account. According to standard publishing practice, the submitting author is responsible for obtaining the consent of their co-authors to be included (including having their personal data included) in the article/book being submitted to the journal/press.
The requested personal data for co-authors are at the bare minimum; first name, last name, institution, country, email address. This can also include; ORCID ID, Title, Middle Name, Biographical Statement, Department, Twitter Handle, Linkedin Profile Name or ImpactStory ID.

4.2 why we collect the data

Assuming that it is accepted for publication, this data forms part of the official published record in order for the provenance of the work to be established, and for the work to be correctly attributed.
Author names, affiliations and emails are required for publication and will become part of the permanent cited record.

4.3 what we do (and don’t do) with the data

The co-author’s personal data is stored in the author database. This personal data is only used in relation to the publication of the associated article.
Any co-author data collected is added to the author database and is only used in association with the article the user is co-author on.

4.5 what to do if you want to get a copy of your data, or want your data to be removed

To receive a copy of your data, please contact info@ubiquitypress.com
To conform to publication ethics and best practice any personal data that is published alongside an article or book cannot be removed. If you have a query about a publication to which you are attributed please contact info@ubiquitypress.com

5. When signing-up to receive newsletters

5.1 what data we collect

We require you to include your name and email address

5.2 why we collect and store the data, and for how long

This data would be collected to keep you updated with any news about the platform or specific journal

5.3 what we do (and don’t do) with the data

We use mailchimp to provide our mailing list services. Their privacy policy can be found here

5.4 what to do if you want to get a copy of your data or want your data to be removed

All emails sent via our newsletter client will include a link that will allow you to unsubscribe from the mailing list

Notification about change of ownership or of control of data

We may choose to buy or sell assets. In the case that control of data changes to or from Ubiquity Press and a third party, or in the case of change of ownership of Ubiquity Press or of part of the business where the control of personal data is transferred, we will do our best to inform all affected users and present the options.

(Updated: 18 May 2018)