Submissions

Author Guidelines

Editorial Policy
Nepalese Medical Journal receives original material of interest to the practitioners and scientists in the field of Medicine related to the recent developments in Medical Sciences. Articles describing original clinical or laboratory investigations and case reports will be considered for publication. From time to time invited articles, editorials and reviews of selected topics will be published. Manuscripts, including illustrations, tables, and figures must be original and not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Nepalese Medical Journal has agreed to receive manuscripts in accordance with the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals,” as cited in N. Engl. J. Med., 1997, 336: 309-15. The Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication, Updated October 2008, can be obtained from the website http://www.icmje.org

Copyright
Copyright on an article published by the Nepalese Medical Journal is retained by the author(s).

Authors grant Nepalese Medical Journal a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher.

Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified.

All articles published in Nepalese Medical Journal licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

These license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Data Sharing Policy
Nepalese Medical Journal encourages authors to share their research data including raw data, processed data, software, algorithms, materials, and methods. This facilitates the reproducibility and verification of data, methodology and reporting standards. Authors are encouraged to provide a data availability statement and to cite the data they have shared. Whenever possible the data and other supporting documents should be submitted along with the main text. If authors are unable to share data, then the authors should clearly state it a separate document while submitting the paper for publication. 

Introduction
Nepalese Medical Journal is an official peer-reviewed biomedical journal of HEAD Nepal. It will be published bi-annually. Nepalese Medical Journal receives original material of interest to the practitioners and scientists in the field of medicine related to the recent developments in Medical Sciences.

Manuscripts are to be prepared in accordance with “Uniform requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals” developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (December 2016). The uniform requirements and specific requirements of the Nepalese Medical Journal are summarized below.

Types of the manuscript and word limits
Original Article: Original articles should not exceed 30 double-spaced typewritten pages, excluding tables, figures, and references. There is no limitation to the number of references. Abstracts should not exceed 250.

Review Article: Review articles should not exceed 35 double-spaced typewritten pages, excluding tables, figures, and references. The abstract should be limited to 150 words. There is no limitation to the number of references.

Clinical Problem-solving: Clinical Problem-solving must provide difficulties in reaching the final diagnosis and new information. Clinically significant observations based on new or developing technology will receive special consideration. Brevity is required. Case studies must not be more than 10 double spaced typed pages, including tables, figures, and references. The number of references should be 15 or less and the number of figures should be 3 or less. Abstracts should not exceed 150 words. Manuscripts submitted as case studies that do not conform to these requirements will be returned without review.

Case report: Case reports must provide new information. Clinically significant observations based on new or developing technology will receive special consideration. Brevity is required. Case studies must not be more than 10 double spaced typed pages, including tables, figures, and references. The number of references should be 15 or less and the number of figures should be 3 or less. Abstracts should not exceed 150 words. Manuscripts submitted as case studies that do not conform to these requirements will be returned without review.

Letters to the editor: Letters to the editor should contain a brief abstract that is short and decisive. They should not be preliminary observations that require a paper for later validation. They should not be more than 400 words and be limited to 5 references.

Viewpoints: Letters to the editor should contain a brief abstract that is short and decisive. They should not be preliminary observations that require a paper for later validation. There is no word limits and limit in references.

Student sections: Student sections may contain an original article, case report, and clinical problem-solving as mentioned above.

Limits for the number of images and tables: For all the above-mentioned categories the number of images and tables should not be more than one per 500 words. All contributions except Letters to the Editor should contain a brief abstract; the full-length manuscript should not exceed 250 words; Case studies abstract should not exceed 150 words.

Authorship criteria To qualify for authorship, the author must have contributed substantially to the intellectual content of the manuscript such as:

A.

• conception and design
• acquisition of data
• analysis and interpretation of data

B.

• drafting of the manuscript
• critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content

C.

• statistical analysis
• obtaining funding
• supervision

Author Identification
Nepalese Medical Journal endorses ORCID and requires that all corresponding authors provide an ORCID iD when submitting a manuscript. We encourage co-authors to register and use their ORCID as well.

We publish the corresponding author’s ORCID iD as well as any ORCIDs provided by coauthors if the manuscript is accepted. We participate in the auto-update feature implemented by Crossref such that when a paper is published, the authors’ ORCIDs are deposited and subsequently used to update each author’s ORCID record.

Manuscript preparation

A. Style and Format
Manuscript files can be in the following formats: DOC, DOCX or RTF. Microsoft Word documents should not be locked or protected. Manuscripts can be any length and shall be written in the English language. There are no restrictions on word count, number of figures, or amount of supporting information. We encourage you to present and discuss your findings concisely. Use a standard font size and any standard font, except for Symbol font. Manuscript text should be double-spaced. The inclusion of page number and line number is mandatory in the manuscript.

Each section of the manuscript should commence on a new page in the following sequence: Title page and running title, structured abstract with Keywords, Background, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgments, References, Tables, and Figures. Please do not use any signs for example ”&” for “and” or “@” for “at the rate”. However, you can use abbreviations used in standard textbooks provided the full form has been given when it first appears in the text. Define abbreviations upon first appearance in the text. Do not use non-standard abbreviations unless they appear at least three times in the text.

The text of the original article should be divided into sections with headings: Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgments, References, Tables, and Figures.

For Review article: Abstract, Keyword, Introduction. The remaining portion can include as per articles necessity.

For Clinical Problem-solving: Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Case report, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgments, References, Tables and Figures.

For case reports: Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Case report, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgments, References, Tables and Figures.

For Letter to the editors, viewpoint: No particular format

In all types of article supporting information, files are uploaded separately.

B. Title Page
The title page should contain:

• Type of manuscript (e.g. Original article, Case report, Review Article, etc.);
• The title of the article, which should be concise, but informative;
• Running title or short title, not more than 50 characters;
• The name by which the author is known (Last name, initials of First name and Middle name);
• The name of the department and institution to which the work should be attributed;
• The name, address, phone number, facsimile numbers and e-mail addresses of the contributors for correspondence about the manuscript;
• Author ORCID ID number (for at least the corresponding author, but preferably for all authors);
• Source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or all of these.

C. Conflict of Interest Notification Page
To prevent the information of potential conflicts of interest from being overlooked or misplaced, it needs to be part of the manuscript. All forms of funding and support, as well as any potential competing financial interests, should be acknowledged in the cover letter to the editors when applicable and also should be mentioned at the end of the article as an acknowledgment. However, it should also be included on a separate page immediately following the title page.

D. ABSTRACT
The abstract should start on the second page (third page if a conflict of interest is included). It should be structured for original articles as: Background, Materials and Methods, Results, Conclusion, and Keywords. State the context, aim, settings and design, materials and methods, statistical analysis used, results and conclusion. We request you provide 3 to 8 keywords or short phrases that capture the main topic of the article. These words should follow MeSH list and be listed in the same order as they appear in the text. The abstract should not be structured for a review article or a case report. Do not include references in the abstract. Abstract should not include abbreviation as possible.

E. INTRODUCTION
The introduction should provide a background that puts the manuscript into context and allows readers to understand the problem addressed and why it is important. This includes a brief review of the key literature with relevant disagreements in the field. State the purpose or the research objectives of the paper clearly. Do not review the subject extensively and give only pertinent references.

F. MATERIALS AND METHODS
The Materials and Methods section should provide enough detail to allow suitably skilled investigators to fully replicate your study. Specific information and/or protocols for new methods should be included in detail. If materials, methods, and protocols are well established, authors may cite articles where those protocols are described in detail, but the submission should include sufficient information to be understood independent of these references.

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. Because the relevance of such variables as age and sex to the object of research is not always clear, authors should explain their use when they are included in a study report. For example, authors should explain why only subjects of certain ages were included or why women were excluded. The guiding principle should be clarity about how and why a study was done in a particular way. When authors use variables such as race or ethnicity, they should define how they measured the variables and justify their relevance.

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. 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. Precisely identify all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration.

Ethics
All research articles should mention its approval from Institutional Review committee in the manuscript. All research involving human participants must have been approved by the authors’ Institutional Review Board (IRB) or by an equivalent ethics committee (s), in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/17c_e.html). If consent was verbal instead of written, or if the consent could not be obtained, the authors must explain the reason in the manuscript, and the use of verbal consent of lack of consent must have been approved by the IRB or ethics committee.

Do not use the patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. More information about patient privacy, anonymity, and informed consent can be found in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Privacy and Confidentiality guidelines. When reporting an experiment on animals, indicate the guidelines/laws on the care and use of laboratory animals that were followed.

Evidence of approval by a local Ethics Committee (for both human and animal) must be supplied by the authors on demand.

Statistics
Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a reader with access to the original data to verify the reported result. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Avoid relying solely on statistical hypothesis testing, such as P values. These fail to convey important information such as the effect of the size of the population. References for the design of the study and statistical methods should be to standard procedures when possible. Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and symbols. Specify the computer software used.

G. 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 all the data of the tables or the illustrations in the text. When data are summarized in the Results section, give numeric results not only as derivatives (for example percentage), but also the absolute numbers from which the derivatives were calculated. Specify the statistical methods that were used to analyze them. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess the supporting data. Use graphs as an alternative to tables that require many entries. Do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Avoid non-technical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as “random” (which implies randomizing device), “normal”, “significant”, “correlations” and “sample”. Where scientifically appropriate, analysis of the data by such variables as age and sex should be included.

H. DISCUSSION
Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. Do not repeat in detail the data or other information given in the Introduction or the Results section. For experimental studies, it is useful to begin the discussion by briefly summarizing the main findings. Compare and contrast the results with the study, and explore the implications of the findings for future research and for clinical practice.

I. CONCLUSION
Link the conclusions with the goals of the study but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions that are not adequately supported by the data. In particular, avoid making statements on economic benefits and costs unless the manuscript needs appropriate economic data and analysis.

J. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This section should state the person(s)/firms that the author is required to acknowledge. Those who contributed to the work but do not meet our authorship criteria should be listed in the Acknowledgments with a description of the contribution. Authors are responsible for ensuring that anyone named in the Acknowledgments agrees to be named.

K. REFERENCES
The Vancouver system of referencing should be used. The authors are responsible for the accuracy of each reference and checking them against the original article. Provide a list of references, double-spaced, after the text. Cite references in the text using superscript Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear in the text. Abbreviate titles of journals according to MEDLINE. References to unpublished data and personal communications should appear in the text only. List all authors for each reference, unless there are seven or more, in which case only the first three followed by ‘et al’ should be given. Authors should check that all references listed have been cited in the text and that no references have been omitted from the list

Journal name abbreviations should be those found in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) databases. Digital Object Identifier (DOI) or URL should be present of all the referenced material. 

Examples of correct reference format:
For journal articles, list the first six authors, et al.

Journal Articles
Author(s) – Family name and initials. Title of article Title of journal – abbreviated Publication year; volume: pages. 

Note: Journal titles may be abbreviated according to the style used in the PubMed database. Go to the PubMed Journals database site: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=journals to look up journal abbreviations (to find the full journal name) or journal names in full (to find the journal abbreviation).

KC Shiva R. Thyroid function tests and its interpretation. Journal of Pathology of Nepal 2014;4:584-90. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3126/jpn.v4i7.10318

Accepted, unpublished articles
Same as published articles, but substitute “Forthcoming” for page numbers or DOI.

KC Shiva R. Thyroid function tests and its interpretation. Journal of Pathology of Nepal 2014. Forthcoming.

Book
Author(s) – Family name and initials, editor. Title of Book. Volume. Publisher: Where published;year published. page(s)

Smith JB, editor. Pathology of the lung. Vol 18 3rd ed. John Green Co: Montreal; 1970. 179pp.

Chapter in a Book
Author(s) – Family name and initials. Title of Chapter, In: Title of Book. Publisher: Where published; year published. page(s).

Brown AB, Green XY. Jejunal pathology, In: Black CD, White EF, (eds). Gastrointestinal pathology; an introduction. 2nd edn. Raven: New York; 1995. pp 465-469.

Electronic citations
Author. Title of publication [type of medium – Internet]. Place of publication (if available): Publisher (if available); Date of publication – year month day (supply year if month and day not available) [updated year month day; cited year month day]. Available from: web address.

Clea Japan [homepage on the Internet]. Osaka: Clea Japan, c1999- 2004. (Cited 25 November 2004) Inbred animals. Available from: http://www.clea-japan.co.jp/animals/b6-3.htm.

Conference proceedings
Kimura J, Shibasaki H, editors. Recent advances in clinical neurophysiology. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of EMG and Clinical Neurophysiology, 1995 Oct 15-19, Kyoto, Japan. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1996.

Dissertation
Kaplan SJ. Post-hospital home health care the elderly’s access and utilization [dissertation]. St. Louis (MO): Washington Univ., 1995.

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.

World Wide Web page
Beckleheimer J. How do you cite URL’s in a bibliography? [online] 1994 [ cited 2000 Dec 13]. Available from: URL: http:// www.nrlssc.navy.mil/meta/bibliography.html

World Wide Web page (no author)
Educating America for the 21st century: Developing a strategic plan for educational leadership [online] 1994 [cited 2016 May 15]. Available from: URL: http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/CONF/Edplan.html

World Wide Web Home page
Curtin University of Technology. [Homepage of the Curtin University of Technology] [online] 2000 May 22 last update. [cited 2000 Jun 12]. Available from: URL: http://www.curtin.edu.au/

Drug Names
Generic names should generally be used. When proprietary brands are used in research, include the brand name in parentheses in the methods section (this needs to be taken from CPSP hand out)

Tables
Tables capture information concisely and display it efficiently. They also provide information at any desired level of detail and precision. Including data in tables rather than in the text frequently makes it possible to reduce the length of the text.

Tables should be numbered consecutively (with Arabic numerals) in the order of their first citation in the text. Each table should be typed with double-spacing on a separate sheet of paper. Tables should be self-explanatory and include a brief descriptive title. Do not use internal horizontal or vertical lines. Give each column a short or abbreviated heading. Authors should place explanatory matter in the footnotes, not in the heading. Footnotes to tables, indicated by lower case letters are accepted, but they should not include extensive experimental detail. All nonstandard abbreviations should be explained in the footnotes. For footnotes use the following symbols, in sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, **, ††, ‡‡

Identify statistical measures of variations, such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean.

Be sure that each table is cited in the text.

If you use data from another published or unpublished source, obtain permission and acknowledge them fully.

Illustrations/Figures
Graphs, charts, diagrams or pen drawings must be drawn by professional hands in Indian ink (black) on white drawing paper. Figures should be either professionally drawn and photographed, or submitted as photographic quality digital prints. Photographs should be supplied in high quality glossy paper not larger than 203 mm x 254 mm (8” x 10”). On the back of each illustration write the figure number and an arrow indicating the top. All illustrations should be black and white and should be submitted in triplicate with suitable legends. Electronic versions are acceptable. Authors should review the quality of the images on a computer screen before submitting them. They should have a resolution of 300 dpi. The dimensions should be 640 X 480 to 800 X 600 and the picture format should be JPEG (*.jpg, *.jpeg) or TIFF (*.tif, *.tiff). The total size of all figures files should not exceed 20MB.

Legends for illustrations should be typed using double-spacing on a separate page and use Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations. Explain what each illustration shows. Define all arrows and other such indicators appearing on the illustration. If an illustration uses a patient who is identified by case number, include that case number in the legend. Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends, not on the illustrations themselves.

For x-ray films (miniature photo prints should be supplied), scans, and other diagnostic images, as well as pictures of pathology specimens or photomicrographs, send sharp, glossy, black-and-white or colour photographic prints, usually 127 x 173 mm (5 x 7 inches). Letters, numbers, and symbols on Figures should, therefore, be clear and even throughout, and of sufficient size that when reduced for publication each item will still be legible.

Photomicrographs should have internal scale markers. Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background. Mention the magnification and the stains used in all of the photomicrographs.

If photographs of people are used, either the subjects must not be identifiable or their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph.

Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text. If a figure has been published, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. Permission is required irrespective of authorship or publisher except for documents in the public domain.

Authors should consult the journal about requirements for figures submitted in electronic formats.

Units of Measurement
Measurements of length, height, weight, and volume should be reported in metric units (meter, kilogram, or litre) or their decimal multiples.

Temperatures should be in degrees Celsius. Blood pressures should be in millimetres of mercury.

Authors should report laboratory information in both the local and International System of Units (SI). Drug concentrations may be reported in either SI or mass units, but the alternative should be provided in parentheses where appropriate.

Abbreviations and Symbols
With the exception of units of measurement, Journal discourages the use of abbreviations. Use only standard abbreviations. Please refer to Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 92: vii-x (1995) for guidance as to which abbreviations are considered standard. Avoid abbreviations in the title. The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement. Do not use abbreviations like @ or & in the text.

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION
We accept manuscript in the following sections:

• Short communications
• Current research trends
• Original articles
• Review articles
• Clinical Problem-solving,
• Student sections
• Case reports
• Letter to editor

The manuscript must be submitted in clear and concise English. Complete manuscript, Author contribution, Cover letter. Nepalese Medical Journal requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exceptions. The manuscript should contain:

Title, Author list including Principal author, co-author and corresponding author (with ORCID ID), Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgement, References, Figures, and Tables, Supplementary documents

Please submit:

• Cover letter
• Forwarding letter
• Author's declaration
• Ethical clearance ( Review article, Correspondence, Letter to the Editor, Editorial are exempted. Consent for publication is required for case reports)
• Full main text
• Blinded main text
• An electronic copy of the article is mandatory

Authors should submit their manuscript to:

 https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/nmj/about/submissions

Publication Fees

This journal doesn't charge for submission and processing your manuscript. After getting accepted, NRS 3,000.00 or its equavalent.

Subscription Fees
Nepal Institutional
Annual NRS 6000.00
Per Copy NRS 3000.00

Nepal Individual
Annual NRS 3000.00
Per Copy NRS 1500.00

SAARC Countries Institutional
Annual US $ 100.00
Per Copy US $ 50.00

SAARC Countries Individual
Annual US $ 50.00
Per Copy US $ 25.00

Other Countries Institutional
Annual US $ 150.00
Per Copy US $ 75.00

Other Countries Individual
Annual US $ 75.00
Per Copy US $ 40.00

Plagiarism Policy:

1. The Journal follows the authorship guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (http://www.icmje.org/).
2. The Journal follows the standard international definition of plagiarism and according to the guidelines provided by the United States Education foundation in Nepal. (http://www.usefnepal.org/opportunity/plagiarism.php) (http://www. presscouncilnepal.org/codeofconduct.php)
3. The Journal assigns equal responsibility of intellectual integrity of the manuscript to all authors whose names appear on the manuscript/article. When submitting a manuscript, the Journal requires that all authors sign a statement accepting this responsibility.
4. This statement must indicate that no part of the manuscript has been plagiarized.
5. Any such material should be made accessible to the Editor and should only be used with referencing according to the guidelines of authorship. This may otherwise form the basis of a redundant publication/duplicate publication/”salami slicing” and appropriate action may be taken by the Editor which may range from rejection of the manuscript to debarment of the authors(s) from further publication in the Journal.
6. It is emphasized that the Journal considers self-plagiarism as equally unethical as plagiarism in any other form. If material is to be used from the author’s previous work, standard referencing guidelines must be followed.
7. All manuscripts submitted to the Journal will be checked for plagiarism. If a manuscript submitted for publication (or a manuscript accepted for publication or an article that has already been published in the Journal) is found to be based on plagiarized material, the Editor will be obliged to write to the author(s) seeking an explanation. The corresponding author will be required to respond with an explanation within 30 days of receiving the letter from the editor.
8. Any such manuscript for review will be held up till the matter is resolved.
9. After receiving the author’s explanation, if considered necessary, the Editor may also send a letter of information to the Head of the Institution or any other relevant authority at the author(s) institution.
10. In case an acceptable explanation is provided by the author(s), the Editor may recommend appropriate changes after which the review process for the submitted manuscript may commence.
11. In case of failure of author(s) to either respond within the stipulated time, or in case they are unable to provide a suitable explanation, the Editor will convene a meeting of the Plagiarism Committee of the Board of Editors of the Journal to consider further action.
12. Further action will depend upon the nature of the offence and may include rejection of the manuscript from publication along with possible debarment of the author(s) from further publishing in the Journal. The period of debarment will depend upon the nature of the offence and may range from a period of a few months to permanent.
13. Information regarding this action may be published in the forthcoming issue of the Journal on a numbered page Plagiarism, if detected and proved, would be considered a punishable offence.

Immediate and unbiased action will be taken by the Plagiarism Committee.

Nepalese Medical Journal Plagiarism Committee Members:
Dr. Shiva Raj KC- Editor-in-chief
Members of Editorial Board

Publisher
Nepalese Medical Journal is published by the Head Nepal.

Nepalese Medical Journal Policy for handling requiring correction, retraction, and expressions of concern

Correction
All articles submitted, if requiring correction after publication, requires correpondence from the corresponding author. If the article involves any change in the authors' list, the written consent of all authors is required. Generally, the order of authors is not changed once the manuscript has been submitted in the first instance and the authors remain the same until the article is published. Hence, any change is strongly discouraged by the journal. In case of a minor change, erratum will be published in print format and changes will be made online format with inclusion of the word "Erratum" next to the changes made. 

Retractions
On occasion, it is necessary to retract articles. Articles may be retracted if there is a major scientific error (data fabrication), that changes the conclusion of the article or if the findings of the article have been already published (duplication) elsewhere and there is no proper permission, cross-referencing or justification. (i.e. cases of redundant publication). The article will be retracted if there are ethical issues, inappropriate authorship ( see COPE document 'What constitutes authorship?')

Retraction process
The following retraction process is applied:

1. An article requiring potential retraction is brought to the attention of the journal editor.
2. The journal editor should follow the step-by-step guidelines according to the COPE flowcharts (including evaluating a response from the author of the article in question).
3. The corresponding author will be contacted for explanations. 
4. Before any action is taken, the editor's findings should be sent to Nepalese Medical Journal Review group. The purpose of this step is to ensure a consistent approach in accordance with best practices.
5. The final decision as to whether to retract is then communicated to the author and, if necessary, any other relevant bodies, such as the author's institution on occasion.
6. The retraction statement is then posted online and published in the next available issue of the journal.

Expressions of Concern
Expression of concern is issued if editors feel that there is potentially misleading information in the article and readers should be made aware of it.  However, it should be done only if there are strong indicators that the concerns are valid. See COPE case 17-02 Data manipulation and institute's internal review. While issuing Expression of concern, editors should be aware that it may affect reputation, hence it is preferable to wait to publish a retraction until a definitive judgment has been achieved by an independent investigation. See COPE case 15-10 Handling self-admissions of fraud.

About this Publishing System
This journal uses Open Journal Systems 2.4.6.0, which is open source journal management and publishing software developed, supported, and freely distributed by the Public Knowledge Project under the GNU General Public License.