Author Guidelines

Submission Preparation Checklist
All submissions must meet the following requirements
The submission must be unique and not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Each author made a significant contribution to the development of the manuscript. IIJFMT holds copyright for all published content. The authors are accountable for the statements made in the article.
The publication accepts submissions in various categories, including original research, brief communications, case reports, review articles, CME supplements, and correspondence with the editor. All submitted papers undergo a peer review process. Authors of manuscripts requiring modifications will receive their work back and will be expected to submit the revised version within the designated timeframe.
Preparation of manuscript
Manuscripts should be written in clear and grammatical English and should conform to the journal's general style. It should be typed with double spacing and wide margins. It should contain the following: Title page, Abstract and Keywords, Text, Acknowledgment (if any), References, Tables, and Figures.
Title Page: The title page should contain the Form of the paper (Original research, Review article, Case report, Case series, Brief communication, and so on), the Title (should be informative and without abbreviations), the Authors' names (the first or middle names and the last name written out in full) and affiliations, and Corresponding Author's address (Name, mailing address, telephone number, fax number, and email address).
Original Research: The abstract should be unstructured and describe the major findings of the study with a brief background and conclusion. It should preferably be no more than 250 words for research articles and 200 words for case reports. The abstract should be followed by 3-5 keywords.
Text: The text in Original Communications should contain an Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. Other types of articles should contain the appropriate headings. The introduction should be brief, stating the purpose of the study and its relationship with earlier work in the field. The Materials and Methods section contains a brief description of the methodology. The new procedures should be described in detail. Details of the statistical methods employed should be mentioned at this end. Studies involving ethical issues must contain a statement that the appropriate ethics committee has reviewed their studies. Details that might disclose the identity of the subjects under study are omitted. Results should contain the relevant observations made from the study. It can be presented in the text, figures, or tables without repetition. The discussion should be concise and focus on interpreting results. This should involve a critical evaluation of previously published studies. The text of original articles amounting to up to 3000 words (excluding abstract, references, and tables),
Review Article:
The review article should be authored by recognized experts who have conducted extensive research in the field or are considered authorities on the subject. The recommended length is a maximum of 2500 words, not including tables, references, and abstracts. An unstructured abstract of no more than 250 words should be included, providing an accurate summary of the article, along with up to six keywords. The organization of section headings will vary based on the topic under review. Authors must incorporate a section outlining their methodology for identifying, choosing, extracting, and synthesizing data. This methodological approach should also be briefly described in the abstract. The word limit for the abstract is set at 250 words.
Case Report:
Should include interesting and rare cases. Reported cases should be unique, describing a medical challenge and providing a learning point for the readers. Cases with clinical and medicolegal significance or implications will be given priority. These communications could be of up to 1500 words (excluding Abstract and references). They should have the following headings: Abstract (unstructured, not exceeding 250 words), Keywords (maximum 4), Introduction, Case report, Discussion, References, 3 Tables and Legends in that order. Each figure/picture should be submitted as a separate file in jpeg/tiff format.  
Letter to the Editor:
It should be concise with decisive observations, preferably related to articles previously published in the journal, and may also relate to other topics of interest to the medical professional.  The Word count for this category is limited to 500 words  
References: References should be cited in the order of appearance in the text using superscript Arabic numerals. These references are listed in numerical order at the end of the paper. The accuracy of references is the responsibility of the authors. For further details, refer to the webpage http://www.icmje.org.
References to journals should include the authors' last name and initials (list all authors when six or fewer, when seven or more, list only the first six and add et al.), full title of the paper, journal titles (as abbreviated in Index Medicus), year of publication, volume number, and first and last page numbers.
1. Menezes RG, Nagesh KR, Jagadeesh N, Nithin MD. Publishing case reports: A potent tool for better forensic medicine practice J South India Medicolegal Assoc 2009; 1:1-2.
The references to a chapter in an edited book  are as follows:
1. Payne-James JJ. Assault and injury in the living. In: Payne- James JJ, Busuttil A, Smock W, editors. Forensic Medicine: Clinical and Pathological Aspects. London: Greenwich Medical Media, 2003.p.543-563.
References to a book by one or more authors  are as follows:
1. Pillay VV. Mechanical asphyxia. In: Textbook of forensic medicine and toxicology. 15th ed. Hyderabad: Paras Medical Publisher, 2010.p.274-301.
Preparation of tables and illustrations: Tables and figures should have an appropriate title and should be numbered with Arabic numerals according to their appearance in the text. All tables and figures with titles and footnotes are collected at the end of the manuscript. Photographs should be saved in the JPEG or TIFF format.
The IIJFMT Editorial Board maintains the authority to modify all submissions in terms of style, format, and clarity. Every manuscript received by the IIJFMT will undergo external and/or editorial evaluations. The authors may be asked to revise their work to address style and content issues. Manuscripts that are not accepted will be discarded. There is no page fees associated with IIJFMT. The editors, editorial board, reviewers, and IIJFMT will not be held accountable for any instances of plagiarism committed by authors.
Permission
Wholesale reproduction of all previously published tables, charts, figures, and photos will require written permission from the journal's parent association. The reproduction of modified data will require at least a reference citation.
Journal copy
The corresponding author will receive one print copy of the journal. Further copies will be available at a suitable price (as fixed by the board) on request before publication. An electronic version of the journal will also be made available to the corresponding author on request.
Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
The Indian Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology is a peer-reviewed journal, an official publication of the Indian Congress of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology. IIJFMT publishes original research papers, short communications, editorials, review articles, and case reports written in English that deal with forensic medicine and related field subjects. The manuscripts are subjected to an anonymous peer-review process before their publication by at least two reviewers who are experts in the particular paper.
The rights and responsibilities of editors, authors, and reviewers are the following:
Editors:
· The editors warrant that the manuscripts received will undergo a process of anonymous peer review.
· Editors have complete responsibility and authority to reject/accept an article.
The editors will only assess the intellectual value of the manuscripts, regardless of race, nationality, gender, ethnicity, beliefs or ideology of the author.
· Editors should ensure that all research material they publish conforms to internationally acceptable ethical guidelines.
· The editors will observe the norms of the SIMLA and international standards in copyright matters.
· Editors will not allow any conflicts of interest between staff, authors and reviewers.
Authors:
· Authors must certify regarding the full originality of their work. The use of other people’s works must be adequately cited as per publication guidelines.
· Authors must certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere or it is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere.
· Authors should not submit manuscripts that reproduce papers already published, in part or in whole, in any other journals or publication media.
· Authors can use compilations of their own work, their own articles or part of them while preparing manuscripts.
· All Authors mentioned in the manuscript must have significantly contributed to the research.
· Authors must state that all data in the paper are real and authentic. Authors must notify the Editors of any conflicts of interest.
· Authors must identify all sources used in the creation of their manuscript.
Reviewers:
· Reviewers should keep all information regarding papers confidential and treat them as privileged information.
· Reviewers will be entirely objective and will argue their viewpoints.
· Reviewers should report possible cases of plagiarism or too apparent similarities between the evaluated manuscript and other published works they know.
· Reviewers should point out any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper they have personal knowledge.
· Reviewers should not review manuscripts with conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any authors or institutions connected to the papers.
· Reviews should be conducted objectively, with no personal criticism of the author. Reviewers should clearly express their views with supporting arguments.
· Reviewers should identify relevant published works that the authors have not cited.