About the Journal

The National Journal of Physiology is the official publication of the Association of Physiologists of Tamilnadu. The primary focus of the National Journal of Physiology is to encourage research and publication by researchers and postgraduates in Physiology and other specialities and to provide an opportunity for knowledge sharing among medical professionals, while simultaneously maintaining high standards. The National Journal of Physiology, which evolved from the Bulletin of Association of Physiologists of Tamilnadu (BAPT), is a peer-reviewed journal, the print version of which has been published annually from 2013, biannually from 2016 onwards, and in the future, aims to be published quarterly in both the print and online versions.

Scope of the Journal

The National Journal of Physiology accepts manuscripts in the fields of clinical Physiology, experimental Physiology and medical education in Physiology and welcomes original research articles, review articles, short communications and case reports.

Submission of the Manuscript

The National Journal of Physiology accepts manuscripts submitted as e-mail attachments. Manuscripts should be addressed to the editor, National Journal of Physiology, and sent to the following email id: [email protected]. All manuscripts (only blinded version) should be accompanied by

1. Contributor’s form (signed, scanned and attached as a PDF file to the mail)
2. Title page (explained below)

Manuscripts that are submitted without the duly signed contributors’ form will not be processed. Manuscripts that are not prepared according the “Instructions to the authors” of the National Journal of Physiology will be returned to the author for technical correction, before being sent for the editorial/peer review. Authors are therefore advised to ensure that the entire manuscript, including the reference section is prepared as instructed by the National Journal of Physiology.

Only manuscripts that are the outcome of original work without fabrication, fraud or plagiarism, and work that has been conducted after obtaining the required institutional review board or ethics committee clearance, obtaining informed consent from participants and following all ethical guidelines should be submitted for publication to the National Journal of Physiology; manuscripts must be solely the valid work of the authors stated, must not have been previously published elsewhere, and must not be under consideration by another journal, nor should data collected have been or be published separately. All authors should sign the contributor’s form to this effect.

Categories of Manuscripts published by the National Journal of Physiology

1. Original research articles
2. Review articles
3. Short communications
4. Case reports

In addition, the last issue of the year will contain the ‘News and events’ section containing a summary of the events conducted by various institutions under the banner of the Association of Physiologists of Tamilnadu and a list of forthcoming national and international conferences of interest to Physiologists and the ‘Obituary’ section in honour of recently deceased physiologists.

Preparation of the Manuscript

• The National Journal of Physiology follows the “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals” issued by the International Committee for Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and all potential authors are instructed to familiarize themselves with the recommendations. The authors are also advised to refer to a recent issue of The National Journal of Physiology while preparing their manuscripts. A brief summary of the specific requirements for the National Journal of Physiology is given below.

The content of the manuscript should be typed

1. In Microsoft Word File
2. Calibri font
3. Size 11
4. Single spacing with one inch margin on all sides
5. Pages should be numbered
6. College names should be blinded (in materials and methods) in order to aid in the double-blind peer review
process

1. The title page/ covering letter should contain the following details:

• Type of manuscript (original research article, short communication, review article, case report, etc.)
• Title of the manuscript
• Full names of all authors/contributors* with their designation and departmental and institutional affiliation
• Corresponding author: The full name, designation, institutional affiliation, address, telephone number and email id of the corresponding author
• The name and address of the institution at which the study was done
• A running title
• The total number of pages in the title page file and the blinded article file
• The word count for the abstract
• The word count for the text (excluding the references, tables and abstract)
• The total number of tables and figures and images
• Source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, etc.
• Acknowledgement**, if any
• Conflicts of interest, if any (including financial interests)
• A full statement to the editor about all submissions and previous reports that could be regarded as redundant publication*** of the same or very similar work
• If the manuscript was presented in part at a conference/meeting, the name of the event, place, and exact date on which it was presented

*The criteria for inclusion as authors/contributors have been clearly stated in the ICMJE recommendations (and in the contributors’ form that is to be signed by all authors and submitted with the manuscripts). Please ensure that the full names (first name, middle name and surname) are clearly mentioned as it is important for citing the article.
**Those who have made substantial contribution but do not meet the authorship requirements should be acknowledged.
***Any such work should be referred to specifically, and referenced in the manuscript that is being submitted to the National Journal of Physiology. Copies of such material should be included with the submitted paper, to help the editor decide how the matter is to be handled.

2. The blinded article file/main text should contain the following:

• Title of the manuscript (which should be repeated here). The file must not contain any mention of the author’s names or the institution at which the study was done or any acknowledgement as this is a blinded article file.
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion (original research article).
• Number the pages consecutively, beginning with the first page of the blinded article file.

The main sections of an original research article are described below, followed by a brief description of the other types of manuscripts accepted by the National Journal of Physiology.

I. Original research articles (less than 3000 words, excluding the abstract and references):

Abstract: The abstract should be a concise, informative and accurate summary of the article and should be completely self-explanatory, with a word limit of 250 words. It should be structured using these headings:

1. Background
2. Aim
3. Materials and Methods
4. Results
5. Conclusion

No references should be cited in the abstract.

Keywords: Following the abstract, about 3 to 6 keywords should be listed arranged alphabetically; use standard key words in Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms.

Introduction: The introduction should provide a clear statement of the problem, relevant literature on the subject,* and the proposed approach or solution. Authors should justify why this study was necessary and what it is intended to contribute to the field. The section should end with a clear statement of the aim of the study. Abbreviations and acronyms should be spelt out and introduced in parentheses the first time they are used in the text; only recommended SI units of measure should be used; UK, US or Australian spelling can be used, but a mixture of spelling styles should not be used within the same manuscript. In the text, the reference should be cited by Arabic numerals in superscript after the full stop and not within parentheses.

*While writing the manuscript, do not use other’s published and unpublished ideas, words or work without giving credit to the original authors and do not take credit for others’ work intentionally or unintentionally. Cite references meticulously for all statements that are not your own; do not use others’ words verbatim, rather paraphrase them using your own words while simultaneously citing the reference quoted; and if it is absolutely required to quote words verbatim as in the case of definitions, quote the definitions within inverted commas, while simultaneously citing the reference. Plagiarism is a serious issue and the National Journal of Physiology will not tolerate plagiarism or any scientific misconduct. Plagiarism is punishable and is easily detected using software that checks manuscripts and detects plagiarism. If a table/figure/image has been published previously, and is being reproduced anywhere in the manuscript, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce it. Only documents in the public domain are exempt. It is the author’s responsibility to obtain permission to reproduce copyright protected material from the copyright holder. Manuscripts will not be accepted unless written permission for the same is received by the authors and submitted to the editor.

Materials and Methods: This section should be complete enough to allow experiments to be reproduced. The name of the colleges should be blinded. The procedures should be described in detail and previously published procedures should be cited. For all manuscripts that report data from studies involving human participants and for animal studies, formal review and approval or waiver, by the concerned institutional review board or ethics committee is required and should be described along with the ethical guidelines followed by the investigators. Details about the study design, sample size with justification, sampling method, selection criteria, method of allocating the subjects into different groups, study groups, interventions, study tool, methods of measurement, data collection and processing and loss of data (dropouts or patients lost to follow up) should be given. Finally, the statistical methods used for presentation and analysis of data, the statistical tests used, and the software package (name and version) used for statistical analysis should be stated.

Results: The results section should be precise and clear. Exact p values should be provided. Confidence intervals for measurements should be provided wherever required. The results section should be written in the past tense. Results should be explained, without referring to the literature. Discussion, speculation and detailed interpretation of data should not be included in the results but should be included in the discussion section instead. In the interest of clarity, tables and figures may be included within the results section itself.

Tables should be as simple as possible and self-explanatory. Each table should be numbered consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text using Arabic numerals and should have a heading (font size 11) and a legend/footnote (font size 8), in addition to the content (font size 10, single spaced, left aligned), to ensure that it easily fits in the final double column page layout. The same data should not be presented in both table and graph forms or repeated in the text. All nonstandard abbreviations should be placed in footnotes, using symbols to explain information, if needed, and explanatory matter should be placed in footnotes, not in the heading. Figures/graphs too should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals and supplied with a heading and a legend, and should include sufficient description so that the figure is understandable without reading the text. While preparing graphs, keep in mind the fact that the print version of the journal would be in black and white and therefore differentiate appropriately. Graphics should be prepared using applications capable of generating high resolution GIF, TIFF or JPEG images before pasting in the Microsoft Word manuscript file. Information given in legends should not be repeated in the text. Do not use patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers in images. Ensure that all identifying details are removed from photographs and reports.

Discussion: The discussion should interpret the findings in view of the results obtained in this and in past studies on the topic, stating how the findings are in accordance with or differ from those of other researchers. Possible mechanisms and explanations for the findings should be given. The results and discussion sections can include subheadings. Add the limitations of the study, scope for future research and the implications of the study at the end of the discussion.

Conclusion: State the conclusions in a few sentences at the end of the manuscript, ensuring that conclusions drawn are precise and based on the results obtained in the present study only, not on speculations.

References:

References should be listed at the end of the manuscript in the order of occurrence i.e., the order in which the references appear in the text. Do not list them alphabetically. References cited only in tables or in legends of figures should be numbered according to the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure.
Do not cite personal communications, unpublished articles and manuscripts “in preparation” or manuscripts “submitted for publication” as references. The titles of the journals should be abbreviated according to the style used for MEDLINE. Use the complete name of the journal for non-indexed journals. Do not use abstracts as references.
Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy of the references. Please make sure to follow the reference style precisely; if the references are not in the correct style, the manuscript will be returned. A few examples are given below, but authors are advised to refer to the ICMJE “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals” for finding further updated sample references.

Examples:

Articles in journals:
Kulkarni SB, Chitre RG, Satoskar RS, Wighe RS, Tillu KJ, Joshi PJ, et al. Serum proteins in tuberculosis. J Postgrad Med. 1960; 6:113-20.

Reference from a book:
Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, eds. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996.

Chapter in a Book:
Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, eds. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. p. 465-78.

Electronic citations/Online journals:
Basically, websites can be referenced with their URL and access date, and as much other information is given as is available. Access date is important as websites can be updated and URLs change.
Morse SS. Factors in the emergency of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis 1995 Jan-Mar;1(1).www.cdc.gov/nciod/EID/vol1no1/morse.htm (accessed 5 Jun 1998).
Harsha HC, Kandasamy K, Ranganathan P, A compendium of potential biomarkers of pancreatic cancer. PLoS Med 2009;6(4):e1000046.doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000046.

II. Review articles (less than 5000 words): Review articles and meta-analyses should be written for the basic sciences audience. They should have an abstract (up to 250 words, not structured) and references, and there is no fixed limit on the number of references.

III. Short communications /Brief reports (less than 1500 words): We encourage short papers on small but interesting findings or on creative hypotheses with strong plausibility. Short communications are limited to a maximum of two figures and one table. They should present a complete study that is more limited in scope than is found in full-length papers and should have an abstract (up to 250 words, not structured) and references.

IV. Case reports (less than 750 words, no more than 10 references):
The manuscript should have the following sections: Abstract (up to 200 words, not structured), introduction, description of the case (including figures), discussion, conclusion and references and written informed consent should have been obtained; all information that could identify the patient should be removed before submission and anonymity should be ensured.

V. Obituary/Remembrance (less than 400 words, with a photograph): The journal publishes brief memorials in honor of recently deceased physiologists in the last issue of every year. This should include a distilled combination of essential information (full name, dates of birth and death, main institutional affiliations and accomplishments) and personal anecdotes or memories.

VI. News and events section (less than 250 words for each event): The last issue of the year will contain the ‘News and events’ section. Each institution that has conducted a conference/workshop/continuing medical education (CME) programme or any other academic event in collaboration with the Association of Physiologists of Tamilnadu (APT) should submit a summary of the event (200 – 250 words) to the editor to enable a final summary of the events that occurred that year to be compiled. In addition, this section will also contain a brief list of forthcoming national and international conferences of interest to Physiologists.

Review Process followed by the journal

On receipt of a manuscript and the contributors’ form, the manuscript will be assigned a manuscript reference number for future correspondence and the corresponding author will receive an acknowledgement by email. Manuscripts that are submitted without the duly signed contributors’ form will not be processed. Manuscripts that fail to conform to the instructions to authors of the National Journal of Physiology will be returned for revisions before they are processed. All manuscripts that have been prepared according to the instructions to authors of the National Journal of Physiology will undergo a double-blind peer review involving two or three reviewers after an initial screening by the editor, concealing the identities of authors from reviewers, and reviewers from authors. Based on the advice received from the reviewers, the editorial board will make a decision on whether to accept the manuscript as it is, to reconsider it for publication following minor or major revisions or to reject it. The initial decision and the reviewers’, editor’s and editorial board’s comments and suggestions will be intimated to the corresponding author. On receipt of the reply from the author to each of the comments/ suggestions/questions and the revised manuscript, the manuscript will be re-reviewed by the reviewers, the editor and the editorial board, after which a final decision on the manuscript will be taken. Accepted manuscripts will be copy-edited for clarity and presentation if required. The corresponding author is responsible for the accuracy of the final, edited version as well as for proof reading the manuscript on receipt of the final proof, prior to print. Although it could vary depending on the individual case, acceptance or otherwise will generally be notified within eight to ten weeks of receipt of the manuscript, provided the author makes the revisions on time.

Ethical policies of the journal

Only manuscripts that are the outcome of original work without fabrication, fraud or plagiarism, and work that has been conducted after obtaining the required institutional review board or ethics committee clearance, obtaining informed consent from participants and following all ethical guidelines should be submitted for publication to the National Journal of Physiology; authors should submit the necessary supporting documents when asked to. All authors should satisfy the required criteria to be listed as contributors and others who do not meet the authorship requirement should be acknowledged. Authors should give the corresponding author the right to correspond with the journal and make the necessary changes as per the journal’s request and to act as a guarantor for the manuscript. Manuscripts must be solely the valid work of the authors stated, must not have been previously published elsewhere, and must not be under consideration by another journal, nor should data collected have been or be published separately in the future. All financial interests and conflicts of interest and sources of external funding should be declared. The authors should transfer copyright ownership to the National Journal of Physiology. All authors should sign a contributors’ form to this effect. The authors should have obtained permission to use any copyright-protected material including questionnaires and material in the form of figures or tables. The National Journal of Physiology follows a double-blind peer review process. The peer review process for manuscripts submitted by the editor or members of the editorial board will be handled independently of the editor/author. The National Journal of Physiology will not tolerate any research or publication misconduct which will be investigated if suspected and any detected instances of plagiarism or fabricated data or redundant publication in submitted, reviewed or published manuscripts will be dealt with rigorously and retractions issued if required.