AUTHOR INSTRUCTIONS

​​​​​Submission: The editor of Mavericks in Medical Sciences (MMS) invites original contributions on topics of interest and importance to Medical Sciences. We offer fast, free publication, and encourage color reproduction of illustrations wherever appropriate. The entire contents of the journal are available online at https://mmjournals.org/journals/mms with free-full access enabling a wide readership. All histological illustrations and operative photographs should preferably be supplied in color, and they will be printed in color without charge. There are no charges associated with publishing in this journal. All articles will receive a timely review, and attempts will be made to notify authors of the editorial decision within a month of receipt of a complete manuscript. Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with ‘Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals’ developed by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE, www.icmje.org). Authors are encouraged to visit their website for details. Some of the uniform and specific requirements of MMS are summarized below. Submit manuscripts to the Editorial Office of MMS via https://maverickedits.com/admin/mms. All correspondence regarding submitted manuscripts will be handled via e-mail. Send all other correspondence to the editorial office:

Dr. Shiva Murthy
Editor-in-Chief
Professor & Head, Department of Pharmacology
Dr Chandramma Dayananda Sagar Institute of Medical Education and Research (CDSIMER), 
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
E-mail:  mms.editorial@mmjournals.org 
​
Download Template for Consent Form (.docx file)
Download Template for Cover Letter & Contributors' Form (.docx file)
Download Template for Title Page (.docx file)
Download Template for Original Articles/Abstract Reports (.docx file)
Download Template for Case Reports (.docx file)
Download Template for Review Articles (.docx file)

TYPES OF ARTICLES

1. Research Articles: Research articles on clinical and scientific aspects of medical sciences including basic science and investigative medical sciences will be considered. In addition to original articles, research articles include Systematic Reviews, Meta-Analysis, and Network Meta-Analysis. These articles must contain five sections: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion(s).

2. Review Articles: This comprehensive review-type article covers timely topics of clinical relevance and must be well referenced. These articles should serve as a source of current information on a clinically useful subject for practicing physician, surgeons, and resident-in-training. Review articles are usually solicited by the Editor; however, unsolicited review articles may also be considered.

3. Consensus statements/Position Statements/Guidelines: Important consensus statements, position statements, and guidelines related to treatment and/or diagnosis of various medical disorders vetted by group/association of experts in the field. Word count and references as required. Authors, Tables, and Images as required.

4. Case Reports/Case Series: Interesting cases highlighting issues that are relevant to the healthcare professionals will be considered. Cases reported merely for their rarity are unlikely to be accepted. No more than four authors may be listed, unless approved by the editor.

5. Study Protocols: Study Protocol for proposed or ongoing prospective clinical research. It should provide a detailed outline of the hypothesis, rationale, and methodology of the study. Abstract should be sectioned into Introduction, Materials and Methods, Discussion, and Conclusion, while the manuscript should include Introduction, Materials and Methods, Discussion, and Conclusion.

6. Mini Reviews/Symposium/Technology Update: Will usually be solicited but the editor would be happy to consider unsolicited contributions. Manuscript format should be similar to a Review Article.

7. Surgical Techniques and Innovations: Description and illustration of surgical or investigative techniques, modification or innovation of existing techniques. Innovation in surgical instrumentation and diagnostics with illustration. 

8. Opinion/Editorial: The editorials are invited, comments, or commentary ensuing from wide experiences and knowledge. Some of the editorials may have more educational content. Some editorials can be pure views, parleys, and aggrandized reviews. No abstract or keywords are required.

9. Imaging: Concise, one-page pictorial description of a unique case which has important or new radiological or clinical images. 

10. Pathology/Microbiology: Concise, one-page gross and histopathological or microbiology description of a unique case.

11. Evidence-Based Medicine: The Editor would solicit concise review on current controversial medicine and surgical topics. This is intended to provide the reader with factual information on important clinical issues.

12. Perspectives: Perspectives offer reflective viewpoints or expert commentaries on issues pertinent to surgical science, education, ethics, health policy, or practice. May include personal opinions, which must be clearly distinguished from evidence-based assertions.

13. Scans: This short article reviews a recent article published in another journal. It includes a summary of the published article (in the author’s own words-not the published abstract of the article) followed by the author’s comments. The title of the Scan must not be the same as the title of the reviewed article.

14. Letters to the Editor: Short communications regarding recent articles or comments on timely topics in a letter form that should be supported by relevant references. Authors of the cited article will have the opportunity to read and reply to the letter. All Letters to the Editor must be submitted within two months of the published date of the cited article.

15. Point–Counterpoint: Manuscripts to this section are solicited by the editor on topics with recent advances when there is no consensus. Manuscript word limits are similar to mini review but an abstract is not required.

16. Videos: A video of less than 8 minutes duration depicting a newer technology, surgical step, surgical procedure, or principle can be submitted for publication. Format of the video should be in MP4 video standard with voice/commentary and background music. Authors should follow instructions regarding Imaging for preparing the main text file. The video file should be uploaded on any online file sharing or storing site that holds the file for at least 6 months (Dropbox, G-Drive, etc.). This file should be made 'Public' and its URL (web link) should be inserted in the manuscript main text file. The manuscript, including the link to the video, should be submitted to the journal website. In addition, one still image depicting the video should be uploaded as an image. On acceptance, this image will be printed in the article and linked to the video on the journal website. Please note that videos shown at some conferences cannot be submitted for publication as conference organizers often retain copyright of such videos. It is the authors' responsibility to ensure that they have copyright of their submitted videos.

EDITORIAL PROCESS

Peer Review: A manuscript will be reviewed for possible publication with the understanding that it is being submitted to the Mavericks in Medical Sciences alone at that point in time and has not been published anywhere, simultaneously submitted, or already accepted for publication elsewhere. The journal expects that authors would authorize one of them to correspond with the Journal for all the matters related to the manuscript. All manuscripts received are duly acknowledged. On submission, editors review all submitted manuscripts initially for suitability for formal review. Manuscripts with insufficient originality, serious scientific or technical or methodological flaws, or lack of a significant message are rejected before proceeding for formal peer-review. Manuscripts that are unlikely to be of interest to the readership of the Mavericks in Medical Sciences are also liable to be rejected at this stage itself.

Manuscripts that are found suitable for publication in Mavericks in Medical Sciences are sent to two or more expert reviewers. During submission, the contributor is requested to provide names of two or three qualified reviewers who have had experience in the subject of the submitted manuscript. The reviewers should not be affiliated with the same institute(s) as the contributor(s). However, the selection of these reviewers is at the sole discretion of the Editor. The journal follows a double-blind review process, wherein the reviewers and authors are unaware of each other's identity. Every manuscript is also assigned to a member of the editorial team, who, based on the comments from the reviewers, makes a final decision on the manuscript. The comments and suggestions (acceptance/rejection/revision in manuscript) received from reviewers are conveyed to the corresponding author. If required, the author is requested to provide a point-by-point response to reviewers' comments and submit a revised version of the manuscript. This process is repeated till reviewers and editors are satisfied with the manuscript.

Manuscripts accepted for publication are copy edited for grammar, punctuation, print style, and format. Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author. The corresponding author is expected to return the corrected proofs within two days. It may not be possible to incorporate corrections received after that period. The whole process of submission of the manuscript to final decision, and sending and receiving proofs is completed online. To achieve faster and greater dissemination of knowledge and information, the journal may publish articles online as 'Online First' immediately on acceptance.

Submissions from Editorial Board Members and Reviewers: Submissions from the editorial board members are handled by another independent Editor, who makes all decisions related to the submitted manuscript and follows the journal's due review process, including blinded peer review, revision, and final decision. It is ensured that the editorial board members who are authors of a particular manuscript will be excluded from publication decisions. This shall also be disclosed in the manuscript by the concerned authors under the Conflict of Interest section.

It is ensured that the manuscripts are sent to independent, blinded reviewers. The authors who are also the reviewers of the journal are excluded from reviewing the particular manuscript in which they are the authors.

Clinical Trials Registry: MMS permit prospective registration of clinical trials. MMS would publish clinical trials that have been registered with a clinical trial registry that allows free online access to public before enrolment of first patient.

Registration in the following trial registers is acceptable: http://isrctn.org/; http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr; http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/; and https://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/login.php.

Conflict of Interest/Competing Interests: All authors of accepted articles must disclose any conflict of interest that they may have with an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or is important to the outcome of the study presented. Authors should also disclose conflict of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript. Authors should describe the role of the study sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the report for publication. If the supporting source had no such involvement, the authors should state so. Authors are advised to refer to the ICMJE guidelines (http://www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf) on conflict disclosure. Editors may request that authors of a study funded by an agency with a proprietary or financial interest in the outcome sign a statement such as, “I had full access to all of the data in this study, and I take complete responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.” The Editor may discuss with the authors on an individual basis the method by which any conflicts of interest will be communicated to the readers.

If original data is presented in the study, a statement that "The authors confirm the availability of, and access to, all original data reported in this study” MUST be included in the methodology section.

Ethical Issues: The journal insists on ethical practices in both human and animal experimentation. Evidence for approval by a local Ethics Committee (for both human as well as animal studies) must be supplied by the authors. The ethical standards of experiments must be in accordance with the guidelines provided by the CPCSEA (animal) and ICMR (human). The journal will not consider any paper which is ethically unacceptable.

Every article that deals with human/animal subjects MUST have animal/human rights policy and informed consent policy stated in the methodology section. This information includes: (1) IRB board name (to be masked for initial submission), approval number, the date of approval; (2) Whether written (or verbal) informed consent was obtained prior to the study; (3) Whether the procedures adhered to the ethical guidelines of Declaration of Helsinki and its amendments. Animal studies should mention statements regarding the guidelines followed for care and use of animals used in the study.

A scanned copy or screenshot of the Ethics Committee approval letter should be pasted at the end of the Title Page.

If there is suspicion of misbehavior or alleged fraud the Journal and/or Publisher will carry out an investigation following COPE guidelines (http://www.publicationethics.org.uk/guidelines). If, after investigation, there are valid concerns, the author(s) concerned will be contacted under their given e-mail address and given an opportunity to address the issue. Depending on the situation, this may result in the Journal’s and/or Publisher’s implementation of the following measures, including, but not limited to:

• If the manuscript is still under consideration, it may be rejected and returned to the author.
• If the article has already been published online, depending on the nature and severity of the infraction:

          - an erratum/correction may be placed with the article,
          - an expression of concern may be placed with the article, or
          - or in severe cases retraction of the article may occur.

The reason will be given in the published erratum/correction, expression of concern, or retraction note. Please note that retraction means that the article is maintained on the platform, watermarked “retracted”, and the explanation for the retraction is provided in a note linked to the watermarked article.

• The author’s institution may be informed.
• A notice of suspected transgression of ethical standards in the peer review system may be included as part of the author’s and article’s bibliographic record.

Authorship: Authorship credit should be based on 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; 3) final approval of the version to be published; and 4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, 3, and 4. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group, alone, does not justify authorship. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. The journal discourages the practice of ‘gift authorship’ and ‘ghost authorship’ and considers such practices as ethical misconduct. Plagiarism, both self and from other sources, is considered a serious ethical misconduct. In case of a change in authorship after submission and prior to publication, the journal may ask for signatures of all old and new authors before allowing such change. Changes post-publication may not be possible. The authorship form must carry the authors’ signatures in the same order as listed in the Title Page. All authors are advised to refer to the ICMJE guidelines on overlapping publication. The editor reserves the right to initiate action against any perceived ethical misconduct on the basis of the COPE guidelines (http://www.publicationethics.org.uk/guidelines).

Contribution Details: Contributors should provide a description of contributions made by each of them towards the manuscript. One author should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole from inception to published article and should be designated as 'guarantor/corresponding author'.

Example: CRediT taxonomy: Conceptualization: [author's initials], …; Methodology: [author's initials], …; Formal analysis and investigation: [author's initials], …; Writing - original draft preparation: [author's initials, …]; Writing - review and editing: [author's initials], …; Funding acquisition: [author's initials], …; Resources: [author's initials], …; Supervision: [author's initials],….

For Review Articles where discrete statements are less applicable a statement should be included who had the idea for the article, who performed the literature search and data analysis, and who drafted and/or critically revised the work.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism and violation of copyrights is not tolerated by the journal. Mavericks in Medical Sciences expects the authors to submit articles that are free from substantial plagiarism (<10%). Authors have to run their finalized manuscript through plagiarism detection software programmes available online (several of these offer free services while some are paid programmes) prior to submission to the journal and they will be asked to paste the scanned copy of the report/screen shots of the same at the end of the Title Page. 

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Two files must be prepared before every submission. These are the Title Page File and the Manuscript File.

The Title Page File should be prepared using the common template containing all information about authors and their affiliations, cover letter, copyright form, checklist of reporting guidelines, acknowledgements, scanned copy of plagiarism/similarity report, scanned copy of artificial intelligence (AI) writing report, and scanned copy or screenshot of the Ethics Committee approval letter. For clinical trials, registration number is mandatory and should be part of the Title Page File. Manuscripts with incomplete Title Page will not be processed further.

The Manuscript File must contain all text of the manuscript including the abstract. As this file goes for blinded peer review, there should be no author-identifiers in this file. The references and tables should also be a part of this file. Figures and images must not be embedded in the text file, but placed after the reference and are to be followed by Tables. All manuscript files must contain the following statements: In the methods section: a statement on ethics committee approval/exemption for conduct of the study or status of informed written consent of the subjects included in the report. 

Generative AI Policy​​

At the time of manuscript submission, it is mandatory for the authors to submit a statement in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript. The statement must mention either of the two things:
“The author/s have not used AI and AI-assisted technologies, including large language learning models, in the preparation of the manuscript” or “The author/s declare that they have used [name of tool/service] for [mention the reason]. The author/s confirm that they have reviewed the manuscript and take/s full responsibility for the contents in the article.”

The reason for AI use in this statement should be explicitly mentioned. Examples of AI use include data analysis, creating analytical tables/charts, and writing manuscripts, among others.
This declaration is not required for tools used to check grammar, spellings, or references.

AI cannot be listed as an author or co-author. Modifications of surgical, radiological, and clinical images by AI are not permitted.

​It is the author/s responsibility to ensure that the use of AI does not infringe on data privacy, intellectual property, or any other rights. The Editors may withdraw the article if any fraudulent and undeclared use of AI is detected after submission or publication. 

Authors who use generative AI and AI-assisted technologies (AI tools) in the writing of a manuscript, production of images or graphical elements of the paper, or in the collection and analysis of data, must be transparent in disclosing in the manuscript which AI tool was used and how it was used. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their submitted manuscript, including any parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics. The specific AI tool used, and its purpose should be described in the Methods or Acknowledgments section.

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

Manuscripts must be submitted via the Maverick Edits^TM website for this journal, go to https://mmjournals.org/journals/mms and follow the instructions. First time users will have to register at this site. Registration is free but mandatory. Registered authors can keep track of their articles after logging into the site using their username and password. Authors do not have to pay for submission, processing, or publication of articles. If you experience any problems, please contact the editorial office by e-mailing at mmj.publisher@maverickmedicorum.com

The submitted manuscripts that are not as per the “Instructions to Authors" would be returned to the authors for technical correction before they undergo editorial/peer-review. Generally, the manuscript should be submitted in the form of two separate files:

1. Title page
This file should provide

1. The manuscript type, title, running title (of no more than 60 characters), names of all authors/ contributors (with their highest academic degrees, designation and affiliations along with the ORCID ID) and name(s) of department(s), and institution(s) to which the work should be credited. All information should be here. Use text/rtf/doc files. Do not zip the files.
2. This page should state the total number of pages, total number of figures, and word counts separately for abstract and for the text. For text, word count includes Introduction, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. 
3. Source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or all of these;
4. Acknowledgement, if any. One or more statements should specify 1) contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, such as general support by a departmental chair; 2) acknowledgments of technical help; and 3) acknowledgments of financial and material support, which should specify the nature of the support. This should be included in the title page of the manuscript and not in the main manuscript file.
5. If the manuscript was presented as part at a meeting, the organization, place, and exact date on which it was read must be mentioned. A full statement about all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as redundant publication of the same or very similar work should be provided to the editor at first submission itself. Any such work should be referred to specifically and referenced in the new paper. Copies of such material should be included with the submitted paper, to help the editor decide how to handle the matter.
6. Registration number in case of a clinical trial and where it is registered (name of the registry and its URL).
7. Conflicts of Interest of each author. A statement of financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest, if that information is not included in the manuscript itself or in an authors' form.
8. Criteria for inclusion in the authors' list.
9. A statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, that the requirements for authorship as stated earlier in this document have been met, and that each author believes that the manuscript represents honest work, if that information is not provided in another form (see below).
10. The name, address including PIN code, e-mail, and mobile number and/or telephone number of the corresponding author, who is responsible for communicating with the other authors about revisions and final approval of the proofs, if that information is not included in the manuscript itself.
11. Permission from copyright owner(s) should be provided if the authors are reproducing images/tables/other such items from copyrighted sources. It is the responsibility of authors/contributors to obtain permissions for reproducing any copyrighted material. A copy of the permission obtained must accompany the manuscript. Copies of any and all published articles or other manuscripts in preparation or submitted elsewhere that are related to the manuscript must also accompany the manuscript. If the author counts are in excess of the guidelines or added later on by the corresponding author after initial submission without consent of Editor-in-Chief (EIC), the EIC is at liberty to reduce/restore the author count before publication.
12. If authors wish to submit any image/s related to patient (including radiological images) for publication, a statement should be included about written informed consent being obtained from the patient/first line relative of the patient for publication of such material in scientific journal; name and institutional identity details on CT, MRI, & X ray films to be concealed properly.
13. In case of multiple institutional affiliations, the authors should provide clarification regarding the nature of involvement of authors from different institutions (in cases of multicentric studies, details of ethical committee approval from different concerned institutions should be provided).
14. Postgraduate trainee can submit thesis/dissertation topic for publication as per their university rules and requirements. The guide's permission and inclusion of name as co-author are mandatory. Only the institute where the research was conducted can be shown as affiliation.
     

Title page of all manuscripts must contain the following sections under the heading 'Declarations' and their sequence should be maintained:

1.Ethics approval and consent to participate: Manuscripts reporting studies involving human participants, human data, or human tissue must:

• include a statement on ethics approval and consent (even where the need for approval was waived).
• include the name of the ethics committee that approved the study and the committee’s reference number and date if appropriate.

Studies involving animals must include a statement on ethics approval.

2.Consent for publication: If your manuscript contains any individual person’s data in any form (including individual details, images, or videos), consent to publish must be obtained from that person, or in the case of children, their parents, or legal guardian. All presentations of case reports must have consent to publish.

If your manuscript does not contain data from any individual person, please state “Not applicable” in this section.

3.Availability of data and material: Data availability statements should include information on where data supporting the results reported in the article can be found including, where applicable, hyperlinks to publicly archived datasets analyzed or generated during the study. We recognize it is not always possible to share research data publicly, for instance when individual privacy could be compromised, and in such instances data availability should still be stated in the manuscript along with any conditions for access.

Data availability statements can take one of the following forms (or a combination of more than one if required for multiple datasets):

• The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the [Name] repository, [Persistent Web Link To Datasets].
• The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
• All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files].
• The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due [reason why data are not public] but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
• Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.
• The data that support the findings of this study are available from [third party name] but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are, however, available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of [third party name].
• Not applicable. If your manuscript does not contain any data, please state 'Not applicable' in this section.

With the corresponding text in the Availability of data and materials statement:
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the [Name] repository, [Persistent Web Link To Datasets].^{[Reference number]}

4.Conflict of interest: All financial and non-financial competing interests must be declared in this section.
Please use the authors’ initials to refer to each authors' competing interests in this section.
If you do not have any competing interests, please state "The authors declare that they have no competing interests" in this section.

Each author should use the ICMJE form for Disclosure of Interests that can be downloaded from: http://www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf

5.Funding: All sources of funding for the research reported should be declared. The role of the funding body in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript should be declared.

6.Authors' contributions: The individual contributions of authors to the manuscript should be specified in this section.

7.Acknowledgements: Please acknowledge anyone who contributed towards the article who does not meet the criteria for authorship, including anyone who provided professional writing services or materials.

Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those mentioned in the Acknowledgements section.

2. Blinded Manuscript: 
The manuscript must not contain any mention of the authors' names or initials or the institution at which the study was done or acknowledgements. Include the title and running title as well in the manuscript file but not the authors' names. Manuscripts not in compliance with the Journal's blinding policy will be returned to the corresponding author. The main text of the article, beginning from Abstract till References (including tables) should be in this file. Use rtf/doc files, Times New Roman font with uniform size (12) fonts with left sided justification, with 2x spacing between lines. Do not zip the files. Limit the file size to 5 MB. Do not incorporate large images in the file. The pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the first page of the blinded manuscript file. Page number to be at the “Bottom middle”.

3. Images:
Submit good quality color/grey/black/white images. Each image should be less than 4 MB in size. Size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep up to 1800 x 1200 pixels or 5-6 inches). Images can be submitted as JPEG files. Do not zip the files. Figures/images and their legends the should be included at the end of the manuscript file after References.

4. Contributors' Copyright Agreement: 
To ensure a smooth submission process for your manuscript, please follow these guidelines:

1. Do include all [MANDATORY] and their email addresses/MOBILE on the 'Authors and Institutions' Title Page during online submission.

Preparation of Manuscripts
Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with "Uniform requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals" developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (Updated 2014). The uniform requirements and specific requirement of Mavericks in Medical Sciences are summarized below. Before submitting a manuscript, contributors are requested to check for the latest instructions, also available from the website of the journal (https://mmjournals.org/journals/mms) and from the manuscript submission site (https://maverickedits.com/admin/mms).

Mavericks in Medical Sciences accepts manuscripts written in US English (see below under 'General Guidelines').

General guidelines:

1. Author/institution/clinical trials registry details or identifiers should not be provided anywhere in the manuscript file. Similarly, the supporting material such as figures or images should carefully be trimmed/cropped to avoid any author/institution/patient identifiers.
2. US English should be used uniformly throughout the text [e.g., tumor (NOT tumour), hemoglobin (NOT haemoglobin), programme (NOT program), hemodynamics (NOT haemodynamics), etc.]
3. Use only universally approved abbreviations (e.g., hour, minute, kilogram can be written as h, min, kg and NOT as hrs or hr, mts, kgs etc. Similarly, microgram should be expressed by the appropriate symbol 'µg' and should not be represented by mcg or in any other form.)
4. Avoid starting a sentence with numerical. If it has to start with a number, write the numerical in words.
5. Wherever single digit numbers are written in the write up, write in words and not in numbers unless the numbers are accompanied by units of measurement.
6. All the points in the article should be written as running statement and should not be presented in bulleted/numbered format, except in review articles.
    

Types of manuscripts

Reporting Guidelines for Specific Study Designs

Reporting Guidelines	Study Designs
AGREE and RIGHT	Clinical Practice Guidelines
ARRIVE	Animal Studies
CARE	Case Reports
CHEERS	Economic Evaluations
CHERRIES	Web-based Surveys
CONSORT	Randomized Controlled Trials
MOOSE	Meta-analyses of Observational Studies in Epidemiology
PRISMA	Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses
PRISMA-NMA	Systematic Reviews and Network Meta-analyses
PRISMA-P	Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses Protocols
SPIRIT	Study Protocols
SQUIRE	Quality Improvement Studies
SRQR and COREQ	Qualitative Studies
STARD	Studies of Diagnostic Accuracy
STROBE	Observational Studies in Epidemiology
TRIPOD	Prognostic Studies

The reporting guidelines for other type of studies can be found at https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/.

Original Articles

These include original research work in Pharmaceutical sciences, Medicinal/analytical chemistry, Biotechnology, and Bio-allied sciences. The manuscript file should be accompanied by a structured abstract of no more than 250 words under the following headings: 1. Introduction 2. Objectives 3. Materials and Methods (make a brief mention of statistical methods used) 4. Results and 5. Conclusion. The abstract should be followed by 'MeSH' compatible 3-7 keywords (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh). The abstract shall not contain references.

The manuscript file should be written under only the following five headings: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion.

Introduction: State the purpose and summarize the rationale for the study or observation. The introduction should describe in brief the background related to the study and also the need for carrying out the present study. Introduction should include study hypothesis, aims, and objectives.

Materials and Methods: It should include and describe the following aspects:

Ethics: When reporting studies on human beings, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2013 (available at: https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/). For prospective studies involving human participants, authors are expected to mention about approval of (regional / national / institutional or independent Ethics Committee or Review Board, obtaining informed consent from adult research participants and obtaining assent for children aged over 7 years participating in the trial. The age beyond which assent would be required could vary as per regional and/or national guidelines. Ensure confidentiality of subjects by desisting from mentioning participants' names, initials or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the institution's or a national research council's guide for, or any national law on the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

Evidence for approval by a local Ethics Committee (for both human as well as animal studies) must be supplied by the authors on demand. Animal experimental procedures should be as humane as possible, and the details should be clearly stated. The ethical standards of experiments must be in accordance with the guidelines provided by the CPCSEA (https://ccsea.gov.in/Auth/index.aspx) and World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Humans for studies involving experimental animals and human beings, respectively). The journal will not consider any paper which is ethically unacceptable. A statement on ethics committee permission and ethical practices must be included in all research articles under the 'Materials and Methods' section.

Study design: The methods section should start out describing the nature of the study (randomized / blinded / prospective / retrospective, etc.). 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. Technical information: Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other authors 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. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration.

Reports of randomized clinical trials should present information on all major study elements, including the protocol, assignment of interventions (methods of randomization, concealment of allocation to treatment groups), and the method of masking (blinding), based on the CONSORT Statement (http://www.consort-statement.org).

Statistics: Start this section in a separate paragraph (placing the sub-heading “Statistical Analysis"). Whenever possible quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Authors should report losses to observation (such as dropouts from a clinical trial). When data are summarized in the Results section, specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Avoid non-technical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as 'random' (which implies a randomizing device), 'normal', 'significant', 'correlations', and 'sample'. Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols. Specify the computer software used with the version/year. Use lower non-italics (p = 0.048). For all p values include the exact value and not less than 0.05 or 0.001. P values are not needed for demographics routinely and are mentioned where study involves directly a correlation of study parameter with the demographics. Mean differences in continuous variables, proportions in categorical variables and relative risks including odds ratios and hazard ratios should be accompanied by their confidence intervals. Statistics related to sample size calculation and power estimation should be provided in the Sample Size Estimation paragraph of the methods section.

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 in the text all the data in the tables or illustrations; emphasize or summarize only important observations. Extra- or supplementary materials and technical details can be placed in an appendix where it will be accessible but will not interrupt the flow of the text. Restrict tables and figures to a total of 6 only (preferable to have most relevant tables and figures), needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. The legends must be brief and relevant, and the units of measurement must be clearly mentioned in tables and graphs, with the group names also mentioned in the same fashion as in the Materials and Methods section. While reporting results related to VAS score, it is better to categorize the score as mild (0-3), moderate (4-7), and severe (8-10) and analyze accordingly rather than reporting mean VAS scores in decimals (e.g., 3.25) because there is no such value as 3.25 (the VAS can either be 3 or 4). Similarly, while analyzing time, better to analyze in seconds or minutes (as applicable to a study) rather than as minutes or hours and then reporting the value in decimals (e.g., 3.7 min or 10.6 hours does not convey the meaning correctly; 60 seconds = one minute and 60 minutes = one hour, NOT 100 seconds and 100 minutes, respectively).

Discussion: Include summary of key findings (primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, results as they relate to a prior hypothesis): Confounding variables, strengths, and limitations of the study. Interpretation and implications in the context of the totality of evidence (is there a systematic review to refer to, if not, could one be reasonably done here and now?, what this study adds to the available evidence, any new possible mechanisms, etc.): Controversies raised by this study; and Future research directions (for this particular research collaboration, underlying mechanisms, clinical research, etc.). Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction or the Results section. In particular, contributors should avoid making statements on economic benefits and costs unless their manuscript includes economic data and analyses. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed. New hypotheses may be stated if needed; however, they should be clearly labelled as such. These articles generally can have 6-8 authors, with correct details of their contribution entered in the Title Page file.

Data Availability Statement: A Declaration Statement on data availability should be added after the conclusion in the manuscript file.

Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis

• MMS prefers systematic reviews that have been registered in PROSPERO https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/ or in Cochrane https://www.cochrane.org/. The PROSPERO/COCHRANE registry number should be provided in the manuscript under the “Materials and Methods" section.
• The reporting guidelines for systematic reviews can be obtained at http://prisma-statement.org/PRISMASTATEMENT/Checklist.aspx  
• An Abstract with a structured format of up to 300 words (Introduction, Objectives, Materials and Methods, Results, and Conclusion).
• Text of the review should consist: an Introduction (background and objective), Materials and Methods (selection criteria, search methods, data collection, and data analysis), Results (description of studies, methodological quality, and results of analyses), Discussion, Conclusion(s), Acknowledgments, and Conflicts of Interest. All components as per PRISMA reporting guidelines need to be included.
• Tables and figures, if necessary, showing characteristics of the included studies, specifications of the interventions that were compared, the results of the included studies, a log of the studies that were excluded, and additional tables and figures relevant to the review.

Review Articles

The review articles are expected to be written by individuals who have done substantial work on the subject or are considered experts in the field. The manuscript should have an unstructured Abstract (250 words) representing an accurate summary of the article. The section titles would depend upon the topic reviewed. The number of images / figures / tables / graphs are to be limited to 6 only. They may be merged side by side when a change is intended to be shown. The legends must be brief and relevant, and the units of measurement must be clearly mentioned in tables and graphs.

Case Report/Case Series

New, interesting, and rare cases can be reported. They should be unique and providing a learning point for the readers. Cases with clinical significance or implications will be given priority. These communications should have the following headings: Abstract (unstructured), Keywords, Introduction, Case report, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables, and Figures/Images in that order. Please note that case reports are low priority articles. The number of Images/Figures/Tables/Graphs are to be limited to 3 only. They may be merged side by side when a change is intended to be shown. The legends must be brief and relevant, and the units of measurement must be clearly mentioned in tables and graphs.

Letter to the Editor

These should be short and decisive observations. They can also be related to articles previously published in the Journal or views expressed in the journal. They should not be preliminary observations that need a later paper for validation.

Comments on Published Articles

The comments, addressed to the Editor, should include reference of the published article, should be concise with critical comments to the point, with references in support. Maximum number of word counts allowed is 250 with not more than 5 references, the first reference being that of the article being commented upon.

Response to Comments

The author is allowed to present his case/response to the observations made by the reader, in concise, with up to 250 words, with no more than 5 references, the first reference being that of the comments and the second of the article being commented upon.

Other

Editorial, Guest Editorial, and Commentary are solicited by the editorial board.

References

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text (not in alphabetic order). Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in superscript without bracket after the punctuation marks. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure. No references to be used in Abstract and Conclusion/Summary. Use the style of the examples below, which are based on the formats used by the NLM in Index Medicus. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. Use complete name of the journal for non-indexed journals. Avoid using abstracts as references. Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as "unpublished observations" with written permission from the source. Avoid citing “personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text. The journal may request copies (PDFs) of cited references if they cannot be independently verified. References from past issues of Mavericks in Medical Sciences of related topics are encouraged. If available, please always include DOIs as full DOI links in your reference list (e.g. “https://doi.org/abc”).

The commonly cited types of references are shown here, for other types of references such as newspaper items please refer to ICMJE Guidelines (http://www.icmje.org or http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html).

Articles in Journals

1. Standard journal article (for up to three authors): Slifka MK, Whitton JL. Clinical implications of dysregulated cytokine production. J Mol Med (Berl). 2000;78(2):74-80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s001090000086.
2. Standard journal article (for more than three authors): List the first three contributors followed by et al.: Gamelin FX, Baquet G, Berthoin S, et al. Effect of high intensity intermittent training on heart rate variability in prepubescent children. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2009;105(5):731-8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-008-0955-8.
3. 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. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.94102s1275. 
4. Issue with supplement: Payne DK, Sullivan MD, Massie MJ. Women's psychological reactions to breast cancer. Semin Oncol 1996;23(1, Suppl 2):89-97.

Books and Other Monographs

1. Personal author(s): Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996.
2. Editor(s), compiler(s) as author: Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996.
3. Chapter in a book: Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. pp. 465-78.

Electronic Sources as reference

Journal article on the Internet
Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [serial on the Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited January 31, 2026];102(6):[about 3 p.]. Available from: https://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/abstract/2002/06000/

Monograph on the Internet
Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [monograph on the Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited January 31, 2026]. Available from: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309074029/html/.

Homepage/Website
Cancer-Pain.org [homepage on the Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2000-01 [updated May 16, 2002; cited January 9, 2026]. Available from: http://www.cancer-pain.org/.

Part of a Homepage/Website
American Medical Association [homepage on the Internet]. Chicago: The Association; c1995-2002 [updated August 23, 2001; cited January 31, 2026]. AMA Office of Group Practice Liaison; [about 2 screens]. Available from: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/1736.html

Summary of requirements/stipulations for various article types considered for publication in the Mavericks in Medical Sciences:

Category	Max. No. of Authors*	Abstract	Abstract Words	Max. Word Count	Max. Images or Tables	Max. References
Research Article	10	Structured	250	2800	6	30
Systematic Review / Meta-analysis / Network Meta-analysis	10	Structured	300	3000	6-8	75
Review Article	6	Unstructured	250	2800	6	75
Consensus Statements / Position Statements / Guidelines	As required	Structured	250	4000	As required	As required
Study Protocol	6	Structured	250	2500	3	30
Mini Review	4	None	N/A	1000-1200	2	15
Opinion / Editorial	3	None	N/A	1500	0	15
Case Reports / Case Series	4	Unstructured	100	1000-1200	3	7
Surgical Techniques and Innovations	6	Unstructured	200	2000	5	20
Imaging, Pathology/Microbiology	4	Unstructured	100	500	3	5
Videos	4	Unstructured	100	500	3	5
Evidence-based Medicine	2	Unstructured	100	1000	0	10
Perspectives	6	Unstructured	250	3000	5	25
Scans	1	None	N/A	750	1	5
Letter to the Editor	4	None	N/A	600	2	5
Comments on previously published article	2	None	N/A	300	1	4
Response to comments	By the same group of authors	None	N/A	300	0	4
Point–Counterpoint	5	Unstructured	100	3000	3	40

* Rest to be named in acknowledgement. In case of more than the specified number of authors, it needs to be clarified with appropriate justification as per the details mentioned above.

Figures

• Figures should NOT be embedded in the main manuscript. They should be placed at the end of the main manuscript.
• Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text.
• Labels, numbers, and symbols should be clear and of uniform size. The lettering for figures should be large enough to be legible after reduction to fit the width of a printed column.
• Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background and should be marked neatly with transfer type or by tissue overlay and not by pen.
• Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends for illustrations, not on the illustrations themselves.
• When graphs, scatter plots, or histograms are submitted, the numerical data on which they are based should also be supplied.
• Photographs and figures should be cropped to remove all unwanted areas.
• Explain the internal scale and identify the method of staining in 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.
• If a figure has been published, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. A credit line should appear in the legend for figures for such figures.
• When submitting images for final proofreading, printouts of digital photographs are not acceptable. For digital images, send JPEG files of minimum 1200×1600 pixel size.
• MMS reserves the right to crop, rotate, reduce, or enlarge the photographs to an acceptable size.
• Legends for illustrations: Type or print out legends (maximum 40 words, excluding the credit line) for illustrations using double spacing, with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations. When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, identify and explain each one in the legend. Explain the internal scale (magnification) and identify the method of staining in photomicrographs.
• Final figures for print production: If the uploaded images are not printable quality, the publisher office may request higher resolution images which can be sent at the time of acceptance of the manuscript. Ensure that the image has minimum resolution of 300 dpi or 1200×1600 pixels in JPEG format.

Tables

• Tables should be placed at the end of the main manuscript as editable text, not as images.
• Number tables, in Arabic numerals, consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each.
• Tables should be self-explanatory and should not duplicate textual material.
• Tables with more than 15 columns and 30 rows are not acceptable.
• Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading.
• Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table.
• Obtain permission for all fully borrowed, adapted, and modified tables and provide a credit line in the footnote.
• For footnotes use the following symbols, in this sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||,¶ , **, ††, ‡‡
• Tables with their legends should be provided at the end of the text after the Figures. The tables along with their number should be cited at the relevant place in the text.

Protection of Patients' Rights to Privacy

In case of clinical studies which involve patients, identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, sonograms, CT scans, etc., and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian, wherever applicable) gives informed consent for publication. Authors should remove patients' names from images unless they have obtained informed consent from the patients. The journal abides by ICMJE guidelines:

1. Authors, not the journals nor the publisher, must obtain the patient consent form before the publication and have the form properly archived. The consent forms are not to be uploaded with the cover letter or sent through email to editorial or publisher offices, except for the Case Reports and Case Series.
2. If the manuscript contains patient images that preclude anonymity, or a description that has obvious indication to the identity of the patient, a statement about obtaining informed patient consent should be indicated in the manuscript.

Submitting a Revised Manuscript

The revised version of the manuscript should be submitted online in a manner similar to that used for submission of the manuscript for the first time. However, there is no need to submit the “Title Page" file while submitting a revised version. When submitting a revised manuscript, contributors are requested to include the 'reviewers' remarks along with point-to-point clarification at the beginning in the revised file itself. In addition, they are expected to mark the changes as underlined or colored text in the article.

Proofs

The proofs will be sent to the corresponding authors by email approximately 2 weeks before the publication date of the issue. To avoid publication delays, authors must return proof within 48 hours. The issues are published in first week of each quarter.

Manuscript submission, processing, and publication charges

The journal does not charge the authors or authors' institutions for the submission, processing and/or publications of the manuscripts.

Copyrights

The entire contents of Mavericks in Medical Sciences are protected under Indian and International copyrights. MMS provides open access to its content, granting users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, and perpetual right to read, download, and share the work subject to the terms of the applicable open access license applied to the work. Users must provide appropriate attribution to the original authors and source, and comply with any additional terms specified by the license under which the content is published.

Permission

Authors must submit written permission upon manuscript submission from both the author and publisher of the original source when material is reproduced from other sources. This permission must include reproduction in electronic formats for worldwide distribution. The responsibility of obtaining such permission rests with the authors.

Electronic Version

Do not use 'oh' (O) for 'zero' (0), 'el' (l) for one (1). Do not use space bar for indentation. Do not type text in ALL CAPITALS, except the main headings. Do not break words at the end of lines. Do not use an extra hard return/enter between paragraphs. Do not insert a tab, indent, or extra spaces before beginning a paragraph. Do not use software's facility of automatic referencing, footnotes, headers, footers, etc.

Use a hyphen only to hyphenate compound words. Use only one letter space at the end of sentence. Use hard return/enter only at the end of paragraphs and display lines (e.g. titles, headings, and subheadings). Incorporate notes or footnotes in the text, within parentheses, rather than their usual place at the foot of the page.

Responsibility

Manuscripts will be accepted for consideration with the understanding that they are contributed solely to Mavericks in Medical Sciences, have never before been published, nor submitted simultaneously elsewhere, and become the property of the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for the loss of manuscripts through circumstances beyond its control. Manuscripts are subject to editorial modification to bring them into conformity with the style of the journal. Statements in articles or opinions expressed by any contributor in any article, including changes made by the copy editor, are not the responsibility of the editors or the publishers.

CHECKLIST

Covering letter

• Signed by all contributors or corresponding author (on behalf of other authors)
• Previous publication / presentations mentioned
• Source of funding mentioned
• Conflicts of interest disclosed
• Declaration by authors that “Authors alone are responsible for the contents and writing of manuscript"

Authors

• Last name and given name provided along with Middle name initials (where applicable)
• Author for correspondence, with e-mail address and mobile number provided
• Number of contributors restricted as per the instructions. If authors are more than permissible, a proper justification has been provided.
• Identity not revealed in paper except title page (e.g. name of the institute in Methods, citing previous study as 'our study', names on figure labels, name of institute in photographs, etc.)

Presentation and Format

• Font: Times New Roman, Size: 12, Spacing: 2 
• Margins 2.5 cm from all four sides
• Page numbers included at bottom
• Title page contains all the desired information
• Running title provided (not more than 60 characters)
• Abstract page contains the full title of the manuscript
• Abstract provided (structured abstract of 250 words for Research Articles, unstructured abstracts of about 250 words for Review Articles, and 150 for all other manuscripts excluding Brief Communications and Letter to the Editor)
• Key words provided (three or more)
• Introduction of 250-300 words for Research and Review Articles, and 100-150 words for all other manuscripts
• Headings in title case (Capitalize each word)
• The references cited in the text should be superscript, after punctuation marks, without bracket.
• References according to the journal's instructions, punctuation marks checked
• Send the revised manuscript file without 'Track Changes', but highlight the revised text

Language and Grammar

• Uniformly US English
• Write the full term for each abbreviation at its first use in the title, abstract, keywords, and text separately unless it is a standard unit of measure. Numerals from 0 to 9 spelt out
• Numerals at the beginning of the sentence spelt out
• Check the manuscript for spellings, grammar, and punctuation errors: language and grammar check may be performed using option in MS word or with professional help
• If a brand name is cited, supply the manufacturer's name and address (city and state/country).
• Species names should be in italics

Tables and Figures

• No repetition of data in tables and graphs and in text
• Actual numbers from which graphs drawn, provided
• Figures necessary and of good quality (color)
• Table and figure numbers in Arabic letters (not Roman)
• Figure legends provided (not more than 50 words)
• Patients' privacy maintained (if not permission taken)
• Credit note for borrowed figures/tables provided
• Write the full term for each abbreviation used in the table as a footnote