Instructions For Authors

The Indian Journal of Nephrology (IJN) is an open-access, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal committed to advancing the science and practice of nephrology by publishing high-quality, original research, reviews, editorials, technical notes, and symposia proceedings in all aspects of laboratory and clinical topics relevant to kidney health – including clinical and laboratory science, social sciences or any other relevant aspects. Owned by the Indian Society of Nephrology and published by Scientific Scholar, the IJN serves as a leading platform for disseminating innovative and impactful research in the field of kidney health to clinicians, researchers, and allied health professionals in India, South-East Asia, and globally.

IJN is published 6 times a year, and upholds rigorous peer-review standards to ensure the scientific accuracy, relevance, novelty, and importance of its content. The journal is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics, transparency, and integrity, adhering to the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). As an open-access journal, IJN distributes its content under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 License, fostering the free exchange of knowledge while ensuring proper credit to authors.

Through its commitment to editorial excellence and ethical publishing, the IJN aims to enrich the knowledge of students, researchers, and practitioners, positively influence healthcare policies, and contribute to the global advancement of kidney health.

All manuscript submissions should be made through the online submission platform at https://editorialassist.com/ijn

First-time users need to register. Registration is free. Once registered, authors can use their login credentials to submit and keep track of their articles. In case of any problem, the author can contact the Technical Assistance Team at technical.team@scientificscholar.com

Types of Manuscripts

Indian Journal of Nephrology publishes manuscripts in the following categories:

Case Reports
Clinicopathological Conference
Commentary
Editorial
Guidelines
Images in Nephrology
In-depth Review
Letter to the Editor
Meeting Report
Original Article
Research Letter
Varia

General Information

Authors’ Responsibilities

Authors submitting manuscripts to the IJN are expected to adhere to the highest standards of ethical and scholarly conduct. By submitting a manuscript, authors affirm the following responsibilities:

Originality and Authorship
Integrity and Accuracy
Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
Ethical Approval and Consent
Reporting Standards
Acknowledgment of Sources
Corrections and Retractions
Contribution to Peer Review

Authorship

The IJN follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations for authorship. To qualify for authorship, an individual must meet ALL four of the following requirements:

Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work.
Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
Final approval of the version to be published.
Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

All individuals who meet these four criteria should be listed as authors. Those who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged in the manuscript, but not listed as authors. The authors should identify one author who will correspond with the Journal office in all matters related to the manuscript, called the Corresponding Author. All communications, including changes suggested by the Editor or reviewer of the manuscript, will be made with the corresponding author.

Changes to authorship
Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the alteration. In the case of the addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.

Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum being issued.

Ethics

Please also see our information on Ethics in publishing. Studies must have been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/; EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/legislation_en.htm; Uniform Requirements for manuscripts submitted to Biomedical journals https://www.icmje.org. The Journal has a zero tolerance policy for scientific misconduct, including but not limited to:

Data falsification: Fabrication, deceptive and selective reporting of findings, suppression of data, and/or distortion of data

Plagiarism: Use without permission of the language, ideas, or thoughts of another and represent them as one’s original work. Direct copying of sentences, whether from their previously published paper or someone else’s paper, is considered plagiarism. Authors must ensure that they have not inadvertently ‘cut and paste’ verbatim from published works.

The journal follows the World Association of Medical Editors’ policy on plagiarism.

Plagiarism is the use of others’ published and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property) without attribution or permission, and presenting them as new and original rather than derived from an existing source. The intent and effect of plagiarism are to mislead the reader as to the contributions of the plagiarizer. This applies to whether the ideas or words are taken from abstracts, research grant applications, Institutional Review Board applications, or unpublished or published manuscripts in any publication format (print or electronic).
Self-plagiarism refers to the practice of an author using portions of their previous writings on the same topic in another of their publications, without specifically citing it formally in quotes. This practice is widespread and sometimes unintentional.

The journal requires authors to disclose information and cite references about reused content from their own previously published work or that of others.

Incorrect authorship: includes excluding authors, wrongly presenting the same material as original in more than one publication, the inclusion of authors who have not made a definite contribution to the work published, or submitting articles without the concurrence of all authors.

Misappropriation of the ideas: An important aspect of scholarly activity is the exchange of ideas among colleagues. Scholars can acquire novel ideas from others during the process of reviewing grant applications and manuscripts. Improper use of such information can constitute fraud. Wholesale appropriation of such material constitutes misconduct.

Violation of generally accepted research practices: Improper manipulation of experiments to obtain biased results, deceptive statistical or analytical manipulations, or improper reporting of results.

Material failure to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements affecting research: Violations of regulations and laws involving the use of funds, care of animals, human subjects, investigational drugs, recombinant products, new devices, or radioactive, biologic, or chemical materials. Any unethical behavior is strictly discouraged and will result in the submitting author and his group being banned from submitting material to the journal for a time frame depending on the severity of malpractice.

Digital Image Editing
No particular feature within an image may be introduced, moved, enhanced, obscured, or removed. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are allowed if they are applied to the whole image and do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original image. Adjustments such as changes to settings must be disclosed in the figure legend.

Contribution Details
The authors should provide a description of the contributions they made to the manuscript. The description should be divided into the following categories, as applicable: concept, design, the definition of intellectual content, literature search, clinical studies, experimental studies, data acquisition, data analysis, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, manuscript editing, and manuscript review. One or more authors should take responsibility for the integrity of the work from inception to published stage and should be designated as ‘guarantor’ or ‘guarantors’.

Conflicts of Interest/Competing Interests

Please list all financial, personal, and institutional interests related to your research. Specify any funding, affiliations, or personal relationships that might influence your work. Include this statement in your manuscript’s disclosure section. If there are no conflicts of interest, the statement should say so.

Institutional Review Board Approval and Informed Consent

All prospective and retrospective human studies must have appropriate institutional review board approval, and signed informed consent from all human participants is required. All animal studies must have an appropriate institutional review board and/or animal care committee approval. The text must state compliance with these rules, including a waiver of consent by the board, if applicable. Manuscripts that do not comply with these rules will not be accepted for publication. All case reports should contain a statement on patient consent.

Protection of Patients’ Right to Privacy
For all research involving human subjects, informed consent to participate in the study should be obtained from participants (or their parent or guardian in the case of children under 16) and a statement to this effect should appear in the manuscript. Identifying information, including names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, CT scans, photographs, sonograms, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the subject (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that a patient who is identifiable should be shown the manuscript to be published. Informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt that anonymity can be maintained. For example, masking the eye region in photographs of patients is inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should ensure that alterations do not distort scientific meaning and editors should so note.

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The IJN is committed to upholding transparency, integrity, and ethical standards in scholarly publishing. Authors must adhere to the following principles regarding the use of generative AI tools (e.g. Chat GPT) in manuscript preparation:

Transparency and Disclosure: Authors are required to clearly disclose any use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies in the preparation of their manuscripts. This includes specifying the type and extent of AI assistance in an appropriate section of the manuscript.

Human Oversight and Accountability: Generative AI tools may be used to improve readability and language, but all substantive intellectual contributions—including study conception, data analysis, interpretation, and critical revisions—must be made by human authors. Authors remain fully responsible and accountable for the integrity, accuracy, and originality of all content submitted, including any material generated or assisted by AI tools.

Authorship: Generative AI tools cannot be credited as authors or co-authors, as they are not capable of taking responsibility for the work or responding to questions about its integrity.ssisted by AI tools.

Ethical Use and Integrity: Authors must ensure that AI-generated content does not introduce inaccuracies, plagiarism, or bias. All AI-assisted content should be thoroughly reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by the authors to maintain academic rigor and originality.

Compliance with Privacy and Confidentiality: Manuscripts or data containing confidential or personally identifiable information must not be uploaded to AI tools, especially during peer review, to protect privacy and proprietary rights.

Reporting Guidelines

To ensure clarity, transparency, and reproducibility in research reporting, Journal Name requires authors to adhere to established reporting guidelines appropriate to their study design. Authors must submit a completed checklist for the relevant guideline alongside their manuscript and clearly state in the Methods section which guideline was followed. These checklists are essential for guiding authors in preparing their manuscripts and for assisting editors and reviewers in the evaluation process.

Authors are responsible for: selecting the appropriate guideline for their study type, completing and submitting the relevant checklist with their manuscript, clearly indicating in the methods section of their manuscript which guideline was followed and ensuring all checklist items are addressed in the manuscript text.

Authors are encouraged to consult the EQUATOR Network, an authoritative resource that provides comprehensive access to reporting guidelines and checklists for all major study types.

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. Authors must provide a flow diagram that illustrates the progress of patients through the trial, including recruitment, enrolment, randomization, withdrawal and completion, and a detailed description of the randomization procedure.

Below is a list of key reporting guidelines and their sources:

Study Type	Guideline Name & Abbreviation	Source/Checklist Location
Randomized Controlled Trials	CONSORT	EQUATOR Network, CONSORT website
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses	PRISMA	EQUATOR Network, PRISMA website
Observational Studies (Cohort, Case-Control, Cross-Sectional)	STROBE	EQUATOR Network, STROBE website
Diagnostic Accuracy Studies	STARD	EQUATOR Network, STARD website
Case Reports	CARE	EQUATOR Network, CARE website
Economic Evaluations	CHEERS, EVEREST	EQUATOR Network, CHEERS/EVEREST
Quality Improvement Studies	SQUIRE	EQUATOR Network, SQUIRE website
Prediction Model Studies	TRIPOD	EQUATOR Network, TRIPOD website
Animal Pre-Clinical Studies	ARRIVE	EQUATOR Network, ARRIVE website
Web-Based Surveys	CHERRIES	EQUATOR Network, CHERRIES website
Studies Using Electronic Health Records	CODE-EHR	EQUATOR Network, CODE-EHR website
Reporting of Sex and Gender Information	SAGER	EQUATOR Network, SAGER website

For a full and up-to-date list of guidelines and checklists, visit the EQUATOR Network

The Editorial Process

All articles submitted to the IJN undergo initial review by the Editor/associate editor, and articles that are outside the scope of the Journal, or unlikely to receive sufficient priority for publication, are excluded. Manuscripts that do not conform to the Author Guidelines or exceed the Maximums set for Articles may be returned to the author without review. Authors can resubmit after complying with the requirements.

Each article that passes to the next stage is reviewed by at least two reviewers. The IJN has a rigorous double-blind peer-review process, in which the reviewers and authors are unaware of each other’s identity. Decisions on accepting manuscripts for publication are solely based on the peer-review process. The Editor’s discretion and the decision are final. The comments and suggestions (acceptance/rejection/amendments to the manuscript) received from reviewers are conveyed to the author. The author is invited to provide a point-by-point response to reviewers’ comments and submit a revised manuscript. This process is repeated until reviewers and editors are satisfied with the manuscript. Manuscripts accepted for publication will be copy-edited, sometimes extensively, for grammar, punctuation, print style, format, and clarity. Galley proofs are sent to the author. The author is expected to return the corrected proofs within three days. It may not be possible to incorporate corrections received after that period. The entire process of submitting the manuscript to the final decision and sending and receiving proofs is completed online.

As per the policy of the Journal, an Editor, who is either the author of a manuscript or belongs to the same institution as any of the authors, is not assigned that manuscript and is not involved in decision-making regarding its publication. Reviewers/Editorial Board members should decline the invitation to review a manuscript that is submitted by authors from their institution.

Preparation of the Manuscript
The manuscript should be double-spaced, with a 2.5 cm margin, 12-point Times New Roman font, and justified. The pages of the manuscript should be numbered in the bottom right corner, starting from the first page.

Language and Writing Style
The manuscript should be written in American English. The use of acronyms and abbreviations must be kept to a minimum. The author should write the full term for each abbreviation, followed by the acronym or abbreviation in parentheses at its first use in the title, abstract, keywords, and text separately unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measure (such as cm, kg, or min). If a brand name is cited, supply the manufacturer’s name and address (city, state, and country). The authors must check the manuscript for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors before submission. Headings and titles must be in sentence case and not in Capitals.

Submission of the Manuscript

Online Manuscript Submission
All manuscripts must be submitted online. You will see step-by-step instructions when you are submitting your manuscript. You will need to submit the following documents as separate files.

Cover Page:
Cover page includes (a) complete manuscript title; (b) List all authors’ full names, highest academic degrees, professional titles, affiliations, and locations of affiliations; (c) name and address of the corresponding author, including, telephone number, and e-mail address and (d) sources of support that require acknowledgment, and a short title of no more than 45 characters (including spaces) for use as a running title.

Manuscript:
This document should include the title, abstract, keywords, manuscript body, references, tables, a list of figure legends and information on the Supplementary File (if any). Acknowledgment Section should be included at the end of the main manuscript.

Tables:
Tables should be numbered and have titles. Each table will be placed on a separate page of the manuscript file, immediately following the references. Additional information may be included in notes below the table.

Figures:
Figures must be submitted in .tiff or jpeg format. Color images should be of good quality. Each image should be less than 1 MB in size. The size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (1240 x 800 pixels or 5-6 inches). Do not embed graphs in the main manuscript. They should be uploaded separately at the time of uploading the figures in the “jpeg” or “tiff” format. All illustrations should have clear markers identifying abnormalities. Photomicrographs should have a scale.

Supplementary Material:
All Supplementary materials should be provided in pdf format in one single file. In the main article in a Supplementary Material section immediately before the references, state the type of supplementary material with (as required) the title “Supplementary Methods.”, “Supplementary References”, “Supplementary Table” or “Supplementary figure”.

Copyright and disclosure forms are to be digitally signed during the submission process, and all the authors must complete the online authorship contribution verification.

Instruction on supplemental digital multimedia/video content: In addition to the video content, authors must provide a still image from each video file. Supply TIFF or JPEG files. These are also uploaded at the time of figure upload.

Indian Journal of Nephrology does not charge for the submission and/or processing of the manuscripts.

Specific Details for Each Manuscript Type

Article type	Word count	Abstract	Introduction	Materials and Methods	Results	Discussion	References (Maximum)	Illustrations (Figures) (Maximum)	Tables (Maximum)
Original Articles	2500	Structured	✓	✓	✓	✓	35	4	4
In-depth Review	3500	Non-structured	✓	✓	✓	✓	50	5	5
Research Letter	1000	No abstract	✓	✓	✓	✓	6	2	1
Case Report	800	Non-structured	✓	–	# Case details	✓	6	2	1
Meeting Report	3500	Non-structured	✓	✓	–	–	50	5	5
Guidelines	3500	Non-structured	✓	✓	–	–	50	5	5
Images in Nephrology	300	No abstract	–	–	–	–	5	2	0
Letter to Editor	300	No abstract	–	–	–	–	5	1	1
Editorials/ Commentaries	1200	No abstract	–	–	–	–	8	2	2

Use of Inclusive Language

The IJN is committed to fostering a scholarly environment that respects the diversity and dignity of all individuals. Authors are required to use inclusive language in all submissions to ensure that research communications are respectful, accurate, and free from bias.
Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunity. Authors should:

Avoid discriminatory language related to age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, or religion.
Use gender-neutral terms wherever possible (e.g., “they/them” instead of “he/she,” “humankind” instead of “mankind,” “chairperson” instead of “chairman”).
Describe populations accurately and respectfully, using preferred terminology and avoiding stereotypes or stigmatizing language.
Refer to individuals and groups by their self-identified names and use up-to-date, community-preferred terms.
Acknowledge diversity in study populations and report demographic characteristics when relevant, using precise and respectful descriptors.

Authors are encouraged to consult resources such as the APA Guidelines for Bias-Free Language and the AMA Manual of Style for further guidance.

Reporting Sex and Gender Based Analysis

Authors are expected to address sex and gender considerations in their research reporting to enhance transparency, accuracy, and relevance. Authors shoule clearly distinguish between sex (biological attributes such as chromosomes, hormones, and reproductive organs) and gender (socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities). Use each term appropriately and consistently throughout the manuscript. In the background and methods sections, specify whether sex and/or gender differences are expected and describe how these variables were considered in the study design, recruitment, and analysis. If only one sex or gender is included, provide a rationale for this choice. Collect and report data disaggregated by sex and/or gender whenever possible. Analyze outcomes separately for different sexes and genders, regardless of whether statistically significant differences are found. Clearly describe the methods used to ascertain sex and/or gender information. Discuss the implications of sex and/or gender on study findings, including the extent to which results can be generalized. If no sex- or gender-based analysis was performed, explain the reasons and acknowledge any limitations this may introduce to the interpretation of results.

Authors can refer to the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) Guidelines for more detailed guidance.

Funding/Support Statement

All financial and material support for the research, work, writing, and editorial assistance should be clearly and completely identified in a Funding/Support Statement. You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the 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 article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, it is recommended to state this.

Copyright and Open Access Statement

All of the content published in the Indian Journal of Nephrology is protected under the International copyright law, defined by Creative Commons and the International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Authors retains the content’s academic copyright and can self-archive the article. The journal retains the commercial rights of the published content, and the publisher executes the commercial rights on behalf of the journal. The journal also grants to all readers and users a free, irrevocable, global, perpetual right of access to and a license to copy, use, distribute and display the content publicly and to make and distribute derivative works in any digital medium for any reasonable and non-commercial purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship and ownership of the copyrights under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International Public License.

Open Access Publication and Creative Commons Licensing
The Indian Journal of Nephrology is an open-access journal, and manuscripts published are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0License (CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0), which allows others to remix, transform, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

Compliance with Funder -Mandated Open Access Policies
An author whose work is funded by an organization that mandates the use of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 The license is able to meet that requirement through the available open-access license for approved funders. The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal. They will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party. For any Questions or Difficulties please contact us at technical.team@scientificscholar.com

Data Availability, Sharing, and Linkage

IJN is committed to promoting transparency, reproducibility, and responsible data stewardship in nephrology research. Authors are required to include a Data Availability Statement (DAS) in all submissions, clearly describing where the data supporting the findings of the study can be accessed, under what conditions, and any restrictions that may apply.

Authors should deposit all datasets underlying the research findings in a recognized public repository whenever possible, and provide persistent identifiers (such as DOIs) or direct links in the manuscript. If data cannot be shared publicly due to legal, ethical, or privacy constraints, authors must specify the reasons in the DAS and outline how the data can be accessed under appropriate conditions, or state that data sharing is not possible. For studies where no new data were generated or analyzed, authors should include a statement such as: “No new data were created or analyzed in this study. Data sharing is not applicable to this article”. Authors are encouraged to cite datasets in the reference section and follow best practices for data and software citation.

When studies involve data linkage (e.g., combining datasets from multiple sources), authors must provide a clear and comprehensive description of the linkage process, including the data sources and their origins, linkage variables and methods used, evaluation and validation of the linkage process, and any limitations or potential biases introduced by the linkage. Authors should use supplementary materials to provide detailed linkage information if space is limited in the main text.

Authors are encouraged to use repositories that issue persistent identifiers (such as DOIs) to ensure enduring access and citation of datasets. Resources such as FAIRsharing.org and re3data.org can assist in selecting suitable repositories.

Requests for exceptions to data sharing must be justified at submission and will be considered by the editorial office. Even when exceptions are granted, a DAS must still be included, specifying what cannot be shared and why.