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Start SubmissionAll submissions of papers for publication should be made through the electronic route via the journal website www.sljol.info/index.php/SLJCH The electronic submission process is the ONLY route for submissions to the journal EXCEPT for those submissions to the section titled 'THREE MINUTE ARTICLES FOR PARENTS'.
For complete documentation of Journal Policies on Publication Ethics and Malpractices, please open and refer to the Research Integrity Section.
The Journal is indexed in SciVerse Scopus (Source Record ID 19900193609), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and Index Medicus of the South East Asia Region (IMSEAR). It is also available in Google and Google Scholar.
Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health is recognised by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) as a publication following the ICMJE Recommendations.
General
ALL research studies in children should have been performed with Informed Written Consent from the parents/care providers and Written Informed Assent from children over 12 years of age. The only exceptions are Retrospective Studies.
ALL research studies on children, including Retrospective Studies MUST have Ethical Clearance from a recognised Ethics Review Committee
ALL interventional, experimental studies and Clinical Trials, MUST have prior registration with an internationally recognised Clinical Trials Registry.
If the paper is assembled in a computer word processor, it should be in Microsoft WORD and the language set to "English (U.K.)" and NOT "English (U.S.)". PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT MANUSCRIPTS IN PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT (PDF) OR ANY OTHER FILE FORMAT. Such inappropriate submissions will be immediately rejected.
The font should be Times New Roman and the font size should be 12. Margins should be set to one inch (2.54 cm) right round and there should be 1.5 line space setting.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE ARE MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS AND THE SUBMISSION WOULD BE REJECTED OUTRIGHT IF THESE ARE NOT ADHERED TO.
The journal does not entertain submissions that have been published in Pre-Print Journals with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) issued in the name of the Pre-Print Journal.
If the submissions are made by post, authors must submit 3 copies of the original manuscript. The text should be printed on one side of numbered A4 sheets. A separate title page should include the title, authors' names with their medical and scientific degrees and current appointments. This page should include full postal address for correspondence along with telephone number(mandatory), fax number(optional) and e-mail address(mandatory). Financial support for work, including equipment and drugs, should be listed on the title page. In "intervention or experimental studies" a statement that an ethical review body has approved the study and registration with a Clinical Trials Registry, should be provided. Documentary proof of such approval and registration should accompany the article.
Covering letter
This should certify that the contents have not been published elsewhere and the paper is not being submitted elsewhere. It should acknowledge any potential conflict of interest and bring to the notice of the editors any possible overlap with prior publications. In papers with more than one author, a brief statement regarding the contribution of each author to the work reported should be included.
Criteria for authorship
The journal has adopted and implemented the Criteria for Authorship of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), revised in 2019. The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:
1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Acquisition of funding or general supervision of a research group alone does not entitle one to authorship.Stringent efforts must be made to avoid guest, gift, and ghost authorship.
All authors are required to provide their Open Research and Contributor ID (ORCID ID) when submitting articles. THIS IS A MANDATORY REQUIREMENT. One could register for the ORCID ID at <https://orcid.org/register> It is a free service and there is no fee for ORCID Registration. [The format of the ORCID ID is similar to 0000-0001-7789-8793 which is the ORCID ID of Dr B.J.C.Perera, Joint Editor of this journal.] PLEASE ENTER THE ORCID NUMBER AFTER THE NAME OF EACH AUTHOR.
Review Process
All unsolicited articles submitted to the journal undergo an initial process of assessment by the Joint Editors. Once the contents are approved by the Joint Editors as being suitable for consideration by the journal, the articles are inserted into a Double-blind Peer Review Process where each article is reviewed by two members of the Editorial Board and two External Reviewers. If the article is on a subject that is of a specialised nature, it is sent to a Specialist Reviewer as well, on a similar double-blind modality. The services of an Expert in Medical Statistics would be obtained whenever it is deemed necessary.
Following the peer review process, if any revisions are needed prior to acceptance for publication, the Joint Editors would write to the author/s suggesting that the manuscript is appropriately amended and resubmitted directly to the Joint Editor. The author/s would be given a period of a fortnight (two weeks) to resubmit the revised article.
Editorials are written by the Joint Editors. Occasionally, the Joint Editors may also invite a reputed authority on a given subject to write an Invited Editorial.
The Joint Editors do invite acclaimed experts in the field of paediatrics to contribute to the journal in the form of Leading Articles, Review Articles and Current Practice articles. All such solicited articles are assessed by both Joint Editors and appropriately revised, as and when necessary. They are not sent for peer-review.
Any articles submitted by the Joint Editors, Assistant Editor or a Member or Members of the Editorial Board will be reviewed independently without any participation of the author or authors concerned. In such circumstances, two or more independent external reviewers are recruited. The authors do not take part in any of the decision making processes and are always requested to leave the discussion site whenever such processes take place.
No fees are charged from the authors as submission fees, review process fees or publication fees. However, the author may be asked to bear the cost of printing of colour images and photographs. The charges will only be for the print version and will depend on the number of figures and the number of colours. The maximum charge will not exceed 50 US$.
Copyright Information
Copyright on any research article in the Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health is retained by the author(s).
The authors grant the Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians a licence to publish the article and to identify itself as the original publisher. This condition is deemed to be automatically accepted when an article is submitted to the journal.
From January 2016, all articles in Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This licence permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Plagiarism
All authors of submissions should note that the journal has zero-tolerance for intentional plagiarism. Every submission would be screened through plagiarism checking software iTHENTICATE Crossref Similarity Check, set to a very strict ten-word similarity filter which automatically excludes the references. Significant plagiarism is likely to lead to rejection of the submission.
Original Articles
Papers should contain original work not published elsewhere. ALL PARTICIPANTS AND SUBJECTS OF RESEARCH SHOULD BE LESS THAN EIGHTEEN (18) YEARS OF AGE.
The journal does not entertain submissions that have been published in Pre-Print Journals with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) issued in the name of the Pre-Print Journal.
From the March 2021 issue, the journal will increase the number of Original Articles per issue from ten to a maximum of twenty. This has been done to try and reduce the lag-time from the date of acceptance of each article to the date of publication.
Original Articles should present the results of Original Research, Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.
Observational Studies (cohort, case-control, or cross-sectional designs) should conform to the STROBE statement.
Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses would also be expected to conform to the PRISMA guidelines. In addition, it is essential that the Systematic Reviews should contain the 'SEARCH STRATEGY' and the 'REVIEW PROTOCOL', be submitted as Supplementary Files with the main manuscript.
Reports of Randomised Trials should comply with the CONSORT 2010 guidelines. Diagnostic accuracy studies are expected to be presented in accordance with the STARD guidelines. The guidelines on reporting sex and gender information (SAGER) should also be taken into account when reports are made.
Please refer to the details provided above for the criteria for authorship.
In addition, it is very strongly recommended that in listing the names of the authors of an Original Article, the first author would be the one who did the most amount of work and the last author would be the most senior investigator who approved the final draft of the paper and who takes equal responsibility for the contents of the paper. In between these two ends, the other authors should be listed in decreasing order of the contributions made to the study and the paper. It is also thereby implied and accepted that these authors take equal responsibility for the contents of the paper.
At the end of the manuscript, before the references, the contributions made by each author should be listed in the order of the appearance of the names of the authors. Together with this a declaration to the effect that all authors have agreed to the order of the listing of the names of the authors should also be provided.
Editors retain the right to shorten articles or make changes to conform to the style of the journal and improve clarity. A structured format is preferred with the headings: Introduction, Objectives, Design, Method, Results, Discussion and Conclusions.
The abstract should not exceed 300 words and be structured wherever possible.
Authors should provide a few keywords or phrases for the index. The keywords should be separated by commas (,).
All measurements must be in SI units apart from blood pressure measurements, which should be in mm Hg. Drug dosages should be in metric units.
Abbreviations should be in parenthesis preceded by words in full at the first appearance in the text. Subsequently, abbreviations could be used.
Generic names should be used for drugs and if necessary, the brand name may follow in brackets.
******The manuscript should be less than 3500 words and should not have more than 35 references. ******
All authors are required to provide their Open Research and Contributor ID (ORCID ID) when submitting articles. THIS IS A MANDATORY REQUIREMENT. One could register for the ORCID ID at <https://orcid.org/register> It is a free service and there is no fee for ORCID Registration. [The format of the ORCID ID is similar to 0000-0001-7789-8793 which is the ORCID ID of Dr. B.J.C.Perera, Joint Editor of this journal.]
Short reports, case reports and picture stories
Length must not exceed 1000 words, including tables, illustrations and references.
Authors should provide a few keywords or phrases for the index. The keywords should be separated by commas(,) NOT by colons(:) or semi-colons(;).
Leading Articles, Current Practice Articles and Guest Editorials
These are directly solicited and commissioned by the editors who welcome suggestions for topics or authors.
Authors should provide a few keywords or phrases for the index.
Tables, graphs, figures, drawings, illustrations, images and photographs
All these should be presented separately at the end of the manuscript or as separate supplementary files. Tables should have the heading or the descriptive legend at the top of the table. All other inclusions such as graphs, figures, drawings, illustrations, images and photographs should have the headings or descriptive legends at the bottom of each. All such inclusions should be used only when data cannot be otherwise clearly expressed. When graphs are submitted numerical data on which they are based should be supplied. Illustrations should be trimmed to remove all redundant areas. Computer illustrations/photographs too will be accepted. These should be separate from the word document (but can be in the same compact diskette).
Ultrasound scans, x-rays, etc. should be arrowed on an overlay to indicate areas of interest.
If photographs of patients are used, either the subjects should not be identifiable or their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the images.
No fees are charged from the authors as submission fees, review process fees or publication fees. Charges will only be made for the reproduction of colour illustrations in the print version of the journal. The charge will depend on the number of figures and the number of colours. The maximum charge will not exceed 50 US$.
All authors are requested to provide their Open Research and Contributor ID (ORCID ID) when submitting articles. One could register for the ORCID ID at <https://orcid.org/register> It is a free service and there is no fee for ORCID Registration. [The format of the ORCID ID is similar to 0000-0001-7789-8793 which is the ORCID ID of Dr. B.J.C.Perera, Joint Editor of this journal.]
Three Minute Article for Parents: A novel additional section in the Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health
The Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health is pleased to entertain submissions to a novel section of the journal to facilitate the provision of advice to parents based on original research.
The article should be written in very simple non-technical language, without complex medical terminology and formulated for non-medical laypersons, preferably parents.
It is absolutely essential that the content be based on original research performed and previously published in any peer-reviewed Scientific Journal by the author(s). Reference to the publication on which the advice is provided should be given at the end of the article. No sub-headings, figures, images, tables or charts should be included.
If the reference is from a journal holding copyright, permission should be sought from the Editor/s of the journal for this endeavour. A concise statement to this effect should be given at the bottom of the article with the letter or e-mail reference and the date of the document granting such permission.
The article should be assembled in Times New Roman font, single-spaced and with a maximum word count of 500 including the title, name/s of the author/s, the reference given at the end and any copyright waivers. Qualifications and Institutional Affiliations should NOT be included. Margins of the document should be set to 2.0 cms right round and the entire article should be accommodated in one A4 sheet.
These specifications should be strictly adhered to and any deviation would result in immediate rejection of the article.
The editors reserve the right to revise and amend the text without altering any qualitative or quantitative data provided. The editorial decision to accept or reject is final but an appeal against rejection would be considered. The decision following the appeal and reconsideration by the editors would be final and no further correspondence would be entertained.
The article, once published, may be brought to the notice of all concerned and the general public through social and other types of media by the Joint Editors or the author(s).
Manuscripts for this section of the journal should be sent directly to Dr. B.J.C.Perera, Joint Editor, by electronic mail to the address of <bjcp@ymail.com> and accompanied by a covering letter clearly stating that it is for the Three Minute Article for Parents section of the journal. These are the ONLY submissions that would be entertained through direct e-mails.
Please note that submissions to this section should NOT be sent through the electronic submission portal of the journal.
References
The journal requires all references to be in VANCOUVER STYLE. All other forms of reference listings will not be acceptable. Please include the Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) of the references wherever possible.
The references should be cited in the text as superscripts, in parentheses and numbered in the order of appearance. They should be listed at the end of the article in numerical order under the broad heading References. They should have the names of up to six authors, with the surname followed by the initials. No titles as prefixes or qualifications as postfixes should be used. If there are more than six authors, first six should be given, followed by et al. Then insert the title of the article, followed by a full-stop (.) followed by a space, then the title of the journal (abbreviated to the style of Index Medicus) followed by a full-stop(.), a space and year of publication, a semi-colon (;) volume number in bold and issue number (if any) in a non-bold script in parentheses, followed by a colon (:) and first and last pages separated by a hyphen (-) and ending the last page number with a full-stop(.) If a journal carries continuous pagination throughout a volume, issue numbers may be omitted. Reference for books should give the names of authors and editors, title, place of publication and publisher, followed by the year of publication.
ACCURACY OF REFERENCES IS THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE AUTHOR/S.
The journal requests that the authors include the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) in the references whenever these are available. The DOIs of the articles listed in the references could be accessed through CrossRef (https://www.crossref.org/)
Some examples of references:
Journal articles
More than six authors
Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitator concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res. 2002;935(1-2):40-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-8993(02)02445-9
Organization as author
Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin & proinsulin in participants with imp. tolerance. Hypertension. 2002;40(5):679-86. https://doi.org/10.1161/01.HYP.0000035706.28494.09 PMid: 12411462 PMCid: PMC2516377
Both personal authors and an organization as author
Vallancien G, Emberton M, Harving N, van Moorselaar RJ; Alf-One Study Group. Sexual dysfunction in 1,274 suffering from lower urinary tract symptoms. J Urol. 2003;169(6):2257-61. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ju.0000067940.76090.73 PMid: 12771764
No author given
21st century heart solution may have a sting in the tail. BMJ. 2002;325(7357):184. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.325.7357.184
Volume with supplement
Geraud G, Spierings EL, Keywood C. Tolerability and safety of frovatriptan with short- and long-term use for migraine and in comparison with sumatriptan. Headache. 2002;42Suppl 2:S93-9. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1526-4610.42.s2.7.x PMid: 12028325
Issue with supplement
Glauser TA. Integrating clinical trial data into clinical practice. Neurology. 2002;58(12 Suppl 7):S6-12. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.58.12_suppl_7.S6 PMid: 12084862
Issue with part
Ahrar K, Madoff DC, Gupta S, Wallace MJ, Wright KC. Development of a large animal model for lun. Vasc Interv Radiol. 2002;13(9 Pt 1):923-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1051-0443(07)61776-X
Issue with no volume
Banit DM, Kaufer H, Hartford JM. Intraoperative frozen section analysis in revision total joint arthroplasty.. 2002;(401):230-8. https://doi.org/10.1097/00003086-200208000-00026 PMid: 12151900
No volume or issue
Outreach: bringing HIV-positive individuals into care. HRSA Careaction. 2002 Jun:1-6.
Pagination in Roman numerals
Chadwick R, Schuklenk U. The politics of ethical consensus finding. Bioethics. 2002; 16(2): iii-v. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8519.2002.00263.x PMid: 12083158
Type of article indicated as needed
Lofwall MR, Strain EC, Brooner RK, Kindbom KA, Bigelow GE. Characteristics of older methadone maintenance patients.[abstract]. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2002;66 Suppl 1:S105.
Books and other monographs
Personal author(s)
Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby;2002.
Editor(s ), compiler(s) as author(s)
Gilstrap LC 3rd, Cunningham FG, VanDorsten JP, editors. Operative obstetrics. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw 2002.
Author(s) and editor(s)
Breedlove GK, Schorfheide AM. Adolescent pregnancy. 2nd ed. Wieczorek RR, editor. White Plains (NY): Education Services; 2001.
Organization(s) as author
Royal Adelaide Hospital; University of Adelaide, Department of Clinical Nursing. Compendium of nursing practice development, 1999-2000. Adelaide (Australia): Adelaide University; 2001.
Chapter in a book
Weinstein L, Swartz MN. Pathologic properties of invading microorganisms. In: Sodeman WA Jr, Sodeman WA, editors. Pathologic physiology of disease. Philadelphia: Saunders; 1974. p. 457-72.
Conference proceedings
Harnden P, Joffe JK, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour Con Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.
Conference paper
Christensen S, Oppacher F. An analysis of Koza's computational effort statistic for gene tic programming. In: Lutton E, Miller J, Ryan C, Tettamanzi AG, editors. Genetic programming. EuroGP 2002: Proceedings of the Conference on Genetic Programming; 2002 Apr 3-5; Kinsdale, Ireland. Berlin: Springer; 2002. p. 182-91.
Scientific or technical report
Issued by funding/sponsoring agency:
Yen GG (Oklahoma State University, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Stillwater, OK). Health vibration signatures. Final report. Arlington (VA): Air Force of Scientific Research (US), Air Force Research Laboratory; 2002 Feb. Report No.: AFRLSRBLTR020123. Contract No.: F496209810049.
Issued by performing agency
Russell ML, Goth-Goldstein R, Apte MG, Fisk WJ. Method for measuring the size distribution of airborne Rhin Berkeley (CA): Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Environmental Energy Technologies Division; 2002 No.: LBNL49574. Contract No. DEAC0376SF00098. Sponsored by the Department of Energy.
Dictionary and similar references
Dorland's illustrated medical dictionary. 29th ed. Philadelphia: W B Saunders; 2000. Filamin; p. 675.
Unpublished material
In press
Tian D, Araki H, Stahl E, Bergelson J, Kreitman M. Signature of balancing selection in Arabidopsis. Proc Natl A. In press 2002.
Electronic material
CD-ROM
Anderson SC, Poulsen KB. Anderson's electronic atlas of haematology [CD-ROM]. Philadelphia: Lippincott Will 2002.
Journal article on the Internet
Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [seri Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12]; 102(6): [about 3p.]. Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htm
Monograph on the Internet
Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [monograph on the Internet]. Washington Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309074029/html/.
Homepage/Web site
Cancer-Pain.org [homepage on the Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2001-2002 May 16; cited 2002 Jul 9].Available from: http://www.cancer-pain.org/.
Part of a homepage/Web site
American Medical Association [homepage on the Internet]. Chicago: The Association; c1995-2002 [updated cited 2002 Aug 12]. AMA Office of Group Practice Liaison; [about 2 screens].Available from: http://www.anassn.org/ama/pub/category/1736.html
N.B. When hard copies of the manuscript are submitted, a computer CD-ROM should also be submitted with the article in the software programme MICROSOFT WORD.
Data sharing
Authors are required to share data on request of the Editor or a reader. By submitting an article to the journal the author/s automatically agree to such sharing of data.
******IMPORTANT STIPULATION******
ALL PROSPECTIVE AUTHORS ARE HEREBY INFORMED THAT THE ACCEPTED ARTICLES WOULD BE INSERTED INTO A CONVEYOR-BELT OF ARTICLES AWAITING PUBLICATION IN THE STRICT CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF THE DATE OF ACCEPTANCE BY THE JOURNAL.
THIS IS THE DECLARED POLICY OF THE JOURNAL AND THAT DECISION HAS BEEN TAKEN TO PROVIDE EQUITY, IMPARTIALITY AND FAIRNESS TO ALL AUTHORS, IRRESPECTIVE OF THE COUNTRY OR REGION FROM WHICH THE PAPERS ORIGINATE OR THE STUDIES HAVE BEEN CARRIED OUT.
EACH ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL WOULD PUBLISH UP TO A MAXIMUM OF TWENTY (20) ORIGINAL ARTICLES, SIX (06) CASE REPORTS AND THREE (03) PICTURE STORIES.
THE JOURNAL MANAGEMENT REGRETS THAT IT IS NOT ABLE TO EXPEDITE PUBLICATIONS FOR PERSONAL REASONS SUCH AS THE NEEDS FOR CAREER ADVANCEMENT OR FOR THE REQUIREMENTS OF FUNDING AGENCIES.
THE ONLY EXCEPTIONS THAT WOULD BE MADE ARE FOR GROUND-BREAKING STUDIES THAT COULD MODIFY MANAGEMENT OF PATIENTS TO THEIR ADVANTAGE AND STUDIES THAT PROVIDE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT INFORMATION IN CERTAIN EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES SUCH AS DURING EPIDEMICS AND PANDEMICS. IN SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES, PUBLICATION WOULD BE 'FAST-TRACKED' AT THE SOLE DISCRETION OF THE JOINT EDITORS.
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
Copyright on any research article in the Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health is retained by the author(s).
The authors grant the Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians a licence to publish the article and to identify itself as the original publisher.
From January 2016, all articles in Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This licence permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party. For more information, see the full Privacy Policy here.