All authors interested in publishing their research work in the Indian Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics (IJDBP) must submit electronically by using IJDBP online submission procedure. The manuscript should be an original research paper which sufficiently contributes novelty to developmental & behavioral pediatrics. The corresponding author should also provide a statement that the manuscript is not concurrently being under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Manuscripts must contain original data and should not have been previously published or considered for publication elsewhere. For any queries, authors can contact the editorial office at editor.ijdbp@gmail.com. The Editors will ignore submissions that do not follow processes mentioned here.

Editorial and Peer Review Process

• Submitted manuscripts undergo an initial check for completeness and adherence to journal guidelines.
• After passing the initial check, the manuscript undergoes editorial review for suitability.
• If deemed suitable, the manuscript is sent for double-blind peer review by at least two independent reviewers.
• The Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision based on reviewers' comments.
• Authors will receive a decision within 4-5 weeks of submission.
• Revised manuscripts are reassessed, with final decisions conveyed within 4 weeks of re-submission.

Manuscripts received from Editorial Board members are handled with additional scrutiny, ensuring unbiased editorial and peer review.

Process for Appeals

Authors may appeal editorial decisions if they believe their manuscript was wrongly rejected. Appeals should be submitted via email to editor.ijdbp@gmail.com providing justification with evidence. Appeals are reviewed within 6-8 weeks, and second appeals are not considered.

Publication Schedule

IJDBP is a quarterly journal publishing original research, reviews, case reports, and letters in developmental and behavioral pediatrics.

Article Processing Charges

There is no article processing charges for publication in IJDBP.

Authorship & Contributions

The journal follows ICMJE authorship criteria. All contributors should be credited appropriately.

Changes to authorship: Requests must be accompanied by a signed statement from all authors.

Conflict of Interest & Funding Disclosure

Authors must disclose financial and non-financial conflicts of interest. Funding sources should be clearly stated.

Data Ownership & Permissions

Authors are responsible for obtaining permissions for any copyrighted material used in the manuscript.

Copyright and Licensing

All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Authors grant full copyright ownership of their work to IJDBP, including rights for any future publications by the journal.

For commercial use permissions, contact: editor.ijdbp@gmail.com.

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

All articles to be submitted online as per the guidelines for Authors at: editor.ijdbp@gmail.com.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools Usage

IJDBP follows the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) regarding the use of AI tools in manuscripts.

• AI tools such as ChatGPT or Large Language Models cannot be listed as authors since they do not meet authorship criteria, including accountability for the submitted work.
• AI tools cannot assert the presence or absence of conflicts of interest nor manage copyright and license agreements.
• Authors using AI tools in manuscript writing, image or graphical production, or data collection and analysis must disclose their use in the Materials and Methods (or an equivalent section).
• Authors remain fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, including any portions generated using AI tools, and are liable for any breach of publication ethics.

Reporting Guidelines

Authors should adhere to reporting guidelines such as CONSORT (clinical trials), STROBE (Observational Study), PRISMA (systematic reviews), and CARE (case reports).

Structure of the Manuscripts:

• Title Page should contain sconcise and informative title, Name(s) of the author(s) with initials and surname, name of the department, Institution & complete address with telephone number and e-mail of the corresponding author.
• Abstract & should not be more than 300 words & should be on a separate sheet. It should present the most important results stating the background, methods, results & conclusion.
• Key Words: (5 to 7).
• Word count-  
1. For Research Articles 2000 to 2500 words.
2. For Review Article 2500 to 3000 words.
3. For Consensus Guidelines 3000 to 3500 words.
4. For updates 500 to 1000 words.
5. For Case Reports 500 to 1500 words.
6. Commentary 1000 to 1500 words.
7. Letter to editor 500 words.
• Introduction –should state purpose of study & give brief review of pertinent literature. Cite only those references that are essential to justify the purpose of study.
• Material & Methods – should follow the introduction & should provide enough information to permit repetition of experimental work/ project, giving how the study was designed, carried out and data was analyzed. State whether study was approved by ethics committee or not. Describe statistical analysis methods used with required details. Give actual p-values, t-values define statistical terms, symbols and abbreviations.
• Results –should describe the outcome of study giving relevant data. Avoid repeating in the text all the data depicted in tables or illustrations: Tables (numbered in roman numerals) & illustrations (Numbered in Arabic Numerals) should be prepared on separate sheet(s) with headings or legends. Minimum size of illustrations should be 8 x 10 cm. Top of figure should be marked by an arrow on its back as well as figure’s number and author’s name on left side of photograph. Cite the tables/ figures in the text at appropriate places.
• Discussion – ordinarily should not be more than 1/3 of total length of manuscript. New and possible important findings of the study should be emphasized, as well as any conclusions that can be drawn. The Discussion should compare the present data to existing literature. The implications of the findings and their limitations, including potential for future research should be discussed. New hypotheses and clinical recommendations that are appropriate should be clearly identified.
• References – In general, the number of references should not exceed 40 for original articles, 50 for review articles and 15 for case reports. The authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the references and their citations in the text. 1. References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. 2. References in text, tables and legends should be identified by superscript numerals in square brackets [] at the end of the sentence outside any punctuation. If several different studies or papers are cited within one sentence, the number should be placed where it will accurately identify the correct study.
1. A. Papers published in journals / periodicals: Authors surnames followed by initials of first names; full title of paper; full name of journal; year of publication, volume, issue (in Arabic Numerals), first & last page numbers eg. Rocs DB. Congenital anomalies associated with thoracic outlet syndrome. Am J Surg 1976;132(3):771-778.
2. B. When writing a reference in text, the surname of the author should be given; if there are two authors, the surnames of both the authors should be given & if there are more than two authors, then surname of first author followed by “et al” and name(s) should be followed by year in bracket.
3. C1. Books: Author’s surnames and initials of first name; name of chapter (if any). In: full title of the book; Edition; Name & Domicile of Publisher; Year of Publication; pp (first & last page no.) eg. Weiner JS. Human Biology, an introduction to human evolution, variation & growth. In: Human Ecology. W.A. Harrison, J.S. Weiner & N.A. Barnicat (Eds,), Ist edition, Oxford University Press, Philadelphia, 1964; pp 401-508.
4. C2. Books: Names of Author(s) of Chapter: Name of the Chapter. In: Name of the book. Names of the editors, Edition, Name & Domicile of Publisher; Year of Publication; PP (first & last Page no.).
• All figures should be planned to fit within either 1 column width (8.0 cm), 1.5 column widths (13.0 cm) or 2 column widths (17.0 cm), and must be suitable for photocopy reproduction from the printed version of the manuscript. Although low quality images are adequate for review purposes, print publication requires high quality images to prevent the final product being blurred or fuzzy. Submit JPEG or TIFF files only. MS PowerPoint and Word Graphics are unsuitable for printed pictures. Do not use pixel-oriented programs. Scans (JPEG &TIFF only) should have a resolution of 300 dpi (halftone) or 600 to 1200 dpi (line drawings) in relation to the reproduction size.

General Writing Format:

• The manuscript is prepared in an A4 paper, single-sided, and single line spacing format. A new paragraph should start 5 characters from the left margin, using 10-size, typed in Times New Roman or Arial font type.
• The manuscript should be written in proper English.
• The top and bottom margins are 1 inch.
• The title is written using capital letters only at first word or special name (example: location name), 17 font size, center position.
• Subtitles are written using capital letters only at first word or special name, 12 font size, starting from the left margin.
• Sub of a sub of subtitles, if any, are written using capital letters only at the beginning of each word except for connecting words, all in italics. They should be started from the left margin.
• All references should be preferably of the last ten years publication.

Tables and Figures: Tables and figures should be presented as follows:

• The name of tables and figures should follow a numbering system (Arabic numbering system). The title of the tables and figures are placed at the top and the bottom respectively.
• The tables and figures should provide the source of information, if any, at the bottom.
• Each image should be less than 4096 kb(4MB). All the Images/Figures should be submitted in separate files. Do not Zip the file.

Adhering to these guidelines will ensure smooth processing and publication of research work.