Instructions to the Authors

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The Journal of Mental Health Education (JMHEdu) is the official publication of The Department of Mental Health Education, Nimhans. The journal is peer-reviewed, is published annually, and accepts high-quality work or writings in the broad fields of mental, neurological and neurosurgical health and promotion.Manuscripts are accepted for consideration for publication by the JMHEdu with the understanding that they represent original material, have not been published previously, are not being considered for publication elsewhere, and have been approved by each author. There is No Publication fee and the Subscription to the Journal is at No Cost.

Scope of the journal

The Journal highlights issues in educating, training and developing a skilled, healthy and committed mental health workforce. The Journal of Mental Health Education is keen to receive original papers on mental health education and mental health promotion, methodology, training, research, policy development, and practice – particularly from a national and international perspective

The Editorial Process

All manuscripts (but see the exceptions below) are reviewed by two or more independent (“blind”) assessors. There are three sequential steps in the review process.

First, an initial quick review of the submitted manuscript is made by the Editor or his nominated representative (generally the Executive Editor) and decision made regarding the necessity and appropriateness for the detailed peer-review process. If found unsuitable for the Journal, the authors are usually intimated about this within one week of submission with a brief note on the grounds for non-suitability of the submission, so that they may not lose time in the review process and start seeking a more suitable home for their work.

Second, once the submission has been found suitable ‘in principle’ for detailed evaluation, it is passed through a Checklist for format and style. This checklist helps to spot areas where corrections or improvements are required before the article can be submitted for detailed evaluation. This process is also usually completed within a week. The authors are advised to rectify and re-submit in case of substantive deficiencies in formatting and style.

Finally, following the successful completion of the two previous steps, the article is sent to two (occasionally three, in case of a ‘tie’) independent assessors (after anonymizing the article to the fullest extent possible) for a detailed content-focused peer review process. We aim to typically complete this process in 4-6 weeks, though it might take longer. All in all, our aim is to conclude the entire review process in 2-3 months’ time. This detailed review process as mentioned above is not applicable for certain types of submissions that include “Invited Matter” (Commentaries, Perspectives/Viewpoints, Debates, etc. but not invited reviews which are reviewed as above), “Letters to the Editor”, “Book Reviews” and “Film Reviews.” In these cases the Editor can take a quick decision and provide a feedback directly. However, even if accepted, all submissions are screened for formatting and style by using the Checklist mentioned above.

Authorship Criteria

Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to each of the three components mentioned below:

1. Concept and design of study or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data;
2. Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
3. Final approval of the version to be published.

Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship. General supervision of the research group is not sufficient for authorship. Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content of the manuscript. The order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor towards the study and writing the manuscript. Once submitted the order cannot be changed without written consent of all the contributors. The journal prescribes a maximum number of authors for manuscripts depending upon the type of manuscript, its scope and number of institutions involved (vide infra). The authors should provide a justification if the number of authors exceeds these limits.

Contribution Details

Contributors should provide a description of contributions made by each of them towards the manuscript. Description should be divided in following categories, as applicable: concept, design, definition of intellectual content, literature search, clinical studies, experimental studies, data acquisition, data analysis, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, manuscript editing and manuscript review. Authors’ contributions will be printed along with the article. One or more author should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole from inception to published article and should be designated as ‘guarantor’.

Conflicts of Interest/ Competing Interests

Authors should disclose at the time of submission any financial arrangements they might have with a company or any organization. It should be clearly mentioned in the cover note which should accompany manuscripts during submission. Such information will be held in confidence while the paper is under review and will not influence the editorial decision but, if the article is accepted for publication, the Editor will usually discuss with the authors the manner in which such information is to be communicated to the reader.
The manuscript should be processed electronically using a standard word processor (e.g., Microsoft Word). All parts of the manuscript should be double-spaced throughout with a minimum margin of 1 inch on all sides. Number pages consecutively on the Article File (see later). The spellings should be American English.
The manuscript should be arranged in the following order, with two mandatory separate Word files: a) cover letter-cum-title page (“First Page File”), b) article file, containing the following in this order: abstract (if required), text matter, references, and tables. Figures, if any, should be prepared and uploaded separately.

a) Cover Letter-cum-Title Page (“First Page File”)

Cover letter should include: title of the article, name of corresponding author, intent for submission to IJSP for possible publication, statement regarding authorship, disclosure of any potential conflict of interest, and a statement on under which section the authors want their manuscripts to be considered.

The Title Page (a fresh page immediately after the Cover Letter but in the same file) should also be prepared. It should contain the title of the article, and the name(s) and address(es) of the author(s), and position titles at their respective institutions/places of employment. The full postal address, telephone and facsimile numbers, and Email address of the author who will receive correspondence and check the proofs should be included, as well as the present address of any author if different from that where the work was carried out. Addresses for authors other than the correspondence author should contain the department, institution, city and country. Other entries on the title page include a short running title of not more than 50 characters (including spaces), word count (abstract, if applicable), word count (text, excluding abstract, references and tables etc.), declaration of any conflict of interest (if none, please write so), and acknowledgements if any.

b) Article File:

The remaining part of the submission should be combined into a single file (the “Article File”) and uploaded as such. Tables can be entered in this file itself (at the end, after References, each Table starting on a fresh page). Figures, however, need to be uploaded separately, each figure as a separate file.

Description of each of the components of the article file follows:

Abstract
A summary of the review, research and brief communication articles must be in the form of a structured abstract of no more than 250 words using the format below. However, abstract may be unstructured for ‘Perspectives/Viewpoint/Debate’ articles (as mentioned above). Commentaries, Case reports, letters, and film/book reviews do not require any abstract.

Background/Objectives: need for the study/review with specific aim or objectives; Methods: design, setting, sample, interventions (if appropriate), chief outcome measures, and methodology of data search, selection and organization (for review articles or other non-primary data based article); Results: provide main findings on which the conclusions are based; Conclusions: only those related to results, both positive and negative, and their immediate implications (not far-fetched or beyond the scope of the study results).
Key words: 3-6 key words that will assist indexers in cross-referencing the article should be supplied. Use of the medical subject headings (MeSH) list from Index Medicus is encouraged but not mandatory.

Text Matter
For research articles (full-length and brief reports) the usual IMRaD format should be used: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. For other types of articles, authors’ own or innovative headings and subheadings may be used.
Pejorative Language: Do not use pejorative labels like ‘addicts’, ‘schizophrenics’, ‘psychotics’ and ‘neurotics’. Instead refer to ‘patients with schizophrenia’, etc.
Abbreviations: Key phrases or full names may be abbreviated if they are used repeatedly (e.g. CNS, OCD etc). When first used in the text, they should be spelt out in full followed by the abbreviation in brackets. After this, only abbreviated form should be used.
State the purpose of the article and summarize the rationale for the study or observation in Introduction. For case reports give reference of similar cases in past if available.

Describe the selection of the observational or experimental subjects clearly in Methods section. Identify the age, sex, and other important characteristics of the subjects. Identify the methods, research instruments (with references and basic details), apparatus (give the manufacturer’s name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to enable others to understand and replicate if needed. Give references to established methods, 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 be based on the CONSORT statement (http://www.consort-statement.org).

When reporting experiments on human subjects, procedures followed should be in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/17-c_e.html). Do not use patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material.

Present the results in logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables or illustrations; emphasize or summarize only important observations. Use standard guidelines for statistics (See Ann Intern Med 1988;108:266-73).
Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them along with implications of the findings and their limitations in the Discussion section.

[3] Images: Submit good quality color images. Each image should be less than 2 MB in size. Size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep up to 1600 x 1200 pixels or 5-6 inches). Images can be submitted as jpeg files. Do not zip the files. Legends for the figures/images should be included at the end of the article file.

[4] The contributors’ / copyright transfer form (template provided below): The Journal requires approval of manuscript submission by all authors in addition to transfer of copyright to the Department of Mental Health Education, NIMHANS so that the author(s) and the Association are protected from misuse of copyrighted material. A copyright transfer form will need to be completed, which must be signed by the Corresponding Author who would agree to take public responsibility on behalf of ALL THE AUTHORS upon acceptance of the paper.

Accepted manuscripts will not be scheduled for publication until a completed form has been received in the editorial office. It is the corresponding author’s responsibility to obtain the approval of individuals before acknowledging their assistance in the paper.

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 (October 2008). The uniform requirements and specific requirement of Journal of Mental Health Education is summarized below. Before submitting a manuscript, contributors are requested to check for the latest instructions available. Instructions are also available from the website of the journal.
Journal of Mental Health Education accepts manuscripts written in American English.

Copies of any permission(s)

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. The material should be sent to any of the two addresses given above.

Types of Manuscripts

Review Article:
Reviews are usually invited by the Editor. However, good quality reviews on pertinent topics can be submitted for publication. The maximum length of reviews is 5000 words (excluding abstract and references). Abstract has to be structured (Background/Objectives; Methods; Results; Conclusions) and should not exceed 250 words. A few (3 to 6) keywords should be provided.

Introduction: State the purpose and summarize the rationale for the study or observation.

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 2000 (available at http://www.wma.net/e/policy/17-c_e.html). 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 of anesthetics and analgesics used should be clearly stated. The ethical standards of experiments must be in accordance with the guidelines provided by the CPCSEA 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:
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 workers to reproduce the results. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods (see below); 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).

Reporting Guidelines for Specific Study Designs

Initiative	Type of Study	Source
CONSORT	Randomized controlled trials	http://www.consort-statement.org/
STARD	Studies of diagnostic accuracy	http://www.consort-statement.org/stardstatement.htm
QUOROM	Systematic reviews and meta-analyses	http://www.consort-statement.org/Initiatives/MOOSE/moose.pdf
STROBE	Observational studies in epidemiology	http://www.strobe-statement.org/
MOOSE	Meta-analyses of observational studies in epidemiology	http://www.consort- statement.org/Initiatives/MOOSE/moose.pdf

Statistics: 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. Use upper italics (P 0.048). For all P values include the exact value and not less than 0.05 or 0.001. 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.

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 detail can be placed in an appendix where it will be accessible but will not interrupt the flow of the text; alternatively, it can be published only in the electronic version of the journal.

When data are summarized in the Results section, give numeric results not only as derivatives (for example, percentages) but also as the absolute numbers from which the derivatives were calculated, and specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Restrict tables and figures to those 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. Where scientifically appropriate, analyses of the data by variables such as age and sex should be included.

Discussion: Include summary of key findings (primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, results as they relate to a prior hypothesis); Strengths and limitations of the study (study question, study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation); 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, effects on patient care and health policy, possible mechanisms); Controversies raised by this study; and Future research directions (for this particular research collaboration, underlying mechanisms, clinical research).
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 labeled as such. About 30 references can be included. These articles generally should not have more than six authors.

Research Article:
Original quantitative as well as qualitative research papers are published under this section. Maximum word limit for research articles is 3000 words (excluding abstract and references). Abstract has to be structured (Background/Objectives; Methods; Results; Conclusions) and should not exceed 250 words. A few (3 to 6) keywords should be provided

Brief Communication:
Under this section data from preliminary studies, studies done with smaller sample size, worthwhile replication studies, or negative studies of important topics are published. Single case reports do not meet the criteria for this section but can be submitted as Letter to Editor. Brief Communications should not exceed 1500 words (excluding abstract and references). Abstract has to be structured (Background/Objectives; Methods; Results; Conclusions) and should not exceed 250 words. No more than one table or one figure can be included.

Letter to the Editor:
Brief letters (maximum of 1000 words, including up to 5 references; no tables or figures) will be considered if they include the notation “For publication”. Case reports or any other uncontrolled observations should ordinarily be submitted as Letters to the Editor. Letters critical of an article published in the Journal are highly encouraged but must be received within three months of the article’s publication. Such letters must cite the original article. Letters that do not meet these specifications will be returned immediately.

Book Review and Media Review:
The IJSP also publishes critical reviews written on recently published books or films pertinent to social psychiatry. Usually such reviews are invited by the Editor. However, authors can submit their reviews for publication. The Editor takes the final decision as to which review is suitable for publication. In no circumstances should reviews exceed 1500 words. Abstract and references are not required but relevant references (maximum 5) may be cited.

Commentary, Debate, Perspective, Viewpoint:
These are usually (but not necessarily) invited articles, either commenting/debating on an article to be published in the same issue or fresh submissions on topics of broad relevance to social psychiatry. The views and perspectives are of the authors, not necessarily of the Journal. They are purported to raise awareness, generate meaningful dialogue, and create an atmosphere of healthy debate and controversies. There is no mandatory length of such articles but in general they should not exceed 4000 words (excluding references, which should be kept to a minimum). Commentaries may be briefer (up to 1500 words) and more focused. An abstract is not required for Commentaries but an unstructured abstract will be required for the “Debate / Perspective / Viewpoint” articles (maximum 250 words).

References
References should include a list of all articles, book chapters, books and various web resources at the end of the paper. Avoid using old unpublished abstracts, unpublished observations, and personal communication as references. Abstracts may be cited only if they have been published in a scientific journal (not souvenirs) in the preceding 5 years. Only those, and all those, references cited in the text should be included in the Reference Section.

Identifying references in the text of the article: References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in superscript within square brackets [ ], which must be placed immediately AFTER a punctuation mark (period, comma, semicolon, etc.) or after a particular word or author name. 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.

Citing references in the Reference Section: Follow the same numerical order of referencing as identified in the text. The reference citation styles are the same as in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts (the “Vancouver Style”, now formally called the “ICMJE Recommendations”). Detailed guidelines with sample references can be obtained from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html, but some common examples are mentioned below.

1. Standard journal article: Seshadri L, George SS, Vasudevan B, Krishna S. Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and human papilloma virus infection in renal transplant recipients. Indian J Cancer 2001;38:92-5.
   [In case of many authors, list the first six contributors followed by ‘et al.’]
   [Journal of Mental Health Education should be abbreviated as “J of Mental Health Edu”]
2. Personal author(s) for book: Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 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.

Web citations: Use of various web or Internet-based resources as citation material has been increasing progressively. There are no fixed rules for citation because the exact source, format, content and other details vary from one type of source to another. At times, authors have to be innovative in their citation style. However, some basic requirements are:
Identify how you are going to refer to the particular web resource. For example, while referring to the Mental Health Advocacy Section of the World Health Organization website, one may cite this as (World Health Organization, 2012) in the text, and mention it in the Reference Section. Next, the topic of citation may be mentioned, e.g., Mental health advocacy. This must be followed by the most important part: the actual and complete web link where one can access that page or material. This should be written as: Available at http://www.who.int/mental_health/advocacy/en/ followed by date when last accessed (in brackets). Thus, this example should be referenced as:
World Health Organization (2012) Mental health advocacy. Available at http://www.who.int/mental_health/advocacy/en/ (last accessed on April 30, 2012).
Please refer to http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html for other types of references such as electronic media, newspaper items, etc.

Tables
Tables should be included at the end of the Article File (each table starting on a fresh page), numbered with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3…) and accompanied by short titles at the top. Each table must be referred to in the text in consecutive order where they are mentioned (e.g., in the Results Section). Tables should be self-explanatory and should not merely duplicate text material. Tables with more than 10 columns and 25 rows are not acceptable. Limit the number to minimum required. Data presented should, in general, not be duplicated in the text or figures. Explanatory matter should be placed in footnotes below the tabular matter and not included in the title. All non-standard abbreviations should also be explained in the footnotes. Footnotes should be indicated by *, +, §. Obtain permission for all fully borrowed, adapted, and modified tables and provide a credit line in the footnote.

Illustrations (Figures/Images)
Figures should be numbered in Arabic and referred to in the text at appropriate places. Line drawings and graphs should be professionally drawn. All lettering should be done professionally and should be of adequate size to retain clarity after reduction. The figures should be of good quality (colour images are acceptable), but each image should be less than 400 kb in size. Size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep up to 800 pixels or 4 inches). All image formats (jpg, tiff, gif, bmp, png, eps, etc.) are acceptable, but jpg is the preferred format. Do not zip the files. 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.

Formatting instructions:

1. The submission should utilize a commonly used word processor such as MS Word.
2. The font should be TIMES NEW ROMAN, font size 12, color black (do not use other colours other than in exceptional circumstances).
3. The language is American (USA) English, and is to be used consistently throughout your article (other than references and direct quotations). For example please use the spellings “anemia”, “color”, “behavior”, and “organize” (all examples of American English), stick to these spellings throughout your article and do not use “anaemia”, “colour”, “behaviour” or “organise” (all U.K. English spellings).
4. Major (first-level) headings such as Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, etc. should be Bold. Second-level headings such as Sample, Statistics, and next-level headingsin Introduction or Discussion etc. should be in Bold italics. Further, third-level sub-headings, if used, (Inclusion and Exclusion criteria, Specific assessment instruments, etc.) should be in plain italics (not bold) followed by a fresh paragraph.
5. Do NOT indent the beginning of a fresh paragraph (in other words, do not use the “Tab”: just leave it on the left-hand margin).
6. Leave one space (not more!) in between two paragraphs and after major headings.

Protection of Patients’ Rights to Privacy

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 written informed consent for publication. Authors should remove patients’ names from figures unless they have obtained written informed consent from the patients. When informed consent has been obtained, it should be indicated in the article and copy of the consent should be attached with the covering letter.

Sending 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 “First Page” or “Covering Letter” file while submitting a revised version. When submitting a revised manuscript, contributors are requested to include, the ‘referees’ 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.

Reprints and proofs

Journal provides no free printed reprints. Authors can purchase reprints, payment for which should be done at the time of submitting the proofs.

Publication schedule
The journal publishes articles on its website immediately on the acceptance and follows a ‘continuous publication’ schedule. Articles are compiled for ‘print on demand’ semiannual issues.

Manuscript submission, processing and publication charges

The journal does not charge for submission and processing of the manuscripts.

Copyrights

The entire contents of the Journal of Mental Health Education are protected under Indian and international copyrights. The Journal, however, grants to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, perform and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works in any digital medium for any reasonable non-commercial purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship and ownership of the rights. The journal also grants the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Checklist

Covering letter

• Signed by all contributors
• Previous publication / presentations mentioned
• Source of funding mentioned
• Conflicts of interest disclosed

Authors

• Last name and given name provided along with Middle name initials (where applicable)
• Author for correspondence, with e-mail address provided
• Number of contributors restricted as per the instructions
• 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

• Double spacing
• 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 50 characters)
• Abstract page contains the full title of the manuscript
• Abstract provided (structured abstract of 250 words for original articles, unstructured abstracts of about 150 words for all other manuscripts excluding letters to the Editor)
• Key words provided (three or more)
• Introduction of 75-100 words
• Headings in title case (not ALL CAPITALS)
• The references cited in the text should be after punctuation marks, in superscript with square bracket.
• References according to the journal’s instructions, punctuation marks checked
• Send the article file without ‘Track Changes’

Language and grammar

• Uniformly American 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 1 to 10 spelt out
• Numerals at the beginning of the sentence spelt out
• Check the manuscript for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors
• 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 (colour)
• Table and figure numbers in Arabic letters (not Roman)
• Labels pasted on back of the photographs (no names written)
• Figure legends provided (not more than 40 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

Contributors’ form

(to be modified as applicable and one signed copy attached with the manuscript)
Manuscript Title:
______________________________________________________________________________
I/we certify that I/we have participated sufficiently in contributing to the intellectual content, concept and design of this work or the analysis and interpretation of the data (when applicable), as well as the writing of the manuscript, to take public responsibility for it and have agreed to have my/our name listed as a contributor.

I/we believe that the manuscript represents valid work. Neither this manuscript nor one with substantially similar content under my/our authorship has been published or is being considered for publication elsewhere, except as described in the covering letter. I/we certify that all the data collected during the study is presented in this manuscript and no data from the study has been or will be published separately. I/we attest that, if requested by the editors, I/we will provide the data/information or will cooperate fully in obtaining and providing the data/information on which the manuscript is based, for examination by the editors or their assignees. Financial interests, direct or indirect, that exist or may be perceived to exist for individual contributors in connection with the content of this paper have been disclosed in the cover letter. Sources of outside support of the project are named in the covering letter.

I/We hereby transfer(s), assign(s), or otherwise convey(s) all copyright ownership, including any and all rights incidental thereto, exclusively to the Journal of Mental Health Education, in the event that such work is published by the Journal of Mental Health Education. The Journal of Mental Health Education shall own the work, including

1. copyright;
2. the right to grant permission to republish the article in whole or in part, with or without fee;
3. the right to produce preprints or reprints and translate intouages other than English for sale or free distribution; and
4. the right to republish the work in a collection of articles in any other mechanical or electronic format.

We give the rights to the corresponding author to make necessary changes as per the request of the journal, do the rest of the correspondence on our behalf and he/she will act as the guarantor for the manuscript on our behalf.
All persons who have made substantial contributions to the work reported in the manuscript, but who are not contributors, are named in the Acknowledgment and have given me/us their written permission to be named. If I/we do not include an Acknowledgment that means I/we have not received substantial contributions from non-contributors and no contributor has been omitted.