Indian Journal of Comparative Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases

Aim and Scope

The “Indian Journal of Comparative Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases”, an official journal of the Indian Association of Veterinary Microbiologists, Immunologists and Specialists in Infectious Diseases is biannually published without any break since 1979. Journal publishes the articles of original work pertaining to all aspects of infectious diseases of veterinary importance including comparative and applied microbiology, immunology, biotechnology, epidemiology and public health. It also covers the pathogens/parasites causing Infectious diseases of wild animals and fish. The overall aim of the journal is to cover the research on infectious diseases of veterinary importance to promote the professional development of its readers, researchers and scientists.

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The ‘Indian Journal of Comparative Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases’ (IJCMIID), published by the Indian Association of Veterinary Microbiologists Immunologists and Specialists in Infectious Diseases (ISSN 0970-9320 for print and E-ISSN 0974-0147 for online)

The publication ethics and malpractice statement is based on the guidelines for journal editors developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Manuscripts submitted to the journal are evaluated on the basis of their scientific content. Measures are adopted to uphold the standards of publication ethics and to avoid malpractices. We endure so that the papers submitted to this Journal and their work is original and unpublished and are not submitted for publication elsewhere. In addition, authors certify that their research paper is their own original work, neither copied nor plagiarized, partly or entirely from other works and if done so, then the work of others is appropriately cited or quoted.

Duties / Responsibilities of Editors

The Editorial Team comprising the Editorial Board and the Editorial Staff with the Publisher is responsible for taking a decision as to which of the articles submitted to the journal are to be published. The Editors have complete discretion to reject/accept an article. The Editorial Team may confer/deliberate with other reviewers/editors in arriving at its decisions. The evaluation of manuscripts is made on the basis of their scholarly and intellectual content without having regard to the nature of the authors or the institution including gender, race, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors. The journal follows a policy of fair play in its editorial evaluation. The editors are expected to exercise caution and ensure that they have no conflict of interest with respect to the articles they accept/reject. The editors and the editorial staff follow strict confidentiality and are required not to disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to any one, other than the corresponding author, reviewers and the publisher. Authors are encouraged to correct the errors, which are found during the process of review while preserving the anonymity of the reviewers.

Duties / Responsibilities of Reviewers

Editorial decisions are based on peer review. The reviewers are expected to maintain absolute confidentiality with regard to the contents of manuscripts. The reviews are to be conducted objectively and the referees are expected to express their views clearly with supporting reasons. The reviewers should have no conflict of interest with the authors and the subject matter of the research. The reviewers are required to identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any observation or argument, which has been previously reported should also be accompanied along with the relevant citation. Similarities or overlaps between the manuscript under review and any other published paper of which the reviewer may have personal knowledge, may also be brought to the attention of the editors. The information or ideas obtained through peer review are of a privileged nature and must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative or other relationships with any of the authors or institutions connected to the papers.

Duties/Responsibilities of the Authors

Authors must present accurate original research work followed by objective discussion bringing out significance. The paper should bring out details of the available literature and references. Further all the authors must have significantly contributed to the research. Inaccurate statement constitutes unethical behavior and is unacceptable. Authors must ensure that the submitted work is original and has not been published elsewhere, and if the authors have used the work of others the same has been appropriately cited or quoted. Authors must follow applicable copyright laws and conventions. Permission must be sought for copyright materials and reproduced only with permission and acknowledgement of source. Authors must ensure that submitted articles are not sent out to other journal. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical practice and is not acceptable. Proper acknowledgement of the work of others must always be made. Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the paper submitted for publication. Other persons who have contributed in certain substantive aspects in the development of the paper should be acknowledged. The corresponding author must endure that all co-authors are included in the paper, and that the latter have seen and approved the final version of the paper before submission for publication. All sources of financial support should also be stated. Upon discovery of any significant error in the published work, it is the responsibility of the authors to promptly notify the editors and cooperate in the retraction or correction of the paper.

Peer Review Policy

The practice of peer review is to ensure that only good science is published. It is an objective process at the heart of good scholarly publishing and is carried out by all reputable scientific journals. Our reviewers, therefore, play a vital role in maintaining the high standards of the review process and all manuscripts are peer reviewed following the procedure outlined below.

Initial Manuscript Evaluation

The Editors first evaluate all manuscripts. In some circumstances it is entirely feasible for an exceptional manuscript to be accepted at this stage. Those rejected at this stage are insufficiently original, have serious scientific flaws, have poor grammar or English language, or are outside the aims and scope of the journal. Those that meet the minimum criteria are passed on to experts for review.

Authors of manuscripts rejected at this stage are informed within 2 weeks of receipt.

Type of Peer Review

The single blind review, where the reviewer remains anonymous to the authors throughout the process.

How The Reviewer is Selected

Reviewers are matched to the paper according to their expertise. Our reviewer database contains reviewer contact details together with their subject areas of interest, and this is constantly being updated.

Reviewer Reports

Reviewers are requested to evaluate whether the manuscript:

Is Original

Is methodologically sound Follows appropriate ethical guidelines Has results, which are clearly presented and support the conclusions Correctly references previous relevant work Reviewers are not expected to correct or copy edit manuscripts. Language correction is not part of the peer review process. Reviewers are requested to refrain from giving their personal opinion in the “Reviewer blind comments to Author” section of their review on whether or not the paper should be published. Personal opinions can be expressed in the “Reviewer confidential comments to Editor” section.

How Long Does the Peer Review Process Take?

Typically the manuscript will be reviewed within 2-8 weeks. Should the reviewers’ reports contradict one another or a report is unnecessarily delayed a further expert opinion will be sought. Revised manuscripts are usually returned to the Editors within 3 weeks and the Editors may request further advice from the reviewers at this time. The Editors may request more than one revision of a manuscript.

Final Report

A final decision to accept or reject the manuscript is sent to the author along with any recommendation(s) made by the reviewers, and may include verbatim comments by the reviewers.

Editor's Decision is Final

Reviewers advise the Editors, who are responsible for the final decision to accept or reject the article.

Special Issues / Conference Proceedings

Special issues and/or conference proceedings may have different peer review procedures involving, for example, Guest Editors, conference organizers or scientific committees. Authors contributing to these projects may receive full details of the peer review process on request from the editorial office.

Becoming A Reviewer For The Journal

A renowned expert in the relevant area of scope of journal is requested to act as reviewer for the manuscripts submitted for publication and after receiving the acceptance, his/her name and area of expertise is added to the database. Additionally, an expert in the area of subject under scope of the journal, if interested to work as a reviewer, is requested to send details of his/her expertise to the editorial office for scrutiny of the Editorial board. Experts found suitable are communicated with the decision and his/her details are added to the online reviewer database.