1. General Information

The Utkarsh Journal of Health Sciences and Environment (UJHSE) welcomes submissions of original research, reviews, systematic reviews, case reports, short communications, and letters to the editor in the fields of medical sciences, public health, and environmental health.

UJHSE follows the Recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals.

All manuscripts must be submitted through the online submission portal at ujhse.utkarshresearchnetwork.in. For inquiries, contact the editorial office at editor@ujhse.utkarshresearchnetwork.in.

2. Manuscript Preparation

2.1 General Formatting

• Manuscripts must be submitted in Microsoft Word (.docx) or LaTeX format.
• Use Times New Roman, 12-point font throughout.
• Text must be double-spaced with 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins on all sides.
• Pages must be numbered consecutively.
• Include continuous line numbering throughout the manuscript.
• The manuscript must be written in English (American or British spelling accepted, but must be consistent throughout).

2.2 Title Page (Separate File)

The title page must be uploaded as a separate file and should include:

• Full title of the manuscript (maximum 150 characters including spaces)
• Running title / short title (maximum 50 characters including spaces)
• Full names of all authors with their institutional affiliations (department, institution, city, country)
• ORCID iDs for all authors
• Corresponding author details: name, full postal address, telephone number, and email address
• Word counts: abstract word count and main text word count (excluding abstract, references, tables, and figure legends)
• Number of tables and figures
• Funding sources and grant numbers
• Conflict of interest declarations for all authors
• Data availability statement

2.3 Abstract and Keywords

Structured abstracts are required for original research articles, systematic reviews, and clinical trials. The abstract must be organized under the following headings: Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusion.

Unstructured abstracts (single paragraph) are acceptable for narrative review articles and case reports.

Word limits:

• Original research articles: 250 words
• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses: 300 words
• Case reports: 150 words

Provide 3 to 6 keywords selected from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) vocabulary of the National Library of Medicine. List keywords below the abstract, separated by semicolons.

2.4 Main Text Structure

The structure of the main text depends on the article type:

Original Research: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. The Introduction should provide context and state the study objective. The Methods section must describe the study design, setting, participants, interventions, measurements, and statistical analysis. Results should be presented clearly with tables and figures as appropriate. The Discussion should interpret findings in the context of existing literature, acknowledge limitations, and suggest future directions.

Review Articles: Introduction, relevant thematic sections, Discussion/Synthesis, Conclusion, and Future Directions.

Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: Must follow the PRISMA 2020 statement. Include a completed PRISMA checklist and flow diagram. Registration with PROSPERO is strongly encouraged and should be stated in the Methods section with the registration number.

Case Reports: Must follow the CARE (CAse REport) guidelines. Structure: Introduction, Case Presentation (demographics, history, examination, investigations, treatment, outcome, follow-up), Discussion, and Conclusion. Include a completed CARE checklist and a patient timeline where appropriate.

2.5 Reporting Guidelines (EQUATOR — Mandatory)

Authors must (a) prepare the manuscript using the relevant EQUATOR-endorsed reporting guideline, (b) cite the guideline in the Methods section, and (c) upload the completed checklist as a supplementary file at submission. Below is the mandatory matrix of study type → reporting guideline:

Study type	Guideline	Official link
Randomised controlled trials	CONSORT 2010	consort-statement.org
Cluster / pragmatic / non-inferiority trials	CONSORT extensions	CONSORT extensions
Observational studies (cohort, case-control, cross-sectional)	STROBE	strobe-statement.org
Molecular epidemiology	STROBE-ME	STROBE-ME
Systematic reviews & meta-analyses	PRISMA 2020	prisma-statement.org
Systematic review protocols	PRISMA-P	PRISMA-P
Scoping reviews	PRISMA-ScR	PRISMA-ScR
Meta-analyses of observational studies	MOOSE	MOOSE
Case reports	CARE	care-statement.org
Qualitative research (interviews, focus groups)	COREQ	COREQ
Qualitative — synthesis of qualitative research	ENTREQ	ENTREQ
Mixed-methods research	GRAMMS	GRAMMS
Diagnostic / prognostic accuracy studies	STARD 2015	STARD
Prediction model studies	TRIPOD	TRIPOD
Quality improvement studies	SQUIRE 2.0	squire-statement.org
Clinical trial protocols	SPIRIT 2013	spirit-statement.org
Animal research (in vivo)	ARRIVE 2.0	ARRIVE
Health economic evaluations	CHEERS 2022	CHEERS
Clinical practice guidelines	AGREE II / RIGHT	AGREE II · RIGHT
Survey research	CHERRIES (e-surveys) / SURGE	CHERRIES
Quasi-experimental studies	TREND	TREND

Don't see your study type? Run the EQUATOR Network's reporting-guideline finder: https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/ — it lets you filter by study design and discipline. If no specific guideline exists, follow the closest analogue and explain your choice in the cover letter.

What to upload at submission: the completed checklist (with page numbers indicating where each item is reported), filled-in flow diagrams where applicable (e.g., PRISMA flow, CONSORT flow), and any associated registration numbers (CTRI, ClinicalTrials.gov, PROSPERO).

2.6 References

References must follow the Vancouver style (Citing Medicine, NLM). Number references consecutively in the order in which they first appear in the text. Use superscript Arabic numerals for in-text citations. Include DOIs for all references where available.

Examples:

Journal article:
Sharma R, Patel K, Singh A, Kumar V. Prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in community-acquired urinary tract infections in North India. UJHSE. 2026;1(1):1-12. doi:10.xxxxx/ujhse.2026.v1i1.001

Book chapter:
Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The Genetic Basis of Human Cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.

Website:
World Health Organization. Air quality guidelines: global update 2021 [Internet]. Geneva: WHO; 2021 [cited 2026 Mar 15]. Available from: https://www.who.int/publications

2.7 Tables and Figures

• Tables and figures must be numbered consecutively (Table 1, Table 2; Figure 1, Figure 2) in the order they are cited in the text.
• Tables should be placed on separate pages at the end of the manuscript, each with a concise descriptive title above and explanatory footnotes below.
• Figures must be submitted as separate files at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.
• Accepted formats: TIFF, JPEG, PNG, EPS, or SVG.
• Figure legends should be listed on a separate page after the tables.
• A maximum of 8 tables and figures combined is permitted for original research articles.

2.8 Supplementary Material

Authors may submit supplementary material (additional data, figures, tables, multimedia files, questionnaires, datasets) that supports the manuscript but is not essential for inclusion in the main text. Supplementary files will be published online alongside the article. Each supplementary file must be cited in the main text and include a brief descriptive title.

2.9 Units and Abbreviations

• Use Système International (SI) units throughout the manuscript.
• Abbreviations must be defined at first use in the abstract and again at first use in the main text. Do not use abbreviations in the title.
• Standard abbreviations (e.g., DNA, HIV, WHO) need not be defined.

3. Authorship Criteria

UJHSE follows the ICMJE authorship criteria. All individuals listed as authors must meet all four of the following conditions:

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
3. Final approval of the version to be published.
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.

Contributors who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section. Changes in authorship after submission require written consent from all listed authors and a letter explaining the change.

4. Conflict of Interest

All authors must disclose any financial and non-financial conflicts of interest that could be perceived as influencing the research. Authors are required to complete the ICMJE Conflict of Interest Form at the time of submission.

Conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to: employment, consultancy, grants, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications, stock ownership, and personal relationships. All funding sources must be disclosed, including the role of the funder in the study design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish, and manuscript preparation.

5. Ethical Requirements

Human Subjects Research

Studies involving human participants must have been approved by the appropriate Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) or Institutional Review Board (IRB). The approval number, name of the ethics committee, and date of approval must be stated in the Methods section. All research must conform to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (latest revision). Written informed consent must be obtained from all participants or their legal guardians.

Animal Research

Studies involving animals must comply with the ARRIVE 2.0 guidelines and all applicable national and institutional guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals. The name and reference number of the approving ethics committee must be stated in the Methods section.

Clinical Trials

Registration of clinical trials is mandatory. All clinical trials must be registered in a public trials registry (such as CTRI, ClinicalTrials.gov, ISRCTN, or any WHO-endorsed registry) before enrollment of the first participant. The trial registration number and registry name must be provided at the end of the abstract and in the Methods section.

Patient Privacy

Authors must ensure that no identifying information (names, initials, hospital numbers, photographs, or other details) is included unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent/guardian) has provided written informed consent for publication. Consent for publication must be clearly stated in the manuscript.

6. Plagiarism and Originality

All manuscripts submitted to UJHSE are screened for plagiarism using iThenticate plagiarism detection software. The overall similarity index must be below 15% (excluding references and quotations), with no single source exceeding 3%.

Manuscripts must represent original work that has not been previously published and is not under consideration by any other journal. By submitting to UJHSE, all authors confirm that the work is original and that appropriate credit has been given to the contributions of others through proper citation.

Any suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, or data fabrication/falsification will be handled in accordance with COPE guidelines and may result in rejection, retraction, and notification of the authors' institutions.

7. Submission Process

All manuscripts must be submitted online through the online submission portal portal at ujhse.utkarshresearchnetwork.in.

The submission process involves 5 steps:

1. Start: Select the article type and confirm submission requirements and checklist.
2. Upload Submission: Upload the blinded manuscript file.
3. Enter Metadata: Enter author details, title, abstract, and keywords.
4. Upload Supplementary Files: Upload all additional files.
5. Confirmation: Review and confirm your submission.

Required Files

• Cover letter
• Title page (separate file, with all author information)
• Blinded manuscript (no author-identifying information)
• Tables (at the end of the manuscript or as separate files)
• Figures (as separate high-resolution files)
• Supplementary material (if applicable)
• Completed reporting guideline checklist (CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA, CARE, etc.)
• ICMJE Conflict of Interest forms for all authors
• Ethics approval letter / certificate
• Informed consent forms (confirmation of consent, not the actual patient forms)

Cover Letter Requirements

The cover letter should be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief and must include:

• The title of the manuscript and the article type
• A brief statement of the key findings and their significance
• A declaration that the work is original and not under consideration elsewhere
• Confirmation that all authors have approved the submission
• Any relevant disclosures (conflicts of interest, prior presentations, related manuscripts)
• Suggested reviewers (optional but encouraged; 2 to 4 names with email addresses and affiliations)

Double-Blind Blinding

UJHSE operates a double-blind peer review process. The blinded manuscript must not contain any information that could identify the authors, including author names, institutional affiliations, acknowledgements referencing specific institutions, or self-citations that reveal identity. All author-identifying information should be confined to the separate title page file.

8. Peer Review Process

UJHSE employs a rigorous double-blind peer review process to ensure the quality and integrity of published research.

1. Initial Screening: The editorial office screens all submissions for completeness, scope, formatting, and plagiarism. Manuscripts that do not meet the basic requirements are returned to authors before peer review.
2. Peer Review: Manuscripts passing initial screening are assigned to a handling editor, who invites a minimum of 2 independent reviewers with relevant expertise.
3. Double-Blind Review: Neither the authors nor the reviewers know each other's identities during the review process.

Decision Types

• Accept: The manuscript is accepted for publication without further changes.
• Minor Revisions: Small changes required; the revised manuscript may not be sent back to reviewers.
• Major Revisions: Substantial changes required; the revised manuscript will be re-reviewed.
• Reject and Resubmit: The manuscript has merit but requires fundamental changes. Authors may resubmit as a new submission.
• Reject: The manuscript is not suitable for publication in UJHSE.

Timelines

UJHSE targets a first decision within 4 to 6 weeks of submission. Authors are expected to submit revisions within 30 days for minor revisions and 60 days for major revisions. Extensions may be granted upon request.

A point-by-point response to all reviewer comments is required with each revised manuscript. The response document should list each reviewer comment, followed by the author's response and a description of changes made, with page and line numbers referenced.

9. Post-Acceptance

Upon acceptance, the manuscript enters the production process:

• Copyediting: The manuscript is professionally copyedited for grammar, style, and consistency. Authors may be contacted for clarifications.
• Proofs: Authors will receive proofs (PDF) for review. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours. Only corrections of typographical errors are permitted at this stage; no substantive changes to the text or data are allowed.
• DOI Assignment: Each published article is assigned a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI) via Crossref for permanent identification and citation.

10. Copyright and Licensing

Upon acceptance, authors transfer copyright to the journal/publisher (Utkarsh Research Network). All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.

Under this license, others may share (copy and redistribute) the published article in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes, provided appropriate credit is given, a link to the license is provided, and no derivatives or adaptations are made.

Authors retain the right to:

• Use the article for personal, educational, and research purposes
• Share the published version on their personal website, institutional repository, or preprint server
• Include the article in a thesis or dissertation
• Present the work at conferences

11. Article Processing Charge (APC)

UJHSE is a diamond/platinum open access journal. An article processing charge is levied upon acceptance to cover the costs of peer review management, copyediting, typesetting, DOI registration, hosting, archiving, and digital preservation.

• International authors: USD 300 + applicable taxes
• Indian authors: INR 10,000 + 18% GST

There are no submission fees and no charges for peer review. The APC is payable only after the manuscript has been accepted for publication.

Fee Waiver Policy

UJHSE offers full or partial APC waivers to authors from low-income and lower-middle-income countries (as defined by the World Bank), early-career researchers without funding, and in cases of genuine financial hardship. Waiver requests must be made at the time of submission and are evaluated independently of the editorial decision. Ability to pay the APC has no influence on editorial decisions.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made solely on the basis of scientific merit, originality, and relevance to the journal's scope. APC payment status is never disclosed to editors or reviewers, and financial considerations play no role in the accept/reject decision.

12. Data Sharing & Open Data Policy

12.1 UJHSE Policy Stance

UJHSE strongly supports the principles of open science. We follow the FAIR principles (data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) and align our policy with the TOP Guidelines (Transparency and Openness Promotion) and the ICMJE Recommendations on data sharing.

UJHSE applies a graded data-sharing policy, with the level of obligation depending on study type:

• Mandatory for clinical trials (in line with ICMJE) — authors must include a plan to share de-identified individual participant data (IPD) at the time of submission.
• Strongly encouraged for all other empirical research (observational studies, surveys, qualitative data, modelling, environmental measurements).
• Required at minimum — every UJHSE manuscript must include a Data Availability Statement (DAS), even if data are not openly shared (in which case the DAS must explain why).

12.2 The Data Availability Statement (DAS)

The DAS is a brief paragraph placed after the Acknowledgements and before the References. Choose the option that best describes your data and adapt the wording.

Situation	Sample DAS wording
Data openly available in a public repository	"All data underlying the findings of this study are openly available in [Repository name] at [DOI / URL], reference number [ID]."
Data available on reasonable request	"The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [name], upon reasonable request."
Sensitive / restricted data	"The data underlying this study contain sensitive personal health information and cannot be shared publicly. De-identified data may be shared with researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data, on application to [committee / DAC] at [contact]."
Data in supplementary files	"All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files."
No new data created	"Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study."
Third-party data	"The data analysed in this study were obtained from [source] under licence and are available from [source URL] subject to their data-access policies."

12.3 Recommended Trusted Repositories

UJHSE recommends depositing data in a trustworthy, FAIR-aligned repository that issues persistent identifiers (DOI / Accession). Wherever possible, prefer a discipline-specific repository over a generalist one.

Generalist repositories (any discipline):

• Zenodo — CERN-hosted, DOI minting, recommended by EU Open Research
• Figshare — datasets, figures, posters, code
• Dryad — curated data publishing for the sciences
• Open Science Framework (OSF) — projects, preregistration, data, code
• Harvard Dataverse — academic data archive
• Mendeley Data — Elsevier-backed generalist repository

Health & biomedical:

• Vivli — clinical trial data sharing platform
• ClinicalStudyDataRequest.com — pharma sponsored trials
• NIH dbGaP — genotype & phenotype
• BioStudies (EMBL-EBI) — biological studies and ancillary data
• ENA / GenBank — nucleotide sequences
• GEO — gene expression / functional genomics
• ProteomeXchange — proteomics
• Metabolomics Workbench — metabolomics
• PhysioNet — physiologic and clinical signals

Environmental, climate & One Health:

• GBIF — global biodiversity
• PANGAEA — earth and environmental science
• BCO-DMO — biological & chemical oceanography
• NASA GES DISC — atmospheric & climate data

India-based repositories (encouraged for Indian-funded research):

• India Biodiversity Portal
• DBT data resources — Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India
• CTRI — Clinical Trials Registry-India (mandatory for Indian trials)

For a comprehensive list of subject-specific repositories, search re3data.org (the global Registry of Research Data Repositories) or FAIRsharing.org.

12.4 Sensitive & Protected Data

Where data cannot be openly shared because of patient confidentiality, indigenous data sovereignty, national security, or commercial sensitivity, authors must:

• Document the reason in the DAS
• De-identify the dataset to the extent possible (HIPAA Safe Harbor / GDPR Article 4 anonymisation)
• Where feasible, deposit the dataset in a controlled-access repository (e.g., dbGaP, EGA) with a Data Access Committee (DAC)
• Confirm that the original informed consent permits the planned sharing

12.5 Clinical Trial IPD Sharing (ICMJE)

For clinical trials registered after 1 January 2019, ICMJE requires authors to include a data sharing statement covering:

1. Whether de-identified IPD will be shared
2. What additional documents will be available (study protocol, statistical analysis plan, informed consent form)
3. When data will become available (start and end dates)
4. By what access criteria, and the mechanism (e.g., the trial registry, Vivli, supplementary file)

This statement must also be entered into the trial's registry record (CTRI / ClinicalTrials.gov / WHO ICTRP).

12.6 Code & Software Sharing

Where analysis depends on custom code, authors are required to share the code on a versioned platform such as GitHub or GitLab, ideally with an archived release on Zenodo (which mints a DOI). The code repository link, version, and license (MIT, BSD, Apache 2.0, GPL, or similar) should be cited in the Methods section.

12.7 Data Citation

Datasets used in your study (whether yours or others') should be cited in the reference list using the format recommended by the FORCE11 Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles:

Author(s). (Year). Title of dataset (Version) [Data set]. Repository. https://doi.org/...

12.8 Materials & Reagents

Authors should make unique materials (e.g., cell lines, plasmids, antibodies, environmental samples) available to qualified researchers on reasonable request, in line with the policies of repositories such as Addgene (plasmids) or ATCC (cell lines).

12.9 Reviewer Access & Embargoes

If the underlying data are deposited in a repository with a pre-publication embargo, authors must provide reviewers with private access (e.g., a Zenodo "share" link or OSF view-only link) so that the data can be inspected during peer review. Public release must occur no later than the article's online publication date.

13. Preprints

UJHSE welcomes the submission of manuscripts that have been previously posted as preprints on recognized preprint servers (e.g., medRxiv, bioRxiv, Preprints.org, SSRN). Posting a preprint does not constitute prior publication and will not affect consideration by UJHSE.

Authors must disclose the preprint posting at the time of submission, including the preprint server name, DOI, and date of posting. Upon publication in UJHSE, authors are encouraged to update the preprint record with a link to the final published article and its DOI.

14. ORCID Identifier

UJHSE strongly encourages all submitting and co-authors to provide their ORCID iD (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) at the time of manuscript submission. ORCID iDs are:

• Required for the corresponding author
• Strongly recommended for all co-authors

ORCID is a free, persistent digital identifier that distinguishes individual researchers and ensures reliable attribution of published work. ORCID iDs are included in article metadata, linked through Crossref, and displayed on published articles.

Authors can register for a free ORCID iD at https://orcid.org. Registration takes less than one minute.

15. Accessibility & Language Editing

UJHSE is published entirely in English. Manuscripts must be written in clear, grammatically correct English (American or British spelling used consistently throughout).

Authors whose first language is not English are strongly encouraged to have their manuscripts professionally edited for language and grammar before submission. Poor language quality may be a basis for desk rejection.

UJHSE is committed to making published content accessible to all readers, including those with disabilities. Published articles use semantic HTML, descriptive alt-text for images, and are compatible with screen readers.

16. Complaints & Appeals

Appeals

Authors who wish to appeal an editorial decision may do so by writing to the Editor-in-Chief at editor@ujhse.utkarshresearchnetwork.in with the subject line "Appeal — [Manuscript ID]". The appeal must include:

• A detailed, point-by-point response to the reasons given for rejection
• Any new data or arguments that address the reviewers' concerns

Appeals will be reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief and may involve consultation with additional reviewers. The decision on an appeal is final.

Complaints

Complaints regarding the editorial process, ethical concerns, or published content should be directed to editor@ujhse.utkarshresearchnetwork.in. All complaints will be acknowledged within 3 working days and investigated in accordance with COPE guidelines.

17. Contact Information

For queries regarding submissions, author guidelines, or any aspect of the publication process:

Editorial Office
Utkarsh Journal of Health Sciences and Environment (UJHSE)
Utkarsh Research Network
India

Email: editor@ujhse.utkarshresearchnetwork.in
Website: ujhse.utkarshresearchnetwork.in