Author Guidelines
Submission Checklist
Language and Format
Types of Article
Structure of Article
Declarations
References
Tables
Figures
Supplementary materials
Authorship
Publication Fee
Peer Review & Publication

Submission checklist

To ensure a smooth submission process, authors are required to confirm compliance with all of the following criteria:

1. The manuscript has not been previously published, nor is it currently under consideration by another journal. If applicable, any necessary explanations have been provided in the Comments to the Editor.
2. The submission file is in Microsoft Word format. Please submit separate files for the Cover Letter, Title Page (including author affiliations), Manuscript (without author affiliations or any identifiers of the authors), Figures, Tables, and Supplementary Files (if any).
3. The manuscript should be written in American English. In-text citations must adhere to the Vancouver style, using square brackets. DOI URLs for the references should be provided where available.

Language and Format

The default language style at Evidence Journals is American English. The author should ensure the contents are written free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to the dominant culture, and/or cultural assumptions. Gender-neutral language should be used.

The Evidence permits "format-free submission" for the authors during their first submission. The authors need to adhere to the minimum requirements for the review process, i.e., the submission should have a Title, Abstract, Keywords, Authors list and their affiliation, Contact for correspondence, Main text ( as per IMRaD format), Declarations, Tables, Figures, References and Supplementary files, if applicable. If accepted for publication, the author must submit the formatted version of the manuscript files as per the journal guidelines.

Types of Article

The journal accepts manuscripts under the following types only:

1. Research Articles: Primary research, secondary data analysis (population-level data sets). The structured abstract should be less than or equal to 250 words, and the main text can be up to 4000 words. Maximum of six tables/figures and no limit on the references.

2. Reviews: Meta-analysis, Systematic reviews, Umbrella Reviews, Scoping reviews, Rapid Reviews, Bibliometric Analysis. The structured abstract should be less than or equal to 250 words, and the main text can be up to 5000 words. Maximum of eight tables/figures and no limit on the references.

3. Theory and Methods: Manuscripts on the methodological and statistical concepts to execute and improve the evidence synthesis. Statistical programs and their applications in evidence synthesis can also be submitted under this section. The unstructured abstract should be less than or equal to 250 words, and the main text can be up to 5000 words. Maximum of eight tables/figures and no limit on the references.

4. Perspectives: Narrative reviews and Expert commentary on methodological aspects and issues in the evidence synthesis. The unstructured abstract should be less than or equal to 200 words, and the main text can be up to 3000 words. Maximum of four tables/figures and a maximum of 25 references.

Note: Additional tables/figures/materials can be given as supplementary files.

Structure of Article
Title Page: The title page should contain the following details:
• Full title of the article in a maximum of 25 words: The title of your manuscript should be concise, specific, and relevant. It should identify if the study reports (human or animal) trial data or is a systematic review, meta-analysis or replication study. Please do not include abbreviated or short forms of the title, such as a running title or head.
• Short title (maximum six words)
• Type of the article
• Name of the authors (First name, middle name (if any), last name).
• Indicate all affiliations (maximum of three per author) with lowercase superscript Arabic numerals immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author. The Evidence encourage all authors to provide their ORCID after the email IDs.
• Corresponding author must be mentioned with a full postal address and email ID.

Main Text File
The text should be written in the following in MS Word format:
 Font size 12
 Times New Roman
 1.5 spacing between the lines
 1-inch margins on all sides
 Page numbers should be inserted at the bottom centre
 Line number (continuous) must be added on the left side of the page
The authors are requested to refer to the most recently published article type of their submission from the journal to understand the format of the manuscript.

Manuscript

Abstract
Structured abstracts (Background, Objectives, Methods, Results & Conclusion) for the Research Articles and Reviews. Unstructured abstracts for the Theory and Methods and Perspectives are recommended. Authors are encouraged not to use abbreviations in the abstract. All abbreviations must be expanded when used first time in the abstract. The authors are encouraged to provide a graphical abstract as well.
Protocol/Trial Registration number and the agency (Mandatory for all systematic reviews, meta-analyses and trials)

Keywords
Every manuscript should provide 4-6 keywords following the abstract. Authors are encouraged to use the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms for the keywords. Keywords must be provided in alphabetical order, separated by a comma.

Evidence in context (Highlights)

Key points of the manuscript should be given under the heading 'Evidence in Context', with the following sub-headings: 'Prior Evidence' and 'Evidence Added by this Study', as a box. The total word count can be up to 100 words. 'Prior Evidence' should cover what was already known in the topic and why the present study is required. 'Evidence Added by this Study' should mention the new findings/interpretations added to the pool of evidence by the current study.

Main Text
The manuscript's main text should contain five major headings: Introduction, Materials & Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion. Theory and Methods type of articles may merge the Methods, results and discussion headings. Perspectives are free-format main text. Main headings shall be in bold, and sub-headings shall be in bold italics. All abbreviations must be expanded when used for the first time.

Introduction: The introduction should give an adequate but brief background of the problem, existing work in the area and the rationality for the current study/work. The study's objective must be clearly stated in the last part of the introduction.

Materials & Methods: The authors should provide the methods and tools used in the study in a descriptive and reproducible manner. Every aspect of the methodology sections must be provided under suitable sub-headings. Appropriate referencing of the existing methods taken from other research must be done. All statistical procedures must be adequately justified and explained, along with the Software used for the analysis. Provide an ethical approval statement without mentioning the specific IEC name.

Results: The results of the study must be clear and specific. The results text should not just repeat the table content but explain and complement the data in the tables and figures.

Discussion: This section should interpret and discuss the study's results with the findings from previous and similar studies. It should impress upon the novel findings and potential implications in the context of the research. The strengths and limitations of the study must be in the last paragraph of the discussion.

Conclusion: Key findings of the study, along with the recommendations from the research, must be mentioned in a single paragraph.

Declarations
• Acknowledgments: In this section, you can acknowledge any support given not covered by the author contribution or funding sections. This may include administrative and technical support or donations in kind (e.g., materials used for experiments).

• Author contributions statement: All authors have contributed adequately to qualify as authors according to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria.

• Funding: All sources of funding for the study should be disclosed. Indicate grants you have received to support your research work and if you received funds to cover publication costs. If the work was non-funded, please mention 'None'.

• Conflicts of Interest: Authors must identify and declare any personal circumstances or interests that may be perceived as influencing the representation or interpretation of reported research results. If there is no conflict of interest, please state, "The authors declare no conflict of interest." Any role of the funding sponsors in the choice of the research project; design of the study; collection, analysis or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results must be declared in this section. Any projects funded by industry must pay special attention to the full declaration of funder involvement. If there is no role, please state, “The sponsors had no role in the design, execution, interpretation, or writing of the study”.

• Data Availability Statement: In this section, please provide details regarding where data supporting reported results can be found, including links to publicly archived datasets analyzed or generated during the study.

Below are suggested Data Availability Statements:

Data available in a publicly accessible repository
The data presented in this study are openly available in [repository name, e.g., FigShare] at [doi], reference number [reference number].
Data available in a publicly accessible repository that does not issue DOIs
Publicly available datasets were analyzed in this study. This data can be found here: [link/accession number].
Data available on request due to restrictions, e.g. privacy or ethical
The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to [insert reason here].
3rd Party Data
Restrictions apply to the availability of these data. Data were obtained from [third party] and are available [from the authors/at URL] with the permission of [third party].
Data sharing not applicable
No new data were created or analyzed in this study. Data sharing does not apply to this article.
Data is contained within the article or supplementary material
The data presented in this study are available in [insert article or supplementary material here].

List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Supplementary materials

References: Vancouver square brackets.

The Evidence follows the Vancouver [square brackets] style. Cite the references sequentially. Use the same for references in figures and tables. Use a comma without spaces when citing two references together. Use a hyphen when citing three or more continuous references. Journal names should be abbreviated according to Index Medicus. Mention the names of all the authors as ‘surname-space-initials-comma’ if there are six or fewer authors. Mention the first three names in case of more than six authors. Do not use references in the abstract.

A citation example:
Atypical manifestations involving other systems, such as the oral system, have been reported among patients with mpox [1].
An example for reference:
1. Gandhi P A, Patro SK, Sandeep M, et al. Oral manifestation of the monkeypox virus: a systematic review and meta-analysis. eClinicalMedicine 2023; 56: 101817.

Mention the editors, publisher, city and year of publication in the case of a book. Accompany it with the title, authors and page numbers of a specific chapter or section if citing that. Mention both the URL and the date of accessing the website when citing an online resource.

Tables
Tables must be submitted in editable Word format and not as images. Each table should have a concise title/caption describing the content at the top of the table. Tables should be placed at the end of the manuscript file after the references. Each table should start on a fresh page. Ordinarily, a table shall not be larger than a page. Tables should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals (Table 1, Table 2…) as they appear in the main text file. All tables must be cited in the main text of the manuscript. Footnotes are allowed, and the same should be given using superscript alphabets. All abbreviations in the table must be expanded in the footnote alphabetically.

Figures
Authors should provide the figures in an acceptable format (JPEG), and with the correct resolution (minimum 300 x 300 dpi resolutions). If the figures are not of adequate quality, the journal may ask for better-quality figures from the authors. When uploaded as JPEG, each figure must be provided/uploaded as separate files. If given as MS Word, then each figure must be provided on a separate page, with a caption/title at the top of the figure. All figures must be cited in the main text of the manuscript. Each figure should have a concise title/caption describing the content at the top of the figure. Figures should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals (Figure 1, Figure 2…) as they appear in the main text file. Any legends explaining the content of the figure must be within/part of the figure.

Supplementary materials
Any materials that cannot be added to the main text due to word limitation/Table-Figure limitations or supporting data can be uploaded under the supplementary materials. Supplementary materials must be labelled according to the type of the material. Tables, Figures, and Data files in Word, PDF, Excel and PowerPoint formats are accepted under supplementary materials. Supplementary tables should be labelled as Table S1, Table S2…. Supplementary Figures should be labelled as Figure S1, Figure S2….. Data files (Excel/CSV/SPSS/STATA) should be labelled as Data S1, Data S2….. All supplementary materials must be cited in the main text of the manuscript.

Authorship
The Evidence Journals accepts and follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria for authorship:
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.
All contributors listed as authors by the corresponding author must satisfy all the above four criteria, and a statement mentioning this must be provided in the cover letter submitted along with the manuscript.
Any person who has contributed to the manuscript, but does not qualify as a co-author, shall be acknowledged in the “Acknowledgement” Section.

Artificial intelligence (AI) use by authors

Authors should not list a generative AI technology as a co-author or author of any submitted manuscript. Generative AI technologies cannot be held accountable for all aspects of a manuscript and consequently do not meet the criteria required for authorship.

If the author of a submitted manuscript has used written or visual content produced by or edited using a generative AI technology, this use must follow all Evidence Journals guidelines and policies. Specifically, the author is responsible for checking the factual accuracy of any content created by the generative AI technology. This includes, but is not limited to, any quotes, citations or references. Figures produced by or edited using a generative AI technology must be checked to ensure they accurately reflect the data presented in the manuscript. Authors must also check that any written or visual content produced by or edited using a generative AI technology is free from plagiarism.

If the author of a submitted manuscript has used written or visual content produced by or edited using a generative AI technology, such use must be acknowledged in the acknowledgements section of the manuscript and the methods section if applicable. This explanation must list the name, version, model, and source of the generative AI technology.
We encourage authors to upload all input prompts provided to a generative AI technology and outputs received from a generative AI technology in the supplementary files for the manuscript.


Publication Fee
To attract high-quality submissions and relieve the financial burden for researchers, The Evidence currently provides authors with a free publication service, and the journal is wholly financed by the Society "Global Center for Evidence Synthesis". Authors are not charged for submission, processing, and/or publication.

Publication Ethics

We fully adhere to Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct and to its Best Practice Guidelines.

Informed consent & Ethics approval
Studies involving patients and volunteers must have taken ethics committee/Institutional review board approval, which shall be documented in the cover letter of the manuscript. The authors must produce the ethics committee/ Institutional review board approval letter for such studies if demanded by the Journal. The authors shall retain evidence of consent and will be required to be produced in exceptional cases (e.g. Legal requirement).

Conflict of Interest
All existing and potential financial and non-financial conflicts of interest for all authors shall be disclosed.

Reporting of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools used for writing the manuscript
The Evidence follows the WAME Recommendations on Chatbots and Generative Artificial Intelligence in Relation to Scholarly Publications. AI tools utilized in the manuscript's writing process need to be declared by the authors in the methodology section. The name and model of the AI tool used, and the exact nature/content generated by the AI tool, whether AI-generated content was taken as it is or the authors of the manuscript edited it, must be explicitly mentioned. The Evidence does not accept the AI tool as an author in any manuscript type.

Copyright
Contents of The Evidence are covered by copyright. The Evidence does not accept any responsibility for the statements made by the authors. The Editorial Board has the right to introduce such changes in the articles as may be considered necessary for effective communication. Once published, the manuscript's copyright shall stand transferred to the Journal.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is presenting work or ideas from another source as your own, with or without consent of the original author, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement.
The Evidence views plagiarism as a serious breach of trust and research misconduct. It is the authors' responsibility to ensure the absence of plagiarism in their manuscript. The journal will routinely apply standard tools for all submitted articles to detect plagiarism and similarity index at the editorial office's preliminary manuscript review.

Peer Review & Publication

The Evidence follows a double-blinded review system, and all manuscripts submitted to the journal will have one of the following decisions:
Accept: The manuscript is accepted in its current form for publication.
Accept with minor revisions: The manuscript will be accepted for publication if the authors can satisfactorily address the reviewer and editor's comments.
Major Revisions required: The manuscript cannot be considered for publication in its current form. The authors must revise it based on the reviewer/editor's comments and submit the revised version for re-consideration/review.
Reject: The manuscript does not merit consideration for publication in the journal.
The corresponding author will be intimated of the decision by the Editor-in-Chief through the mail for correspondence.

Online First
The accepted version of the manuscript will be made available in the Online First option of the journal within 24 hours of acceptance. This is to enable quicker dissemination of the findings. However, the final version will be published only after proofreading and submitting all required documents. A note mentioning that the article has not undergone proofreading will be added along with the Online First version.
An online proof, with queries from the copy editor, will be sent to the corresponding author, which needs to be completed and submitted within 48 hours. The authors may ask the journal to resubmit the final proof after incorporating the proof corrections, or they may permit the publication of the manuscript directly after incorporating the changes.

Publication of the final version
Once the proofing is complete, the article will be published under the continuous publication model. No changes to any part of the article will be encouraged from the author's side, after this.

Errata and Corrigenda

An erratum refers to correction errors introduced to the article by the publisher. A corrigendum refers to a change to the article that the author wishes to publish at any time after acceptance. Authors should contact the journal editor, who will determine the impact of the change and decide on the appropriate course of action. The editor-in-chief will publish Corrigenda and Errata with the article after consideration.