Focus and Scope

The Nepal Journal of Dermatology, Venereology & Leprology (NJDVL) is a scientific biomedical journal, published once a year by the Society of Dermatologists Venereologists and Leprologists of Nepal (SODVELON). It aims to publish and disseminate information on all aspects of diagnosis and management of skin diseases, and information on scientific research related to dermatology. The journal accepts manuscripts for original articles, reviews, case reports, brief report, letter to editor, resident page and book review.

The aim of NJDVL is to increase the visibility and ease of use of open access scientific and scholarly articles that promote in increased usage and bring positive impact in medical knowledge and research activities. Considering these facts, NJDVL grants the permission to read, copy, print, download, distribute, search, or link to the full texts of these articles which is available online (https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJDVL) freely. At present, authors do not have to pay for submission, processing or publication of manuscripts in NJDVL

The Editorial Process NJDVL follows the principles and publishing ethics guidelines of International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME) and Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) and Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association ( OASPA)

The submitted manuscripts are duly acknowledged and initially reviewed for possible publication by the Editors with the understanding that they are being submitted only to the NJDVL have not been published, simultaneously submitted or accepted for publication elsewhere.

Peer Review Process

1. All contributions are judged by the criteria of originality and scientific content, and preference will be given to original research articles.
2. The manuscripts submitted will be scrutinized by the editorial board and reviewed by independent experts. Preliminary review is done by the editorial team and then send to external reviewer. Double-blinded peer review process is followed. If accepted, the papers are subjected for editorial revision, including shortening of the text and omission of tables and figures if appropriate. Rapid review and publication is the policy of the journal.
3. The Editor-in -chief reserves the right to reject or accept the manuscript submitted for publication.
4. The time frame for the acceptance and publication of the article will be 3months ± 30 days.

Publication Frequency

Biannual publication since 2021

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Article processing charges

Authors do not have to pay at any stage of submission, processing or publication of manuscripts in NJDVL.

Indexation

The journal is presently indexed/archived at Nepal journal Online (NEPJOL), Index Copernicus International (ICI) World of Journal, Google Scholar and J-Gate and CABI.

Publisher

Society of Dermatologists, Venereologists and Leprologists of Nepal (SODVELON)

Sources of Support

NJDVL is supported by SODVELON

Archiving Policy

Our Journal is permanently archived on (https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJDVL
Our work also licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License CC-BY-4.0

Article withdrawal Policy

Withdrawing a paper during peer-review or during the production process after acceptance, but before publication, is an uncommon event that is not considered scientifically good, but must be done only in exceptional cases. Withdrawal request from the author will not be accepted after the galley copy /proof reading received from the author before publication. Authors need to fill an “Article withdrawal form” and send back the signed withdrawal form to the editorial office after which withdrawal process is completed.

Conflicts of Interest

Editors
Editors should be responsible to manage the review process and have the right of declining any submission in case of any conflict-of-interest. They should not have any direct personal and/or financial conflicts with their assigned manuscripts.

Reviewers
Reviewers should be responsible to decline the review process if any substantial conflicts-of-interest exists. Reviewers need to disclose conflict of interest statement in the reviewer’s form sent from editorial office. In case of any doubt, they should consult the Editor to make a decision regarding the review process.

Authors
According to the general publication, only the researchers who contributed to the work in a real sense should be considered as an author as per ICJME (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) recommendation. Authors should be responsible to disclose all the personal and financial relationships which might bias their work. Financial relationships such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony can be classified as the most easily identifiable conflicts-of-interest and the most likely to undermine the credibility of the journal.

Plagiarism and other misconduct:
All submitted manuscript are scrutinized for plagiarism. The editorial board will take action on the basis of the degree of plagiarism, whether to accept if the author modifies the plagiarized content into the unique one after warning from editorial team or to reject the manuscript.
Permission from the person or copyright holder should be taken for any photograph, figure and graphic materials reproduced from another source and acknowledged anyone’s view, idea or findings.

Publication Ethics

Authorship

1. NJDVL adheres to the policy published and regularly updated by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). All authors should meet all four following criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors.
   1. Substantial contributions to the conception, design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
   2. Drafting the work or critical revision 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.
2. Acknowledging contributors
   The individuals who had contributed to the study but do not meet all the above four criteria of authorship should be acknowledged in acknowledgement section.

Acquisition of funding, the collection of data or general supervision of the research itself does not account for authorship.

Ethical approval of research

All research articles submitted should include a letter from the Institutional review board/committee that the study obtained ethics approval.

Experimental research on human or any animals must comply with and conform to institutional, national, or international Good Clinical Practice guidelines. For drug trial, mandatory clinical trial registration as a prerequisite for publication.

Patient consent and confidentiality
If an article contains personal medical information including x-rays, photos etc. Patient’s consent is necessary for publication of such details. If consent cannot be obtained for whatever reason, then NJDVL will anonymize the details as much as possible.

Post-publication discussions and corrections
We are committed to maintaining the integrity of the scientific record and thoroughly investigate concerns that are directly raised with us by authors and readers

Privacy
All the personal details entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Disclaimer
The Publisher, Society of Dermatologist, Venereologists and Leprologists of Nepal and Editors cannot be held responsible for errors or any consequences arising from the use of information contained in this journal; the views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Publisher, Society of Dermatologist, Venereologist and Leprologist of Nepal and Editors, neither does the publication of advertisements constitute any endorsement by the Publisher, Society of Dermatologists, Venereologist and Leprologist of Nepal and Editors of the products advertised.

Submission

Submission Preparation Checklist
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission’s compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

• The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
• The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
• Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
• The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
• The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author
  Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
• If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.