Where and when were the studies conducted? An examination of articles published in 2017-2018 in two leading Indian psychiatry journals

Abstract

Background: We explain with the help of examples the many reasons why journal articles that contain patient data need to provide information about where and when the study was conducted. We examined compliance to this requirement in two leading Indian psychiatry journals.

Methods: We examined all issues of the Indian Journal of Psychiatry (IJP) and the Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine (IJPM) for the years 2017-2018 to determine how many articles that required to provide location and period information actually did so.

Results: In these two journals, about 30-40 % of papers did not provide location data. About 50 % of papers did not provide period data. There were no significant differences between the two journals, in these regards. Only about a third of the papers provided both location and period data.

Conclusion: During 2017-2018, most authors of papers in the IJP and the IJPM did not provide location and/or period data in their papers. The instructions to contributors for these journals and, in fact, all journals, therefore need to inform authors that such information must be included in submitted manuscripts.

Keywords: Indian Journal of Psychiatry; Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine; Instructions to authors; Location data; Period data.