About the Journal

About the Journal

The Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology (JFMT) is a peer-reviewed, quarterly journal (March, June, September and December) covering all branches of forensic medicine, legal medicine, toxicology and allied sciences in the service of justice: forensic pathology, clinical forensic medicine, toxicology, medical law and ethics, medical negligence and medico-legal issues arising in day-to-day practice. The journal was founded in 1984.

Publisher: JFMT is the official publication of the Medicolegal Society (Regd.) and is published on its behalf by ACS Publisher, New Delhi, India. Editorial decisions are made independently by the editors listed below. Print ISSN 0971-1929; Online ISSN 0974-4568.

Indexing: JFMT is indexed in Scopus and Embase (Excerpta Medica Database).

Editorial Board

Founder Editors: Prof. T. D. Dogra, Ex-Head, Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, AIIMS, New Delhi; Late Prof. O. P. Murty, Ex-Professor, Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, AIIMS, New Delhi.

Editor-in-Chief: Prof. (Dr.) Sanjay Gupta, MD, DNB, MNAMS, PGDHHM, FAIMER Fellow, Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rajkot, Gujarat 360110, India. E-mail: editor.jfmt@gmail.com

Associate Editors: Dr. Utsav Parekh, Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, AIIMS Rajkot; Prof. (Dr.) Prateek Rastogi, Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education.

Assistant Editors: Dr. Mukul Sharma, Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, AIIMS Raebareli; Dr. Senthil Kumaran M., Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, AIIMS Madurai.

Advisory Board: Prof. Mohd Shah Mahmood (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia); Prof. Muzaherful Huq (Bangladesh); Prof. Ravindra Fernando (Sri Lanka); Prof. Shafi Nizamani (UiTM, Malaysia); Prof. Stephen Cordner (VIFM, Australia); Prof. Magdy Kharoshah (Egypt); Prof. Jason Payne-James (UK); Prof. George Paul (Singapore); Prof. S. K. Verma (New Delhi); Prof. S. K. Sharma (New Delhi); Prof. Sanjeev Lalwani (AIIMS, New Delhi); Prof. Tabin Millo (AIIMS, New Delhi); Prof. Mukesh Yadav (Uttar Pradesh); Dr. Anil Kohli (New Delhi); Prof. A. J. Patowary (NEIGRIHMS, Shillong); Prof. Sanjoy Das (Dehradun); Prof. Kalpesh Shah (Ahmedabad); Prof. Putul Mahanta (Assam); Prof. Arneet Arora (AIIMS, Bhopal); Prof. Adarsh Kumar (AIIMS, New Delhi); Prof. Shreemanta Kumar Dash (AIIMS, Mangalagiri); Prof. Padmakumar K (Thrissur); Prof. Manoj Mohanty (AIIMS, Bhubaneswar); Prof. Dasari Harish (GMC, Chandigarh).

Editorial Board: Prof. Ajay Kumar (AIIMS, Bathinda); Prof. Akhilesh Pathak (AIIMS, Bathinda); Prof. Arun M (Mysore); Prof. Ashim Mishra (Jamshedpur); Dr. (Col.) C. S. Makhani (AFMC, Pune); Prof. Dhamesh Patel (BJMC, Ahmedabad); Prof. Geeta Sahoo (SCB, Cuttack); Prof. Hitesh Chawla (SHKM, Haryana); Prof. Jagadeesh N (Bengaluru); Prof. Kusa Kumar Shaha (JIPMER); Prof. Manish Shrigiriwar (AIIMS, Nagpur); Prof. Nagesh K R (FMMC, Mangalore); Prof. O. P. Saini (SPMC, Bikaner); Prof. Praveen Arora (SAIMS, Indore); Prof. Rajesh Babu (NFSU, Gandhinagar); Prof. S. Venkata Raghava (BMCRI, Bangalore); Prof. Shalini Gupta (KGMU, Lucknow); Prof. Singi Yatiraj (AIIMS, Bilaspur); Prof. Somnath Das (BSMC, Bankura); Prof. Tanuj Kanchan (AIIMS, Jodhpur); Prof. Amit Patil (AIIMS, Patna); Prof. Nishat Ahmed Sheikh (AIIMS, Deoghar); Dr. Pragnesh Parmar (AIIMS, Hyderabad); Dr. Raghavendra Kumar Vidua (AIIMS, Bhopal); Dr. Raghavendra Singh Shekhawat (AIIMS, Jodhpur); Dr. Shankar M Bakkannavar (KMC, Manipal); Dr. Vikas Meshram (AIIMS, Jodhpur).

Managing Editor (publisher): Prof. Sunny Paul (Retd., ICAR), ACS Publisher. E-mail: support@acspublisher.com

Peer Review

Every manuscript is first screened by the editorial office for scope, completeness and similarity (Crossref Similarity Check, powered by iThenticate). Manuscripts that pass are sent for double-blind peer review by at least two independent reviewers with expertise in the subject; neither authors nor reviewers know each other’s identity. The Editor-in-Chief or a handling editor makes the decision (accept, minor or major revision, or reject) on the basis of the reviews. Editors and reviewers with a conflict of interest are excluded from the manuscript; manuscripts by an editor are handled by another editor. Authors may appeal a decision to the Editor-in-Chief within 30 days.

Publication Ethics

JFMT follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines and the ICMJE Recommendations. Research involving human participants, autopsy material or patient records must have been approved by an institutional ethics committee (the name and approval number are stated in the article) and must follow the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent is required from participants, or from the next of kin where applicable; case reports and images must not identify the person without written consent. Plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, duplicate submission and redundant publication lead to rejection or retraction and may be reported to the authors’ institution.

Conflicts of Interest and Funding

Authors must declare all financial and non-financial competing interests and all sources of funding at submission, following the ICMJE disclosure recommendations. Every article carries a Conflict of Interest statement and a Funding statement; where there is no conflict, the statement reads “The authors declare no conflict of interest.” Reviewers and editors declare conflicts and are excluded from manuscripts in which they have one.

Corrections, Expressions of Concern and Retractions

Errors in published articles are corrected through a correction notice that carries its own DOI and is linked to the original article. Where there are serious concerns about an article, an expression of concern is published while the matter is investigated. Articles found to contain fabricated or falsified data, plagiarism or duplicate publication are retracted following COPE guidance: the article remains online marked “Retracted”, with a linked notice giving the reason. Complaints may be sent to support@acspublisher.com and are acknowledged within 5 working days.

Article Processing Charges

No fee is charged at submission. After a manuscript is accepted, an article processing charge of INR 5,000 (authors in India) or USD 100 (authors outside India) is payable; there are no colour or page charges. Payment never influences editorial decisions. Once paid, the charge is not refundable if the article is later withdrawn by the authors.

Licence and Archiving

Articles are published under a Creative Commons licence stated on each article. Every article is registered with a Crossref DOI. The full journal archive, from 1984 onwards where available, is held on the publisher’s platform with daily backups.

Full policies of the publisher: Editorial Policy · Ownership and Management.