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General considerations
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Biochemia Medica is the journal of the Croatian Society of Medical Biochemists, dedicated to the members of the Society, as well as to all other professionals from various fields of biomedicine that share the same interests, i.e. medical biochemistry and laboratory diagnostics.
The Journal is publishing papers in English language. All submitted manuscripts are given equal consideration regardless to what country they originate as long as the main criteria are met:
· Manuscript is written and prepared adhering to the Biochemia Medica Instructions to authors.
· The article fits into the scope of the Journal, meaning it addresses general clinical chemistry, hematology and hemostasis,
molecular diagnostics, immunology, analytical toxicology, neurobiochemistry, endocrinology, analytical techniques, laboratory organization, bioinformatics, automatization, quality control and evidence based laboratory medicine.
molecular diagnostics, immunology, analytical toxicology, neurobiochemistry, endocrinology, analytical techniques, laboratory organization, bioinformatics, automatization, quality control and evidence based laboratory medicine.
Upon receipt Manuscripts are evaluated by Editor-in-Chief. Those manuscripts that do not meet the main criteria stated in the Instructions to authors shall be returned to authors. Contributions which qualify for further processing are sent to anonymous peer reviewers. Every paper is reviewed by at least two reviewers. Besides, every manuscript is subject to the additional editorial revision of the methodological quality, statistical analysis and data presentation.
Biochemia Medica shall give equal consideration for publication to any carefully performed study of an important question, relevant to their readers, whether the results are negative or positive.
Instructions to authors of Biochemia Medica fully adhere to the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication" (www.ICMJE.org, updated in November 2003). Editorial holds rights to all necessary changes to language and style of the original manuscript needed to adhere to uniform standards of the Journal.
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Article types
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Contributions are grouped in the following Journal categories (maximum number of words is listed for each category):
· Editorial (1500 words)
· Review (5000 words)
· Short review (3500 words)
· Lessons in biostatistics (3000 words)
· Original article (5000 words)
· Short communication (1500 words)
· Case report (3000 words)
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Manuscript preparation
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Manuscript should be written in English and uploaded through online submission system available on journal website.
The following items are required for article submission:
1) Cover letter
2) Title page
3) Manuscript (without authors and affiliations)
4) Authorship and copyright form
5) Figure (optional)
Please note that Manuscript file should not contain information about authors and affiliations. Also the name of your Manuscript file should not have any reference to your name. This is important because all manuscripts are sent to blind peer review.
Each author is also required to suggest 3 potential reviewers for the manuscript. Author may also suggest opposing reviewers (optional).
Cover letter
The cover letter should contain following:
· short description of conducted research (2-3 sentences) and any other information on the manuscript that Editorial may find useful;
· total number of figures, tables and graphs in the manuscript;
· author’s suggestion on the category of manuscript (original article, short communication etc...);
· reasons why authors presume their work may be of interest to the readers of the Journal.
Title page
Prepare the title page on a separate page. Title page should include:
· full title of the manuscript;
· short title (no more than 50 characters);
· authors names and affiliations (institution, department, city, country);
· corresponding author's e-mail address and full mailing address (institution, department, street, street number, zip code, city, country).
Corresponding author should be marked with an asterisk (*). The affiliations should be indicated with a number in superscript.
For example:
Giuseppe Lippi1*, Emmanuel J Favaloro2
1Institute of Clinical Chemistry, Department of Morphological and Biomedical Science, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
2Department of Hematology, Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research (ICPMR), Westmead Hospital, Westmead, Australia
*Corresponding author: glippi [at] ao [dot] pr [dot] it, ulippi [at] tin [dot] it, giuseppe [dot] lippi [at] univr [dot] it
Manuscript
Manuscript should be prepared adhering to the following instructions:
· document should be saved in MSWord program (*.doc format);
· double-spaced throughout the whole manuscript;
· page format A4;
· font Arial, 12 pt;
· all margins 2.5 cm;
· do not use any styles and formatting (no numbering for titles, no bold fonts);
· do not use Headers or Footers;
· include page numbering throughout the whole manuscript;
Please note that cover letter and title page are not included into manuscript file.
All pages of the manuscript (except for the cover letter and title page, which are attached separately) should be within one document. For the original papers, page order should be as follows: Abstract and Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments, References, Tables and Figures.
Abstract
Abstract should be included in all article types, with the exception of editorial, where abstract is optional.
On a separate page, provide an abstract of 250 words (only abstract, without authors and affiliation). The abstract of the original articles, should be structured, including following:
· four headings: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Conclusions;
· 3-5 key words
The abstract of the other article types should not be structured.
Introduction
In Introduction authors should point out the major novelties of their paper as well as the hypothesis of the work. Introduction does not contain results and conclusions.
Materials and Methods
The Materials and Methods section should include only information that was available at the time the study was planed. All information obtained during the conduct of the study belongs in the Results section. This section should be structured as follows:
· Subjects (in the case of research in humans), Materials (otherwise);
· Methods
· Statistical analysis
In the Subjects/Materials section it is recommended to state the following:
· time and location of the study (beginning and the end of the study dates);
· study design (case-control, cohort, diagnostic accuracy etc.);
· inclusion and exclusion criteria;
· relevant demographic and anamnestic details (age, gender, diagnostic criteria etc.);
When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, and if necessary enclose the Ethical Committee approval.
In the Methods section, identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer’s name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. For well established methods provide references only.
In the Statistical analysis section, authors should list all statistical methods used in the study. Furthermore, it is important to state in advance the chosen level of significance (P). Where possible, findings should be quantified and presented with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals).
At the end of that chapter authors should specify the software application used.
Results
Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables or illustrations. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Exact P values should be given for all tested differences (for example write P = 0.048 instead of P< 0.05) rounded on three decimal places.
Discussion
Do not repeat in detail data presented in the Introduction or the Results section. Clearly state the limitations of the study.
Acknowledgments
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an acknowledgments section. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged.
References
References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in text by Arabic numerals in parentheses. For example:
Prostatic carcinomas with final score < 7 were considered low-intermediate grade; and, with final score > 7 were considered high-grade (4).
The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. Literature citation should conform to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) available at web address www.ICMJE.org.
Examples of various reference formats are as follows:
Journals:
Name all authors of a paper unless there are more than seven, in which case list the first six plus et al.
Punglia RS, D'Amico AV, Catalona WJ, Roehl KA, Kuntz KM. Impact of age, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and cancer on prostate-specific antigen level. Cancer 2006;106:1507-13.
Chen L, Wang X, Carter SA, Shen YH, Bartsch HR, Thompson RW, et al. A single nucleotide polymorphism in the matrix metalloproteinase 9 gene (-8202A/G) is associated with thoracic aortic aneurysms and thoracic aortic dissection. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2006;131:1045-52
Book or handbook:
In English:
Burtis CA, Ashwood ER, Burns DE, eds. Tietz Textbook of Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics. 4th ed. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Saunders, 2006.
In language other than English:
Gamulin S, Marušić M, Kovač Z. et al., eds. [Patofiziologija]. 5th ed. Zagreb: Medicinska naklada; 2002. (in Croatian)
Chapter in a book or handbook:
In English:
Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, eds. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.
In language other than English:
Vrkić N. [Smjernice za laboratorijsku dijagnostiku akutnog koronarnog sindroma]. In: [Dijagnostika hitnih stanja]. Topić E, ed. Zagreb: Medicinska naklada; 2006. (in Croatian)
Internet source:
Dag Stat. Mackinnon A. Available at: http://www.mhri.edu.au/biostats/DAG_Stat/. Accessed May 5th 2006.
Cahill, J., Barkham, M., Hardy, G., Rees, A., Shapiro, D.A., Stiles, W.B. & Macaskill, N. Outcomes of patients completing and not completing cognitive therapy for depression [Electronic version]. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2003:42;133-43. Accessed July 19, 2003, from http://www.bps.org.uk/publications/jCP_1.cfm.
Tables
Type each table and its brief caption on its own page at the end of the document. Use only horizontal lines on table grid. Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. Be sure that each table is cited in the text. Give every column a short heading title, with detailed explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. All nonstandard abbreviations should also be explained in footnotes.
Figures
Place each figure and its brief caption on its own page at the end of the document. Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text.
Technical editors shall redesign or recreate all graphical elements (pictures, schematic presentations etc.) of the manuscript if they do not conform to the uniform style of the Journal.
Authorship and copyright form
Authors should sign the Authorship and copyright form, scan the file and upload it as a separate file while submitting a manuscript.
By signing this agreement, the authorsguarantee that all listed authors assume responsibility for the manuscript content; all listed authors have participated significantly in the work; anyone who has participated significantly in the work is not omitted from the article; manuscript is not previously published in the same or very similar form in other journal and that manuscript is not currently under consideration in other journals.
With this agreement, authors also guarantee that if the manuscript is accepted for publication in Biochemia Medica, all copyrights of the paper are transferred to Biochemia Medica and that Publisher (Croatian Society of Medical Biochemists) has the right to reproduce and distribute article in printed and electronic form, without asking for permission.
The Authorship and copyright form can be downloaded from the Journal web page.
Figures
If, for some reason, figures can’t be inserted into the manuscript file, separate electronic files of figures can be uploaded as well. Acceptable image file formats for print publication are: *.jpg, *.bmp or *.tiff at desired resolution is 300 dpi.
Last updated: March 25th, 2011