Biochemia Medica

All submitted manuscripts are given equal consideration, irrespective of the country they originate from, as long as the manuscript is written and prepared adhering to the Biochemia Medica Instructions to authors and the manuscript is within the scope of the Journal.

Before preparing the manuscript for submission to Biochemia Medica please consult the following:

 

Instructions to authors

 

Biochemia Medica is the journal of the Croatian Society of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine, aimed to all professionals who share the same interest in medical biochemistry and laboratory medicine.

Manuscripts are published in English language only. All submitted manuscripts are given equal consideration, irrespective of the country they originate from, as long as the following main criteria are met:

·        A manuscript is written and prepared according to the Journal’s Instructions to authors.

·      A manuscript is within the scope of the Journal, i.e., in the field of general clinical chemistry, hematology and hemostasis, molecular diagnostics, immunology, analytical toxicology, neurobiochemistry, endocrinology, analytical techniques, laboratory organization, automation, quality control and evidence-based laboratory medicine.

 

Each manuscript received is evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief. The manuscripts that do not meet the main criteria listed in the Instructions to authors are returned to authors. Contributions that qualify for further consideration are sent to anonymous peer reviewers. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two reviewers and subject to the additional editorial review of the methodological quality, statistical analysis, and data presentation. The estimated time from submission to the first decision is 6-8 weeks. Authors are usually given 4 weeks for manuscript revision.

Biochemia Medica gives equal consideration to every carefully performed study investigating an important question relevant to the Journal’s readership, whether the results are negative or positive.

In order to improve our editorial procedure and detect potential non-conformities, Editorial Board occasionally conducts research to obtain the information needed. All manuscripts submitted to Biochemia Medica may be used for such research.

 

Editorial board of Biochemia Medica strongly promotes research integrity and aims to prevent any type of scientific misconduct, such as fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, redundant publication, and authorship problems. All submitted manuscripts are revised by Research Integrity Editor and checked using CrossCheck^TM screening system for potential plagiarism (more information available at: http://www.crossref.org/crosscheck.html). In resolving any potential scientific misconduct, Biochemia Medica follows flowcharts provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and additionally consults COPE for any unclear cases. (available at: http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts).

 

Biochemia Medica adheres to guidelines for authorship set forth by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (available at: http://www.icmje.org/ethical_1author.html). According to ICMJE: “An author is considered to be someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a published study. An author must take responsibility for at least one component of the work, should be able to identify who is responsible for each other component, and should ideally be confident in their co-authors’ ability and integrity. “

Each author should meet all three criteria as follows:

 

 

After a manuscript is accepted for publication, the authors must guarantee that all copyrights to the manuscript are transferred to Biochemia Medica. The publisher (Croatian Society of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine) has the right to reproduce and distribute the article in printed and electronic form without asking permission from authors. All manuscripts published on line are subject to Creative Commons license in order to prohibit the improper use of published material. Biochemia Medica requires the users to provide attribution to the place of original publication, prohibits commercial use of the work, and permits reuse of the work provided it has not been modified. Complete legal background of license is available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/legalcode

 

All authors should sign the Author statement form, scan the file and upload it as a separate file while submitting a manuscript. This document contains the authorship statement, statement of originality of work, research ethics statement, patient privacy and confidentiality statement, and copyright transfer form. The Author statement form can be downloaded from the Guidelines to authors section on the Journal webpage.

 

Biochemia Medica encourages all authors to report any potential conflicts of interest to ensure complete transparency regarding their manuscript. According to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE): “Conflict of interest exists when an author (or the author’s institution) has financial (employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria and paid expert testimony) or personal relationship, academic competition or intellectual passion that inappropriately influences his actions.” (available at: http://www.icmje.org/ethical_4conflicts.html)

Each author should fill out “ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest”, save it, and upload it during the online manuscript submission. The form can be downloaded from the Guidelines to authors section on the Journal webpage. Please also note “ICMJE Glossary of Terms” for clearer understanding of the Conflict-of-Interest form, which is available in several languages (available at: http://www.icmje.org/coi_glossary.html).

Since 2011, this statement has been published a part of each article. For more information, please read the article: Simundic AM. Biochemia Medica introduces the revised policy on Statement of Conflict of Interest. Biochem Med 2011;21(2):104-5.

 

Instructions to authors comply with the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication" (www.ICMJE.org, updated in April 2010). Editors hold the right to make all the necessary changes to the language and style of the original manuscript in order to adhere to the uniform standards of the Journal.

 

Contributions to the Journal are classified into the categories listed in the table below. The maximum word count does NOT include the title, authors and affiliations, abstract, keywords, subheadings, table and figure legends, and references. However, it does include the text in the tables, if any.

 

The manuscript should be written in English and uploaded via the online submission system available at Journal website (http://www.editorialmanager.com/biochemmed/).

 

The following should be submitted:

 

 

Each corresponding author is required to suggest 3 potential reviewers for the manuscript. Please note that the Editorial board members should not be suggested as reviewers. The author may also suggest opposing reviewers (optional).

The cover letter should contain following:

·        corresponding authors’ name

·       short description of the research study (2-3 sentences) and any other information regarding the manuscript that the Editors may find useful;

·        body text word count and number of figures, tables, and graphs in the manuscript;

·        suggested category for the manuscript (e.g., original article, short communication or other);

·    statement on all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as redundant publications (for example: studies based on the same sample, publications of the same biomarker, etc.);

·        reasons why authors presume their work may be of interest to the Journal’s readership.

The title page should be a separate page. The title page should include:

·        full title of the manuscript;

·        short title (up to 50 characters);

·        authors names, affiliations (institution, department, city, country) and e-mail addresses for further correspondence;

·        corresponding author's e-mail address and full mailing address (institution, department, street, street number, zip code, city, country). Please note that the e-mail address of corresponding author will be published in the final version of the article if a manuscript is accepted.

The corresponding author should be marked with an asterisk (*). The affiliations should be noted with a superscript number.

Giuseppe Lippi^1*, 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

A manuscript should be prepared as follows:

·        the file should be in MS Word format (*.doc format only, submission system does not support *.docx format);

·      the text should be double-spaced throughout including the title page, abstract, body text, references, acknowledgments, individual tables and legends

·        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; and

·        pages should be numbered throughout.

 

Please note that the cover letter and title page are not included into the manuscript file.

 All pages of the manuscript (except for the cover letter and title page, which are attached separately) should be within a single document. Original manuscripts should be structured as follows: Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments, Tables and Figures, and References.

All types of manuscripts should contain an abstract.

An abstract of 250 words maximum should be provided on a separate page (abstract only, without authors and affiliation). The abstract of an original article should be structured into four headings: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Conclusions. For other article types, abstracts do not have to be structured.

 

Please provide 3-5 keywords from MeSH database, when possible, available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html

In the Introduction section, the authors should highlight new information in the manuscript, the hypothesis, and the aim of their work. The Introduction section should not contain results and conclusions.

The Materials and Methods section should only include information that was available at the time the study was planned. All information obtained during the study should be provided in the Results section. This section should be structured as follows:

·        Subjects (if research includes human subjects), Materials (otherwise);

 

In the Subjects/Materials section it is recommended to include the following:

·        time and place of the study (the dates og the beginning and the end of the study);

·        study design (case-control, cohort, diagnostic accuracy etc.);

·        inclusion and exclusion criteria;

·        relevant demographic and history details (age, gender, diagnostic criteria etc.);

 

When reporting trials on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards set by the responsible human experimentation committee (institutional and national) and 1975 Helsinki Declaration.

All subjects should sign an informed consent form and this information should be expressed in the manuscript. Signed informed consent forms should be archived by the authors. The authors have to provide a written statement that they have received and archived all patient informed consent forms, as required in the Author statement form.

 

In the Methods section, methods, instruments (give the manufacturer’s name, town and country in parentheses), and procedures should be described in sufficient detail to allow other researchers to reproduce the results. For well-established methods, only references should be provided.

 

In the Statistical analysis section, authors should list all statistical methods used in the study and preselected level of significance (P). If possible, findings should be quantified and presented using appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (e.g., confidence intervals). For more details, see the article: Simundic AM. Practical recommendations for statistical analysis and data presentation in Biochemia Medica journal. Biochem Med 2012;22(1):15-23.

At the end of this section, authors should specify the statistical software used.

 

State the main or most important finding first. The data presented in the tables or figures should not be repeated in the text. Graphs should be used as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not present the same data in duplicate (e.g., in both graphs and tables). Exact P-values should be provided for all tested differences (e.g., write P=0.048 instead of P<0.05) rounded to three decimal places.

Emphasize the new and important conclusion based on the study results in the context of the best available evidence. Do not repeat the data presented in the Introduction or Results section. Clearly state the limitations of the study.

All contributors who do not meet the authorship criteria should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. These persons must give verbal permission to be acknowledged. Authors should provide that statement in Author statement form. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged.

Biochemia Medica applies Vancouver referencing style. 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 www.ICMJE.org. References should be numbered consecutively, using Arabic numerals in parentheses, in the order of appearance in the text.

 

For example:

Prostatic carcinomas with final score < 7 were considered low-intermediate grade; and, with final score > 7 were considered high-grade (4).

 

References cited only in tables or figures should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first appearance in the text of the table or figure.

References should be verified using either an electronic bibliographic source, such as PubMed, or print copies from original sources. Authors are responsible for checking that none of the references refer to retracted articles except in the context of referring to the retraction. Also, the authors should not include DOI numbers at the end of cited reference.

 

Journal titles should be abbreviated according to the style used in the list of Journals Indexed for MEDLINE, posted by the NLMavailable at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html.

Examples of various reference formats are available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html

 

The most common examples are as follows:

 

Journals:

Name all authors unless there are more than seven, in which case list the first six plus et al.

For example:

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.

 

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)

 

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)

 

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 with brief captions should be provided each on a separate page at the end of the document. Use only horizontal lines of a table grid. Tables should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals. Ensure that each table is cited in the text. Each column should have a short heading title and detailed explanation provided in a footnote. All non-standard abbreviations should be explained in table footnotes using the symbols in the following order: *, †, ‡, §, ║, ¶, **, ††, ‡‡, §§, ║║, ¶¶, etc.

Each figure and its brief caption should be provided on a separate page at the end of the document. Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order of appearance in the text.

Technical editors will 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.

 

Units of measurement should be reported according to the Journal style. For a complete list of acceptable units, please see the Abbreviations and measurement units section available at Journal web page under Guidelines to authors section. Biochemia Medica accepts the International System of Units (SI) except for temperature (degrees Celsius), blood pressure (millimeters of mercury) and enzyme activity (U/L).

 

Use only standard abbreviations. Avoid abbreviations in the title of the manuscript. Always spell out abbreviations on first mention and include the abbreviation in parenthesis unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measurement. For additional information, see the Abbreviations and measurement units section available at Journal web page under Guidelines to authors section.

Manuscript should be written in English in understandable style and checked for correct spelling and use of grammar. The Journal does not provide language editing service. Authors whose first language is not English are strongly advised to have their manuscript edited by a language professional or fluent English speaker before submission. Please note that this does not guarantee the acceptance of the article for publication. Authors may find the list of several language editing services at Journal webpage in the Guidelines to authors section. Biochemia Medica does not have any preferences for the use of any particular service provider.

 

If, for some reason, figures cannot be inserted into the manuscript file, they can be uploaded as separate electronic files. Acceptable image file formats for print publication are: *.jpg, *.bmp or *.tiff; the desired resolution is 300 dpi.

 

Manuscript should be written in English in understandable style and checked for correct spelling and use of grammar. The Journal does not provide language editing service. However, authors may find the links to several language editing services. Biochemia Medica does not have any preferences for the use of any particular service provider.

Biochemia Medica encourages all authors to report any potential conflicts of interest to ensure complete transparency regarding their manuscript. Each author should fill out “ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest”, save it, and upload it during the online manuscript submission. Please also note “ICMJE Glossary of Terms” for clearer understanding of the Conflict-of-Interest form.