Instruction to Authors

Submission of manuscripts

Review articles, full research papers, short or preliminary communications, and clinical case reports have to be submitted electronically via the journal website http://biomed.papers.upol.cz.

Authors are encouraged to propose 2-3 potential peer reviewers. Kindly provide reviewers´ full names, addresses, phone/fax numbers, and e-mail. You should be advised that the Editors of Biomedical Papers reserve the right to choose reviewers other than those suggested. Authors are also obliged to certify that the paper has neither been published nor submitted for publication elsewhere.

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Manuscript organization

The manuscript should be divided as: Title Page, Abstract and the main text. The text generally should be as follows: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgements and References. Line numbering and page numbering is required.

In the case of Short Communications, sections may be combined, e.g. Materials and Methods and Results or Results and Discussion. Short Communications should be no more than 8 double-spaced typed pages including tables and figures.

For abstracting purposes, up to eight key words should be added at the bottom of the abstract page.

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Abstract

The structured abstract not exceeding 250 words, should contain: (i) Aims (a clear statement of the objectives of the paper), (ii) Methods (a brief description of the major methodological approaches including study design, where appropriate), (iii) Results (a clear summary of the research results, numerical and statistical data where appropriate and inclose relationship to the Aims of the paper) and (iv) Conclusions (a sentence or two providing the implications of the results for practice or further research). The abstract of a review should condense the essential features of the review with the focus on the major advances in the field (for details see Appendix to "Instructions to Authors" http://biomed.papers.upol.cz).

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Tables

Authors are asked to keep tabular matter to a minimum. Each table must start on a separate sheet. Each table and every column should be titled. The same data should not be reproduced in both tables and figures. Tables and illustrations should be completely intelligible without referring to the text.

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Figures

Please keep the numbers of figures to a minimum. Legends should not appear on the figures but should be typed on a separate sheet. All figures and photographs should be suitable for black and white reproduction. Color photographs can be reproduced in color, but for a fee. Please note it is the author´s responsibility to obtain copyright permission to reproduce figures.

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Nomenclature and Abbreviations

Where possible, nomenclature and abbreviations should be in accord with internationally agreed rules. Official names of drugs are preferred to trade names. If trade names are used, they should be capitalized and the trade mark included.

Abbreviations used in the main text should be defined in a footnote on the title page of the article. Abbreviations used in the Abstract must be defined within the Abstract.

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References

References should be numbered consecutively using superscript Arabic numerals:1, 2 in the text, the full reference being cited in a num­bered list at the end of the paper. References should contain the names and initials of all the authors of each paper, together with the full title of the paper, the abbreviated journal title, the year, the volume number, and the first and last page numbers. Formatting samples are given below:

Journal

1. Reiter R, Burk RF. Effect of oxygen tension on the generation of alkanes and malondialdehyde by peroxidizing rat liver microsomes. Biochem Pharmacol 1978; 36:925–9.

List the first six authors followed by et al.

Book

2. Winer BJ. Statistical principles in experimental design. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1971.

Gilstrap LC, Cunningham FG, VanDorsten JP, editors. Operative obstetrics. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw Hill; 2002.

Chapter in a book

3. Shatkin AJ. Colorimetric reactions for DNA, RNA, and protein determinations. In: Habel K, Salzman NP, editors. Fundamental techniques in virology. New York: Academic Press; 1969. p. 231–7.

Conference paper

4. Wefers H, Sies H. Generation of photoemissive species during quinone redox cycling. In: Alexander P, editor. Bioreduction in the Activation of Drugs. Proceedings of the Second Biochemical Pharmacology Symposium; 1985 25–26 July; Oxford, UK . Oxford: Pergamon Press; 1986. p. 26–34.

Journal article on the Internet

5. Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [serial on the Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12];102(6):[about 3 p.].

Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htm

The titles of journals should be abbreviated in accordance with Index Medicus.

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Footnotes

Symbols indicating author affiliation should be superscript letters: a, b, c, with an asterisk to indicate the corresponding author.

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Note on Conflict of Interest Disclosure

Conflict of Interest refers to a relevant duality of interest within the previous 12 months which the author(s) have had with a company whose products/ services directly relate to the subject of their manuscript. Relevant duality of interest in this case includes employment, membership on boards of directors or any fiduciary relationship, membership of scientific advisory panels or other standing scientific/medical committees, stock ownership consulting fees, receipt of honoraria, financial support or research grants. A company is defined as a business establishment engaged in the development, manufacture or sale of pharmaceutical products, biomedical devices or biomedical supplies for profit.

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Appendix to „Instructions to Authors“

structured abstract for review articles should contain 3 sections: (i) Background consisting of a brief introduction to the problem and objectives of the review; (ii) Methods and results describing databases used for information retrieval, criteria for inclusion of the studies and main results achieved during analysis of the included studies; (iii) Conclusions with interpretation of the results accompanied with implications for practice (if any) and/or further research.

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Example of a structured abstract for review articles

(Source: PubMed)

Mills JL, Signore C (2004)Neural tube defect rates before and after food fortification with folic acid. Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol.70(11):844-5.

BACKGROUND: Since 1998, enriched cereal grains sold in the United States have been fortified with folic acid, to reduce the incidence of neural tube defects (NTDs). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that NTD rates have decreased 26% since fortification, but that additional effort is needed to achieve the national goal of a 50% reduction. However, accurate determination of NTD rates requires counting antenatally detected cases; the CDC study noted that the number of prenatally diagnosed cases was likely underestimated.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We examined studies from the United States and Canada that compared rates of NTDs before and after very similar fortification programs were instituted in each country. U.S. studies had incomplete ascertainment of prenatally diagnosed NTD cases, and as a result, underreported the number of NTDs prevented. Canadian studies, in which ascertainment was more complete, showed decreases in NTD rates up to 54%.

CONCLUSIONS: There is a strong correlation between the completeness of ascertainment and the percentage decrease in NTD rates. Studies that identify cases best show that folic acid fortification is preventing around 50% of NTDs. The percentage of NTDs that are folate-preventable in the United States is uncertain, but is probably 50-60%. Thus, we may be quite close to achieving the optimum level of protection at current fortification levels.


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