Author Guidelines
General Information
Scripta Scientifica Medica publishes articles aimed to provide the most current information in various medical fields. The following types of articles are approved for publication:
- Invited Reviews (more than 6 pages and no restrictions regarding the number of References, only by invitation from the Editor-in-Chief)
- Original articles (up to 6 pages, structured Abstract and structured Content, around 30 references are recommended)
- Case Reports (about 3 pages, the body text should contain an introduction with a review of the literature of about 150-200 words, followed by a presentation of the case report (500 words) and a discussion (500 words), a sufficient amount of images illustrating the case (a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4), tables (if possible), around 15 references, the Abstract does not need to be structured)
- Letters to the Editor (up to 2 pages and up to 5 references)
The manuscripts can be submitted through the online submission system, which requires a registration in order to use it.
Online Submission
- Registered users can log in with the same username and password to all journals published by Varna Medical University Press;
- After logging in to a given journal, the user can click on the "My Profile" link and self-enroll as an Author for that particular journal;
- Then by following the "My Journals" link the user can see the journals in which he/she is enrolled as an Author;
- Clicking the "New Submission" link for each journal of interest starts a new submission;
- To complete the submission, the user must fill in the required fields of the article metadata : author(s), affiliation, bio-statement, e-mail, title, abstract, keywords, references, address for correspondence;
- The text of the manuscript must be submitted as a file which does not contain any images, diagrams, graphs, author names, affiliations and references. The text of manuscript should be submitted in Microsoft Word .doc/.docx format;
- The images, figures and tables are submitted as supplementary files.
METADATA
Author's names, primary affiliation, e-mail
Fill in the full first and last name of the author and the rest of the required metadata. If there are co-authors, the user should use the "Add Author" button to add each co-author, and fill the names, primary affiliations and e-mails of all co-authors).
Title
Title should be concise but descriptive.
Abstract
The abstract must be no longer than 250 words summarizing the essential new information communicated. The text of the structured abstract should contain the following four sections: Introduction, Aim, Materials and Methods, Results and Conclusion.
Keywords
Please supply up to 6 keywords in English that reflect the content of the paper. It is recommended to consider the subject headings of Index Medicus
BODY TEXT
The text of the manuscript must be submitted as a file which does not contain any images, diagrams, graphs, author names, affiliations and references. The structure of the body of the manuscript should include the following sections:
Introduction: Should concisely state the main objective of the study and should provide a background for the study;
Aim: Briefly describe the purpose of the study.
Materials and Methods: Should describe the design of the study (randomization, cross-over, prospective or retrospective etc.), the setting (hospital, university or private practice, primary or tertiary care etc.) and the patients or participants in the study. Should also give details of the numbers and descriptions of patients, participants of samples in the study and detailed information about treatment, intervention, technique or procedure. If the scientific research includes the participation of individuals, there must be a statement that it has been approved by the local Ethics Committee with indicated No. and date of the document.
Results: should be summarized with relevant statistical indices, following the requirements for tables and figures;
Discussion: must review the relevant literature on the subject and discuss the findings of the current study in ther differences and similarities;
Conclusion(s): that are directly supported by the data should be stated, with equal emphasis on positive and negative findings;
Pages should be single-spaced, Times New Roman should be used throughout, sized at 12 pt. Captions should be used within the body of the manuscript to outline important points. The text of the manuscript should be submitted in Microsoft Word .doc/.docx format.
REFERENCES
References should follow the standards summarized in the NLM's International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals: Sample References (www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html) webpage and detailed in the NLM's Citing Medicine, 2nd edition (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7256/). These resources are regularly updated as new media develops, and currently include guidance for print documents (journal articles, books or other monographs); unpublished material; audio and visual media; material on CD-ROM, DVD, or disk; and material on the Internet (url, DOI, database).
References should each be numbered and ordered sequentially as they appear in the text. In the list of references, papers should be listed numerically.
The following basic examples illustrate the format to be used:
Journal article
Iwamoto Y, Koide H, Ogita K, Nishizuka Y. The protein kinase C family for the regulation of cellular functions. Biomed Rev. 1992;1:1-6.
Journal article with more than 6 authors
Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res. 2002;935(1-2):40-6.
Book
Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002.
Book chapter
Thornton T. On the interface problem in philosophy of psychiatry. In: Broome MR, Bortolotti L, editors. Psychiatry as Cognitive Neuroscience: Philosophical Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2009. p. 121-137.
URL
American Medical Association [Internet]. Chicago: The Association; c1995-2002 [updated 2001 Aug 23; cited 2002 Aug 12]. AMA Office of Group Practice Liaison; [about 2 screens]. Available from: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/1736.html
DOI, PMID
Zhang M, Holman CD, Price SD, Sanfilippo FM, Preen DB, Bulsara MK. Comorbidity and repeat admission to hospital for adverse drug reactions in older adults: retrospective cohort study. BMJ. 2009 Jan 7;338:a2752. doi: 10.1136/bmj.a2752. PubMed PMID: 19129307; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2615549
Abbreviations of journal titles should follow those listed in the Index Medicus (http://www2.bg.am.poznan.pl/czasopisma/medicus.php?lang=eng). Responsibility for the correctness of the references lies with the author(s). After the manuscript revisions, authors should double check that all in-text citations are in the reference list and that all references on the reference list have at least one corresponding in-text citation.
NOTE: If there are any references the original titles of which are in a non-Latin alphabet, they should be translated or transcribed. At the end, in brackets, there should be the original language, e.g. (in Bulgarian).
IMAGES, FIGURES, DIAGRAMS AND TABLES
- Figures should be provided as separate files in TIFF, EPS, JPG, PNG, BMP or JPEG format and not embedded in the manuscript text file.
- All photos should be with a resolution of 300 dpi with a width of 80 mm for a single-column image and 165 mm for a double-column image.
- Diagrams, drawings, graphs must be vector ones or saved at a resolution of at least 600 dpi. Diagrams should be in the original file format with data sheets. Their titles should obligatorily be provided within the text only.
- Tables should be provided on separate sheets and each table should have a title. No data reiterations in the text, tables, and figures are permitted. All tables must be cited in the text (e.g. "Table 1").
- Images with text must be saved as postscript or at a resolution of at least 600 dpi. They should be sufficiently contrasted and with a minimal size of 8 cm in width (1 column) or 16,6 cm in width (2 columns). The location of the photographs, diagrams, graphs, and tables should be indicated in the text (e.g., “Tabl. 1” or “Fig. 1”).
FIGURE LEGENDS
Each figure should be accompanied by a title and an explanatory legend. The title should be part of the legend and not lettered onto the figure itself. Legends should be concise but informative.
ABBREVIATIONS
Use abbreviations if a term appears three or more times. Spell out all abbreviations at first occurrence, and then introduce them by placing the abbreviation in parentheses. The metric system should be used for all volumes, lengths, weights, etc. Temperatures should be expressed in degrees Celsius (centigrade). Units should conform to the International System of Units (SI).
PROOFS
For manuscripts accepted for publication, Galley PDFs will be produced by a Layout Editor and uploaded to the online manuscript tracking system. Once the Galley PDF is available, the authors will be informed by e-mail to log in to the system, download the Galley PDF, do proof-reading and return a list with corrections. No major changes in, or additions to, the edited manuscript will be allowed at this stage. Proofreading is solely the Authors' responsibility. Corrections to the proofs must be returned using the online manuscript tracking system within 72 hours after receipt. If the Publisher receives no response from the Author(s) after 10 days, it will be assumed that there are no errors to correct and the article will be published as it is.