Instructions for authors

Reumatizam publishes articles in Croatian, including the title, abstract, keywords, and table and figure titles and legends in English, or articles in English (American standard), including the title, abstract, keywords, and table and figure titles and legends in Croatian. The writing style should be clear and concise. Articles should be structured following the EQUATOR Network principles (http://www.equator-network.org).

The text should be typed in 12-point font, on white A4 paper (210 x 297 mm), double-spaced, with a maximum of 30 lines per page, including the title page, abstract, text, acknowledgments, conflict of interest statement, references, tables, and legends. The left margin should be 35 mm, and the right, top and bottom margins 25 mm each. All the pages, including the title page, should be numbered in the bottom right corner.

Measurements, if needed, should be reported using the International System of Units (SI). Names that can be abbreviated should be spelled out in full followed by the abbreviation in parentheses at the first mention, and referred to only in the abbreviated form further in the text. Latin names should be italicized, with the full name at the first mention, and only the abbreviated form further in the text. Drugs should be referred to by their generic names, and trade names, if necessary, may follow in parentheses, with the manufacturer’s name. Manufacturers of specific instruments or reagents (name and location) should be given in parentheses.

Except for reviews and letters to the editor, manuscripts should include the following: a title page (on a separate page), abstract and keywords (on a separate page), the main text (with the following sections: introduction, participants and methods, results, discussion, and conclusion), acknowledgments, funding, conflict of interest statement, references, list of tables, list of figures, tables and figures.

TITLE PAGE

The title page should include the article title (concise, clear, and informative) both in Croatian and in English, and the full name of each author, followed by the full name of the author’s affiliation, with full postal address (street, city, and country) of the institution. If the article was prepared by several authors of various affiliations, all authors should be linked to their corresponding affiliation(s) using superscript numerals after their respective names, and preceding the institution name.

This should be followed by the name, surname, and full contact address of the corresponding author responsible for the correspondence related to the article, with his/her telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address.

 

ABSTRACT AND KEYWORDS

The second page should include the abstract, both in Croatian and in English, of up to 300 words, providing the purpose of the study/research, materials (participants) and methods, results, and conclusions.

The abstract should emphasize new and important aspects of the study, or observations. Below the abstract, three to six keywords or short terms should be listed, both in Croatian and in English, to help index the article. The keywords may be published with the abstract. Terms from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of the National Library of Medicine of US should be used for the keywords. General and plural terms, and multiple concepts (e.g., using “and”, “or”) should be avoided. The abstract should not include references.

INTRODUCTION

The introduction provides a brief outline of the context/background of the topic, as well as the purpose and rationale for conducting the study/research. It is recommended to cite only relevant references, which should be well-balanced and recent (not older than 10 years, if possible). At the end, the objective(s) of the study/research should be stated clearly and precisely. No data from the paper or conclusions should be given in the introduction.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This section provides details about how the study/research was conducted: the place and time, as well as the eligibility criteria for selecting the experimental or observational participants (or laboratory animals), with all their important characteristics. The author(s) should provide a detailed outline of the study (e.g., a randomized–controlled study, an observational study, a prospective/retrospective study, etc.), the data collection methods applied, the meaning of the descriptors, and explain and identify the methods, devices (including the manufacturer’s name in parentheses), and procedures, sufficiently detailed to enable others to reproduce the results. References should be given for established methods, and new or substantially modified methods should be described in detail, stating the reasons for using them, and evaluating their limitations.

Generic names should be used for drugs and chemicals. All measurements should be given in SI units. In Croatian texts a decimal comma should be used, and in texts in English a decimal point.

ETHICS / ETHICAL STANDARDS

Studies involving human subjects or animals should have received the approval of the respective ethics committee. The work described should have been carried out in accordance with the ethical standards of an institutional or national committee responsible for experiments involving human subjects, as well as with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki 1964 and its revisions) for experiments involving humans  http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html; EU Directive 2010/63/EU and for animal experiments  http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/legislation_en.htm. Also, it should be stated explicitly that informed consent was obtained from all participating adult subjects or from parents or legal guardians for minors or incapacitated adults, together with the manner in which informed consent was obtained (i.e., oral or written).

Participants’ names and/or surnames should not appear, particularly in figurative/illustrative materials.

STATISTICS

Statistical methods should be described in detail, to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results. Where possible, findings should be quantified and presented with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty. The statistical software used should be specified.

RESULTS

Results should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and figures. In this section, the results are not interpreted nor are their implications discussed. In addition to absolute numbers and percentages, it is necessary to include the results of statistical analysis, by stating, for example, P values or other parameters. All the data from the tables or figures should not be repeated in the text, but rather only the most important observations should be emphasized or summarized. Redundant tables and figures (e.g., presenting the same data in different formats) should be avoided, as should the use of figures and tables when it is better to include the data in the textual part (e.g., when there is insufficient data for tables or figures).

DISCUSSION

Most of this section is the interpretation of results. New and important aspects of the study, and its implications, should be emphasized. It is not recommended to repeat in detail data or any other material given in the Introduction or in the Results section. Own findings should be compared with the findings of other studies/research, showing the similarities and differences. It is also important to explain the significance of the results obtained, their limitations, and implications for future research, avoiding, however, making statements and drawing conclusions not completely confirmed by the obtained data. When necessary, new hypotheses may be given, but clearly labelled as such.

CONCLUSIONS

The main conclusions are drawn based on the author’s or authors’ own results (3 – 5 sentences maximum).

ABBREVIATIONS

Only standard abbreviations should be used. The spelled-out abbreviation followed by the abbreviation in parentheses should be used at the first mention unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measurement. Abbreviations should be avoided in the manuscript title.

SYMBOLS

Symbols used in the text should be explained. A detailed list of symbols may be given in an appendix.

TABLES

Tables should be presented on a separate page. They should not be submitted as images/photographs. Each table should have a title and be numbered consecutively in the order it appears in the text. Tables should be self-explanatory and as simple as possible. Table legends should be given below the table, and may include a reference to data in the table indicated by a superscript figure or letter. Results presented elsewhere in the article (e.g., in an illustration), should not be repeated in the table. If a table originating from other sources is used, permission for such publication should be obtained from the respective publisher/author.

FIGURES / ILLUSTRATIONS

All figures should be professionally drawn or photographed. Letters, numbers, and symbols on figures should be clear enough to remain legible when the figure is reduced for publication. Figure titles and descriptions are considered to be a part of the text, and not part of the figure/illustration. Each figure/illustration should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which it appears in the text, and have a clear mark showing which is the upper

side. Figures/illustrations should appear in a quality appropriate for print publication. Photocopied images or photographs are not suitable for reproduction. If submitted in electronic format, figures/illustrations should be in a high resolution TIFF or JPEG file format, a minimum of 1,500 pixels wide. Figures/illustrations submitted in other formats may be accepted only with the prior consent of the editorial board. The editorial board reserves the right not to publish any figures/illustrations that fail to meet the above requirements. Photographs of individuals will be published only with the written consent of the person photographed (or his/her guardian), or the individual should be rendered unrecognizable (concealing the eyes, face, etc.). If a figure is taken from other sources, permission for such reproduction obtained from the respective editor/author should be submitted.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

All contributors who do not meet the ICMJE authorship criteria, such as persons who provide technical help, special equipment or materials, and statistical analyses should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Funding and material support should also be listed, with details of the institution/organization/company that provided such support (including the grant numbers), and the beneficiary (a project, a program, an individual). The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors – ICMJE provides detailed guidelines as to who to list under this section (https://bit.ly/36oo0UZ).

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

The authors must declare whether there is a financial relationship between them and the organization/pharmaceutical company that sponsored the research. Conflicting non-financial relationships that may add bias in the journal submissions should be also transparently declared. All contributors of the journal are advised to consult the recommendations available at https://bit.ly/337vidA . The authors should fill and send the following form (WEB-MJ4ESTO NA NAŠOJ STRANICI ILI http://www.icmje.org/conflicts-of-interest/.

The Statement will be included in a separate section of the paper before the References.

REFERENCES

Comprehensive and systematic searches through Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and specialist bibliographic databases are strongly encouraged to cite highly relevant, updated, and evidence-based items. The following relevant recommendations could be consulted at https://rdcu.be/bVOOt and https://bit.ly/2PxEGDz .

References should be presented using the Vancouver style, a numeric citation style as recommended by the US National Library of Medicine. The most frequent examples can be consulted in the following recommendations: ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals: Samples of Formatted References for Authors of Journal Articles (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html). Detailed instructions can be found in the following book: Citing Medicine (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7256).

References in the text, tables, and legends should be numbered in Arabic numerals, in parentheses, consecutively in the order of appearance in the text. When more than one reference is given, these should be separated by a comma.

In the list of references, authors and/or editors are cited with the surname(s) and followed by the initial(s) of the name(s). Initials do not end with a full stop, unless the initial comes immediately before the title. For several authors/editors, their names are separated by a comma. For more than six authors/editors, the first six should be listed with surnames and initials followed by “et al.”, and the others omitted. In titles, only the first word is capitalized, and any other words that are usually written with a capital. In pagination, repeated identical initial digits for page numbers are omitted (for example: 123-125 becomes 123-5). Each reference should end with a full stop.

For articles in English, it is recommended that titles of references published in other languages are cited in English (if available), or an English translation of the title provided (placed in square brackets), with an indication of the language of the original placed at the end.

When referencing an accepted, but not yet published, article, “Forthcoming” should be added at the end. Authors should have written consent to cite such an article, with confirmation that the article has been accepted for publication.

Journal article

Journal titles should be cited with the usual abbreviations (NLM Title Abbreviation), to be found in the National Library of Medicine Catalog (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals). Journal references omit information about the publisher. It is required to include the year of publication, volume, and page numbers. If the journal uses continuous pagination, the month/volume number of the journal indicated in parentheses may be omitted.

[Example] Journal article, more than six authors:

1. Ćurković B, Babić-Naglić Đ, Morović-Vergles J, et al. Proposal for biologic drugs therapy in rheumatoid arthritis. Reumatizam. 2010;57(1):29–35. Croatian.

[Example] Journal article, continuous pagination:

2. Ritchlin CT. From skin to bone: translational perspectives on psoriatic disease. J Rheumatol. 2008;35:1434–7.

[Example] Supplement article:

3. Gladman DD, Antoni C, Mease P, Clegg DO, Nash P. Psoriatic arthritis: epidemiology, clinical features, course, and outcome. Ann Rheum Dis. 2005;64(Suppl 2):ii14–7.

Books

It is required to cite the place of publication, the publisher, and the year of publication. Pagination is provided only if part of a book is cited.

[Example] Book (authors):

4. Walker JM, Helewa A. Physical rehabilitation in arthritis. 2nd ed. St. Louis: Saunders; 2004.

[Example] Book (editors):

5. Isenberg DA, Maddison PJ, Woo P, Glass D, Breedveld FC, editors. Oxford textbook of rheumatology. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2004.

[Example] Chapter in a book:

6. Vasey FB, Espinoza LR. Psoriatic arthritis. In: Calin A, editor. Spondyloarthropathies. Orlando: Grune and Stratton; 1984. pp. 151–85.

Papers presented at meetings

If a conference paper is published in a journal or a supplement, the instructions for citing a journal or a supplement should be applied. If a conference paper is published in a book, the book title is followed by “Proceedings of”, the conference title, date(s), and location (city and country) of the conference.

[Example] Papers presented at meetings, published in a supplement:

7. Matucci Cerinic M, Pignone A. The early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Reumatizam. 1997;44(Suppl):1.

[Example] Papers presented at meetings, published in a book:

8. Babić-Naglić Đ. Fizička aktivnost i vježbe [Physical activities and exercises]. In: Ivanišević G, editor. Talasoterapija, kineziterapija i aromaterapija u Hrvatskoj [Thalassotherapy, kinesitherapy and aromatherapy in Croatia]. Proceedings of the 14^th Lošinj School of Natural Remedies; 2013 Sep 6–7; Veli Lošinj, Croatia. Zagreb: Hrvatski liječnički zbor; 2013, pp. 49–55. Croatian.

[Example] Conference proceedings (book):

9. Gordon DA, editor. Immune reactions and experimental models in rheumatic diseases. Proceedings of the Fourth Canadian Conference on Research in Rheumatic Diseases; 1970 Oct 15–17; Toronto, Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press; 1972.

Web publications

References for web publications should include the URL and date of access, unless it is a publication with a DOI.

[Example] Journal article on the Internet:

10. Mak A, Kow NY. The pathology of T cells in systemic lupus erythematosus. J Immunol Res [Internet]. 2014;2014:419029. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4017881. [cited: 2014 May 25].

[Example] Journal article on the Internet, with a DOI:

11. Vivar N, Van Vollenhoven RF. Advances in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. F1000Prime Rep. 2014 May 6;6:31. doi: 10.12703/P6-31. PubMed PMID: 24860653; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4017904.

[Example] Book/monograph on the Internet:

12. Chen Q, editor. Osteoarthritis – diagnosis, treatment and surgery [Internet]. Rijeka: InTech; 2012. Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/osteoarthritis-diagnosis-treatment-and-surgery. [2013 Oct 8].

[Example] Web page:

13. Hrvatsko reumatološko društvo [Internet]. Zagreb: Croatian Society for Rheumatology of the CMA; c2014. Available from: http://www.reumatologija.org/Pocetna.aspx. [cited: 2014 Apr 1].