AUTHOR GUIDELINES
’’Biomedicinska istraživanja“ is a journal of the Faculty of Medicine Foca, University of East Sarajevo, with an open access and blind peer review, which is published twice a year, in June and December.
The journal ’’Biomedicinska istraživanja“ publishes original scientific papers, previous or short announcements, review and professional papers, papers for practice, educational articles, comments on published articles, case reports, literature reviews, papers on the history of medicine, book reviews, reports from scientific and professional gatherings, news and letters from all fields of medicine, dentistry, special education and rehabilitation and nursing.
Open access to the journal ”Biomedicinska istraživanja’’ allows free and unlimited online access to all articles after their online publication. Users may download, read, copy and print the complete texts of all papers free of charge or use them for any other purpose permitted by law, without the prior approval of the publisher or author.
There is no fee for submitting an article, for processing an article, for reviewing, or a fee for accessing published articles.
Conditions. The journal ”Biomedicinska istraživanja’’ publishes only papers that have not been previously published in whole or partially, except in abstract form, and which have not been submitted for publication to another journal at the same time.
General guidelines
The text of the article should be written clearly and concisely, avoiding unnecessary extensiveness in Serbian Latin or English with a short content, obligatory in both Serbian and English. Due to better availability and greater citation, authors are recommended to submit papers of all forms in English. Original papers, previous or short announcements, patient or case reports, review papers and current topics are published exclusively in English, and other types of papers can be published in Serbian only by the decision of the Editorial Board. Abbreviations should be used exceptionally, and only for very long names of chemical substances or for names that are known as abbreviations (i.e. AIDS, DNA, etc.). The names of symptoms and signs, as well as the names of diseases, anatomical or histological features, cannot be shortened. Use metric units in accordance with the International System of Units, and generic names for medicines, while devices should be marked by their trade names, with the name and location of the manufacturer in brackets.
Type the text of the paper in Word, with double spacing, exclusively Times New Roman font and font size 12. Set all margins to 25 mm, page size to A4, and type the text with left alignment and indentation of each paragraph by 10 mm, without division of words.
Number the pages in order within the bottom margin starting from the title page. Data on the used literature in the text are indicated by Arabic numerals in square brackets – e.g. [3, 4] in the order in which they appear in the text.
Use standard graphic programmes for Windows, Microsoft Office (Excel) to design graphic attachments. Avoid colouring and shading of the background in computer design of graphs.
Along with the manuscript of the article, it is necessary to enclose a statement with the signatures of all authors that the article has not been published before, nor is it currently being considered for publication in another journal – publication. All submitted papers are sent for anonymous review by two reviewers, experts in the relevant field. The papers are not honored or returned.
Acknowledgment
List all those who contributed to the creation of the paper and did not meet the authorship criteria, such as the individuals providing technical assistance. Financial and material assistance in the form of sponsorships, scholarships, gifts, equipment, medicines and other should also be mentioned. Paid services are not provided, e.g. professional translations into English.
Cover letter must contain the date of submission, the title of the manuscript, and information about the previous publication or previous rejection by another journal. If the manuscript was previously rejected by another journal, the authors should describe how it has been improved since the moment of rejection. It is also necessary to provide copies of all permits for: reproducing previously published material, using illustrations and publishing information about famous people, or naming people who contributed to the paper.
Plagiarism
From 25 September 2018, all manuscripts will be subject to plagiarism/autoplagiarism via iThenticate, and from 2023 via Similarity Check (iThenticate v2). Special attention is paid to manuscripts suspected of being plagiarized in accordance with COPE flowcharts (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts) and ICMJE recommendations. Papers proving plagiarism/autoplagiarism will be rejected.
The length of the manuscript
The length of the manuscript (excluding the short content and list of references) for a review paper can be a maximum of 12 pages, for an original paper 10 pages, for professional paper and paper on the history of medicine 8 pages, for previous announcements 4 pages, for a report, book review and letter 2 pages, and for case reports (of patients) up to 6 pages.
Parts of the paper: title page, abstract with keywords, text of the paper, references, attachments (tables, graphs, figures).
Original and professional papers should have the following subheadings: Introduction (Aim of the paper should be stated as the last paragraph of the Introduction), Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References.
The review paper consists of: Introduction, Relevant subheadings, Conclusion, References. The review paper must contain at least 5 papers by the author of the article from the narrow field from which the paper is from.
Patient or case reports consist of: Introduction (Aim of the paper should be stated as the last paragraph of the Introduction), Patient report, Discussion, References. For other types of papers, the abstract does not have a special structure.
Preparation of the paper
The papers should be prepared in accordance with the Vancouver agreement (V Edition, review from 1997), initiated by the International Committee of Medical Journals Editors. Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: www.icmje.org – http://www.icmje.org/urm_full.pdf
Title page
On a separate page, the title page of the manuscript, the following should be stated:
– A title of the paper without abbreviations;
– Full names and surnames of the authors without titles and indexed by numbers;
– Official name and place of the institutions where the authors work, in the order which matches indexed numbers of the authors;
– At the bottom of the page should be the name and surname of the author responsible for correspondence, his address, telephone numbers and e-mail address;
– on this page, at the request of the author, the sources of funding should be indicated, as well as acknowledgments.
Short summary (abstract) and keywords. In addition to the original scientific paper, an announcements, review and professional paper and a paper on the history of medicine, a short summary of up to 250 words should be attached on a separate page. It states the objectives and methods, the main results (if possible, state the numerical data and their statistical significance) and the basic conclusions of the paper. Finally, list keywords or shorter phrases (3 to 5) relevant to the rapid identification and classification of the article. If possible, use Medical Subject Headings-MeSH (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh) to select keywords. It is recommended not to use the words from the title for keywords.
Title of the paper, full names and surnames of the authors, names of institutions, short summary (abstract) and keywords in English
On a separate page, type the title of the paper, full names and surnames of the authors, names of institutions, abstract and keywords in English, if the paper is written in Serbian. (For papers written in English, in addition to short summary in English, short summary in Serbian is also required).
Attachments are tables, figures (photographs), drawings (schemes, graphs), of which there can be a total of six. Each attachment is submitted as a separate document, marked in the same way as in the text. If tables, graphs, schemes or figures have already been published, indicate the original source and attach written authorization for their use.
Tables. Each table should be typed on a separate page. Tables are marked with Arabic numerals according to the order of citation in the text. The title of the table shows its contents and it is typed above the table. Be sure to explain the abbreviations used in the table in the table legend. Work with tables exclusively in Word, through the Table-Insert-Table menu with Instructions to authors defining the exact number of columns and rows that will make up the table grid.
Figures (photographs). Submit only original high-quality black-and-white photographs. On the back of each Figure, stick a sticker with its ordinal number, the author’s name and the marked top of the Figure. Type the title of the Figure on a separate sheet.
Drawings (schemes, graphs). Graphs should be made and submitted in Excel, and then linked to a Word document where the graphs are marked with Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear in the text. Write the titles of the graphs and the legend for each drawing on a separate sheet.
References. They are printed on a separate sheet of paper, double-spaced, in Arabic numerals, in the order of their appearance in the text. The number of references should not exceed 30, except in review paper where up to 50 is allowed. Approximately 80% of cited works should be original scientific papers, while the remaining 20% may include books, book chapters or review articles. The majority of the cited articles should not be older than five years, and abstracts should be avoided as references.
References are cited according to so-called Vancouver rules (Vancouver style). Use abbreviated names of journals according to Index Medicus.
Citation Examples:
Journal article:
Jasselon J, Kuser BY, Wier MR. Hepatitis B surface antigenemia in a chronic hemodialysis program. Am J Kidney Dis 1987;9(6):456-61.
The names of first six authors are to be listed. If there are more than six autors, add ‘et al.’ after the sixth author.
Chapter in a book:
Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: Mc-Graw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.
Book:
Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002.
Article from a congress or meeting:
Vuković B, Šeguljev Z, Virusni hepatitisi – aktuelan epidemiološki problem 32. Dani preventivne medicine. Niš, 1998. Zbornik rezimea. Institut za zaštitu zdravlja, Niš, 1998; 51-64.
Dissertation:
Radosavljević V. Faktori rizika za nastanak malignih tumora mokraćne bešike. Doktorska disertacija. Univerzitet u Beogradu, 1999.
Journal article in an electronic format:
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
Web page on the Internet:
Cancer-Pain.org [homepage on the Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2000-01 [updated 2002 May 16; cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.cancer-pain.org/.
Submitting manuscripts. The manuscript and all attachments to the paper are submitted exclusively electronically through the application system on the website https://biomedicinskaistrazivanja.mef.ues.rs.ba/login
Note. Paper that does not meet the requirements of these instructions cannot be submitted for review and will be returned to the authors to supplement and correct it. Adherence to the instructions for the preparation of the paper will significantly shorten the time of the entire process until the publication of the paper in the journal, which will positively affect the quality of articles and the regularity of the journal.
For any additional information, please contact the address and telephone number:
University of East Sarajevo
Faculty of Medicine, Foca
Studentska 5, 73300 Foca
e-mail: biomedicinskaistrazivanja@yahoo.com
tel: 058/210-420; fax: 058/210-007
To the Editorial Board of the Journal ”Biomedicinska istraživanja”