TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. GUIDE FOR AUTHORS
- INTRODUCTION
- GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION OF REVIEW ARTICLES
- GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION OF ORIGINAL RESEARCH
- ETHICS
- CONFLICT OF INTEREST
- PERMISSIONS
- EXCLUSIVE SUBMISSION/PUBLICATION POLICY
- AUTHORSHIP/COVER LETTER
- LANGUAGE SERVICES
- INFORMED CONSENT AND PATIENT DETAILS
- SUBMISSION
- AFTER MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
- REVIEW OF MANUSCRIPTS
- MANUSCRIPT ACCEPTANCE
- PROOFS CORRECTION
- ARTICLE PUBLISHING CHARGES:
- AUTHOR INQUIRIES
2. AUTHOR’S DECLARATIONS
- Statement of Informed Consent
- Statement of Human and Animal Rights
- Conflict of interest statement
1) GUIDE FOR AUTHORS
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INTRODUCTION
The “Archives of the Balkan Medical Union” publishes peer-reviewed articles highlighting all aspects of human health, including original clinical studies, experimental investigations with clear clinical relevance, state-of-the-art papers, review articles, viewpoints and case reports. Editorial, Commentaries and Letters to Editors are also considered for publication, either solicited or unsolicited.
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GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION OF REVIEW ARTICLES
The review articles are considered for publication in the following format.
Present and Future—State-of-the-Art Review: As with all submissions to “Archives of the Balkan Medical Union”, State-of-the-Art Reviews should focus on the patient. From basic mechanisms to clinical manifestations and interventional approaches to global health implications, such manuscripts will focus on a contemporary topic with 4-5 major sections written by 4-5 authors (or 4-5 author groups). The authors should adhere to the text length guidelines (a 10,000 words maximum limit for the entire manuscript, with an unstructured abstract of no more than 150 words). Only up to 50 references are allowed.
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GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION OF ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Because of printed page limitations, manuscripts should not exceed 5,000 words (including references and figure legends). Illustrations and tables should be limited to those necessary to highlight key data. Only up to 30 references are allowed.
The manuscript should be arranged as follows: 1) Title page, including acknowledgments (if applicable) and a title of no more than 15 words; title should be both in English and French; 2) Structured abstract (in English and French) and Key Words; 3) Abbreviations list; 4) Text; 5) References; 6) Figure titles and legends; and 7) Tables and Figures.
The structure of an original research article should be: Introduction, The objective of the study, Material and methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions.
The structure of a case report: Introduction, Case presentation, Discussion, Conclusions. Only up to 20 references are allowed.
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ETHICS
Human studies must be performed with the subjects’ written informed consent. Authors must provide the details of this procedure and indicate that the institutional committee on human research has approved the study protocol. Studies on patients or volunteers require ethics committee approval and informed consent, which should be documented in your paper. Patients have a right to privacy. Therefore, identifying information, including patients’ images, names, initials, or hospital names, should not be included in written descriptions and photographs. Articles concerning human or animal research should comply with the Declaration of Helsinki and this must be stated in the methods section.
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CONFLICT OF INTEREST
All authors must make a formal statement at the time of submission indicating any potential conflict of interest that might constitute an embarrassment to any of the authors if it were not to be declared and were to emerge after publication. Such conflicts might include, but are not limited to, shareholding in or receipt of a grant or consultancy fee from a company whose product features in the submitted manuscript or which manufactures a competing product.
All sources of funding for the work should be acknowledged on the title page, as should all institutional affiliations of the authors. This includes associations such as consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interests or patent-licensing arrangements. If no relationship with industry exists, please state this on the title page.
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PERMISSIONS
No part of materials published in ““Archives of the Balkan Medical Union”” may be reproduced without written permission of the editor. Once a manuscript is accepted, the corresponding author will be sent an e-mail to complete the Copyright Form. All the authors must sign this copyright form and send it back to the editor in 3 days.
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EXCLUSIVE SUBMISSION/PUBLICATION POLICY
The manuscripts are considered for review only under the conditions that they are not under consideration elsewhere and that the data presented have not or have not been previously published. On acceptance, transfer of copyright to the Balkan Medical Union will be required.
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AUTHORSHIP/COVER LETTER
Each author must have contributed significantly to the submitted work. The Editors consider authorship to include all of the following:
Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND Final approval of the version to be published; AND Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Authors must agree to the following ICMJE statements. 1) The paper is not under consideration elsewhere; 2) none of the paper’s contents with the exception of abstracts have been previously published; 3) all authors have read and approved the manuscript.
The corresponding author should be specified on the title page. All editorial communications will be sent to this author. The corresponding author will be whom will be contacted for submission queries.
- LANGUAGE SERVICES
English or French language help service: Upon request, editorial assistants may help authors check and improve the English or French of their paper (before submission), against a fee (please contact the editorial office).
- INFORMED CONSENT AND PATIENT DETAILS
For research articles involving humans, written consents must be provided to the editorial office on request. Even where consent has been given, identifying details should be omitted.
- SUBMISSION
We request that all manuscripts be submitted by email to drcameliadiaconu@gmail.com. The images and figures must be sent also as separate attachments to email.
“Archives of the Balkan Medical Union” publishes articles in English OR French. The abstract of an article must be written both in English AND French.
- MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
Prepare the manuscript text using a Word processing package (save in .doc or .docx format). Submission of PDF text files is not permitted.
Word count: the word count includes the text from the introduction to the conclusion, plus figure legends and references. It does not include the title page, abstract, or tables.
The font of the entire text of the article should be Times New Roman 12, justified, single space. Please avoid footonotes.
- TITLE PAGE
Include the title, authors’ names (including full first name and middle initial), total word count. List the departments and institutions with which the authors are affiliated, and indicate the specific affiliations if the work is generated from more than one institution (use superscript numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on). Please list authors’ current email addresses as well. Also provide information on grants, contracts, and other forms of financial support. Under the heading “Address for correspondence” provide the full name and complete postal address of the author to whom communications and printer’s proofs should be sent. Also provide telephone, fax numbers, and an e-mail address.
- ABSTRACT
Provide a structured abstract of no more than 250 words, presenting essential data in 5 paragraphs introduced by separate headings in the following order: Introduction, Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Use complete sentences. All data in the abstract must also appear in the manuscript text or tables. The abstract must be written in English AND French.
- KEY WORDS
Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 key words, avoiding general and plural terms. These key words will be used for indexing purposes, and therefore should be different than the terms/words already used in the title of the paper. Keywords also must be written in English AND French.
- ABBREVIATIONS
On a separate page following the abstract, list the selected abbreviations and their definitions (e.g., CKD = chronic kidney disease). Consult ‘‘Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (ICMJE Recommendations),’’ available at http://www.ICMJE.org for appropriate use of units of measure.
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
100 words or less.
- ARTWORK
Figures and graphs must be separately submitted by e-mail to Editor-in-Chief (each figure one separate attachment). Figures and graphs submitted in electronic format should be provided in EPS, JPG or TIF format. Gray scale images should be at least 300 DPI. Line art (black and white or color) and combinations of gray scale images and line art should be at least 1200 DPI. Lettering should be of sufficient size to be legible after reduction for publication. The optimal size is 12 points. Symbols should be of a similar size. Designate special features with arrows.
- FIGURE LEGENDS
All figures must have a Number, Title, and Caption. The title should be short and followed by a 2–3 sentence caption. All abbreviations used in the figure should be identified in an alphabetical order at the end of each legend. All symbols used (arrows, circles, etc.) must be explained. Figure legends should be typed on pages separate from the text. Figure numbers must correspond with the order in which they are mentioned in the text.
- TABLES
Tables should be typed on separate sheets, with the table number and title centered above the table and explanatory notes below the table. Use Arabic numbers. Table numbers must correspond with the order cited in the text. All tables must have a title. Abbreviations should be listed in a footnote under the table in alphabetical order.
- REFERENCES
Only references written in English are accepted. Do not cite manuscripts in preparation, or other unpublished data in the references. Identify references in the text by Arabic numerals as superscript numbers. The reference list should be typed double-spaced on pages separate from the text; references must be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. List all authors if 6 or fewer, otherwise list the first 3 and add et al.
- REFERENCE STYLE
Use the following style and punctuation for references:
Periodical. List all authors if 6 or fewer, otherwise list the first 3 and add et al. Do not use periods after the authors’ initials. Please provide the full name of the journal. Please provide inclusive page numbers as in example below.
Belciu D, Horodinschi R, Ionescu C, Bratu OG, Diaconu CC. Right hemiplegia and dyspnea: what is the link between? Archives of the Balkan Medical Union 2017;52(3): 353-358.
Chapter in book. Provide author(s), chapter title, editor(s), book title, publisher location, publisher name, year, and inclusive page numbers.
Example:
Antman EM. Treatment of ST elevation myocardial infarction, in Braunwald’s Heart Disease, 8th ed, P Libby et al (eds). Philadelphia, Saunders, 2008:290-325.
Book (personal author or authors). Provide a specific (not inclusive) page number.
Example:
Matthay MA, Ingbar DH (eds): Pulmonary Edema. Lung Biology in Health and Disease, vol 116. New York, Marcel Dekker, 1998:46.
Online media. Provide specific URL address and date information was accessed.
Example:
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Hypertension: management of hypertension in adults in primary care (NICE clinical guideline update). http://www.nice.org.uk (Accessed on January 21, 2009).
Material presented at a meeting but not published. Provide authors, presentation title, full meeting title, meeting dates, and meeting location.
Example:
Diaconu C. Degenerative aortic stenosis or when the window is closing: a clinical-echocardiographical study. Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology 2011; 37(8S):108. Paper presented at: The13th World Congress of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (WFUMB), 23rd Congress of the European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (EFSUMB), the 35th joint meeting of the Austrian (OGUM), German (DEGUM) and Swiss (SGUM) Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine, August 26-29, 2011, Vienna, Austria.
- REVIEW OF MANUSCRIPTS
All manuscripts submitted to the “Archives of the Balkan Medical Union” will be assessed first by the Editorial Board. Some manuscripts will be returned to authors at this stage if they are deemed more appropriate for another journal, if the paper fails to meet submission requirements, or if they are deemed to have insufficient priority. Submissions that advance in the publication process will undergo appropriate blind peer review by at least two independent reviewers, and all papers provisionally accepted for publication will undergo a detailed statistical review. If there is no clear consensus between the 2 reviewers, the manuscript will be reviewed by a 3rd referee. The review period is expected to last between 2-4 weeks, aiming always to obtaining a high quality assessment of the submitted materials by international experts in the relevant field. - AFTER MANUSCRIPT ACCEPTANCE
The Editor-in-Chief will notify the corresponding author if the submited manuscript has been accepted for publication. If revisions are solicited by the reviewers, a revised manuscript must be returned to the editorial office as stipulated in the relevant decision letter.
It is a condition of publication in the “Archives of the Balkan Medical Union” that authors grant an exclusive licence to the Balkan Medical Union. This ensures that requests from third parties to reproduce articles are handled efficiently and consistently and thus ensures that the article is disseminated as widely as possible. As part of the licence agreement, authors may use their own material in other publications, provided the BMU is acknowledged as the original place of publication and is notified in writing in advance. - PLAGIARISM DETECTION
The Archives of Balkan Medical Union is committed to the highest standards of research and publication ethics, and does not allow any form of plagiarism. All submitted manuscripts are screened with plagiarism software (Sem Plag) at least two times during the evaluation process to detect instances of overlapping and similar text. - PROOFS CORRECTION
Page proofs will be submitted to the corresponding author electronically. These should be checked thoroughly for any changes or typographic errors.
It is the editor’s intent to review and correct the proofs and publish the accepted work as soon as possible. To achieve this, it is mandatory that all corrections are returned within three days. Subsequent additional corrections will not be possible, hence please ensure that all amendments are marked up comprehensively in the proofs.
- ARTICLE PUBLISHING CHARGES:
there is a publication fee of 400 RON (approx. 90 Euros) per article, if the first author/corresponding author is a member of Balkan Medical Union (with the yearly fee paid). For non-members, the publication fee is 500 RON/article (approx. 105 Euros). This fee is payable only if the article has been accepted for publication. There are no article processing charges.
- AUTHOR INQUIRIES
For inquiries relating to submitted articles or to articles currently under review, please contact the “Archives of the Balkan Medical Union” editorial office at drcameliadiaconu@gmail.com.
The mailing address for “Archives of the Balkan Medical Union” and the Editor-in-Chief is:
Dr. Camelia Diaconu, Prof. Dr. Habil. Camelia DIACONU, MD, Ph.D., FESC, FACC, FACP
Editor-in-Chief, “Archives of the Balkan Medical Union”
1 Georges Clemenceau street, Bucharest, Romania
phone 0040 726 377 300, e-mail drcameliadiaconu@gmail.com.
The Archives of the Balkan Medical Union Journal requires that each author, reviewer, and editor must disclose to the editor-in-chief any conflict of interest related to family, personal, financial, political or religious issues as well as any competing interest. Whether or not a conflict of interest and financial support exist, they must be declared at the ICMJE Conflict of Interest form as well as at the end of the manuscripts. If a reviewer, an associate editor, or a section editor has a conflict of interest and/or believes that it is not appropriate to be a reviewer, or an editor for a given manuscript, the reviewer or the editor should resign from the assignment. The Editorial Board members of the Archives of the Balkan Medical Union Journal, who handle submissions and recommend decisions to the Editor-in-chief may also submit their own manuscripts to the journal as all of them are active researchers and scientists. However, they cannot take place at any stage on the editorial decision of their manuscripts in order to minimize any possible bias. They will be treated like any other author, and if any, final acceptance of such manuscripts can only be made by the positive recommendation of at least two external reviewers, who are not the members of decision-making Editorial Board.