Papers should be submitted directly to the online Editorial Office at the Acta Biomedica website: www.actabiomedica.it.

ActaBiomed requires that all manuscripts be prepared in accordance with the “Recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals” set by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (http://www.icmje.org/icmjerecommendations. pdf). In particular, the corresponding author, on behalf of all the other Authors, must declare the existence of all possible conflicts of interest, including financial, consultant, institutional and other relationships that might constitute a potential conflict of interest in relation to the subject matter of the article. In the case of existence of any such financial connections, the authors concerned must declare them in a brief but complete definition at the end of the article, before the references. If no conflict of interest exists the corresponding Author should type: "Each author declares that he or she has no commercial associations (e.g. consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangement etc.) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article.

Sources of funding, institutional affiliations and conflicts of interest should be declared in the publication. Reports of research not in accordance with the principles of this Declaration should not be accepted for publication“.

The journal does not charge any financial fee to the authors  for the online manuscript submission. Authors are requested to choose a corresponding author. The corresponding author is responsible for the following requirements: managing all communications between the journal and all co-authors during the manuscript submission, publication process and after publication; ensuring that the names of authors, their arrangement and affiliations are correct; ensuring that all listed authors have approved the manuscript before submission; making sure all permissions to reproduce previously published material have been obtained from the copyright owner; making sure disclosures, declarations, statements from all authors are included in the manuscript as appropriate. It is the responsibility of the Authors of an article published in ActaBiomed to have contributed in a meaningful and identifiable way to the design, performance, analysis, and reporting of the manuscript.

ActaBiomed permits only one corresponding author per manuscript submission. This Author is solely responsible for all correspondence with the ActaBiomed and will receive all emails regarding forms, authorship issues, manuscript files, etc.

Research involving human subjects, human material, or human data, must have been performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and must have been approved by an Ethics Committee, sometimes referred to as an Institutional Review Board (IRB). A statement detailing this, including the name of the Ethics Committee, the reference number and date of approval. If a retrospective (“non-interventional”) study has been granted an exemption from requiring ethics approval, this should also be detailed in the manuscript.

The corresponding author, on behalf of all the other Authors, must declare the existence of all possible conflicts of interest, including financial, consultant, institutional and other relationships that might constitute a potential conflict of interest in relation to the subject matter of the article. In the case of existence of any such financial connections, the authors concerned must declare them in a brief but complete definition at the end of the article, before the references. If no conflict of interest exists the corresponding Author should type: "Each author declares that he or she has no commercial associations (e.g. consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangement etc.) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article

Without this declaration the online paper submission cannot be accepted.

To be considered for publication the manuscripts submitted to ActaBiomed must meet an English style standards. For researchers for whom English is not the primary language, a revision by an English-proficient will be considered for the accepted papers, without additional costs. If an extensive revision of English style is needed, the Authors are requested to provide, with the resubmission of manuscript, to add an official certificate issued by the qualified Language Editing Service. As an alternative, ActaBiomed may offers a Language Editing Service that can assist the authors of manuscript. The cost of language editing depends on the lenght and characteristics of manuscript. For additional information please contact valeriaceci@mattiolihealth.com.

Before submission users will have to register at website  www.actabiomedica.it. Registration is free but mandatory. Registered authors can keep track of their articles after logging into the site using their user name and password. Authors do not have to pay for submission and processing of articles but a fee has to be paid after the acceptation of the article and before the publication. Please read carefully the complete Authors guidelines prior to submission. Note that submission implies that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Acta Biomed requires two templates for online submission: ABM title page sample and ABM manuscript sample. All users are invited to use them in the submission process in order to shorten the evaluation times.

The manuscript that has not followed the ActaBiomed guidelines will be rejected.  This does not preclude resubmission of a corrected version of manuscript.

All authors’ ORCID numbers need to be submitted when creating an account for correspondence. To obtain an ORCID number, please visit: https://orcid.org. To submit, login at http://www.actabiomedica.it and create a new submission. Follow the submission steps as required and submit the manuscript. Before starting online submission process please login Submission Preparation Checklist . For authors section in ActaBiomed home page.

 

Author Contributions Statement

It has to be placed after the conflict of interest. To qualify for authorship, all contributors must meet at least one of the seven core contributions (conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, data curation), as well as at least one of the writing contributions (original draft preparation, review and editing). Authors may also satisfy the other remaining contributions; however, these alone will not qualify them for authorship.
Contributions will be published with the final article, and they should accurately reflect contributions to the work. The corresponding author is responsible for completing this information at full submission, and we expect that all authors will have reviewed, discussed, and agreed to their individual contributions ahead of this time.

 

 

Manuscript categories and requirements for submission

Manuscripts should be typed in 12-point type and double spacing should be used throughout. Conflict of interest disclosure and ethics approval are mandatory and without them the manuscripts will not be taken into consideration.

1. Original Articles: These include  full-length report of current research within any area covered in the journal’s scope, and aims to address novel findings and make significant contribution to the scientific knowledge in medical scientific disciplines and sub-specialities. Main test – 5000 words limit, including the main body of text and excluding abstract, references, figures and tables. It should carry an abstract of not more than 250 words. The abstract must be self-contained and clear without reference to the text. The abstract format should include four sections: Background and aim of the work (the purpose or hypothesis of study), Research Design and Methods (the basic design, setting, number of participants and selection criteria, treatment or intervention, and methods of assessment), Results (significant data found), and Conclusions (the validity, limitations, and clinical applicability of the study and its results).
   Below the abstract provide 5-7 key words that will assist indexers in cross-indexing the article.
   The article Research Design and Methods section contains the study design, definitions of terms used in describing the research, population or samples used for the study, measurements obtained and methods used for making them, statistical analysis plan, and any features of the methods used that are specific to this particular research.
   The main text must be distributed in eight sections : 1) Introduction; 2) Patients and Methods (this section contains the study design, definitions of terms used in describing the research, population or samples used for the study, measurements obtained and methods used for making them, statistical analysis plan, and any features of the methods used that are specific to this particular research; 3) Results (this section describes the main objective data and the results of the statistical analyses performed using them should be included as results. Neither further information on the methods used nor interpretation of the implications of findings should appear among the results—these belong in the Methods and Conclusions sections, respectively); 4) Conclusions (this section should briefly summarize the study’s main findings and place them in context of past research related to the topic of the article. In particular, it describes how the present observations add new information); 5) Acknowledgements (if added); 6) Funding (if added); 7) Statement of conflicts of interest; 8) References;  and 9) Correspondence to Author.
2. Brief Reports: should be arranged like original articles. It should not exceed 2500 word with up to 2 figures or 2 tables or 1 figure and 1 table and 20 references. A structured abstract (maximum 250 words) is required.
3. Editorials: An Editorial is defined as a comment on an article or articles published in AMJ. Editorials are generally solicited by the editorial office and written by recognized leader(s) in the field. . Editorials should not exceed 2000 words. An abstract is not required, no more than 10 references and 1 figure or table are allowed.
4. Review articles:
   Reviews that balance interest for the general reader with usefulness for specialists. Reviews are typically commissioned from leaders in the field and should focus on the latest developments and newest insights, setting them in a wider context.  It should not exceed 5000 words including the main body of text and excluding abstract, references, figures and tables. The Review article can be submitted either by the invitations from the Editors or by the authors themselves. If you wish to submit an uninvited review article you should add a proposal that includes: Why this is an important topic to review, why it is best suited for
   ActaBiomed and why the review would appeal to the readership; The article's focus; Major issue(s) to be addressed. These articles are peer-reviewed.
5. Systematic Review with and without Meta-analysis: A systematic review consists of searching, screening, and selecting all eligible literature following predetermined eligibility criteria, and appraising and synthesizing the literature to answer a specific research question. A systematic review requires a rigorous and systematic approach to reduce bias and produce more trusted evidence to facilitate decision making (https://www.cochranelibrary.com/about/about-cochrane-reviews). Systematic reviews without meta-analysis are categorized as Review Article. In addition to following the general format of a review article described above, this type of reviews should also adhere to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) and each submission should include the PRISMA Checklist (We strongly encourage authors to comply with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines) .
6. Clinical Updates: The aim of Clinical Updates is to provide readily accessible, concise, and clinically relevant summaries to improve patient care. Clinical Updates are commissioned by the Section Editors. They should not exceed 5000 words including the main body of text and excluding abstract, references, figures and tables. The manuscripts will be submitted to the judgement of Section Editors and and/or reviewers.
7. Invited commentaries: This section discuss a paper published in a specific ActaBiomed issue and should set the problems addressed by the paper in the wider context of the field. Commentaries should not exceed 1000 words, 1 figure or table and no more than 7 references. The abstract is not needed. These articles are peer-reviewed.
8. Reports/Case series: The Case Report article is a detailed description or documentation of an emerging disease, unusual or rare disease, or the unusual manifestation of some common diseases. These contributions could be of up to 2000 words (excluding abstract and references) and should have the following headings: Abstract (unstructured), Key-words, Introduction, Case report, Discussion, Reference, Figures/ tables (maximum four).
   Details that might disclose the identity of the subjects under the study should be omitted. In any case, a document enclosing the patient’s agreement to publish all the necessary information must be obtained and, if possible, the patient should be allowed to read the case report final draft, before submission to approve or disapprove.
   If the participant has died, then consent for publication must be sought from the next of kin of the participant. This documentation must be made available to Editors on request, and will be treated confidentially.
9. Letters to the Editor: These should be short and concise reports and should be of general interest to the field of medical scientific disciplines and sub-specialities. The letter should not exceed 1200 words, one figure and one table and up to 6 references, must include not more than 6 authors. Abstract is not required. Key words are not required. The letter will be submitted to the judgement of peer reviewers. If the research was carried out without funding, "None" should be stated in this section. Otherwise, the full official funding agency name should be given. Grant numbers should be given in brackets. It has to be placed before the references. A maximum number of five Letters to the Editor will published in each issue of Acta Biomedica.
10. Correspondence: Correspondence should usually be in reference to manuscripts published in Acta Biomedica in the previous 4 months. Correspondence to the Editor should be no more 750 words and may include one figure or table and up to 4 references. No abstract is required. The Editor-in Chief may invite a reply from the author(s) of the original publication or may forward the correspondence to the author(s). The publication is free of charge.
11. Invited Viewpoints: These may address virtually any important topic in medicine, public health, research, discovery, prevention, ethics, health policy, or health law and generally are not linked to a specific article. Invited viewpoints should not exceed 1200 word count limit, 3 Authors, one figure or table and up to 7 references. The manuscripts will be submitted to the judgement of reviewers.
12. Humanities: These are assays that show the relevance of the arts to the science and practice of medicine. Humanities should not exceed 1200 words, 3 Authors, 3 figure and up to 7 references. The manuscripts will be submitted to the judgement of reviewers.
13. Others: In general, Acta Biomed does not accept articles that fall outside the above-mentioned categories. If you have any questions regarding the article category for submission to Acta Biomed, please contact the Editorial Office at: valeriaceci@mattiolihealth.com.

Third-party permission

Authors who wish to use copyrighted third-party content (defined as any material within the manuscript which is not the author’s original work) must obtain permission from the copyright holder (usually the original publisher). Third-party content may consist of figures, photos, illustrations, and may be found in several places such as, but not limited to, websites, print, and online books and articles, theses, annual reports, conference material, etc.  Please report fully the Authors' names and Journal reference in the didascaly of figure(s), diagram(s), etc.,  with  their permission.

Once obtained, documents certifying the permission to use third-party content should be sent to valeriaceci@mattiolihealth.com for archiving purposes.

The following items must be submitted to ActaBiomed:

1. The corresponding Author must disclaim in the frame letter to the Editor-in Chief that the submitted paper has not already been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. It is original and not contains parts taken from other publications. All submissions are accepted with the understanding that they have not been, and will not be, published elsewhere substantially in any format. Also, there should be no ethical concerns with the content or data collection. If the manuscript has been rejected previously by another journal, the author(s) should describe specifically how it has been improved since being rejected.
2. Please, download and use the two template files (TITLE PAGE and MANUSCRIPT) for your online submission. Then, upload both files in your submission.
   a) TITLE PAGE must contain:
   - a concise informative title;
   - full author(s) names (without professional qualification); please, mark in red the Family name (last name) of all the authors;
   - affiliations: department or institution where work was done;
   - correspondence: full name and address of author to whom correspondence about the manuscript and request for reprints should be referred, as well as fax, telephone number, E-mail and ORCID number (if available);
   - a running title of no more than 40 characters;
   - total text word count and abstract word count.
   The online submission fields must contain the full names of all authors, using the button "add contributors" with capital letters only for the first letter of authors’ names. If the submission has missed the co-authors name, it is not possible to add them later and the submission must be repeated. Missing authors in the metadata will reflect in missing authors list in Pubmed.
   In the case of removal or addition of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being removed or added.
   Please, pay attention! Be sure to add all the affiliations of all the authors, including the affiliation of the author who submit the article. DOI will not be registered by the plugin if even just one affiliation is missed. Please, be sure to fill out carefully all the metadata of the article. For author submitting the article: please, be sure in your profile is present the affiliation and if not, please update it or don't forget to add the affiliation in the submission proceed of the article.
   Be certain to list E-mail of the corresponding author on the title page. All the correspondence will be WEBSITE-ONLY.
3. b) MANUSCRIPT must include:
   - abstract (not more than 250 words),
   - key words (5-7 key words that will assist indexers in cross-indexing the article),
   - a running title of no more than 40 characters,
   - manuscript,
   - tables and figures with legends,
   - acknowledgements (if added); funding (if added); statement of conflicts of interest (mandatory); ethic committee (institution name and protocol number and year) (if added), informed consent (if added)
   - references.

General Style Points:

Acronyms and Abbreviations: should be used sparingly and only where they ease the reader’s task by reducing repetition of long, technical terms. Initially use the word in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter use the abbreviation.

Drugs: should be referred to by their generic names, rather than brand names.

Units of measurement: Measurements should be given in SI or SI-derived units. Visit the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) website for more information about SI units. Although not an SI unit, Celsius should be used for body temperature or for laboratory measurement temperatures in the physiologic range. If using conventional system measurements, these should be followed in parentheses by equivalent SI values. Submitted manuscripts are required to report HbA1c in both SI (IFCC) and NGSP/DCCT units.

Numbers: numbers under 10 are spelt out, except for: measurements with a unit (8mmol/l); age (6 weeks old), or lists with other numbers (11 dogs, 9 cats).

Statistics:  When data are summarized in the Results section, specify the statistical methods used to analyze them.   When data are summarized in the Results section, give numeric results not only as derivatives (for example, percentages) but also as the absolute numbers from which the derivatives were calculated, and specify the statistical methods used to analyze them.

Use upper italics (P: 0.048). For all  P values include the exact value and not less than 0.05 or 0.001. Exact P values, such as P = 0.23, are preferable to the term ‘N.S.’or ‘not significant’. P values given in tables or figures need not to be repeated in the text.

P values are preferably quoted to three decimal places, e.g. P = 0.025 or P = 0.003, but when P > 0.1, it is sufficient to keep to two decimal places, e.g. P = 0.25. Small P values can be expressed as P < 0.001 or P < 0.0001. Both ‘p’ and ‘P’ are allowed, although the international standard is P (large italic) (From: Fukuda H and Ohash Y. Jpn J Clin Oncol 1997;27:121–7).

Unqualified use of such analyses is strongly discouraged. The Editor may require to Authors to provide an official certificate/evidence of statistical consultation (or at least expertise) on the study design, statistical analysis, presentation and interpretation of results.

Trade Names: Chemical substances should be referred to by the generic name only. Trade names should not be used. Drugs should be referred to by their generic names. If proprietary chemicals, reagents or special pieces of apparatus have been used in the study, refer to these by their generic name, mentioning the proprietary name and the name and location of the manufacturer in parentheses.

Illustrations: It is the authors’ responsibility to obtain permission (from the author and copyright holder) to reproduce illustrations, tables, etc. from other publications. If the figures have been reproduced from another source, a letter from the copyright holder (usually the publisher) authorizing the reproduction of the material must be attached to the covering letter. Photographs and graphics should be sent as high resolution files: not less than 300 d.p.i. and with a base of the same size as a column of the Journal (8 cm). A letter of permission must accompany all photographs when there is a possibility of identification. Legends should be added. The citation of the Figures in the text should be added as (Figure 1.... Figures 1-3, and so on). Cite figures with the format: Figure 1 A, Figure 1 B, Figure 2, Figure 3, etc. When consecutive subparts of a figure are cited, they should be cited as: Figure 1A-1D, etc.

Tables: tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. Legends should be concise but comprehensive – the table, legend, and footnotes must be understandable without reference to the text. All abbreviations must be defined in footnotes. Footnote symbols: †, ‡, §, ¶, should be used (in that order) and *, **, *** should be reserved for P-values. The Tables must be embedded in the main manuscript. Tables should be self-contained and complement, but not duplicate, the information contained in the text.

Figure Legends: Legends should be concise but comprehensive – the figure and its legend must be understandable without reference to the text. Include definitions of any symbols used and define/explain all abbreviations and units of measurement. ues. Statistical measures such as SD or SEM should be identified in the headings.

References: references should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear in the text. They have to be placed in round brackets and NOT in square brackets or superscripted for example: (1,2) or (1-3). References cited only in tables or in legends to figures should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text. The list of references should be typed in numerical order and indicate: authors’ names (all authors when six or less; when seven or more list only the first three and add “et al.”); article title, name of the Journal (abbreviated as in Index Medicus), publication year, volume and first and last page numbers. Please, don't use the bold or the italics styles for the references and do not report the dot after the first name of authors or after the name of the Journals.

The recommended style for references should be mainly based on Vancouver style. Bibliographic References as adapted by PubMed Citation-National Library of Medicine (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

- If there are more than 6 authors, list the first 3 authors, followed by et al.

Examples:

1. Standard journal articles
   - Soliman AT, De Sanctis V, Yassin M, Wagdy M, Soliman N. Chronic anemia and thyroid function. Acta Biomed. 2017 Apr 28;88(1):119-127. doi: 10.23750/abm.v88i1.6048.
2. Organization as author
   - Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension 2002 Nov;40(5):679-86. doi: 10.1161/01.hyp.0000035706.28494.09.
3. No author given
   - Listed NA. Abstracts from 11th George Rajka International Symposium on Atopic Dermatitis. Acta Derm Venereol. 2021 Apr 19;101(221). doi: 10.2340/00015555-3793.
4. Article not in English
   - Chen S, Chen YL, Chen B, Chen YH. [Biography of Chen Zi]. Zhonghua Yi Shi Za Zhi. 2019 May 28;49(3):168-178. Chinese. doi: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.0255-7053.2019.03.006.
5. Volume with supplement.
   - Geraud G, Spierings EL, Keywood C. Tolerability and safety of frovatriptan with short- and long-term use for treatment of migraine and in comparison with sumatriptan. Headache. 2002 Apr;42 Suppl 2:S93-9. doi: 10.1046/j.1526-4610.42.s2.7.x.
6. Issue with supplement
   - Glauser TA. Integrating clinical trial data into clinical practice. Neurology. 2002 Jun 25;58(12 Suppl 7):S6-12. doi: 10.1212/wnl.58.12_suppl_7.s6. 
7. Article published electronically ahead of the print version
   - Yu WM, Hawley TS, Hawley RG, Qu CK. Immortalization of yolk sac-derived precursor cells. Blood. 2002 Nov 15;100(10):3828-31. Epub 2002 Jul 5.
8. 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: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.
9. Conference proceedings
   -Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour Conference; 2001 Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.

 

Conflict of Interest statement

If no conflict of interest exists the corresponding Author should report after references : "Each author declares that he or she has no commercial associations (e.g. consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangement etc.) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article". It has to be placed before the references.

Author Contributions Statement

Each author must have contributed significantly to, and be willing to take public responsibility for, one or more aspects of the study: its design, data acquisition, and analysis and interpretation of data.

A short statement detailing the contributions of each author should be reported after references. It describes the contribution each author made to the manuscript. Authorship credit should be based on:

1) substantial contributions to the conception and design of the study, acquisition of the data, or analysis and interpretation of the data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) the final approval of the version to be published. Authors should meet all three of these conditions.

Note: acquisition of funding, collection of data, language editing, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship. All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the ‘Acknowledgments’ section. It has to be placed before the references.

Acknowledgments

The acknowledgments are located after the reference list. Contributions from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed. The source of financial grants and the contribution of colleagues or institutions should be acknowledged. Thanks to anonymous reviewers are not appropriate. It has to be placed before the references.

Funding

If the research was carried out without funding, "None" should be stated in this section.

In providing details of funding, authors should report: The full official funding agency name should be given. Grant numbers should be given in brackets. It has to be placed before the references.

Last pre-print check

Before the final printing, the Editor will request via website to the corresponding author to make the last check of the already accepted manuscript and to return it within 48 hours. Corrections should be marked on the actual galley proofs. Co-Author additions are not permitted. Please, remember that AFTER THE PUBLICATION OF THE ARTICLE NO MORE CORRECTIONS WILL BE MADE.

Reprints: Reprints are available if requested. Order form and a price list have to be requested to the Publisher.

 

(Last update version: 10^th February 2023)