Information and Guidelines for Authors

Version: July 15th 2011

Revista Română de Medicină de Laborator (The Romanian Review of Laboratory Medicine) publishes editorials, original scientific and professional articles general reviews, case presentations, guidelines and recommendations of national and international scientific and professional associations, book reviews and announces events (congresses, symposia, courses) in the field of laboratory medicine. Its aim is to publish new information which can lead to a better understanding of the biological mechanisms of human diseases, improve prophylaxis and early diagnosis, as well as therapy evaluation and patient health status. The Review also includes a “Course Notes” section for medical residents and for those who would like to update their knowledge into the approached fields. The frequency of the Review is currently four issues per year.

Manuscript submission

Manuscripts and all attached files (tables and illustrations) should be submitted in electronic form, either using the on-line manuscript submission form available on the website of the Romanian Review of Laboratory Medicine (www.rrml.ro), or by regular mail to the Editor-in-Chief, on compact disk. It is preferrable that three copies of the manuscript (including tables and figures), printed on one side of A4 paper format, double-spaced, with 2.5 cm margins, be also submitted to the same address.

Please note that general reviews and course notes are invited by the editor. Questions may be directed to Prof. Minodora Dobreanu (dobreanum@yahoo.com).

Submission documents

At the time of submission, the Romanian Review of Laboratory Medicine requires an explicit statement by the corresponding author warranting that the manuscript, as submitted, has been reviewed by and approved by all named authors; that the corresponding author is empowered by all of the authors to act on their behalf with respect to the submission of the manuscript; that the article does not infringe upon any copyright or other proprietary right of any third party; that neither the text nor the data have been published previously (abstracts excepted); and that the article or a substantially similar article is not under consideration by another journal at that time.

Upon submission of the manuscript, the corresponding author must provide the Editorial Board with documents proving that all those quoted for personal communications or listed in the Acknowledgement section have agreed to their inclusion. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted material from other sources and send an authenticated copy of the permission to the Editorial Board.

Each author must provide a clear statement on potential conflicts of interest in which he or she may be involved. The statement should include sources of funding, including internal support or grants from non-commercial institutions. The absence of funding should also be declared. The statement on conflicts of interest will be published at the end of the paper.

Mailing address. Please submit all requested signed documents by regular mail to the Secretariat in attention to Prof. Minodora Dobreanu (Editor-in-Chief), University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Tirgu Mures, code 540136, No. 38, Str. Gheorghe Marinescu, Romania.

Scanned copies sent electronically and fax submissions are not acceptable.

Authorship

All named authors should meet the criteria for authorship as stated in the „Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication” issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (www.icmje.org):

„Authorship credit should be based on 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) final approval of the version to be published. Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, and 3. [...]

Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship.

All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify should be listed.”

The Romanian Review of Laboratory Medicine considers all authors to be responsible for the content of the entire paper.

Authors are requested to describe their individual contributions to a study/ paper in a section that will be signed, attached to and sent together with the „Authorship Responsibilities” form.

Individuals who supplied reagents, strains or facilities should not be listed as authors, but may be recognized in the Acknowledgements section. Individuals who gave advice on the manuscript should be acknowledged, but are not considered authors.

Research involving human subjects or experimental animals

If the scientific project involves human subjects or experimental animals, authors must state in the manuscript that the protocol has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the institution within which the research work was undertaken. Experiments on live vertebrates or higher invertebrates must be demonstrated to be ethically acceptable and in accordance with institutional and national guidelines or regulations for laboratory animals. If the manuscript reports medical research involving human subjects, authors must include a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from all subjects, according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki, revised in 2000, Edinburgh.

Editorial process and peer review

Submitted manuscripts are screened for completeness and quality of files and will not enter the review process until all files are satisfactory. The Secretariat will announce the corresponding author about the receipt and the status of the manuscript.

The articles are sent to referees with expertise in the laboratory medicine area, without revealing the authors’ names and position. Also, the referees’ identities are not known by the authors. Following the referees’ recommendations, the Editors decide if a paper is published or not.

Submissions may be declined without external review as deemed appropriate by the Editor-in-Chief and the members of the Editorial Board.

The authors of the manuscripts that have been rejected or need revision will be announced. Revised manuscripts should be resubmitted as soon as possible, but not later than 6 weeks. Although unusual, a resubmission may be rejected after revision if the response to suggestions and requests is considered inadequate.

Corrections

Scientific fraud are rare events; however, they have a very serious impact on the integrity of the scientific community. If the Editorial Board uncovers possible evidence of such problems it will first contact the corresponding author in complete confidence, to allow adequate clarification of the situation. If the results of such interactions are not satisfactory, the Board will contact the appropriate official(s) in the institu­tion(s) from which the manuscript originated. It is then left to the institution(s) in question to pursue the matter appropriately. Depending on the circumstances, the Romanian Review of Laboratory Medicine may also opt to publish errata, corrigenda, or retractions.

Manuscript preparation

Manuscripts must be written in English and prepared in conformity to the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication” issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (www.icmje.org). Romanian authors will also provide a copy of the title, affiliation, abstract and keywords translated into Romanian.

Authors should consult someone proficient in the English language, if they feel it is necessary. If the manuscript is not conform to accepted standards of English usage, the authors will be required to bear the cost of English supervision: the charge is 12,5 RON (3,5 EUR)/ supervised page.

Articles must be written in Microsoft Word, Style: Normal + Justified, Font: Times New Roman, font size 12. All manuscripts must be typed double-spaced. Original source files, not PDF files, are required. In text editing, authors should not use spacing with spacebar, tab or paragraph mark, but use the indentation and spacing options in Format → Paragraph. Automatic paging is preferred.

Please do not import tables or figures into the text document, but only specify their insertion in text (e.g. Table No3 insertion). They have to be sent in separate files. Files should be labeled with appropriate and descriptive file names, without diacritics (e.g. Popescu Imunofluorescenta.doc, Popescu Imunofluorescenta Fig1.tiff, Popescu Imunofluorescenta Table2.doc).

Resolution of scanned images must be at least 300 dpi at the size they will appear in the print and there must be no scanning faults (e.g. shadows, malrotation). The preferred format for digital images files is TIFF (Tagged Image File Format). JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) format can be used for photographs if the image is saved with minimum compression. Please do not save digital files in GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) format. Any special instructions regarding sizing should be clearly noted. Authors should state the coloration technique and the magnification factor of all images of microscopic samples.

A publication fee of 300 RON (75 EUR) will have to be paid for articles accepted for evaluation by editorial board of Romanian Review of Laboratory Medicine, beginning with Vol. 12, No. 3/4, September 2011 (invited contributions excepted). The fee will be paid only after the receipt of the official letter from the Editorial Office stating the acceptance of the manuscript for evaluation.

The author will also be required to bear the cost of publication of color illustrations, if their number exceeds two color figures (invited contributions excepted). The charge is 60 RON (15 EUR) for each color figure, starting with the third illustration).

All payments will be operated in RO56BRDE270SV16682302700 bank account open for Romanian Association of Medical Laboratories – CF 17383407 – at BRD-Groupe Société Générale SA, Agenţia Petru Maior, Str. Mihai Viteazu 31, Tîrgu Mureş. Please fax a copy of the bank draft at the Editorial Secretariat ( +40 265 217 425).

Manuscript organization

Text will be structured on separate pages, as follows:

Page 1: Title of the paper, having no more than 150 characters, with no abbreviations.

Page 2: First name, middle initiale and surname of the authors, without any scientific, didactic or military degrees; full name of the working-place (institution and department) for each author; contact details of the corresponding author (full address, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address) and the address of the institution and department where the study has been carried out. Contact details will be published unless otherwise requested by the author.

Page 3: Abstract page.

The abstract should have no more than 250 words and describe briefly the purpose of the study, methods and procedures used, the most important results, main conclusions, new aspects and importance of the study. Key words (at least 3) according to Index medicus.

Pages 4 and next:

The text of original papers will be organized in: introduction (no more than 25% of the text), material and methods, results, comments or discussions and acknowledgements. Material and methods have to be described in enough detail to permit reproduction by other teams. The same product names should be used throughout the text (with the brand name in parenthesis at the first use). Results should be presented concisely. Tables and figures should not duplicate text. The discussion should set the results in context and set forth the major conclusions of the authors. Information from the Introduction or Results should not be repeated unless necessary for clarity. The discussion should also include a comparison among the obtained results and other studies from the literature, with explanations or hypothesis on the observed differences, comments on the importance of the study and the actual status of the investigated subject, unsolved problems, questions to be answered in the future. In addition to the customary recognition of non-authors who have been helpful to the work described, the acknow­ledgements section must disclose any substantive conflicts of interest.

Abbreviations shall be preceded by the full term at their first apparition in text. A list of all used abbreviations shall be made at the end of the article.

Separate pages: tables, graphics, pictures and schemes will appear on separate pages.

Tables will have a reasonable number of rows and columns.

Please do not forget to send the tables, charts, schemes etc. in their original file format (for example, .xls files if they were created in Microsoft Excel), and not embedded in the article text file (see Manuscript preparation section).

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in parentheses. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. Consult the list of Journals Indexed for MEDLINE, published annually as a separate publication by the National Library of Medicine. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of all references and are also responsible for ensuring that references are not used out of context.

For journal articles use the following form: authors’ surnames and first names initials, article’s title, the journal abbreviation according to the Index Medicus, year, volume, starting and ending pages of the article. If there are more than six authors, list the first six and add et al.

e.g. Zimmermann MB, de Benoist B, Corigliano S, Jooste PL, Molinari L, Moosa K, et al. Assessment of iodine status using dried blood spot thyroglobulin: development of reference material and establishment of an international reference range in iodine-sufficient children. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2006 Dec;91(12):4881-7

For books or monographs: the names of the cited chapter’s authors, chapter’s title, the editors, the book’s or monograph’s title, Editure’s name and location, the year of the appearance and pages.