Editorial policies, Peer Review Process and Guidelines for Authors

Editorial Policies
EMBJ publishes original papers, reviews and clinical case reports on topics of medicine, biomedicine, biotechnology, motor sciences, medical psychology and general interest topics in medicine. 
Manuscripts should conform to the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (http://www.icmje.org/index.htm). The process ensures that this journal complies with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.
Manuscripts must be in English. The first article by each young doctor (or Group of young doctors) will be published free of charge, while for successive articles by the same author accepted for publication during the same solar year, a publication fee of 50 Euros will be paid.

 

Peer Review Process and Guidelines for Authors
The Journal Editors (Editor in Chief, Deputy Editor and Executive Editors) manage all the submitted papers selecting the reviewers (at least two, in blind, for each manuscript submitted), evaluating their reports and managing the final decision. The Journal Editors also handle cases requiring corrections, retractions, and editorial expressions of concern.
All manuscripts must be prepared in agreement with the following rules. Manuscripts have to be submitted by email to the following addresses:
editorialboard@embj.org
Manuscripts should be in .rtf or .doc format, and pictures in .jpg or .tif format.
Submission of a manuscript to EMBJ implies that the content has not been published previously and will not be submitted for publication elsewhere while the manuscript is under review.  
Authors that publish their papers on EMBJ have to declare, in the submitted manuscript, their Conflict(s) of interest, if any. Previous publication of a particular figure may not prevent subsequent publication in EMBJ if that figure is essential to the submitted paper and does not constitute the major contribution. Previously published portions of a paper must be accompanied by a permission release from the copyright holder and must be cited.
EMBJ endorses the recommendations concerning human research that are contained in the Declaration of Helsinki. The Editors reserve the right to reject any manuscript containing studies that do not conform to these recommendations. All manuscripts reporting human research must contain a statement in the text that the institutional review board for human studies approved the protocols and written consent was obtained from the subjects or their surrogates if required by the institutional review board.
Use of animals in research should be compliant with all subsequent revisions of the International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals (WHO). Animal experiments are to be undertaken only with the goal of advancing scientific knowledge. Obtainment of informed consent has also to be indicated in the published article.
Together with submission of a manuscript to EMBJ, the authors have to send a Declaration Letter that certifies that:
(a) should the submitted manuscript be published, the copyright will be transferred to the Editorial Board;
(b) the material is original, has not been published except in abstract form, and is not being considered for publication elsewhere, including publicly accessible websites or e-print servers;
(c) all authors have read the manuscript and approve its submission;
(d) all the research has been conducted adhering to the recommendations contained in the Declaration of Helsinki and it complies with the International Guiding Principle that regulate research on animals.
By submitting a manuscript to EMBJ, the authors agree to subject it to the confidential peer-review process.   Editors and reviewers are informed that the manuscript must be considered confidential.
The Editors reserve the right to modify the manuscript before publication with the consent of the Author(s). EMBJ operates a single-blind confidential peer-review process. Manuscripts are normally reviewed by two independent experts in the relevant area. Editors and reviewers handle the manuscripts confidentially. All correspondence between an author, editor, and peer reviewer remain in confidence unless explicit consent has been given by all parties, including the journal, or unless there are exceptional ethical or legal circumstances that require identities or details of the correspondence to be revealed.   Should the Authors need to revise the manuscript, the revised version must be submitted to the Editors following the procedures outlined in these Guidelines.
Submission Type:
Review: is a balanced and scholarly survey of recent developments in a research field. The requirement for balance need not prevent authors from proposing a specific viewpoint, but if there are controversies in the field, the authors must treat them in an even-handed way. Reviews can contain a maximum of 7500 words, and illustrations are strongly encouraged. References are limited to 60, with exceptions possible in special cases. Citations should be selective. The scope of a Review should be broad enough that it is not dominated by the work of a single laboratory, and particularly not by the authors’ own work.
Article: is a substantial novel research study, with a complex story often involving several techniques or approaches. The main text (excluding Abstract, Methods, references and figure legends) is 5,000 words maximum. The abstract is 150 words maximum, unreferenced. Articles have a maximum of 6 display items (figures and/or tables). An introduction (without heading) is followed by sections headed Methods, Results and Discussion. The Methods and Results should be divided by topical subheadings; the Discussion does not contain subheadings. If statistical testing was used to analyze the data, the Methods section must contain a subsection on statistical analysis. References are limited to 30.
Brief communications: only 1500 words and 10 references at maximum in the following formats are accepted.
Other:
  • Technical reports
  • Therapy reports
  • Novel technologies
  • Letters to the Editor or Correspondence
  • Commentaries
  • Case Report
Only 1500 words and 10 references at maximum in the following formats are accepted.
Manuscript preparation
Manuscripts should be typed in Times New Roman or Arial 12-point type with margins of 2.5 centimeters (1 inch). Double spacing should be used throughout. All papers should be organized to include: title page, abstract with keywords, text, acknowledgments,references, table legends, tables (each table in a separate page) and figure legends. Figures should be submitted as separate files. Each of the preceding elements should begin on a separate page. While the Introduction should begin on a separate page, it is not necessary for the Methods, Results, and Discussion section to begin on a separate page; instead, they should follow after the Introduction, with two spaces separating each section. Pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the Title page.
Title Page
1. Title, which should be limited to 100 characters (count letters and spaces, use no abbreviations).
2. First name, middle initial, and last name of each author.
3. Name of department(s) and/or institution(s) to which the work should be attributed linked to each author with a corresponding number.
4. Name and address of the author to whom requests for reprints should be addressed.
5. Corresponding Author’s e-mail address, FAX number, and phone number.
6. All source(s) of support in the form of grants, gifts, equipment, and/or drugs.
7. Acknowledgements.
Abstract
The second page should carry an abstract of not more than 150 words. Avoid a long introductory section. A clear conclusion is imperative. The abstract should be written in a format that can be understood by both researchers and clinicians. At the bottom of the page, and list 3 to 6 key words for use as indexing terms. These terms should not include words in the title of the manuscript. Key words are best expressed as MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms, the controlled vocabulary used by SCOPUS.
Text
The text of articles should usually, but not necessarily, be divided into the following sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Long articles may require subheadings within some sections to clarify the contents, especially the Results and Discussion sections.
Generic names of drugs should be used instead of trade names. The location (city, state, country) of a manufacturer listed in the text should be provided after the first reference to the manufacturer.
Units of measurement should conform to current scientific usage and can be abbreviated when they follow a number (e.g., cm, nm, ml, g, mg, nmol) but not otherwise. Unusual units should be defined.
Statistical methods must be described and the program used for data analysis, and its source, should be stated. Summary statistics should define whether standard deviation (± SD), variability of the sample, or standard error of the mean (± SEM), uncertainty aboutthe average, is being used.
References
The EMBJ Editorial Board unanimously has established in 2020 a policy for self-referencing, accepting for peer reviews only manuscript with a number of self-citations no exceeding 25% of total references amount.
Please ensure that your references include the most current articles and information. References should be typed double-spaced beginning on a separate sheet and numbered in the order that they appear in the text and follow the “Vancouver reference style”. 
All authors’ names (do not use “et al.”), complete article titles, and inclusive page numbers should be cited. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus.
Examples of reference style: 
Journal articles:
Gravante G, Pomara F, Russo G, Amato G, Cappello F, Ridola C. Plantar pressure distribution analysis in normal weight young womenand men with normal and claw feet: a cross-sectional study. Clin Anat. 2005 Apr; (18):245-250.
Books:
Cappello F, Bucchieri F, Zummo G. Role of immunohistochemical expression of PCNA and p53 in prostate carcinoma. In:Immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization of human carcinomas, Edited by M.A. Hayat,Vol. 2: Molecular Pathology of ColorectalCarcinoma and Prostate Carcinoma, Cap. 8, Elsevier, Life Sciences, 2004.
Websites:
World Health organization. Immunization, vaccines and biologicals. Influenza Position paper. Available online from: https://www.who.int/immunization/policy/position_papers/influenza/en/ [Last accessed: 25th of March 2019]
Tables
Each table should constitute a single unit of communication, completely informative in itself and be presented as a separate page in the same document of the text. It should be possible to understand the information in a table without reading the text. The informationin a very small table can be presented more economically as one or two sentences of text. Do not submit tables as separate files, i.e. as photographs or figures. Tables should be numbered consecutively, have a brief title, and be cited in text. All non-standardabbreviations used in each table should be explained in footnotes. Legends have to be included in the text of the manuscript just before the references section (see above).
Figures
Drawings, graphs, photographs etc. must be submitted in .jpg or .tif format. Histological photographs must include magnification ratios,bars and staining method. Legends have to be included in the text of the manuscript just before the references section (see above).
Icons For each manuscript, please include a small .jpeg file (50kb max) representing the manuscript.