Submissions

Author Guidelines

Authors guidelines 

These guidelines complies with the requirements of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) that review best practice and ethical standards in the conduct and reporting of research and other material published in medical journals.

The journal considers manuscripts in the following categories: reports of original research, review articles, case reports, editorials, reviewer commentaries, etc. While preparing a manuscript for journal, authors should determine the manuscript type and then prepare manuscript according to the specific instructions presented below.

General Data

The manuscript should be typed in a Microsoft Word file, single-column format, 1.5-spaced with 2.5 cm margins on left side, 1.0 cm – right side, up and down – 2.0 cm and 12-point type in Times New Roman font. Decimal points should be used in decimals throughout the manuscript. Measurements should be reported using the metric system according to the International System of Units (SI). Illustrations (tables, figures) should be titled, sequentially numbered and presented within the relevant places of the manuscript, and refered to the text.

All abbreviations in the text must be defined the first time they are used, and the abbreviations should be displayed in parentheses after the definition. Authors should avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract and limit their use in the main text.

Manuscripts for publication are accepted either in Ukrainian, Russian or English languages from any country. Abstracts are published in three languages (Ukrainian, Russian and English). The journal does not provide translation and editing articles in English; low-quality written articles in English are not published. The English article submitted by foreign and Ukrainian authors are published without translation in Ukrainian. 

Article Types

Identification of article type is the first step of manuscript submission because article type dictates the guidelines that should be used (see below), including formatting and page limits of the manuscript. The main categories of article type are outlined below:

Original articles contains substantial novel research. These articles can include randomized controlled trials, observational (cohort, case-control or cross-sectional) studies, diagnostic accuracy studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, nonrandomized behavioral and public health intervention trials. Manuscript of the original article consists of follow sections: title page, main text, abstracts with key words (Ukrainian, Russian, English), additional information, references.

Title (first) page indicates (up down) Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), article title (capital letters), author names (initials and family name), institutional name, city, country.

The main text should be structured with the following subheadings: introduction (wider context that generated the study and the hypothesis based on the literature datа no older than 5-7 years), objective, materials and methods, results and discussions (presenting the data in text, tables and figures with statistical analysis, interpretation and significance of the findings), conclusions with indications of the future research direction, acknowledgements, conflict of interest, references. The main text should not exceed 8 pages, excluding the abstract, references, tables, and figure legends. There should be a maximum of 30 references.

Last page must contain signatures of all authors, full author’s names, their scientific degree and titles, job position, full institutional mailing addresses, numbers of telephones, ORCID ID, scientific contributions and responsibilities of all authors. Must be indicated the contact person (responding author).

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references. Only papers directly related to the article should be cited. Citations should be numbered in alphabetical order. Papers in press and papers already submitted for publication may be included in the list of references but no citation is required for work that is not yet submitted for publication.

Abstracts should not exceed 250 words and should be structured with the following subheadings: background, objective, materials and methods, results, conclusions and key words. All titles of headings should be highlighted. The manuscript should contain the abstracts in Ukrainian, Russian and English, self-contained and citation-free. At the end of the abstract, the key words are listed.

Review Article is a comprehensive analysis of specific topics in medicine, which is written by author (s) with extensive experience and publications on the review subjects. All review articles will also undergo peer review prior to acceptance. Review articles must not exceed 12 pages for the main text (excluding references, tables, and figure legends) and 400 words for the abstract. A review article can be signed by no more than 5 authors and can have no more than 50 references.

Case report represents interesting rare cases containing a substantial novel finding. Cases should be unique, representing a diagnostic or therapeutic challenge and having a learning point for the readers. Abstracts of case reports should mainly include information about the case and should be limited to a maximum of 250 words. The abstract must begin on a separate page and should be structured with the following subheadings: background, case report and conclusion. The main text of case reports should be structured with the following subheadings: introduction, case report, discussion, and references. Case reports must not exceed 7 pages (excluding references, tables, and figure legends). Case reports can be signed by no more than 5 authors and can have no more than 10 references and 5 figures or tables.

Abstracts of conferences (congresses) must not exceed 7 pages (excluding references). An abstract is not required with this type of manuscripts. A letter can be signed by no more than 4 authors and can have no more than 5 references and 1 figure or table.

Other. Editorials, reviewer commentaries, book reviews, and reports on publication and research ethics are requested by the Editorial Board.

Submission of a manuscript

The manuscript is submitted for publication as a hard copy by mail or via electronic mail pediatr@med-expert.com.ua. The manuscript must be accompanied with the official (cover) letter from the institution where the research was carried out, singed by institutional authorities (research advisor) and sealed.

Cover letter. The cover letter should include article title, article type, and full name of the author(s). There should be highlighted the importance of submitted article for the journal and to scientific literature,  why it will be of interest to the journal’s readers. The cover letter should declare that all authors have participated in the design, execution, and analysis of the paper, and that they have approved the final version. Additionally, there are no conflicts of interest in connection with the article, and the material described is not under publication or consideration for publication elsewhere. The journal does not accept multiple submission and duplicate submission even though the previous one was published in a different language (please refer to the  ICMJE recommendations).

Components of manuscript

Please note that articles must contain the following components. Please see below for further details

Title page. Manuscript should be numbered from the first to the last page and signed by all authors (including tables and figures). The first page indicates Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), paper title (capital letters), author names (initials and family name), institutional name, city, country.

The title should be brief and informative, of 150 characters or less, convey the essential message of the paper and contain no abbreviations. On the top of the page left side should be posted the signature of institutional authorities (research advisor) certified by the institutional seal.

Abstracts. Original articles, review articles and case reports should include an abstract. The abstract should be written in Ukrainian, English and Russian languages. Abstracts for original articles should be structured with the following subheadings: introduction, objective, materials and methods, results, conclusions and key words. Abstracts for case reports should be structured with the following subheadings: introduction, case report, and conclusions. Abstracts for review articles should not be structured. Editorials, letters to the Editor, and commentaries should not contain an abstract.

Main text. The main text should include the introduction, objective(s), materials and methods, results and discussions, the reference, tables, and figure legends, respectively.

Introduction. The Introduction should assume that the reader is knowledgeable in the field and should therefore be as brief as possible, but can include a short historical review where desirable. The relevance and  significance of the research are highlighted, the goals and objectives of the studies are justified. The introduction is outlining the wider context that generated the study and the hypothesis. Introduction may contain 10-15 references to scientific periodicals which were published for the last 5–7 years.

Materials and methods. This section should contain sufficient detail, so that all experimental procedures can be reproduced, and include references. Methods, however, that have been published in detail elsewhere should not be described in detail. Authors should provide the name of the manufacturer and their location for any specifically named medical equipment and instruments, and all drugs should be identified by their pharmaceutical names, and by their trade name if relevant.

When reporting research involving human data, authors should indicate whether the procedures were conducted in accordance with bioethical standards and assessed by the local ethics committee or national bioethics commission. The same applies to researcher involving laboratory animals. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether all necessary procedures were carried out in accordance with national and international standards for the care and use of laboratory animals. All procedures should be described in this section.

For example:  "The research was carried out in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. The study protocol was approved by the Local Ethics Committee (LEC) or National Bioethics Committee of all participating institution”,

«When carrying out experiments with laboratory animals, all bioethical norms and recommendations were observed»

For articles concerning experimental research on humans, a statement should be included that shows informed consent of patients and volunteers was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures that they may undergo.

For example: “The informed consent of the patient was obtained for conducting the studies".

Conclusions. The final paragraph should highlight the main conclusion(s), and provide some indication of the direction future research should take.

Acknowledgements. The authors may express  their gratitude to the people and organizations contributed to the article  to be published in the journal, but not being the authors. Should include sources of support including sponsorship (e.g. university, charity, commercial organization) and sources of material (e.g. novel drugs) not available commercially.

Conflict of Interest. Authors must declare whether or not there are any competing financial interests in relation to the work described. This information must be included at this stage and will be published as part of the paper. Conflict of interest should also be noted on the cover letter and as part of the submission process. Declaration of the conflict of interest is obligatory

Example: “The authors declare they have no conflict of interest”

References. Authors are encouraged to cite primary literature rather than review articles in order to give credit to those who have performed the original work. Reference listings must be in accordance with ICMJE standards and numbered at the end of the manuscript in the alphabetic order. While citing publications, preference should be given to the latest, most up to date publications. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references. In the main text of the manuscript, references should be cited using Arabic numbers in square brackets. The reference style of publications are presented in the following example:

Reference to an article from journal:

Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. (2005). Title of the article. Title of Journal. 10(2);3:49-53.

Reference to a book:

Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. (2006). Titile of the book. Kyiv: MedEspert: 256.

Tables. The tables must have the heading and the serial number. The notes on the table are placed straight under the table. All tables should be referred to within the main text and they should be numbered consecutively in the order they are referred to within the main text. A descriptive title should be provided for all tables and the titles should be placed above the tables. Tables should be presented within the main document after the reference list. Reference to table footnotes should be made by means of Arabic numerals. Tables should not duplicate the content of the text. They should consist of at least two columns; columns should always have headings. Authors should ensure that the data in the tables are consistent with those cited in the relevant places in the text, totals add up correctly, and percentages have been calculated correctly. Unlike figures or images, tables may be embedded into the word processing software if necessary, or supplied as separate electronic files.

Figures. The number of illustrations (figures, diagrams, and schemes) should be minimal. Illustrations (graphics, figures and schemes) are built in Word or Excel programs, photos should be saved in one of the following formats: PDF, TIFF, PSD, EPS, AI, CDR, QXD, INDD, JPG (150-600 dpi). Tables and figures are placed in the text of the article immediately after the first mentioned. In the caption to the figure its name is given, and explanation of all the conventional symbols (numbers, letters, curves, etc.). Tables should be compact, numbered, and named. The table numbers, their headings and digital data processed statistically must exactly match the ones given in the text.