Submissions

Author Guidelines

Useful Links for Authors

• Manuscript Case Report Template (Manuscripts must adhere to our templates)
• Author Style Guide
• JBMR reference and citations style guide
• Ethical policy
• Terms of Use
• Terms and Conditions
• Policy regarding corrections, comments and retractions
• Statement on controversial publications

General guidelines.

• Authors should accurately present their findings and include an objective discussion of the significance of their findings.
• All and only those who qualify for authorship should be included as authors, and their contribution given in the manuscript.
• Any facts that might be perceived as a possible conflict of interest of the author(s) must be disclosed in the paper prior to submission.
• Data and methods used in the research need to be presented in sufficient detail in the paper so that other researchers can replicate the work. Any raw data must be made publicly available unless there is a compelling reason otherwise (e.g., patient confidentiality).

Peer-Review and Editorial Procedure

All manuscripts sent for publication in our journals are strictly and thoroughly peer-reviewed by experts (this includes research and review articles, spontaneous submissions, and invited papers). The Managing Editor of the journal will perform an initial check of the manuscript’s suitability upon receipt. The Editorial Office will then organize the peer-review process performed by independent experts and collect at least two review reports per manuscript. We ask our authors for adequate revisions (with a second round of peer-review if necessary) before a final decision is made. The final decision is made by the academic editor (usually the Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Board Member of a journal or the Guest Editor of a Special Issue). Accepted articles are copy-edited and English-edited.

Submission Checklist

• Read the Aims & Scope to gain an overview and assess if your manuscript is suitable for this journal.
• Use the Microsoft Word template to prepare your manuscript.
• Make sure that issues about publication ethics, research ethics, copyright, authorship, figure formats, data and references format have been appropriately considered. 
• Ensure that all authors have approved the content of the submitted manuscript. 

Manuscript Submission Overview

Types of Publications

All articles are assigned a type, dependent on the content of the article. It is useful to readers, to inform them of what style of content to expect (case report, case series, commentary, letter to the editor) and for indexing services when applying filters to search results. This section details the most common article types. Editors have the final say on which type should be assigned to a published article.

• Case Report: case reports represent the main focus of this journal. They must present detailed information on the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment (including all types of interventions), and outcomes of an individual patient. They should thoroughlt describe clinical, laboratoric and experimental findings that serve to enhance medical care or highlight diagnostic approaches. Special care should be taken when submitting Case Reports to ensure that appropriate permission for publication has been obtained from patients featured in the paper. 
• Literature Review: review papers consist of concise and precise updates on the latest progress made in a given area of research. They should be comprehensive and objective and not, for example, only report research results from a single research group or country. Systematic reviews are written by following a specific algorithm for finding papers to include. Criteria for which articles are reviewed are defined before carrying out a literature research. They should follow the PRISMA guidelines. Literature reviews are welocme in JBMR.
• Communication: a communication is a short report aimed at reaching the journal readership with important preliminary and significant results. It should contain a complete research project and follow the IMRAD structure.
• Commentary: briefer than a review paper, a Commentary is usually an invited paper that gives an opinion on a specific topic. They are not as comprehensive as a review paper but should highlight the most significant papers and milestones in the subject area. While the author has the license to express their own opinion more than in other article types, they should acknowledge widely held divergent views. Commentaries are peer reviewed prior to publication. While Commentaries are generally invited by the editors, unsolisited Commentaries will be considered by the editorial board.
• Conference Proceedings, Extended Abstracts, Meeting Reports: these types contain peer reviewed research output from conferences. Proceedings report new evidence or conclusions, and are expanded versions of work presented in a conference presentation. Extended Abstracts are submitted to a conference in advance and give details in support of a presentation made at the conference. Meeting Reports comprise a summary of material presented at a conference; they are often written by an organizer of the conference to inform those who could not attend, and may include a list of abstracts and presenters.
• Clinical Image: important diagnostic and clinical images will be considered to b published as papers. The number of images is at the discretion of the author. No regular manuscript text should be included. Instead, images should be accompanied by detailed captions with no restriction in length. An unstructured abstract of no more than 200 words should also be submitted. Image files can be included either in the template or uploaded separately in high resolution. There are no restrictions on use of color or image size, however features should be sharp and not blurred. For readability, we recommend that any text in figures is at least 12 pt. in size. Submitted images are peer-reviewed under the same process as a regular research article.
• Letter to the Editor: A letter to the editor should focus on existing papers. Typically, before publication the authors of the original paper adressed will be given the opportunity to respond, and both the letter and author reply will be published together. Comments are published at the discretion of the editor and must provide useful narrative about the paper in question. Peer review of Comments and Replies is at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.
• Editorial: sometimes the editorial board or the publisher has an important viewpoint or information to communicate to readers. This can be done through an editorial. For example, the first publication of most journals is an editorial from the Editor-in-Chief setting out his or her vision for the journal. Major changes to the editorial process are also announced through editorials.
• Updates and Amendments: Corrections, Erratums and Addendums: there are several methods to update published papers. A Correction reports a change that could affect the scientific interpretation of the content. An Erratum reports an update that makes a technical change, such as replacing a low-quality figure or adding missing information to a reference. An Addendum adds extra information to a paper, such as clarification of a method or an additional source of funding. In all cases, the original paper is updated and the publication showing the update is linked to the original.

Submission Process

Manuscripts for JBMR should be submitted online. The submitting author, who is generally the corresponding author, is responsible for the manuscript during the submission and peer-review process. The submitting author must ensure that all eligible co-authors have been included in the author list and that they have all read and approved the submitted version of the manuscript. To submit your manuscript, register and log in. Once you have registered, proceed to the submission. All co-authors can see the manuscript details in the submission system, if they register and log in using the e-mail address provided during manuscript submission.

Accepted File Formats

Authors must use the Microsoft Word template to prepare their manuscript. Using the template file will substantially shorten the time to complete copy-editing and publication of accepted manuscripts. The total amount of data for all files must not exceed 120 MB. If this is a problem, please contact the Editorial Office.

Accepted file formats are:

• Manuscripts: Manuscripts must prepared in Microsoft Word and be converted into a single file before submission. The Microsoft Word template file must be used. Please insert your graphics (schemes, figures, etc.) in the main manuscript file.
• Supplementary files: May be any format, but it is recommended that you use common, non-proprietary formats where possible.
• Disclaimer: Usage of journal templates is exclusively intended for submission to the journal for peer-review, and strictly limited to this purpose and it cannot be used for posting online on preprint servers or other websites.
• Free submission formating: if you do not abide by journal formating requirements, you will be requested to format the manuscript according to the journal guidelines upon revision.

Manuscript Preparation

1. Diagnosis formulation: All case reports should include a thorough diagnosis statement. The main diagnosis should be formed according to the ICD-11 classifier (see: https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en) and be accompanied by a clinical diagnosis (for example: “ICD11: 2C61 (XK9K&XA2Q54&XH0WW5). Mucinous cystadenocarcinofibroma of the right breast, T2N1M0, upper outer quadrant of breast. Surgical resection on 15/01/2020”).
2. Abstract: a single paragraph with up to 200 words. Abstract should be unstructured, and reflect the main findings of the case report. It should include information on (1) Important clinical manifestations; (2) Methods of diagnosis, and diagnostic difficulties; (3) Results: summarize the outcome, complications and follow-up; (4) Conclusions: indicate the main conclusions or interpretations. The abstract should be a short summary of your report, and represent the importance of your case report to literature.
3. Keywords: must include the main ICD-11 classifier as the first keyword (e.g. 2C61); "case report" is a required keyword for reports, according to existing guidelines. Up to 7 key words may be included.
4. Important data section: to comply with the aim of the journal to provide high impact for case reports, completely fill this table. This data is seen as a table in the microsoft word template.
5. Introduction: the introduction should briefly explain why this case is of significance, importance (clinical or experimental) in a broad context and highlight the specific points of interest. This section should focus on why you chose this case and its implications. Existing original studies, advances in diagnostics, treatment etc. must be carefully reviewed and key publications cited. Highlight controversial and diverging viewpoints and hypotheses if applicable. State the main aim of your pursuit to publish (e.g. “we chose this case due to the importance of the surgical method used”) and highlight the principal conclusions (e.g. “the chosen method allowed us to reduce complications compared to the cohort described by Author et al. and achieve a high Breast-Q satisfaction rate”). Importantly, write the introduction to be multidisciplinary, including findings outside your primary field of research.
6. Case report section: The case report must follow (S)CARE guidelines (download checklist here). This must be stated in the beginning of this section: “Our case report features a patient (female, 53 y.o.), with a primary diagnosis of breast cancer (ICD11: EB51), who was treated with a modified radical mastectomy. The reports was written in accordance to CARE guidelines”. Interventional studies involving humans, and other studies that require ethical approval, must list the authority that provided approval and the corresponding ethical approval code. Informed consent from patient should be acquired for publication, if identifying information is present. A statement should be included regarding informed consent.
   • Figures, Tables, Schemes: figures should be of high quality, and must be referenced in the manuscript (e.g. Figure 1a), and provided with a legend after the reference section.
   • Patient information. Include any relevant de-identified patient specific information. Primary concerns and symptoms of the patient. Medical, family, and psychosocial history including relevant genetic information. Relevant past interventions and their outcomes. Be sure to include information regarding 1.0 Important data (other).
   • Clinical findings. Describe significant physical examination (PE) and important clinical findings.
   • Timeline. Historical and current information from this episode of care organized as a timeline (figure or table).
   • Diagnostic assessment. Describe specific diagnostic methods (PE, laboratory testing, imaging, surveys), diagnostic challenges, differential diagnosis (other diagnoses considered) and final diagnosis. Include prognostic characteristics when applicable. Include universally accepted surveys and evaluation forms when applicable.
   • Intervention (treatment strategy). Include information on types of treatment methods (pharmacologic, surgical, preventive). Administration of therapeutic intervention (dosage, strength, duration). Changes in therapeutic interventions with explanations.
   • Follow up and outcomes. Discuss clinician- and patient-assessed outcomes. Important follow-up diagnostic and other test results should be included. Intervention adherence and tolerability should be discussed as well as adverse and unanticipated events, solutions and findings.
7. Discussion section: Authors should discuss the results and how they can be interpreted from the perspective of previous studies and of the working hypotheses. The findings and their implications should be discussed in the broadest context possible. Future research directions may also be highlighted. The following points should be covered:
   • Strengths and limitations in your approach to this case.
   • Discussion of the relevant medical literature.
   • The rationale for your conclusions.
   • The primary “take-away” lessons from this case report (without references) in a one paragraph conclusion.
   • Similar case reports published in this journal for comparison of main patient characteristics.
   • Optional: patient perspective (the patient may share their perspective on the treatment(s) they received).
8. Conclusion section: This section should summarize shortly the main highlight of the report.
9. Declerations page consists of author contributions, funding, data availability (where applicable), acknowledgements (where applicable), conflict of interest statement, ethics statement:
   • Author Contributions: For articles with several authors, a short paragraph specifying their individual contributions must be provided. The following statements should be used “Conceptualization, X.X. and Y.Y.; methodology, X.X.; software, X.X.; validation, X.X., Y.Y. and Z.Z.; formal analysis, X.X.; investigation, X.X.; resources, X.X.; data curation, X.X.; writing—original draft preparation, X.X.; writing—review and editing, X.X.; visualization, X.X.; supervision, X.X.; project administration, X.X.; funding acquisition, Y.Y. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.” Please turn to the CRediT taxonomy for the term explanation. Authorship must be limited to those who have contributed substantially to the work reported.
   • Funding: Please add: “This research received no external funding” or “This research was funded by NAME OF FUNDER, grant number XXX”. Check carefully that the details given are accurate and use the standard spelling of funding agency names at https://search.crossref.org/funding. Any errors may affect your future funding.
   • Data Availability Statement: In this section, please provide details regarding where data supporting reported results can be found, including links to publicly archived datasets analyzed or generated during the study. 
   • Acknowledgments: In this section, you can acknowledge any support given which is not covered by the author contribution or funding sections. This may include administrative and technical support, or donations in kind (e.g., materials used for experiments).
   • Conflicts of Interest: Declare conflicts of interest or state “The authors declare no conflict of interest.” Authors must identify and declare any personal circumstances or interest that may be perceived as inappropriately influencing the representation or interpretation of reported research results. Any role of the funders in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results must be declared in this section. If there is no role, please state “The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results”.
   • Ethics statement: Example of an ethical statement: "All subjects gave their informed consent for inclusion before they participated in the study. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of XXX (Project identification code)." If applicable.
10. References: We recommend preparing the references with a bibliography software package, such as EndNote (download style here) or Zoltero (download style here). Include the digital object identifier (DOI) for all references where available. The references should follow the JAMIA referencing style (not JAMA). For further information, see References (below). List the names and initials of all authors if there are 3 or fewer; otherwise list the first 3 and add ‘et al.’ Use one space only between words up to the year and then no spaces (see below). The journal title should be in italic and abbreviated according to the style of Medline. If the journal is not listed in Medline then it should be written out in full. Please note these examples:
    • Journal: Author 1 AB, Author 2 CD. Title of the article. Abbreviated Journal Name Year;Volume(issue):page-range.
    • Journal example: Koziol-Mclain J, Brand D, Morgan DA, et al. Measuring injury risk factors: question reliability in a statewide sample. Inj Prev 2000;6:148–150.
    • Book chapter: Author 1 A, Author 2 BC. Title of the chapter. In: Editor 1A, Editor 2B, eds. Book Title. Publisher Location (city), Country: Publisher year;volume:page–range.
    • Book chapter example: Nagin DC. General deterrence: a review of the empirical evidence. In: Blumstein A, Cohen J, Nagin D, eds. Deterrence and Incapacitation: Estimating the Effects of Criminal Sanctions on Crime Rates. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences 1978:95–139.
    • Book: Author 1A, Author 2B. Book Title. Publisher Location, Country: Publisher year;volume:page–range.
    • Book example: Howland J. Preventing Automobile Injury: New Findings From Evaluative Research. Dover, USA: Auburn House Publishing Company 1988:163–96.
    • Abstract/supplement: Author 1 FM, Author 2 FM, Author 3 FM, et al. Title of abstract or supplement [abstract or supplement]. Abbreviated Journal Name Year;Volume(issue):page-range
    • Abstract/supplement example: Roxburgh J, Cooke RA, Deverall P, et al. Haemodynamic function of the carbomedics bileaflet prosthesis [abstract]. Br Heart J1995;73(Supplement 2):37.
    • Personal communication: Author 1 AB. (University, City, State, Country); Author 2C. (Institute, City, State, Country). Personal communication, year.
    • Personal communication example: Starceva OI (Sechenov University, Moscow, Russia); DiNardo PI (Rome University, Rome, Italy). Personal communication, 2021.
    • Patent: Author 1 AB, Author 2 CD. Patent title. Patent number. Year.
    • Patent example: Baguina EV. How to be a wonderful mother. №1309-1969. 2021
    • Thesis: Author 1 AB. Level of Thesis: Title of Thesis. Degree-Granting University, Location of University (City, Country). Date of Completion.
    • Thesis example: Sinelnikov YD. Ph.D.: Elasticity of MgSiO3-perovskite at high pressure and temperature by ultrasonic interferometry. Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, USA. 1998.
    • Website: Title of Site. Available online: URL (accessed on Day/Month/Year).
    • Website example: Journal of Biomedical Reports. Available online: journalofbiomedicalreports.com (accessed on 21/05/2021)

Publication ethics.

We expect authors to abide by the following rules:

• Simultaneous submission of manuscripts to more than one journal is not permitted.
• Manuscripts must not have been previously published, including being previously published in another language.
• For any content previously published (including quotations, figures or tables), all necessary permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder by the authors.
• Errors and inaccuracies found after publication must be promptly communicated to the Editorial Office.
• Authors should not engage in excessive self-citation of their own work.
• Authors should not copy references from other publications if they have not read the cited work.
• Authors should not preferentially cite their own or their friends’, peers’, or institution’s publications.
• Authors should not cite advertisements or advertorial material.
• In accordance with COPE guidelines, we expect that “original wording taken directly from publications by other researchers should appear in quotation marks with the appropriate citations”. This condition also applies to an author’s own work. COPE have produced a discussion document on citation manipulation with recommendations for best practice.

Plagiarism.

Plagiarism is not acceptable in any form. Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, images, or data from another source, even from your own publications, without giving credit to the original source. Reuse of text that is copied from another source must be between quotation marks and the original source must be cited. If a study's design or the manuscript's structure or language has been inspired by previous studies, these studies must be explicitly cited. If plagiarism is detected during the peer review process, the manuscript will be rejected and further action may be taken. If plagiarism is detected after publication, we will publish a retraction of the paper.

Image files must not be manipulated or adjusted in any waythat could lead to misinterpretation of the information provided by the original image. Irregular manipulation includes 1) introduction, enhancement, moving, or removing features from the original image, 2) grouping of images that should obviously be presented separately (e.g., from different parts of the same gel, or from different gels), or 3) modifying the contrast, brightness or color balance to obscure, eliminate or enhance some information. If irregular image manipulation is identified and confirmed during the peer review process, we will reject the manuscript and further action may be persued. If irregular image manipulation is identified and confirmed after publication, we will retract the paper.

Data presented must be original and not inappropriately selected, manipulated, enhanced, or fabricated. This includes 1) exclusion of data points to enhance significance of conclusions, 2) fabrication of data, 3) selection of results that support a particular conclusion at the expense of contradictory data, 4) deliberate selection of analysis tools or methods to support a particular conclusion (including p-hacking).

Ethical standards.

Reporting research that involves human subjects, human material, human tissues, or human data, authors must declare that the investigations were carried out following the rules of the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975 (https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-of-helsinki/), revised in 2013. According to point 23 of this declaration, an approval from an ethics committee should have been obtained before undertaking the research. At a minimum, a statement including the project identification code, date of approval, and name of the ethics committee or institutional review board should be stated. Data relating to individual participants must be described in detail, but private information identifying participants need not be included unless the identifiable materials are of relevance to the research (for example, photographs of participants’ faces that show a particular symptom). Editors reserve the right to reject any submission that does not meet these requirements.

Political stances.

Potential disputes over borders and territories may have particular relevance for authors in describing their research or in an author or editor correspondence address, and should be respected. Content decisions are an editorial matter and where there is a potential or perceived dispute or complaint, the editorial team will attempt to find a resolution that satisfies parties involved. Journal of Biomedical Reports stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Politically motivated content is unacceptable and will be disregarded by the journal.

Sex and gender in research.

We encourage our authors to follow the ‘Sex and Gender Equity in Research – SAGER – guidelines’and to include sex and gender considerations where relevant. Authors should use the terms sex (biological attribute) and gender (shaped by social and cultural circumstances) carefully in order to avoid confusing both terms. Article titles and/or abstracts should indicate clearly what sex(es) the study applies to. Authors should also describe in the background, whether sex and/or gender differences may be expected; report how sex and/or gender were accounted for in the design of the study; provide disaggregated data by sex and/or gender, where appropriate; and discuss respective results. If a sex and/or gender analysis was not conducted, the rationale should be given in the Discussion. We suggest that our authors consult the full guidelines before submission.

Authorship segregation.

Young researchers are encouraged to claim first authorship if they have been the primary writers, contributors to the work. Segregation in authorship is unacceptable in any form. If any contributor feels they have been unfairly placed in the authorship list due to gender, sexual orientation, race, political view, academic status, social position or class, region, etc., please contact the journal editors directly. Manuscripts with existing conflicts and noted authorship segregation will be halted until the authors reach an agreement.