Instructions for authors

Instructions for authors

Updated September 13, 2021

Acta Medica Leopoliensia (AML, Lʹvivsʹkyĭ medychnyĭ chasopys; https://amljournal.com/; pISSN 1029-4244; eISSN 2415-3303) is an international, platinum open access, peer-reviewed journal in general medicine. Founded in 1994, this Journal online and print issues are published quarterly in March, June, September and December. It is funded and published by Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University (established November 16, 1784).

Initially established as a platform for publicizing research works of Lviv academics, AML is now aimed to offer its services to international authors with an interest in theoretical and clinical medicine. Submissions in Ukrainian and English are welcome from professionals working in medicine and allied fields of science. To increase the visibility and implications of published works, submissions in standard American or British English are encouraged. Research topics of interest to medical and healthcare professionals in Ukraine and neighbouring Eastern European countries are prioritized. Evidence-based reviews, original research, case studies, and expert opinion are the absolute priority for this periodical.

This Journal is a founding member of the Ukrainian Council of Science Editors (UCSE), and it declares adherence to the updated recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), The Council of Science Editors (CSE), and Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA).

The Journal responsible editors will preserve the published works through reliable open-access platforms and digital libraries. Global bibliographic databases will be regularly contacted to record bibliographic information and monitor citation metrics. Selected works will be promoted on social media channels to attract the attention of the global readership and reveal trending articles. Editorial policies and priorities will be regularly updated in line with the authors’ and readers’ professional interests and recorded article-level metrics such as views, downloads, citations and the Journal editorial board members’ recommendations.

Aims and Scope

Acta Medica Leopoliensia (AML) aims to publish evidence-based research, reviews, and other articles types of interest to medical and healthcare professionals in Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. Accordingly, the scope of interests includes priority research topics related to theoretical and clinical medicine in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Submissions with properly formulated hypotheses, innovative ideas, robust research and statistical methods, well-edited texts and abstracts, and validated references lists will be prioritized. To preserve and nurture traditions of this academic journal, expert opinion articles of Lviv academics and representatives of national and regional research and academic institutions will be regularly published. Priority of these type of actively solicited items will be evaluated in view of their relevance to the interests of Eastern European readership.

The following is a non-exhaustive list of priority research topics:

Innovations in pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of internal diseases common in Ukraine and East Europe
Clinical aspects of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, Lyme borreliosis (Lyme disease)
Medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic
Diseases of ageing
Organ transplantation
Allergology and immunology
Imaging and radiology
Radiation hygiene in Eastern Europe
War and medicine
Innovations in established and emerging academic disciplines
Digitization in clinical medicine

Article categories and reporting recommendations

The AML publishes the following types of articles: narrative reviews with comprehensive and systematic search strategies, systematic reviews, expert opinion, original research, case-based reviews, case reports, letters, and information articles.

The authors of narrative reviews are advised to consult recommendations on comprehensive and systematic searches and provide details of using keywords and datelines of document retrieval in their search strategies.

The authors of systematic reviews are advised to prospectively register protocols of their reviews with the PROSPERO registry, plan comprehensive and systematic searches through MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and reliable specialist databases. Analysis of retrieved sources using PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome) framework and reporting in line with the PRISMA standard is strongly advisable.

Original research papers and abstracts should include Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion (IMRAD structure).

The following global editorial recommendations are essential for authors who plan to submit their works to this Journal:

Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals (updated December, 2019)
CSE’s White Paper on Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal Publications

Reporting original research in line with the following EQUATOR Network standards and related extensions is also strongly recommended:

Language editing, referencing, and formatting

The AML is a bilingual (Ukrainian and English) journal. However, well-edited submissions in either American or British English are strongly encouraged to reach out to Ukrainian and other researchers from other countries and expand their research and academic collaboration. Standard American and British English styles, but not mixture in a single manuscript, is welcome. The authors should take extra effort to substantively edit and correct their manuscripts. The following free software can be employed for pre-submission language checks and editing:

https://prowritingaid.com/

https://www.grammarly.com/

The Journal Language Editors will check the readability of submissions to recommend additional edits, if necessary. Manuscripts with poor language may be rejected outright. No substantive language editing services will be offered by this Journal. The authors are reminded that all manuscripts are checked for similarities and copying of texts, graphics, and ideas. To have their manuscripts published, they have to avoid copying any sentences or larger passages of text and graphics from published works. The Editors may request Disclaimers stating that no part of submitted manuscripts is copied or published elsewhere in whole or in part.

The authors are also reminded that each published scientific fact should be linked to highly relevant references, preferably from widely visible bibliographic databases such as Scopus and Web of Science and with Digital Object Identifiers (DOI). Referring to each scientific fact requires at least one reference. Multiple examples of similar references (more than 3) are not advisable.

The authors have to retrieve and cite primary rather than secondary references. They should read all cited references to be familiar with all cited points and to justify the referencing. In this regard, the Journal Editors adhere to the principles of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) that can also be useful for the authors too. The following Recommendations of the Integrity of Citations and References can be consulted to cite highly relevant and ethical sources.

The AML requires citing and referencing in line with the Vancouver style and the guidance of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). References are cited in the text numerically in square brackets (e.g., [1, 2, 3]) and presented at the end of the manuscript in chronological order – those cited first are listed at top of the Reference list. The reference lists should include only items discussed in the text. The authors should be familiar with contents of all cited items and ensure that all these items can be found in the Reference lists.

Full bibliographic information on a reference should include author name(s), article title, source title as in the National Library of Medicine (NLM) of the US Catalog. Bibliographic information on a journal article includes an author’s surname followed by no more than 2 initials. If there is more than 1 author, all authors’ names should be separated by commas and spaces. For manuscripts with up to 6 authors, all authors should be listed. In the case of more than 3 authors, the first 3 authors are listed and then et al. is added. Only the first word of the article title and words that normally begin with a capital letter are capitalized.

Examples of reference formatting:

Journal article

Malysheva KV, Spasyuk IM, Pavlenko OK, Stoika RS, Gorchynskyi OG. Generation of optimized preparations of bone morphogenetic proteins for bone regeneration. Ukr Biochem J 2016;88(6):87–97.

Book

Hong GD, Kim C, Park J. JKMS Reference Style: a Guide for Authors. 5th ed. Seoul, Korea: Daehakro Press; 2017.

Web source

Read the Budapest Open Access initiative. [Updated 2002]. [Accessed April 16, 2019]. http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read.

Tables should be sent in a separate file, in Word format. These should be numbered according to the order they appear in the text. Table numbers and titles must be placed above the table, with any explanatory notes below it. Providing concise information with clearly mentioned units of laboratory and demographic parameters and accurately noted abbreviations ensure the self-explanatory origin of tables. Authors should avoid duplicating information in the text and tables. Additional tips on table formatting are presented at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19296024/

Figures should be presented at high resolution (at least 300 dpi), each one in a separate PowerPoint file. Tips on figure formatting are presented at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19352565/

Photographs, images, and video clips should be presented in high resolution (at least 300 dpi) in TIFF and/or JPG formats for photographs and MP4 or AVI format for videos. Patients’ identities should be properly masked by blinding eyes and omitting patient names. Tips on preparing quality illustrations are presented at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19421674/

Authors should avoid using abbreviations in titles and subtitles. In-text abbreviations should be explained when mentioned first. Confusing abbreviations should be avoided (e.g., Open Access [OA], Osteoarthritis [OA]).

Manuscript parts

Title page

This page includes:

The manuscript title. It should be concise, sufficiently informative, and reflective of the main keywords.
Name, middle name initial (optional), and last name of each author
Affiliations of each author (Department/unit, Organisation/university, City, Country) and each author's email address
Full name, address, and e-mail address of the corresponding author
Abstract

Abstracts of original research and narrative and systematic review articles should be structured (Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusion) and limited to 300 words. For other types of articles, non-structured abstracts with up to 200 words are acceptable. Editorials, letters, and information items should not include abstracts. Abstracts of original research should briefly describe the background, aim, subject characteristics, inclusion and exclusion criteria, employed methods, important results (reporting essential statistical data, means or medians, absolute numbers with percentages, P values with 95% Confidence Intervals, avoiding unnecessary precision in digits after decimal points), and conclusions based on the obtained results. Abstracts of systematic reviews can be structured similarly. Abstracts of narrative reviews should describe search strategies (databases, keywords, datelines). Copying different parts of the manuscript in the abstract and providing references in the abstract is unacceptable. Abstracts should disclose the keywords of the manuscript. It is required to properly edit language and present sentences understandable for non-experts.

Author keywords (relevant 4-6 keywords from the Medical Subject Headings [MeSH]).

The structured keywords can be retrieved from MeSH in PubMed (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/).

ORCID
Abbreviations
Main text
Author contributions
Acknowledgements
Conflicts of interest
Funding
Ethics approval
References
Tables
Figure legends

The Journal processes manuscripts submitted online at: https://amljournal.com/

All submissions are checked by the Editor-in-Chief and Scientific Consultant and evaluated by at least two external peer reviewers prior to a publication decision. Peer reviewers are invited by the Editor-in-Chief based on their academic credentials, previous author and reviewer contributions, and other characteristics listed at https://bit.ly/2Xo1OJC.

The reviewers should consider the following ethical guidelines.

The Journal operates a double-blind peer review model (reviewer and author identities are blinded). The 1^st round of peer review lasts approximately 3 weeks.

Research ethics

Authors are required to report in the Methods section of their original research papers ethics

approval protocol number, date, and name of the approving institution. Statement about written informed consent should accompany any study involving humans. The ethics approval of a longitudinal and archival study should be dated prior to the start of the research. Studies involving human subjects should meet the requirements of the WMA Declaration of Helsinki. The privacy of human subjects involved in research studies should be observed. Case studies of patients should not disclose their identity. Animal experimentation requires adherence to globally recognized guidelines and EU directives.

Author contributions

The AML editors endorse principles of integrity and visibility of pre and post-publication communications presented by the Sarajevo Declaration on Integrity and Visibility of Scholarly Publications. In line with the Declaration, authors are advised to provide ORCID iDs with publicly available information. ORCID iDs of all co-authors with full and open information about correct first, middle, and last names, biographical notes, publication records, reviewer, and other scholarly accomplishments. The registration with ORCID platform is free at https://orcid.org/.

The following authorship criteria endorsed by the ICMJE are acceptable:

Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
Final approval of the version to be published; AND
Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Acknowledgments

Non-author contributions, particularly external language editing and statistical analyses, require acknowledgements. Official acknowledgment notes should be addressed to all individuals who contributed to research and writing but do not meet the ICMJE authorship four criteria. External writing and language editing support should also be acknowledged in line with the AMWA‒EMWA‒ISMPP Joint Position Statement on the Role of Professional Medical Writers.

Conflicts of interest disclosures

Authors are responsible for full disclosures of any financial and non-financial conflicts of interest that may compromise the trustworthiness of their manuscripts. Related disclosures should appear before manuscript References. Authors should familiarize themselves with the updated ICMJE statement on conflict of interest and submit the Disclosure of Interest form (updated February 2021) filled by all co-authors. Recommendations on what constitutes a conflict of interest are presented at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24382859/

Funding

Authors should provide full information about any related sponsorship or funding of their research and reviews (sponsoring organization name, grant number, dates).

Plagiarism and related preventive procedures

The Journal Editors check all submissions for text and graphics similarities using the following free online platforms: Grammarly, Google Images. Additional checks of textual similarities will be performed by iThenticate plagiarism detection software.

Authors are required to ensure that all parts of their manuscripts are free of any unethically copied texts, ideas, graphics, and violation of copyrights. They may be asked to provide a Disclaimer stating that no part of the manuscript is copied or published elsewhere in whole or in part.

Duplicate and secondary publications and retractions

Submission of articles already published in any languages in whole or in part elsewhere is absolutely unacceptable. Authors should be aware that it is unethical and may constitute copyright violations if they republish without official permission from primary publisher Ukrainian or other articles translated in English (translation plagiarism).

The AML Editors may consider secondary (ethical) publication of valuable articles of great interest to the readership (with official permissions of primary and secondary publishers). In such cases, the adherence to related guidance of global editorial associations will be considered (http://icmje.org/recommendations).

Corrections will be published if minor mistakes are detected in published articles. Major errors, lack of ethics approval for original research, substantive plagiarism, research misconduct, inappropriate authorship, non-disclosure of major conflicts of interest, and other violations of research and publication ethics will require retractions in line with COPE retraction guidelines.

Open access publication and charges

The AML Editors adhere to the latest editorial recommendations on transparency and best practice open access publishing. The following document is consulted on a regular basis for updating the Journal website and editorial policies:

Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (written by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, WAME; updated January 15, 2018).

The AML employs the Platinum Open Access model. There are no processing or publication charges for the AML authors. All expenses are covered by the Publisher. The AML readers can access published articles freely. All contents are available freely, fully and immediately upon publication.

The following Open Access Declarations are enforced by the AML Editors:

Copyright and licensing

The authors of the AML retain copyright and allow the publisher to publish their manuscript as a primary article. All the published articles are licensed under the Creative Commons attribution license, which permits freely copying and redistributing the material in any medium or format, remix, transform, and build upon the material for commercial and non-commercial purposes. The authors may share and distribute their works provided a proper reference is given to the primary publication.

Archiving

The AML is fully archived at the digital repository of Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University and Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine. This Journal's digital archive is permanently preserved by LOCKSS.

The AML authors are allowed to archive submitted, accepted, and published versions of their manuscripts in individual, institutional repositories and preprint archive servers (e.g., medrxiv.org).

All print copies of the AML are archived by the Library of Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University National Library.

Post-publication promotion through social media

The AML authors are encouraged to reposit their articles on ResearchGate and disseminate information about their publications through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The AML Social Media Editor will choose potential influential articles for commenting and sharing with the Journal followers.

Complaints and appeals

All complaints by authors, reviewers, and editors and their disagreements with the AML handling editors’ decisions, delays in the peer review, and editorial mismanagement will be processed by the Managing Editor (aml.lnmu@gmail.com), involving Research Integrity Editor and external independent experts, if necessary. The AML Editors declare their adherence to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) statements on complaints and appeals and ethical oversight.

Editorial independence

The AML is funded and published by Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University. The Publisher maintains this Journal Editorial Office at the following address: Acta Medica Leopoliensia, Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, Pekarska 69, 79010, Lviv. Ukraine; E-mail: aml.lnmu@gmail.com.

The AML handling editors offer equal opportunities for publication of submissions from other Ukrainian and non-Ukrainian research and academic institutions. The AML article selection procedure is based on quality, ethics, readability, and potential implications. This Journal Editors’ independent editorial policy is in line with The Relationship Between Journal Editors-in-Chief and Owners (formerly titled Editorial Independence) by the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).