how to prepare a manuscript
How to prepare a manuscript for submission to
HSR Proceedings in Intensive Care and Cardiovascular Anesthesia
English language is the only language allowed for manuscripts submitted to “HSR proceedings in Intensive Care and Cardiovascular Anesthesia” from November 1st 2009. You can choose between American or British English, but be consistent.
“HSR proceedings in Intensive Care and Cardiovascular Anesthesia” offers a “fast track” opportunity: we’ll send you an editorial decision within 7 days if you submit a manuscript through email with the comments of previous reviewers of other journals who evaluated your paper. If you ask for a fast track review and send us comments of previous reviewer you’ll not have to arrange the references or the layout according to the below cited journal guidelines.
Manuscripts must be double-spaced on A4 pages. A margin of at least 3 cm should be provided on all sides. All type should be 12 points in size. Pages must be numbered. Word limits are not imposed on any manuscript types, but all papers should be as concise as possible.
Please send your manuscript to sussani.lara@hsr.it The Editorial Office will send by e-mail to the corresponding author all communications related to the status of a submission, including the final decision and the scheduled date of publication.
Different manuscripts could be submitted to “HSR proceedings” including: Original articles; Teaching articles; Brief reports; Reviews; Meta-analyses; Expert Opinions; Editorial; Case series; Letters to the Editor; Case reports; Images in clinical medicine. The peer-review process is applied to all submissions, including appraisal by at least 2 peer-reviewers.
COVER LETTER. Please also send us a cover letter addressed to the Editor in Chief. The letter must include at the end a list of all authors as if for signature. The cover letter must state that the authors agree with and are responsible for the data presented. The letter should also acknowledge or deny any potential conflicts of interest.
MANUSCRIPT. Our preferred file type for new manuscript submissions is a single Microsoft Word document containing all element of the article except figures. Figures should be sent singularly as separate files with the manuscript. In the manuscript provide the title of the paper on the first page (TITLE PAGE); the title should be concise. Also list the name of each author, including the first name and the highest graduate degree; the department and institutional affiliation of each author and the name, address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address of the author to whom correspondence should be addressed. ABSTRACT. Provide an abstract of not more than 250 words and without abbreviations. Abstract of original articles should consist of four paragraphs, labeled Introduction, Methods, Results and Conclusions. They should briefly describe, respectively, the problem being addressed in the study, how the study was performed, the salient results and what the authors conclude from the results. Abstract of other article types should consist of a single paragraph without titles or abbreviation. Original manuscript text must be divided into 4 sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Review articles can have different sections. Please refrain from using automatic reference list software because its features are often lost during the publication process. Simply insert the reference number in parentheses in the text (after any punctuation mark) and type the reference list. References must be numbered with Arabic numerals
and cited in the text in numerical order (the first reference that appears in the text is number 1, the second reference that appears in the text is number 2 and so on).
The reference list at the end of the article must also be in numerical order. Please cite references, tables and figures in the text in square brackets. Use of square brackets is allowed only for citation and in formulae. The list headed “REFERENCES” should begin on a new page of the main text document and be double-spaced. Abbreviations for titles of medical periodicals must conform to those used in Index Medicus (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html).
References to abstracts, supplements and letters to editors must be identified as such. Inclusive page numbers of references are required.
DETAILS. “HSR proceedings in Intensive Care and Cardiovascular Anesthesia” will consider for publication suitable articles on all topics related to intensive care and to anesthesia for cardiac, thoracic and vascular surgery. The aim of “HSR proceedings” is to contribute to the spread of knowledge in the field of intensive care, emergencies and major surgical operations.
Manuscripts are examined by members of the editorial staff and then sent to outside reviewers. We encourage authors to suggest the names of possible reviewers, but we reserve the right of final selection. Communications about manuscripts will be sent after the review and then the editorial decision-making process is complete.
All articles represent the opinion of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Editor, Editorial Board or Publisher. The Editors and Publisher deny any responsibility or liability for statements and opinions expressed by the authors. Neither the Editor nor the Publisher guarantee, warrant or endorse any product or service advertised in this publication, nor do they guarantee any claim made by the manufacturer of such product or service.
Manuscripts containing original material are accepted for consideration if neither the article nor any part of its essential substance, tables, or figures have been or will be published or submitted elsewhere before appearing in “HSR proceedings”. This restriction does not apply to abstracts or press reports published in connection with scientific meetings.
Authors of all types of articles should follow the general instructions. These guidelines are in accordance with the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals,” published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors at http://www.icmje.org
Papers reporting human experimentation will be reviewed in accordance with the precepts established by the Helsinki Declaration (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm). Copies of this declaration may also be obtained by writing to the American Medical Association, 515 N State St, Chicago, IL 60610.
As stated in the Uniform Requirements, credit for authorship requires substantial contributions to (a) the conception and design of the protocol or analysis and interpretation of the data and (b) the drafting of the article or critical revision for important intellectual content. Each author must sign a statement attesting that he or she fulfils the authorship criteria of the Uniform Requirements. Any change in authorship after submission must be approved in writing by all authors.
In appropriate places in the manuscript, please provide, if applicable, a statement that the research protocol was approved by the relevant institutional review boards or ethics committees and that all human participants gave written informed consent. When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach, and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should be asked to indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed. If photographs of patients are used, either they should not be identifiable or the photographs should be accompanied by written permission to use them. Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying information, including patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that a patient who is identifiable be shown the manuscript to be published. Authors should identify Individuals who provide writing assistance and disclose the funding source for this assistance. Identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve, however, and informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt. For example, masking the eye region in photographs of patients is inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning and editors should so note. The requirement for informed consent should be included in the journal’s instructions for authors. When informed consent has been obtained it should be indicated in the published article.
All text, references, figure legends and tables should be in one double-spaced electronic document (Microsoft Word document).
Figures. Figures should be sent as separate files. It is allowed to send low-resolution figures for peer review. Please note that if the manuscript will be accepted for publication we will ask for high-resolution files of all figures:
figures containing only lines and/or text (such as graphs or flowcharts) must have a resolution of 900 dpi AND a width between 100 and 200 mm;
figures containing both lines/text and images (such as mixed figures containing graphs and images) must have a resolution of 600 dpi AND a width between 100 and 200 mm;
figures not containing lines or text (i.e. color or black and white images) must have a resolution of 300 dpi AND a width between 100 and 200 mm.
Formats accepted are JPEG (.jpg), TIFF (.tif), PNG (.png). Images with a resolution of 72 dpi or smaller than 100 mm will not be accepted. Legends for all figures should be included in the file with the text (on a new page after the references list) and should not appear on the figures.
Tables. Tables should be prepared in Microsoft Word: they should be formatted preferably with the tabulation command, otherwise as Microsoft Word tables. Do not submit tables in PDF format or any graphic format.
References. References must be double-spaced and numbered consecutively as they are cited. Possibly list all authors when there are four or fewer; when there are five or more, list the first three, followed by “et al.”.
Abbreviations. Except for units of measurement, abbreviations are strongly discouraged. Except for units of measurement, the first time an abbreviation appears, it should be preceded by the words for which it stands.
Drug names. Generic names should be used. When proprietary brands are used in research, include the brand name and the name of the manufacturer in parentheses after the first mention of the generic name in the Methods section.
Instructions for submitting a revised manuscript. We require two versions of the revised manuscript, one with “tracked” or highlighted changes and one without. Please double-space. Include your response to the reviewers as a separate file.
If a submitted article is accepted for publication, editorial revisions may be made to aid clarity and understanding without altering the meaning.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST. Public trust in the peer review process and the credibility of published articles depend in part on how well conflict of interest is handled during writing, peer review, and editorial decision making. Conflict of interest exists when an author (or the author’s institution), reviewer, or editor has financial or personal relationships that inappropriately influence (bias) his or her actions (such relationships are also known as dual commitments, competing interests, or competing loyalties). These relationships vary from those with negligible potential to those with great potential to influence judgment, and not all relationships represent true conflict of interest. The potential for conflict of interest can exist whether or not an individual believes that the relationship affects his or her scientific judgment. Financial relationships (such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony) are the most easily identifiable conflicts of interest and the most likely to undermine the credibility of the journal, the authors, and of science itself. However, conflicts can occur for other reasons, such as personal relationships, academic competition, and intellectual passion.
“HSR proceedings” expects that all authors acknowledge financial associations with a company (or its competitor) that makes a product discussed in the article. Information published in medical journals helps shape diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. For a journal to be of value, it must publish authoritative, up-to-date information that is free of commercial influence. Because relationships between authors and biomedical companies are growing, we want to ensure that the articles we publish are not influenced by financial interests.
Authors should disclose any financial arrangement they may have had in the last 3 years or in the foreseeable future with a company whose product is pertinent to the submitted manuscript or with a company making a competing product. Such information will be held in confidence while the paper is under review and will not influence the editorial decision but if the article is accepted for publication, a disclosure statement will appear with the article. Here are some examples: Dr. “A” reports having served as a consultant to “A1”. Dr. “B” reports having been paid lecture fees by “B1”, “B2” and “B3” Drs. “C, D, E” report having received grant support from “C1” Neither Dr. “F”A nor Dr. “G” has any financial interest in the patent. Dr. “H” and Dr. “I” are consultants to “H1” Dr. “L” reports having received consulting fees from “I1” Dr. “M” reports having been a member of speakers’ bureaus sponsored by “M1”
COPYRIGHT. “HSR proceedings” is the owner of all copyright to any published work. “HSR proceedings” and its licensees have the right to use, reproduce, transmit, derive works from, publish and distribute the contribution, in the “HSR proceedings” or otherwise, in any form or medium. Authors may not use or authorize the use of the contribution without the “HSR proceedings” written consent.
EDITING SERVICES
“HSR proceedings in Intensive Care and Cardiovascular Anesthesia” offers a service of English language revision and methodological support to authors that wish to publish in peer-reviewed journals.
For information and tariffs please contact sussani.lara@hsr.it
Please direct any questions to sussani.lara@hsr.it or visit www.hsrproceedings.org/
“HSR proceedings in Intensive Care and Cardiovascular Anesthesia” editorial offices are located in the Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care at 60 Via Olgettina, Milano, Italy 20132, telephone (+39) 02.26436158, fax (+39) 02.26436152, email sussani.lara@hsr.it