Organization of the paper and style of presentation
Manuscripts must be written in English and American spelling should be used consistently throughout the manuscript.
Authors whose native language is not English are advised to consult a professional English language editing service or a native English speaker prior to submission.
Manuscripts should be prepared with wide margins and double spacing throughout, including the abstract, footnotes and references. Every page of the manuscript, including the title page, references, tables, etc., should be numbered. However, in the text no reference should be made to page numbers; if necessary, one may refer to sections.
Try to avoid the excessive use of italics and bold face.
Manuscripts should be organized in the following order:
- Title page
- Body of text (divided by subheadings)
- Acknowledgements
- Author contributions
- Conflict of Interest
- References
- Tables
- Figure captions
- Figures
Headings and subheadings should be numbered and typed on a separate line, without indentation.
SI units should be used, i.e., the units based on the metre, kilogramme, second, etc.
Title page
The title page should provide the following information:
- Title (should be clear, descriptive and not too long)
- Name(s) of author(s); please indicate who is the corresponding author
- Full affiliation(s)
- Present address of author(s), if different from affiliation
- Complete address of corresponding author, including tel. no., fax no. and e-mail address
- Abstract
- Keywords
Abstract
The abstract should be clear, descriptive, self-explanatory and not longer than 200 words, it should also be suitable for publication in abstracting services.
The abstract for research papers should follow the “structured abstract” format. Section labels should be in bold uppercase letters followed by a colon, and each section will begin on a new line.
BACKGROUND:
OBJECTIVE:
METHODS:
RESULTS:
CONCLUSIONS:
Materials and Methods
Experimental subjects
When human subjects are used, manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the experiments were undertaken with the understanding and written consent of each subject, and that the study conforms with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki), printed in the British Medical Journal (18 July 1964).
When experimental animals are used, the Materials and methods section must briefly but explicitly state measures which were taken to minimize pain or discomfort, e.g. type and dose of anaesthetic used. Experiments should be carried out in accordance with the European Communities Council Directive of 24 November 1986 (86/609/EEC) or with the Guidelines laid down by the NIH in the US, available from the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, RKLI, Suite 360, MSC 7982, 6705 Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892-7982, or online (olaw.nih.gov) regarding the care and use of animals for experimental procedures.
All studies using human or animal subjects should include an explicit statement in the Materials and Methods section identifying the review and approval committee for each study. Editors reserve the right to reject papers if there is doubt whether appropriate procedures have been used.
Acknowledgments
This section should contain all acknowledgments, including any funding source to the research.
Author contributions
For every author, his or her contribution to the manuscript needs to be provided using the following categories:
Conception:
Interpretation or analysis of data:
Preparation of the manuscript:
Revision for important intellectual content:
Supervision:
Please read the IOS Press authorship policy for further information.
Conflict of Interest
Statement of any potential conflicts should be clearly identified at the end of the paper. If there is no conflict of interest to declare, you must still include this section and insert the following statement: "The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest."
If an author is also on the Editorial Board of this journal, the following statement should be included in this section: “<AUTHOR> is an Editorial Board Member of this journal, but was not involved in the peer-review process nor had access to any information regarding its peer-review.
Datasets/Data Availability Statement (Required for Research Reports, Short Communications, and Systematic Reviews/Meta-Analyses)
All datasets and data articles cited in your manuscript should be included in the reference list of your article (not in a separate box or in the article text). Data references should include: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and identifier (DOI/URL/etc.).
Authors should include a Data Availability statement at the end of the manuscript (before the References) to describe the availability or the absence of shared data. Authors are required to deposit sequence or proteomic data into a public repository (eg. GEO, Chorus) and include a link to the repository and data, and encouraged to publicly archive their research data including, but not limited to: software, algorithms, protocols, methods, and/or materials. Exceptions are made if sharing data compromises ethical standards or legal requirements.
Examples for your paper’s “Data Availability" statement:
- The data supporting the findings of this study are openly available in [repository name] at [DOI and/or URL]. These data were derived from the following resources available in the public domain: [list resources and URLs].
- The data supporting the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.
- The data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and/or its supplementary material.
- Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during this study.
Tables
Number as Table 1, Table 2 etc, and refer to all of them in the text.
Each table should be provided on a separate page of the manuscript. Tables should not be included in the text.
Each table should have a brief and self-explanatory title.
Column headings should be brief, but sufficiently explanatory. Standard abbreviations of units of measurement should be added between parentheses.
Vertical lines should not be used to separate columns. Leave some extra space between the columns instead.
Any explanations essential to the understanding of the table should be given in footnotes at the bottom of the table.
