Author Guidelines

Information for Authors including editorial standards for the preparation of manuscripts

Pathologica is intended to provide a medium for the communication of results and ideas in the field of morphological research on human diseases in general and on human pathology in particular. The journal welcomes contributions concerned with experimental morphology, ultrastructural research, immunocytochemical analysis, and molecular biology. Reports of work in other fields relevant to the understanding of human pathology may be submitted as well all papers on the application of new methods and techniques in pathology. Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” developed by the international committee of medical journal editors (http://www.icmje.org).

 Authors are also strongly recommended to review the following guidelines and the “template”.

• Authors need to register with the journal (http://pathologica.it ) prior to submitting their article via the online submission platform (OJS) or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the five-step process.


• The official language of the journal is English.


• Texts must be original and should not be presented simultaneously to more than one journal.


• All scientific papers are published in English (British spelling and grammar) with title, abstract and key words. The text will be submitted to English language review by the publisher at no costs to the Authors. The Editor reserves the right to refuse any article not written in an appropriate English style. Only papers strictly adhering to the editorial instructions outlined herein will be considered for publication. Acceptance is upon the critical assessment by experts in the field (Reviewers), the introduction of any changes requested and the final decision of the Editor-in-Chief.


• Submission implies that publication has been approved by all co-authors, as well as, by the director of the Institute or Department where the work has been carried out.

 TEMPLATE TO PREPARE THE MANUSCRIPT 

• Before you prepare your manuscript, download the “template” and use that as a starting point for your manuscript. If you already have prepared your paper, please use “copy - paste special - unformatted text” to enter your text in the “template”. Please prepare a complete manuscript in the Word “template” and save it in .doc(x). Upload all figures in separate files. Further instructions are available on the “template” and are also indicated below.

AUTHORSHIP STATEMENT FORM

• The corresponding author must fill in and sign the Authorship Statement form (Authorship Statement Form) and upload it in the submission process.


• After submission, you will receive a confirmation of receipt of your manuscript via OJS. You can also check the status of your manuscript on OJS. The editorial staff will inform you via OJS once a decision has been made.

MANUSCRIPT FORMAT 

General instructions

Pathologica publishes the types of articles defined below. When submitting your manuscript, please follow the instructions relevant to the applicable article category. Your manuscript will be returned to you if it does not meet these criteria.

Please prepare a complete manuscript in the Word “template” and save it in .doc(x). Do not format the text in any way (avoid styles, borders, shading...); use only character styles such as italics, bold, underlined, super and subscript. Do not send the text in PDF. Notes to the text, indicated by asterisks or similar symbols, should appear at the bottom of the relevant page.

Text should be arranged as follows:

• A concise and informative title not exceeding 100 characters including spaces.


• Running title not exceeding 100 characters including spaces.


• The authors’ full first names and surnames.


• Name and address of the Institute or Institutes where the work was carried out; if the authors are affiliated with different Institutes, the first author and any others from the same Institute should be indicated with 1 (in superscript), the names of the authors from another Institute with 2, and so on.


• Name (written in full), surname and address of the corresponding author, including telephone, fax numbers and e-mail address, to whom galley proofs are to be addressed.


• Type of article: categorize the article in one of the following types: Original Article / Review article (meta-analysis) / Editorial / Letter to the Editor / Case report. Special sections: Guidelines and Reccomendations, Proceedings, “Pathologica storica”, Study Groups).


• The abstract (no longer than 300 words) should be clear and concise.


• Key words max 5.


• Main body of manuscript: see specific instructions for article categories, below.


• Mathematical terms and formulae, abbreviations, and units of measure should conform to the standards set out in www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf. Use only standard abbreviations. The spelled-out abbreviation followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis should be used on first mention unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measurement. Drugs should be referred to by their chemical name; the commercial name should be used only when absolutely unavoidable (capitalizing the first letter of the product name and giving the name of the pharmaceutical firm manufacturing the drug, town and country).


• Acknowledgements and mention of any financial/conflict of interest and/or source of funding (grants or other forms of support) should appear at the end of the paper, before the list of references. Even in case of no financial/conflict of interest or source of funding, please specify it in this section.


• References should be limited to the most essential and relevant (see specific instructions for article categories for number of references requested), published allegedly in the last decade, identified in the text with consecutive numerals (with numbers in superscript) and listed at the end of the manuscript in the order in which they are cited. The format of the references listed should conform with the examples indicated below. For papers with more than three authors only the first three authors must be indicated, followed by “et al.”. Abbreviate journal names as in Index Medicus.

DOI NAME MUST BE INCLUDED WITH EACH REFERENCE (when available).

Examples of the correct format for citation of references:

Journal article: Oh EJ, Lee S, Bae JS, et al. TERT Promoter mutation in an aggressive cribriform morular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma. Endocr Pathol 2017;28:49-53. https://doi.org/doi: 10.1007/s12022-016-9454-3

Books: Smith DW. Recognizable patterns of human malformation. Third Edition. Philadelphia: WB Saunders Co 1982.

Chapters from books or material from conference proceedings: Krmpotic-Nemanic J, Kostovis I, Rudan P. Aging changes of the form and infrastructure of the external nose and its importance in rhinoplasty. In: Conly J, Dickinson JT, editors. Plastic and reconstructive surgery of the face and neck. New York, NY: Grune and Stratton 1972, p. 84.

• Tables should be typewritten and numbered consecutively with Roman numerals. The same data should not be presented twice, both in the text and tables. Each table should have above a brief title and be self-explanatory and be cited in the text (Table I, Table II, etc.). The table should be supplement the material in the text rather than duplicate. Insert any notes below. Explain all the abbreviations.


• Figures should be uploaded in separate files. Do not include the figures in the text file but only cite them, numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc.) in the text file. Figure legends should be indicated at the end of the text file and allow the reader to understand the figures without reference to the text. All symbols used in figures should be explained. Remove any information that can identify a patient. Software and format: preferably send images in .TIFF or .JPEG format, resolution at least 300 dpi (IMPORTANT: maximum dimension for each single file/image is 2 Mb). Insert an extension that identifies the file format (example: .TIFF; .JPEG).

SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS FOR ARTICLE CATEGORIES

Original articles

Original articles are full-length original reports of clinical or basic science data, which has not yet been published, that cover topics in the field of morphological research on human diseases in general and on human pathology in particular. and that represent advanced information and a new contribution to biomedical literature. Article types include, but are not limited to: clinical trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional surveys and diagnostic test assessments. An emphasis is given for higher levels of evidence. Text should not exceed 30,000 characters including spaces from the Introduction to the Conflict of Interest Statement, excluding the title page, abstract and references. The first page should specify the type of article (original article) and if it is a clinical trial, cohort study, etc. The abstract should be structured and include Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusions. The main text should be structured in:

Introduction: the introduction (which must not exceed 5,000 characters including spaces) should put the focus of the manuscript into a broader context, and keep in mind readers who are not experts in the field. The introduction should conclude with a brief statement of the overall aim of the study.
Materials and methods: this section should provide enough detail to allow full replication of the study by suitably skilled investigators. If the authors prefer, they can subdivide this section in various headings that should be provided in italics: e.g. Patients, Surgery, ELISA, Statistical analysis (if present, the type of statistical analysis should ALWAYS be specified in the Materials and methods section. If your study involves human or animal subjects or records of human patients you MUST have obtained ethical approval. Ethical approval or exemption are required for retrospective studies on patients’ records. Please state in the Material and methods section whether ethical approval was given, by whom and the relevant Judgement’s reference number).

Results: the results section should provide details of all of the data that are required to support the conclusions of the paper. There should be a brief introduction of each section and end with a summarising sentence of the main findings without discussion. The section may be divided into subsections, each with a concise subheading (in italics). We recommend that the results section be written in the past tense.
Discussion: include a review of the key literature. If there are relevant controversies or disagreements in the field, they should be mentioned so that a non-expert reader can delve into these issues further. The discussion should consider the major conclusions of the work along with some explanation and/or speculation on their significance. How do the conclusions affect the existing assumptions and models in the field? How can future research build on these observations? What are the key experiments that remain? The discussion should be concise with solid arguments.
Conclusions: conclusions and hypotheses should be firmly established/supported by the data presented, and any speculations should be clearly identified as such. No new data should be presented in the discussion.
References should NOT EXCEED 25.
Tables should be limited to 5.
Figures should be limited to 5.

Systematic review (including meta-analysis)

Manuscripts should review topics of contemporary interest and importance. Reviews ideally should address controversial issues by expressing all different points of view. Critical assessments of literature and data sources in the field of morphological research on human diseases in general and on human pathology in particular are required. The review should be comprehensive and authoritative as reflected by a contemporary bibliography.

Text should not exceed a total of 40,000 characters including spaces. The abstract should be unstructured. The introduction should outline explicitly the clinical problem and rationale for conducting the review. Review articles should not require a Materials/Methods or Results section. Furthermore we recommend, particularly for meta-analyses a Methods section that specifies the information sources and search strategy, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and potential biases in the review process, and a Results section that describes study selection, characteristics and statistical methods for summarising data. Discussion should interpret results in light of the total available evidence. The conclusion is to summarise key findings.

References should NOT EXCEED 100.

Tables and/or figures should be limited to 10, overall.

Editorials express opinions on current topics of interest. They are nearly always solicited by the Editor-in-Chief or by the members of the Editorial Board, although unsolicited editorials may occasionally be considered. Editorials may provide a commentary on an article in the issue of the Journal in which they appear or published elsewhere. Editorials are limited to 8.000 characters including spaces with at least 10 references. They may include 1-2 figures or tables (see below for details). They should have no more than 2 authors.

Letters to the Editor-in-Chief may regard published material or information of timely interest and particularly if controversy exists, or may briefly describe cases of special interest. They should be brief and not exceed 8.000 characters including spaces, with no more than 10 references, and only 1 figure and/or table (see below for details). If the letter is related to a previously published article in Pathologica, it must be submitted within 6 months of publication. Letters commenting papers are sent to the authors of those papers for a response.

Case reports will be considered for publication only if they describe relevant cases (rare, of particular didactic interest, etc.). The clinical and pathologic data should be complete, using up-date methodology, and top-level images. The text should include a brief review of relevant references and a discussion on new data regarding the pathogenesis and/or the diagnostic role of pathology regarding the described case/disease. Submissions must have a title, an unstructured abstract and key words. Manuscript length: no more than 15.000 characters including spaces, 5 references, and a total of 5 original and quality figures and/or tables (see below for details).

Special sections: Guidelines and Reccomendations, Proceedings, “Pathologica storica”, Study Groups.

Submitting revisions

If the Authors are invited to submit a revised paper, they should re-submit it uploading it on OJS using password and username used to complete the first submission. Please re-name your manuscript as “Revised manuscript n…”.
-  Please include at the beginning of the same file a letter to reviewers describing the changes made point-by-point according to the reviewer’s comments.
-  Please be sure to upload all parts of the submission including main manuscript and figures.
-  Please ensure that you return your manuscript with the changes clearly marked (you can use the Track Changes function in Word or simply highlight where changes have been made).
-  Please during submission of the revised manuscript don’t delete the first and original version of your manuscript. 
If you need assistance please contact the Editorial office. Please in any correspondence provide the corresponding author’s name, title of the manuscript, manuscript number (very important) and a clear description of the problem.

After acceptance

 Galley proofs will be sent via OJS to the corresponding author for final approval. The authors are required to carefully check the proofs and return them within 3 days of receipt. Substantial changes in title, authorship, affiliations, content, corrected values and references are not allowed without the approval of the Editor-in Chief. If the proofs are not received in time, the Authors will have to rely on the Editor's corrections only. The Authors are responsible for mistakes that have been overlooked. The date of receipt and the date of acceptance by the Scientific Committee will appear on each publication. The article may be published online first after receipt of the corrected proof. A pdf of all articles published are available in open access at http://www.pathologica.it/index. Paper reprints will be provided only if requested by the authors and will be charged at extra cost.

Contact information

Editorial Office: Pacini Editore srl, via A. Gherardesca 1, 56121 Pisa, Italy.
Web site: www.pathologica.it - E-mail:  pathologica@pacinieditore.it - Tel. 050 3130223