Author Guidelines

Authors are requested to submit their papers electronically by using online manuscript submission available at http://aseestant.ceon.rs/index.php/jomb/. This site will guide authors stepwise through the submission process.

Each manuscript should be accompanied by a cover letter containing a brief statement describing the novelty and importance of the work submitted. Authors may indicate names of reviewers who they wish to be included or excluded from reviewing their manuscripts. All manuscripts are peer-reviewed by at least two independent reviewers. All manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Medical Biochemistry are checked using the CrossCheck iThenticate plagiarism detection system for duplicate and unattributed content.

The complete manuscript, including enclosures, should be prepared according to the instructions given in this section. Manuscripts must be written in clear and concise English language. The manuscript should be written in the third person avoiding the passive voice. Please have your text proofread by a native English speaker before you submit it for consideration. Either British or American spelling is acceptable. At the proofreading stage, changes other than correction of printer’s errors will be charged to the authors.

Type the manuscript (including table legends, figure legends, and references) double-spaced using 12 font size on one page of A4 or 81/2×11’’ paper. Number the pages consecutively (with the title page being page 1) and leave 2.5 cm margins on all sides. Avoid footnotes in the text, use parentheses instead. Papers and reviews should usually occupy no more than eight printed pages; short communications, case reports, and letters to the editor should not exceed four printed pages. Each full page of printed text corresponds to approximately 1400 words.

Allow space for tables and illustrations within the page limit. Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the guidelines below. The electronic copy of the manuscript should be saved as a Word for Windows (.doc) or Rich Text Format (.rtf) file. Manuscripts must be submitted using double-line-spaced, unjustified text throughout, with headings and subheadings in bold case (not underlined). Press ENTER only at the end of a paragraph, list entry, or heading.

Full length papers and technical reports should have a Title Page, Summary, Keywords, List of Abbreviations, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, if available, References, Tables, and Figure legends.

Short communications and case reports should be subdivided into Summary, Keywords, List of Abbreviations, and a single section of main text without headings. Experimental procedures should be described in legends to figures or footnotes to tables. Acknowledgments and References should be presented as in full-length papers.

Letters to the editor are arranged like short communications but without a Summary.

Title page

The title page should include:

1. Short and informative title.

2. Names of all authors (with one name and forename of each author in full), ORCID, followed by their affiliations: department, institution, city without postcode, country. If there is more than one institution involved, authors’ names should be linked to the appropriate institutions by inserting consecutive numbers in superscript after relevant names. If required, lowercase letters, in superscript after the name, should be used to indicate the present address.

3. Full name, ORCID, mailing address, fax phone number, and email address of the corresponding author to whom communications should be sent are typed at the bottom.

4. Running title containing 50 characters or less in length.

Summary, Keywords, and a list of non-standard abbreviations

The second page of the manuscript should contain a Summary, Keywords, and a list of non-standard abbreviations used in text, figures, tables, and figure and table legends.

A summary should be short and clear, typed on a separate sheet, and should contain no more than 250 words. It must be comprehensible to readers before they have read the paper. Reference citations must not appear in the abstract, abbreviations should be avoided.

The summary of the original articles should be structured, including the following: Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. The abstract of the other article types should not be structured.

A short summary in the Serbian language should be typed on a separate sheet, beginning with a Serbian title. This is valid only for Serbian authors. Below the end of English and Serbian summaries provide up to six Key Words in alphabetical order separated by semicolon using the entries from Index Medicus for indexing purposes.

Introduction

The introduction should be clear, pointing to the essence of the problem and the purpose of the study. References related to the problem discussed in the manuscript should be cited. Do not include data or conclusions from the work being reported.

Materials and Methods

The experimental part should include a description of materials and methods used. If methods are widely known, they should not be described, but only references indicated. If the article deals with a new method or modified method, full description should follow. Methods used in statistical analyses should be indicated. Identify accurately all materials, substances, drugs, and chemicals used.

Ethics. When reporting experiments on human subjects, manuscripts must include assurance that informed consent was obtained and that the study was performed in conformance with the Declaration of Helsinki ethical guidelines (http://ohsr.od.nih.gov/helsinki.php3) as reflected in a priori approval by the local institution’s, regional or national, human research review committee. Do not use patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in any illustrative material. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the national law on the care and use of laboratory animals was followed. Articles which do not give assurance of compliance with these principles will be rejected.

Statistics. Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results. If preparing statistical data for publication, please read the journal’s statistical guidelines or standard books. Specify any general computer programme used. When data are summarized in the results section, give the statistical methods used to analyze them.

Results

Results should be precise and clear, statistically processed, and expressed according to the International System of Units (SI). Present in logical sequence the data generated using, as appropriate, tables and figures without duplication. Indicate the nature of data reduction and statistical procedures employed with appropriate references.

Discussion Results should be discussed and compared to reference results. Conclusions should be drawn on the basis of these comparisons. Indicate the conclusions that may be drawn and place them in the context of a critical appraisal of previous work. Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the introduction or the results section. Link the conclusions with the goals of the study, but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by your data. Distinguish clearly new information from previous findings, and speculation from fact. Problems arising out of the study may be identified, and relevant hypotheses may be generated.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments should be placed at the end of the text. Indicate financial support, gifts, technical assistance, and advice. Names of the funding organizations should be written in full. Obtain written permission from those acknowledged by name.

Units of measurement The units of measurement when possible must belong to the International System of Units (SI) or be non-SI units accepted for use with the SI (e.g. days, litre). (http://www.bipm.fr/3_SI/si.html).

References

Only essential references should be included. Authors are responsible for verifying them against the original source material. Automatic numbering should be avoided. References are typed on sheets separate from the text and follow the text. Rely upon articles published in primary research journals. Meeting abstracts may be cited only if published in journals. Citations such as »personal communication«, »unpublished data« or »in press« are not accepted. Publications for which no author is apparent may be attributed to the organization from which they originate. Simply omit the name of the author for anonymous journal articles – avoid using »Anonymous«.

References are identified in the text by Arabic numerals in parentheses, and numbered consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. If one reference is cited several times in the text, the same number is indicated in parentheses. Abbreviations of journals conform to those used in Index Medicus (List of Journals Indexed). List all authors; if the number is seven or more, cite the first six names followed by et al. Do not use italic font in the reference section. References must be given in the following format:

• Articles:

Pugia MM, Sammer R, Corey P, Lott JA, Anderson L, Gleason S, et al. The uristatin dipstick is useful in distinguishing upper respiratory from urinary tract infections. Clin Chim Acta 2004; 341: 73–81. Mizon D, Piva F, Queyrel V, Balduyck M, Hachulla E, Mizon J. Urinary bikunin determination provides insight into proteinase/proteinase inhibitor imbalance in patients with inflammatory diseases. Clin Chem Lab Med 2002; 40: 579–86.

• Supplements:

Williams DN. Reducing costs and hospital stay for pneumonia with home intravenous cefotaxime treatment: results with a computerized ambulatory drug delivery system. Am J Med 1994; 97: Suppl 2A: 50– 5.

• Abstracts:

Henney AM. Chronic plaque or acute rupture? The yin and yang of vascular tissue remodeling [abstract]. Atherosclerosis 1997; 134: 111.

• Books and Monographs:

Kahn CR, Weir GC, editors, Joslin’s diabetes mellitus, 13ed. Philadelphia: Lea and Febiger, 1994: 1068pp.

• Chapters: Karnofsky DH, Burchenal JH. The clinical evaluation of chemotherapeutic agents in cancer. In: Macleod CM, editor. Evaluation of chemotherapeutic agents. New York: Columbia University Press, 1949: 191–205.

Tables

Submit tables on separate pages and number them consecutively using Roman numerals. Provide a short descriptive title, column headings, and (if necessary) footnotes to make each table self-explanatory. Refer to tables in the text as Table I, etc. Use Table I, etc. in the table legends. Please indicate in the manuscript the approximate position of each table.

Figures

Illustrations will be reduced in size to fit, whenever possible, the width of a single column, i.e. 80 mm, or a double column, i.e. 168 mm. Ideally, single-column figures should be submitted with a width of 100 mm, and double-column figures with a width of 210 mm. Lettering in all figures within the article should be uniform in style, preferably a sans serif typeface, and of sufficient size so that it is readable at the final size of approximately 2 mm.

Uppercase letters A, B, C, etc. should be used to identify parts of multi-part figures. Cite all figures in the text in a numerical order. Indicate the approximate position of each figure. Refer to figures in the text as Figure 1, etc. Use Figure 1, etc. in the figure legends.

The first author’s name, drawing number, and top location are indicated on the back of the illustration.

The number of tables and figures should be rational.

Line drawings and photographs must be of high quality. Note that faint shading may be lost upon reproduction. All illustrations should be black and white and should be numbered in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. The figures must be saved as separate files and printouts appended to the manuscript. All photographic figures should be submitted in camera-ready form (i.e. with all extraneous areas removed) and saved as TIFF files at a resolution of 600 dpi. Line drawings should be professionally prepared and labeled (freehand files). Charts may be supplied as Excel spreadsheets (one chart per sheet). Where necessary, magnification should be shown using a scale marker. The figure legends (one per figure) should appear as a separate page at the end of the main text file. Any previously published illustrations should be accompanied by the written consent to replication of the copyright holder and an acknowledgment should be included in the legend. The full reference should also be included in the reference list.

Figure legends Provide figure legends on separate pages. Explain all symbols used in the figures. Remember to use the same abbreviations as in text.

Nomenclature Follow the rules of the IUPAC-IUB Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature, as in IUB Biochemical Nomenclature and Related Documents, 3rd edition, obtainable from Biochemical Society Book Depot, P.O. Box 32, and Commerce Way, Colchester, CO2 8HP, U.K.

Enzyme names should be in accordance with the recommendations of the IUPAC-IUB Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature, 1978, as in Enzyme Nomenclature, published by Academic Press, New York, 1992. Genotypes should be given in italics, phenotypes should not be italicized. Nomenclature of bacterial genetics should follow Damerec et al. Genetics 1966; 54: 61–76.

Abbreviations

Journal of Medical Biochemistry accepts standard Journal of Biological Chemistry abbreviations. Uncommon abbreviations should be defined, in parentheses, when they first appear in text. Abbreviations in the Title and in the Abstract should be avoided. All non-standard abbreviations should be listed alphabetically on the second page of the manuscript (see above), separated by a semicolon. Start with the abbreviation, followed by a comma, and then give the explanation.

Offprints

Page proofs will be sent electronically to the author for correspondence and must be returned promptly by e-mail, fax, or post. The corresponding authors will receive a PDF file of their article. Corrections should be kept to a minimum. This should be completed and returned immediately. The corresponding author will also receive a complimentary copy of the issue in which the article appears.