Instructions for Authors
Preparation of original papers and review papers
Statement of Human and Animal Rights
Statement of Informed Consent
Conflict of Interest Statement
Layout of manuscripts
Delivering the manuscripts
Peer-review procedure
Copyright
The “Journal of Ultrasonography” is the official journal of the Polish Ultrasound Society (PTU).
The mission of the journal is to promote ultrasonography among medical professionals representing various specialties as well as to present the current state-of-the-art and the results of original studies involving ultrasound imaging.
The journal publishes:
- Research papers;
- Review papers;
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Short communications – describing the preliminary results of empirical studies of special importance, the course and the preliminary results of original empirical studies or original technical solutions;
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Letters to the editor – presenting justified author’s opinions on a given topic, recommendations for clinical practice
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Pictorial essays
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Commentaries.
The journal is a quarterly published in English and Polish.
Preparation of original papers and review papers
The manuscripts submitted for publication in the “Journal of Ultrasonography” should be prepared in the MS Word program using font 12 (e.g. Arial, Times New Roman) and double-spaced. The volume of a paper (i.e. text only, excluding references and figures) should not exceed 3000 words for a review paper, 2000 words for an original paper and 1200 words for a short communication, and 1500 words for a letter to the editor. Measures and denominations should conform to the international system of units (SI).
All abbreviations and acronyms should be explained at their first use in the text. No acronyms in abstracts are allowed.
Figures and tables should not be included in the text, but their ultimate location should be indicated, e.g. (Fig. 1), (Tab. 1). A figure legend should be presented beneath the references and the tables should be placed at the end of the paper, after the figure legend, each table on a separate page. The number (using Arabic numerals) and title of the table should be placed above that table. All acronyms used should be explained under the table as footnotes. Only high-quality figures are accepted for printing, i.e. in the *.eps, *.ai, *.tif, *.bmp or *.jpg formats with the resolution of 300 dpi and 8 or 16 cm wide (respectively for single or double columns).
Color photos should be prepared in CMYK mode and graphs – in Word, Power Point or Excel programs. No inscriptions on the photos should be made; only symbolic markings are acceptable, such as arrows, crosses or arrowheads, which must be sufficiently large and legible. Their explanations should be included in the figure description.
In the case of submitting the figures already published in another journal, a written consent of the copyright owner is required for their repeated use.
The authors are obliged to provide a Cover letter to their papers, where the first author on behalf of all co-authors declares that the manuscript has not been concurrently submitted for publication in a different periodical and that no significant part of it has ever been published in another journal. After signing, it should be scanned and sent as when requested.
Statement of Human and Animal Rights
All experimental studies involving human subjects or animals require an approval of the local bioethical committee (with respect to medical studies involving humans, authors shall conform to the principles included in the Declaration of Helsinki and with respect to experiments on animals – to the guidelines included in the Interdisciplinary Principles and Guidelines for the Use of Animals in Research, Testing and Education, issued by the New York Academy of Sciences – Ad Hoc Committee on Animal Research).
A phrase stating the fact that the approval of the bioethical commission has been obtained and its number should be included in the Material and methods section.
In the case of studies involving human subjects, their written, informed consent for the participation in the trial is necessary. A phrase stating that such a consent has been obtained should be included in the Material and methods section, according to the principles issued by the World Medical Association – the Declaration of Helsinki. It is prohibited to use patients’ names, initials, case history numbers or any other information that would enable the identification of the patient both in the actual text of the paper and in the illustrative material (figures, tables).
Conflict of Interest Statement
If there is a conflict of interest , the source of financing the study (e.g. number and title of a grant) should be disclosed in the Cover letter. At the end of the paper (i.e. directly before the References), the authors should include information concerning a possible conflict of interest and acknowledgements. If no conflict of interest exists, the authors should include a phrase: The authors do not report any financial or personal connections with other persons or organizations, which might negatively affect the contents of this publication and/or claim authorship rights to this publication (an example).
Introduction – description of the current knowledge concerning a particular subject which is concluded with the aim of the paper.
Material and methods – description of a group of patients included in the study, equipment used and statistical methods implemented. In this section, a note should be added stating that the patients’ written consent to participate in the study has been obtained and – in the case of experimental studies – the approval has been granted by the local bioethical committee.
Results – should be presented in a clear and concise way, at best in the form of tables or diagrams.
Discussion – interpretation of own results and their confrontation with literature reports.
Conclusions – presented clearly, in the form of one or a few sentences.
Information about the conflict of interest – a statement concerning the source of financing or information about the lack of conflict.
Acknowledgements – thanks to persons who contributed to the creation of the paper.
References – list of publications quoted in the paper, presented in the order of appearance. Arabic numerals placed in semicircular parentheses, without spaces between the coma and the following number should be used as reference marks. In original and review papers, at most 30 other publications should be referred to; in short communications, letters to the editor and other types of short publications mentioned above (up to 500 words) – up to 10 papers. Abbreviations of the names of other journals must conform to the Index Medicus. If the quoted paper has no more than 6 co-authors, they should all be listed. If there are more than 6 authors, the first 6 should be listed, followed by et al. Please observe punctuation marks, i.e. full stops, colons, spaces, etc.
Example references:
- articles:
1. Konarzewska A, Rzepecka-Wejs L, Korzon-Burakowska A: Ultrasound-diagnosed bone and joint destruction as a typical image in advanced Charcot arthropathy – case report. J Ultrason 2012; 12: 226–232.
2. Sudoł-Szopińska I, Kontny E, Maśliński W, Prochorec-Sobieszek M, Kwiatkowska B, Zaniewicz-Kaniewska K et al.: The pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis in radiological studies. Part I: Formation of inflammatory infiltrates within the synovial membrane. J Ultrason 2012; 12: 202–213. - papers published with a DOI number only:
Sakai T, Matsusaki T, Abu-Elmagd K, Amesur N, Thaete FL, Zak MF et al.: The role of ultrasonography in determining central venous patency in patients undergoing bowel transplantation. Clin Transplant 2011. DOI: 10.1111/j.1399-0012.2011.01533.x. - books:
Greenspan A, Jundt G, Remagen W: Differential Diagnosis in Orthopaedic Oncology. Vol. 2, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia 2007. - chapters in books:
Wieczorek AP, Woźniak MM, Stankiewicz A: Ultrasonography. In: Santoro GA, Wieczorek AP, Bartram CI (eds.): Pelvic Floor Disorders: Imaging and Multidisciplinary Approach to Management. Springer, Dordrecht 2010: 175–187.
List of Figures should be placed on a separate page beneath the references using Arabic numerals.
Tables – each on a separate page. The heading should contain the number and title of the table. The abbreviations and acronyms used should be explained below the table as footnotes.
The papers in the “Journal of Ultrasonography” are published in Polish and English versions. Manuscripts may be sent to the Editorial Office in English or Polish. The manuscripts with all their attachments should be sent via Editorial System: http://www.jultrason.pl/index.php/submit-article.
The peer-review procedure of the manuscripts submitted to the “Journal of Ultrasonography” conforms to the recommendations of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education published in the document Good practice in peer-review procedures in science.
The manuscripts submitted for publication are first assessed by the Section Editor. The papers that received a positive opinion from Section Editor undergo further evaluation. Each manuscript is registered under a specific number and sent for review to two independent reviewers – recognized experts in the field the paper relates to who are not affiliated with the authors’ institutions and have no conflict of interest with the authors (kinship, professional dependency or direct scientific cooperation over the period of two years preceding the peer-review). The Editorial Board uses the “double-blind review” model, i.e. the identity of the reviewers is not revealed to the authors and vice versa – the reviewers do not know the identity of the authors and the remaining reviewers.
Nevertheless, for the sake of transparency and clearness of the procedure, in the first issue of the quarterly in a given year and on its web site, the Editorial Board publishes a list of all reviewers that evaluated the manuscripts in the previous year. The peer-review procedure lasts two weeks. The reviewers are obliged to provide a content-related justification for their evaluation of the submitted paper and express unambiguous opinion by selecting one of the following options:
- the paper is ready for publication without any corrections;
- the paper can be published after minor corrections have been introduced in accordance with the reviewer’s recommendations, without the need for a repeated review;
- the paper can be published after its correction in accordance with the reviewer’s comments and after a repeated review;
- the paper should not be published.
Upon obtaining a positive opinion of both reviewers, the manuscript is accepted for printing. In the case of divergent opinions, the Editor-in-Chief requests the opinion of the third reviewer. The entire editorial process does not exceed three months.
“Journal of Ultrasonography” is an open journal, available online on, among others, www.jultrason.pl. It can be accessed free of charge and with no other barriers on the basis of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) – CC-BY-NC-ND (certain rights reserved for the publisher and authors). The license allows for redistribution, presentation and preparation of the material for non-commercial purposes only, as long as it remains in its original form (without creating derivative works). The journal allows the author(s) to hold the copyright and retain publishing rights without restrictions. When deciding to publish an article in “Journal of Ultrasonography,” the author consents to its redistribution on the aforementioned terms and guarantees that the article does not infringe the rights of the third party.