Folia Medica (Plovdiv)

Author guidelines

FOLIA MEDlCA (Plovdiv), established in 1959, is a peer-reviewed journal of the Medical University of Plovdiv. It is published quarterly in English.The manuscripts are submitted in english only to the Editorial Office via the Editorial Manager™ system.

The submission or the manuscript by the authors means that the authors automatically agree to assign exclusive copyright to FOLIA MEDICA (Plovdiv) if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication. All authors should meet the following criteria:

• substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data
• drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content
• final approval of the version to be published.

The materials and the procedures used in the studies should be in conformity with the established ethical criteria concerning studies involving human beings (http://www.who.int/ethics/research/en/), no patient should be referred to by a name, initials or photographs by which identification of the person be done. Authors are responsible for all statements, opinions, conclusions, and methods of presenting their data in the manuscript.

All submissions are assigned to a review process by expert referees to determine the originality, validity and conclusions and then accepted for upon approval by the Editorial Board.

Requirements for the submission of manuscripts[*]

Submissions in the following categories will he deemed appropriate for consideration by the Editors and the Editorial Board of FOLIA MEDICA (Plovdiv):

Editorial – provide commentary and analysis concerning an article(s) in the current issue in which they appear. It is possible to insert a figure or a table. Editorials are nearly always solicited, although unsolicited editorials may occasionally be considered for publication, but it is suggested this is discussed with the Editors prior to submission. Editorials are limited to 750 words, with up to 12 references.

Review (special articles) – up to  12 A4 double-spaced pages, including tables, figures and text appended to them. The review articles should include Introduction and the remaining sections being given headings by the authors. The references should not exceed 50.The Abstract should be structured up to 250 words.

Original articles – up to 10 A4 double-spaced pages, including tables, figures, and text appended to them. Each manuscript should clearly state an objective or hypothesis.The sections in this kind ofpapers are: Background/Introduction, Aim, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions.The References should not exceed 35. The Abstract should be structured up to 250 words.

Case Reports – up to 4 A4 double-spaced pages including tables, figures and iIIustrations. The References should not exceed 15. The Abstract should be limited to 200 words.

Short Communications – up to 4 A4 double-spaced pages including tables, figures and text appended to them. These manuscripts are short reports of original studies or evaluations or unique, first-time reports of clinical case series. The format is identical to that of an article with the following sections: Introduction (with the aim of the communication clearly stated), Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions.The references should not exceed 20.The Abstract should be limited to 200 words.

Letter-to-the-Editor - provide a forum for readers to comment about articles recently published in Folia Medica, or discussions on topical problems. They should be short, up to 2 A4 double-spaced pages including references (no more than 5 references).

Technical Requirements and Preparation of the Manuscript

All manuscripts must be typewritten on A4 paper format. Allow margins of at least 25 mm on all sides of the pages. Pages should be double-spaced throughout and should be numbered consecutively beginning with the title page. Please, use sans serif font, 12 pt in size (e.g. Times New Roman, Calibri etc.).

COVER LETTER

All manuscripts should have a cover letter (submitted as a separate file)stating any relevant information concerning the submission (e.g. the manuscript is not under simultaneous consideration by another journal at the time of its submission, and that it has not been published elsewhere either in print or electronic format). It should also contain the following sections:

• Title  (50 word maximum, no abbreviations
• Abbreviated title/Running head(50 character maximum)
• Authors' names- full first name, middle initial and family name. The corresponding author should also provide telephone/fax number.
• E-mail addresses of the corresponding author and co-authors
• Names of the Department Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address.
• Number of figures and tables
• Number of words for the main article text
• Conflict of Interest

ABSTRACT.

Authors submitting manuscripts should prepare an abstract of no more than 250 words (200 words for case reports and short communications) under the following headings: Background/Introduction, Aim, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. They should briefly describe the problem being addressed in the in the study, how the study was performed, the results, and what the authors conclude from the results. The abstract should be submitted separately. Do not include institutional affiliations or authors’ names. Abbreviations should be avoided in the abstract. Include up to 5 key words for subject indexing.

ARTICLE TEXT

To ensure blinding of the reviewer(s) the article text should not contain names and institutions of the authors. The manuscript should follow the basic structure: introduction, methods, results, discussion, references, and tables and figures as appropriate. It is encouraged as much methodology and data to be contained in the manuscript as possible. The Results section should present clearly but succinctly the experimental findings. Only results essential to establish the main points of the work should be included. The discussion section should be as concise as possible and should include a brief statement of the principal findings, a discussion of the validity of the observations, a discussion of the findings in light of other published work dealing with the same or closely related subjects, and a statement of the possible significance of the work. Acknowledgments (Grant information) may be attached at the end of the main article text. Acknowledgements should be used to identify all funding sources. Acknowledgements may also be used to note intellectual, technical or other assistance that does not warrant authorship. Individuals should be informed before the publication of any such acknowledgements and given the opportunity to decline the recognition. Funding sources should be listed first with any acknowledgements of assistance following.

TABLES.

Prepareand submit each table with double spacing in a separate file with the caption above the table.Number tables consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and provide the desired location of the table breaking the text. Supply a brief caption for each table. Give each column a short or abbreviated heading. Do not place explanatory matter in the caption. Explain all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table or use a Legend of the abbreviations bellow the table.

FIGURES.

Figures, pictures and all graphic content should be supplied as separate files with adequate resolution (e.g. 300 dpi). It is responsibility of the authors to provide clear and sharp graphic content in one of the following file formats – TIFF, EPS or JPEG. Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text(e.g., Fig. 1). Provide the desired location of the figure/graphic content breaking the text. Letters, numbers, and symbols should be clear and even throughout and of sufficient size that when reduced for publication each them will still be legible. Captions should be placed bellow the figure. Detailed explanations belong in the Legend,not on the illustrations themselves.

STATISTICS.

All data must be analyzed statistically. Detailed statistical methodology must be reported. Describe the specific tests used to examine each part or the results. Variability should be expressed either as median and range (or percentiles) for nonparametric data,or mean ± standard error, standard deviation (or confidence intervals) for normally distributed data. Describe randomization procedures, if any. For guidelines on how to report statistical results you may wish to consult the following source: Lang, TA, Secic, M. How to report statistics in medicine: annotated guidelines for authors, editors and reviewers, 2^nd Ed. Philadelphia, (PA): ACP Press; 2006.

ABBREVIATIONS.

Use only standard abbreviations. Avoid abbreviations in title and abstract. Include “Legend” under table or figure where several abbreviations are used. The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit or measurement.

UNITS OF MEASUREMENT.

Ali measurements should be reported in accordance with the International System or Units (SI).

REFERENCES.

References should be num-bered in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text (not alphabetically). Identify references in the text, tables, and legends by Arabie numerais in parentheses.

• Article in a journal

List all authors when they are three or fewer; when there are more than three,list the first three, followed by "et al.". Folia medica implements the Vancouver reference style (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_system) - the names of all authors are cited in inverted order - family name  followed by the author's initials without dots between them. The journal names are given in the abbreviated form in the style used in lndex Medicus, followed by the year of publication, volume number (month and issue number) and page numbers.

Example: Geneva I, Krasteva M, Kostianev S. Somatosensory evoked potentials in full-term neonates with perinatal asphyxia. Folia Med (Plovdiv)2014; 56(2): 88-95.

• Books and Monographs

List the name or the author(s), title, place or publication, publisher and date.

Example: Kassirer JP, Kopelman RI. Learning clinical reasoning. 2^nd Ed. Baltimore (MD): Williams & Wilkins; 2009.

• Chapters in a Book

List the name of the author, title, followed by In:, name of editor(s), place of publication, publisher, date and pages.

Example: Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertensian and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, eds. Hypertension: pathophysiology,diagnosis, and management. 2^nd Ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995:465-78.

• Dissertation [PhD Thesis]

List the name of the author, title of dissertation, specified in square brackets [PhD Thesis], the locale where the dissertation was written, the name of institution and year or writing.

Example: Taralov Z. Assessing the status of the autonomous nervous system in different functional states via the heart rate variability [PhD Thesis], Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Medical University of Plovdiv 2015.

Language recommendation

If you are not a native English speaker, it is advisable to have your manuscript checked/edited by a native speaker prior to submission. That will, eventually, provide clear language which will give the reviewers and editors the opportunity to concentrate on the scientific content of the paper.

Editorial Office:

FOLIA MEDICA Journal

Medical University of Plovdiv

15A Vassil Aprilov Blvd.

Plovdiv 4002

Tel +359 32/602 311

E·mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.