Guide for authors

Dear authors,

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Journal is included into the list of leading peer-reviewed scientific Russian journals and publications recommended by the Higher Attestation Commission (HAC), in which significant results of theses can be published. It is also included into the international information systems and databases and to meet their requirements the authors must adhere firmly to the following rules. The rules were developed according to the recommendations of the Higher Attestation Commission, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)¹, the Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of Health Research — EQUATOR — Network, and also guidelines prepared under the editorship of the Association of Science Editors and Publishers.².

Before sending an article to the journal editors, please, read carefully the following materials posted on the journal's website (section "Journal Policy"):

• – thematic sections and focus of the journal;
• – regulation on the principles of editorial ethics of scientific and practical journals by A.N. Bakulev NMRCCVS Publishing house.

By submitting the article and accompanying files for publication in the journal, the author (or all authors of this work, if it is co-authored) agrees with the copyright clause presented in detail in the corresponding section of the site.

I. General rules, ethical issues and additional integral elements of the article

By submitting the article, the authors confirm that they agree with the provisions and principles listed below.

I.1. Authorship identification

The authors of the article can be people who made a significant contribution to the work, revision or correction, the final approval of the article for publication, as well as those responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript. People who played a different role in the preparation of the article can be indicated in the section of the article "Acknowledgments".

The first in the list of authors should be the head of the research team who took the greatest part in the work and preparation of the manuscript. He should also be responsible for communication with the editorial board and readers (after the publication of the article). He must make sure that the co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the article when it is approved for publication.

If somebody provides funding, laboratory materials and instruments, provides technical editing of the manuscript, gives scientific advice, or is a general leader of the research team, it does not justify being included in the authors’ team.

Shared participation of the authors (contribution of authors) in the writing of the article must be indicated at the end of the article, after the bibliography. That is, in which of the stages of the creation of the article each of its authors took part: study concept and design; patients screening, diagnostic and treatment; collection of clinical material; material collection and processing; formal analysis and investigation; funding acquisition; review of publications on the topic of the article; statistical data processing and software; approval of the manuscript final version for publication; checking of significant content; writing the text of the manuscript; writing — review and editing; preparation of illustrations (study concept and design; patients screening, diagnostic and treatment; material collection and processing; formal analysis and investigation; funding acquisition; resources; statistical data processing and / or software; approval of the final version; supervision and validation; writing — original draft; writing — review and editing; visualization). The authors should be listed in the order in which they are indicated in the title of the article.

If several authors participated in any of the stages of the work, the stage must be named (repeated) for each of them.

The number of authors in original articles is not limited, in reviews there can be up to 4 authors, in descriptions of individual clinical cases — up to 5 authors.

I.2. Conflict of interest

Authors should inform of any conflicts of interest that may exist.

The conflict of interest arises when an author, reviewer or editor has financial relations and cooperate with any organizations, which may interfere with unprejudiced perception, peer review, decision making on the publication of research results (for example, receiving royalties, educational grants, participation in expert councils, membership, labor relations, consulting work, store ownership or other interests), or when there is a non-financial interest (for example, personal or professional relationships, acquaintances, etc.) regarding the issues and / or materials discussed in the article.

The presence of a conflict of interest is not an ethical violation by itself; a violation occurs when this information is hidden. More information on the concept of a conflict of interest can be found here.

I.3. Funding for research and publications

If the research and / or preparation of the article had financial support, it is necessary to indicate the source of funding (grant, company support, etc.).

I.4. Plagiarism and secondary publishing

It is unacceptable to use unfair textual borrowing and appropriation of research results that do not belong to the authors of the submitted manuscript.

It is prohibited to send to the editorial office works printed in other publications or sent to other publications. You can check the article for originality using the services https://www.antiplagiat.ru/ (for Russian-language texts) and http://plagiarism.org/ (for English-language texts). The editorial board checks all submitted manuscripts for plagiarism.

I.5. Respect for patients' rights and bioethics rules

For the original study, it is necessary to indicate whether its protocol follows ethical principles and which ethics committee approved the study (indicating the document number, the date of its signing and the official name of the committee).

Patients have the right to maintain confidentiality, which cannot be disclosed without their consent. Personally identifiable information, including patients’ names and initials, hospital and case histories numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or genealogies, unless it is of great scientific value or the patient (or parent / guardian) provides a written consent to publication. In such a case, authors should inform patients whether it is likely that their personally identifiable material, once published, will be available on the Internet. To publish the results of the original work, the authors must report in the article about the presence of informed consent of the patient (patients) to distribute information. See below for examples of design.

If children were included in the study:

If the article includes a clinical case review:

If the patient is under 18:

When using laboratory animals in research, it is necessary to indicate whether the research protocol followed the norms for conducting biomedical research with animals.

II. Rules for submitting a manuscript to the editor

II.1. Manuscript submission form

Manuscripts and accompanying documents can be submitted to the editorial office by one of the following ways:

• – by e-mail to the address izdinsob@yandex.ru; the text of the article should be submitted in Microsoft Word format (see section III), and accompanying documents with original signatures should be attached to the letter in PDF or JPG format;
• – by courier or regular mail (1 copy of the manuscript printout with the obligatory attachment of the electronic version (in Microsoft Word format), as well as the originals of all necessary accompanying documents).

II.2. Accompanying documents

The accompanying documents include:

• – referral on the letterhead of the organization with the seal and permission of the head (a sample can be downloaded here);
• – a cover letter with the signatures of all authors (the form can be downloaded here);
• – the conclusion of the official translation agency on the equivalence of the English-language and Russian-language texts (for authors who want to publish the full text of the article both in Russian and in English in the electronic form).
• – the conclusion of the official translation agency on the equivalence of the English-language and Russian-language texts (for authors who want to publish the full text of the article both in Russian and in English in the electronic form).

III. Rules for the articles design

III.1. Layout

The article should be typed in Times New Roman or Arial, font size 12, with double line spacing, all margins 2 cm, left margin — 3 cm. All pages should be numbered in the lower right corner. You cannot use automatic hyphenation.

The recommended length of the manuscript is 8–18 pages (including illustrations, tables, abstract and references), depending on the article type.

III.2. Language of the article

Manuscripts in Russian and / or English are accepted for publication in the journal. If the article is written in Russian, translation into English is required for: article titles, official names of institutions, abstract, keywords, as well as the titles of tables and figure captions (the latter is done by the author at the stage of editing the manuscript in the publishing house), reference list — References (see below), authors' contributions. The names of the authors are given in transliteration.

If desired, the authors can provide the full text of the article in both Russian and English. It is obligatory to accompany the translation by the conclusion of any official translation agency on the equivalence of the English-language and Russian-language texts. If there are full texts of articles in two languages, the Russian-language text is published in the printed version of the journal, and both versions are published in the electronic version.

The editorial staff of the journal is not responsible for the quality of the translation, but it controls the maintenance of the information reliability provided by the authors in the original language.

Articles by foreign authors in English may be published by the decision of the editor-in-chief of the journal without translation into Russian (except for the title, abstract and keywords) or with full or partial translation (titles and captions to figures, tables).

III.3. The title page

The title page must include the following information:

• a) the initials and surname of the author (s);
• b) the title of the article;
• c) the full name of the institution in which the author works, in the nominative case, with the obligatory indication of the status of the organization (an abbreviation before the name) and departmental affiliation;
• d) city, country;
• e) additional information about each author required for processing the journal in the Russian Science Citation Index: full name (in the English block — in transliteration: Ivan I. Ivanov), academic degree, title, position, ORCID ID; the author, responsible for the correspondence, also indicates the current (!) e-mail, and ✉ is put in front of the full name.

Acknowledgments (if any), conflict of interest (required), funding (if any) in Russian and English are indicated after the keywords.

The title of the scientific article should briefly and precisely summarize the research. Abbreviations, formulas and georeferencing should be avoided in the title.

If there are several authors and institutions, a digital index is affixed to each surname and corresponding institution. Moreover, if one author has several jobs, each is indicated by a separate digital index. If there is only one institution, no additional clarifications are required for each author.

The title page is duplicated in English. It is recommended to transliterate the authors' surnames in the same way as in previous publications (and in the ORCID account), or according to the BGN system — Board of Geographic Names (see the website www.translitteration.com). As for the organization(s), it is important that the officially accepted English version of the name is indicated.

Download title page template

III.4. Abstract

The abstract of the article is the main source of information in domestic and foreign information systems and databases that index the journal. The abstract is available on the website of the journal, on the website of the Scientific Electronic Library and is indexed by network search engines. According to the abstract of the article, the reader should understand the essence of the study, and he should decide whether it is worth reading the full text of the article for more detailed information.

The abstract should contain only the essential facts of the work. For original articles, a structured abstract is required, including purpose, material and methods, results, conclusion(s). The volume of the text of the author's abstract must contain precisely 100–250 words, depending on the type of article.

The abstract should be accompanied by several keywords (at least three) or phrases that reflect the main topic of the article and facilitate the classification of work in computer search engines.

Abstract and keywords should be submitted in Russian and English.

IMPORTANT! An abstract in English is a source of information autonomous from the article for an English-speaking audience. The more correct the abstract is, the greater the chances of its worthy estimation by the English-speaking experts.

It is recommended to take keywords in English from the Medline Organized Dictionary (MeSH).

III.5.How to write original articles

The structure of original articles must correspond to IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion): abstract and keywords must be in Russian and English; introduction, reflecting the state of the issue at the time of this writing; goals and objectives of this study; material and methods; results; discussion; conclusions on the sections or conclusion (at the request of the authors).

The "Introduction" provides a brief overview of the relevant data, a critical assessment of the literature relevant to the problem under consideration, the rationale for the novelty and significance of the study globally (not only for a given city or country), identifies unresolved issues and sets clearly formulated goals and objectives that explain further research. Each keyword of the article should be reflected in the introduction. It is recommended to avoid lengthy analyses and historical insights.

"Material and methods" section should contain information about where and when the study was carried out; inclusion and exclusion criteria for patients, experimental animals³; description of the research method (cohort, prospective, randomized, retrospective, series of observations); a detailed description of a new drug, method, modification, experiment, surgical intervention in a certain sequence; a brief description of the protocol (Standard Operating Protocol — SOP)⁴.

Previously published methods must be linked: only relevant changes are described by the author. In works presenting the results of scientific research, modern methods of statistical data processing should be used. It is mandatory in statistical analysis to calculate the sample size based on statistical power, determining the normal distribution according to Kolmogorov-Smirnov or Shapiro-Wilk, detailed presentation of logistic or linear regression analysis models (determinants and covariates), statistical package and version, and data format (M ± SD, Me [25; 75%] ...).

"Results" section should be clear and concise. Data should be reported in absolute numbers and percentages, and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) and p-value should be reported. Error bars are required at all experimental and calculated data points with an explanation in the text of how these errors were established.

Presentation of results and discussion in one section are not allowed.

“Discussion” section provides a convincing explanation of the results and shows their significance. In the case of computational studies, the results obtained should be compared with information from published experimental works, if possible. It is necessary to indicate whether the given numerical values are primary or derived, give the limits of accuracy, reliability, confidence intervals, estimates, recommendations, accepted or rejected hypotheses discussed in the article.

III.6. Design review

It is desirable that reviews were in accordance with international guidelines for systematic literature search methods and standards. Abstracts of reviews should be at least 100 words and contain information, including methods of searching for literature in databases. The text of the review should contain introduction, thematic sections and conclusion with appropriate subheadings. For more details about how to make reviews, refer to the guideline PRISMA (Recommended reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis).

The most important component of the review is the list of references. According to it, the reader will judge the scientific value of the work. Therefore, it is very important to be responsible as much as possible for the review process and its compilation (see below).

III.7. How to process clinical follow-up

Clinical follow-up studies, made according to CARE recommendations, have priority.

linical abstracts should contain at least 100 words. The text of the article should contain introduction, case description, discussion and conclusion (conclusions) with appropriate subheadings.

III.8. Standards

All terms and definitions must be scientifically reliable, their spelling (both Russian and Latin) must correspond to “Encyclopedic dictionary of medical terms” (1984, ed. academician Petrovsky B.V.). Medicines must be listed only in international non-proprietary names that are used first, then if necessary, several trade names of medicines registered in Russia are given (in accordance with the information search system "Klifar-Gosreestr" [State Register of Medicines]).

It is desirable that the spelling of enzyme names conformed to the standard Enzyme Nomenclature.

It is desirable that the names of inherited or familial diseases corresponded to the international classification of inherited conditions in humans. (Mendelian Inheritance in Man).

The names of microorganisms should be verified in accordance with the publication "Medical microbiology" (edited by Pokrovsky V.I. ).

The manuscript may be accompanied by a glossary of terms (unclear ones that can cause difficulties for the reader when reading). In addition to the generally accepted abbreviations for units of measurement, physical, chemical and mathematical quantities and terms (for example, DNA), abbreviations of phrases that are often repeated in the text are allowed. All letter designations and abbreviations introduced by the author must be deciphered in the text at their first mention. Abbreviations of simple words are not allowed, even if they are often repeated. Doses of medicines, units of measurement and other numerical values should be indicated in the SI system.

III.9. Requirements for illustrations

General questions

In the text, all illustrations (photographs, charts, diagrams, graphs, etc.) are referred to as figures. All figures in the text should be referenced, for example: text (Fig. 1). Figures are numbered continuously and placed immediately after the text in which they are mentioned for the first time. Inscriptions on figures should be translated into Russian and given in the form of a text note. You should write inscriptions or arrows in photos, create graphs or diagrams in Microsoft Office programs (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) and provide them in the same format to ensure the possibility of making changes to them! In addition, all figures must be provided in separate graphic files (preferably in the .tiff extension), naming them in accordance with the figure numbers: 1, 2, 3a, 3b, 3c, 4, etc .; photographs must be original and unlabeled.

You should not send:

• – files with very low resolution (for example, formatted for display on the screen);
• – illustrations previously published in other works of the authors (the editors reserve the right to check illustrations for plagiarism through Google Images).

When borrowing a figure from any source, a link to this source is given, the corresponding number from the list of references.

The eyes of patients in photographs should be covered with a black rectangle; if it is absent, the author must provide the editor with a written permission from the patient to publish his photograph.

Figure captions are placed UNDER the figure. They must contain an exhaustive comment to the image, all symbols and abbreviations must be disclosed. It is necessary to indicate the method of visualization and the presented projection in the captions to the results of instrumental diagnostic techniques; in captions to micrographs you should indicate the method of staining the preparation, magnification of the eyepiece and objective; in the captions to the graphs you should indicate designations along the abscissa and ordinate axes, units of measurement, explanations for each curve.

If a figure consists of several parts (for example, a, b, c), they should have a common title и отдельные подписи для каждой части. Точку в конце подрисуночной подписи не ставят. Пример оформления подрисуночной подписи при наличии надписей (аббревиатур) см. ниже.

In the figure caption, only used abbreviations and contractions should be explained that were not mentioned before in the text of the article.

The table must have at least 2 columns and 2 lines. If there is only one column, you should either add columns, or arrange it in the form of a list, listing the contents point by point. Tables in the form of pictures must be re-set. The text should contain links to tables: text (table 1). After the paragraph with a link, indicate the number of the table, its name and place the table itself. All numbers in the tables must match the corresponding numbers in the text.

You must specify in the text of the table or in a note to it: 1) units of measurement; 2) decoding of abbreviations (if they were not previously mentioned in the text); 3) data format (the results are presented as M ± SD, where M is the mean value, SD is the standard deviation; quantitative data are presented as the median and interquartile range — Me [25; 75%] (or indicating the minimum and maximum values ​​of the range ); qualitative indicators are presented in the form of n (%), where n —…; 4) reliability of differences (in the form of a separate column — no font selection!or notes under the table).

When borrowing a table from any source, a link is given to this source, the corresponding number from the list of references.

III.12. Maths formulas

Maths formulas (equations) should be presented as editable text, not as images and numbered in order (with a number in brackets to the right of the formula). Variables should be indicated in italics.

III.13. References

A correct description of the used sources in the reference is a guarantee that the cited publication will be taken into account when evaluating the scientific activities of the authors and the organizations they represent.

In the journals of publishing house of A.N. Bakulev NMRS CVS sources in the list of references are numbered not alphabetically, but in the order of citation, regardless of the language in which the work is given.

In original articles, it is advisable to cite no more than 30 sources, in literature reviews no more than 60, in other materials up to 15.

The references in the text of the article are given by numbers in square brackets. All sources cited in the list of reference must have references in the text (and vice versa).

In addition to fundamental works, the bibliography should contain publications over the past 5 years, primarily articles from journals, links to highly cited sources, including those from Scopus and Web of Science (approximately 50% of all sources). The links must be verifiable.

Important! The links should be given to the original sources and not to cite one review where they are mentioned. The links to unpublished works, as well as to data obtained from unofficial Internet sources are not allowed.

Each scientific fact must be accompanied by a separate reference to the source. If several scientific facts are mentioned in one sentence, a link is put after each of them (not at the end of the sentence). For multiple references, they are given in order, for example [1, 3, 5–9].

Indicate in the form of footnotes in the text and not in the list of references:

1) textbooks, dissertations, abstracts as it is more correct to refer to articles published on the basis of dissertation research materials;

2) documents (orders, GOSTs, patents, medical and sanitary rules, guidelines, regulations, decrees, sanitary and epidemiological rules, standards, federal laws).

The source in the list of references is given STRICTLY in the following sequence:

– first the surname, then the initials of the authors (with dots). If there are only 7 authors, all authors are mentioned, but if more —the first 6 authors are mentioned and write et al.);

– title of the article / book;

– after the dot there is a name of the journal. The names of Russian journals are indicated in full, foreign ones are indicated in abbreviated form (with dots), in accordance with Journal Title Abbreviations: for example, Ann. Surg.

– fter dot, the year is followed (not month);

– after a semicolon separated by a space — volume (without vol.), in brackets there is a number (without the sign №), for example: 94 (4);

– after a colon separated by a space — page numbers (С. or Р. are not used), for example: 1307–10;

– DOI (to check DOI here).

In the bibliographic entry of a book (see example), it is important to indicate the city and year of publication. If a chapter is referenced from a book, the author (s) and chapter title are listed first, followed by the author (s) or editor (s) and the title of the entire book is followed by the imprint.

The links to Internet sources must be reliable and durable. As a minimum, you should provide the full URL and the date when the link was available. You should also indicate any other additional information, if known: DOI, the authors' names, dates, the links to publication sources and etc.

References should be given in one list: the translation (under the same number) is placed under the Russian-language source.

In references for Russian-language sources, the following bibliographic reference structure is required: author (s) (transliteration), translation of the title of a book or an article into English, title of the journal (translation or transliteration), output data (see examples below), indication of the language of the article in brackets (in Russ.) (see example).

Important! The titles of journals and articles should not be translated independently, it is necessary to copy the officially documented translation posted in the archive on the journal's website or in eLibrary.ru database, otherwise the link will be invalid!

When preparing links to articles published in the journals of A.N. Bakulev NMRS CVS, it is recommended to use data from the titles of the articles (blocks "For citation").

The author is responsible for the correctness of the bibliographic data.

Articles should be sent to the following address: 119049, Moscow, Leninsky Prospect, 8, bldg. 18, A.N. Bakulev NMRS CVS, the head of intellectual property department Yushkevich Tatyana Igorevna (e-mail: (e-mail: izdinsob@yandex.ru).

If these rules are violated, the articles will be returned to the authors for revision. There is no fee for the publication of manuscripts.

¹ — A detailed description of the points of the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, in particular ethical issues, can be found at www.ICMJE.org Continue reading

² — Gasparyan A.Yu., Kirillova O.V. (Eds.) Updating instructions for authors of scientific journals: Methodological materials. Translation from English. Saint-Petersburg; 2015. Continue reading

³ — When submitting experimental works to the press, one should be guided by the "Rules for Carrying Out Works with the Use of Experimental Animals". In addition to the type, sex and number of animals used, the authors must indicate the methods of anesthesia used during painful procedures and methods of killing animals. Continue reading

⁴ — IIt is strongly recommended to be guided by the "Uniform standards for the presentation of results and tests of the CONSORT Expert Group" (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials). Continue reading