Instructions for Authors

Aims and scopes

Medicine and Public Health journal is an international, multidisciplinary publication that will consider any original contribution that facilitates progress in medicine and health sciences. We seek to publish articles that address the important biological, social, environmental, and political factors that influence both public and individual health. Articles focused on the integrity and ethics of medical practice and healthcare are welcomed. Our journal also comprises high quality reviews aimed at health professionals in general.

Types of Publications

The Journal publishes the following types of peer-reviewed articles:

• original research papers,
• review articles,
• meta-analyses,
• short reports,
• case reports,
• drug reports.

The Journal also publishes editorials (commissioned), comments, and correspondence.

Submission Process

All manuscripts must be submitted using our online submission system. To submit, click on the link: https://www.editorialsystem.com/mph. There are no submission or processing charges.

On submission, the authors should specify the category for which their manuscript is intended. The authors will be asked to upload: Manuscript body, Tables and Figures, in appropriate formats (see below).

Medicine and Public Health publishes fully open access articles, which are available on the internet to all users immediately upon publication, completely free of charge.

At the moment of manuscript submission, authors commit (undertake) to transfer free of charge to the publisher all copyrights allowing publication and dissemination of the submitted materials in all available forms and fields of exploitation. A Copyright Transfer Agreement must be signed by all authors and sent to the Publisher immediately after manuscript acceptance.

Peer Review/Publication Process

Initial evaluation:

• Verification of manuscript completeness and compliance with editorial guidelines and instructions for authors.
• Initial linguistic assessment of submitted paper by an English proof-reader.
• Check the manuscript’s suitability for the journal. Comparison with Medicine and Public Health Journal’s aims and scopes.
• Manuscripts that are incomplete and/or do not comply with the Journal’s house style or aims and scopes are rejected without further review.
• Authors of manuscripts rejected at the initial assessment stage will normally be informed within 10 business days of receipt.

Peer-review process:

• Double-blind review is applied to all Medicine and Public Health manuscript submissions. Identities of both the referee and the author remain anonymous throughout the whole process. At the beginning of each year, the journal publishes a list of referees employed in the review process over the past year.
• Two independent reviewers are appointed according to their expertise.
• Selected reviewers are asked to disclose any potential conflicts of interest.
• The manuscript is sent to reviewers, typically within 1 week of initial evaluation.
• According to the Journal’s Policy, reviews should be completed in three weeks.
• The manuscript is accepted for publication upon favourable opinions of both reviewers and the Editor-in-Chief.
• The Editorial Board may actively participate in the peer-review process and provide advice in the case of ambiguous opinions on the reviewed manuscript.
• The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to request the opinion of a third reviewer if needed.
• If revision is needed, the manuscript is sent back to the author. The author will have one week in the case of minor changes and two weeks for major changes to prepare a revision, unless otherwise stated by the Editor-in-Chief.
• The last word on acceptance of manuscripts belongs to the Editor-in-Chief.

Publishing process:

• Immediately after receiving information on an article accepted for publication, authors must complete, sign, and send:
• Author statement form
• Declaration of interest form
• Copyright transfer agreement
• Editor’s comments are sent to the author.
• Authors have 48 hours for incorporation of corrections and preparation of the final version of manuscript.
• The article will be posted as a final version online within one week of finalization of the proofs and will be included in the next online issue.

Manuscript preparation

Medicine and Public Health follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendations for manuscripts. Full text available at: http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf.

Manuscripts should be written in clear, grammatical English (American spelling).

Due to the double-blind review, the authors should avoid in the text information which may compromise their anonymity.

Title page information:

• title should be concise, relevant and free of abbreviations,
• author names and affiliations
• contact details to correspodning author
• Word count (excluding Abstract, References, Tables and Figure Legends)
• Number of Figures and Tables to be found in paper

The text of the original works should be divided into sections:

• Introduction,
• Material and Methods,
• Results,
• Discussion,
• Conclusions.

For original articles, we strongly encouraging to use the Microsoft Word template to prepare their manuscript. Submitting manuscript in one of the following formats: DOC, DOCX, RTF, ODT, is also allowed.

Review article should include:

• Introduction,
• Titles of sections,
• Summary of the discussed issues,
• Conclusions.

We recommend following PRISMA Guidelines on preparing systematic reviews and meta-analyses. A PRISMA Flow Diagram serving as graphical representation of the flow of citations reviewed in the course of a Systematic Review may be created with the use of a generator available at: http://prisma.thetacollaborative.ca.

Abstract should contain:

• Background,
• Methods,
• Results,
• Conclusions.

Keywords are mandatory for original articles and reviews; maximum 5 items should be included in the text.

All Figures should be numbered in a single sequence in the order which are mentioned in the text.
There is no charge for color Figures. Each Figure should be submitted as a separate file. They should be high resolution and in one of the following formats: JPG, GIF, TIF, PNG.
Figure Legends must be added as a complete list after the main body of the manuscript. Do not include title and legend in submitted Figures files.

All Tables should be numbered in the order of their citation in the text. Each Table should have title and legend. Footnotes are allowed.
Tables might be submitted on separate pages, with double spacing in the same file as submitted the manuscript or as a separate files (DOC, DOCX, RTF, ODT).

Formatting requirements:

• the text of the article should be typed with 12-point Times New Roman font with 2.0 line spacing; all pages must be numbered and must contain line numbers,
• foreign words and phrases should be written in italics,
• do not use bold or emphasis (or explain their use),
• all abbreviations must be explained at first mention in the text,
• footnotes are not allowed, except Tables,
• units must be expressed following the international system of units (SI),
• equations should be editable by the editorial office and not appear in a picture format.

Maximum work volume and other requirements are presented in the table below.

Article types:	Structured abstract	Word count*	Tables	Figures	References	Structured
Original	yes/250 words	5000	8	4	40	yes
Original (randomized clinical trial)	yes/300 words	5500	8	4	40	yes
Reviews & meta-analyses	yes/250 words	6000	4	3	60	yes
Case Report	yes/200 words	1500	2	1	25	yes
Short Report	yes/200 words	1200	1	1	25	yes
Drug Report	yes/200 words	1000	2	1	25	yes
Comment	no	750	1	1	10	no
Correspondence	no	500	0	0	10	no
Image of the issue (clinical picture) + comment**	no	200	0	1	5	no
Editorial	no	600	0	1	15	no

* Word count – excluding Abstract, References, Tables and Figure Legends.
** Each image can have a 200-word comment.


In the text, References need to be numbered in order to appear in the manuscript by Arabic numerals in square brackets. The modified Vancouver style of citation should be used. For authors' names, the general rule is up to 5 names before "et al.".
DOI numbers are not mandatory but highly encouraged.

Examples:

• Barczyński M, Gołkowski F, Nawrot I. The current status of intraoperative iPTH assay in surgery for primary hyperparathyroidism. Gland Surg. 2015 Feb;4:36-43, doi: 10.3978/j.issn.2227-684X.2015.01.01.
• Hymczak H, Gołąb A, Mendrala K, Plicner D, Darocha T, et al. Core Temperature Measurement-Principles of Correct Measurement, Problems, and Complications. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18:10606, doi: 10.3390/ijerph182010606.

Ethical Issues and Conduct

Medicine and Public Health follows the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE Recommendations). The Publisher strongly encourages all authors, reviewers, and editors to adhere to the principles of publication and scientific research ethics.

Only original manuscripts that have neither been previously published or submitted in other journals, nor considered to be published elsewhere will be admitted to publishing in Medicine and Public Health.

All individuals who have significantly contributed to the manuscript and met all four criteria for authorship in the ICMJE Recommendations are considered co-authors.

All co-authors are obliged to indicate their contribution to the publication (design, performance, analysis, and reporting of the work etc.) and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work. One co-author may indicate more than one type of contribution and the same type of contribution may be indicated by more than one co-author.

Authors should properly acknowledge the contribution of others, such as provision of reagents or analytical tools etc. Any forms of help which do not fulfil the authorship criteria should be disclosed in the “Acknowledgements” section.

We abide by the Code of Conduct of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and aim to adhere to its Best Practice Guidelines.

All acts of ethical misconduct including guest authorship, ghost writing, data manipulation, multiple, redundant, or concurrent publications etc. will be dealt according to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Medicine and Public Health pursue alleged cases following the COPE flowcharts where applicable.

Authors at the moment of manuscript submission must disclose any conflicts of interest that might influence the results or their interpretation. All sources of financial support should be disclosed in the manuscript (including the grant number or identification of other funding sources).

Medicine and Public Health uses Conflict of Interest form created by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors available at: http://www.icmje.org/conflicts-of-interest/.

All research involving human subjects or animal experimentation must be approved by the relevant local ethics committee and the text of the article must contain relevant information. Medicine and Public Health expect all research involving human subjects to have been carried out in accordance with the principles set out in the Declaration of Helsinki and informed consent must be obtained from all participants. All research involving animal experimentation should have been conducted in accordance with 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. The Journal Editors encourage authors to follow best ethical practice in scientific research.