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Guidelines for Authors

Journal of Environmental Rheumatology is a new peer-reviewed open access journal aimed to specifically focus its attention on the growing interest of the scientific community for the pivotal role of environmental factors in the pathogenesis, natural history and response to therapy of the rheumatic diseases. It is a spin-off from Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology, a long-established voice of international rheumatology, and as such it will consider both manuscripts initially submitted to Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology and independent direct submission. It follows the the same editorial style of the main journal, and accepted various forms of submissions, such as original articles, editorials, reviews, case reports, letters to the Editor, etc. All submitted material will undergo a rigorous peer review process.

Articles will be considered for publication on the condition that they are submitted solely to Journal of Environmental Rheumatology. The statements and opinions expressed in the articles and communications are those of the Authors, and the Editors and publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for these statements.

Manuscripts will be acknowledged on receipt. All submitted articles will be read by the Editors and sent to two or more members of the Editorial Board or outside consultants for formal review. The referees' comments will be forwarded to the Authors.

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Submission of Manuscripts

Please click on the "Submission on line" button on top of this page to submit a manuscript, and follow the instructions on how to submit a manuscript.

Manuscripts should be accompanied by a cover letter containing:

  1. a statement by the Authors that the article has not been published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere;
  2. information on prior publication or the submission elsewhere of any part of the work (note: if any of the material in the article has already been published in other than abstract form, enclose a copy of the previous publication);
  3. a statement of financial or other relationships that could lead to a conflict of interest;
  4. a statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all of the authors;
  5. in cases of excessive authorship (more than 6 authors for an original article, or more than 3 for a case report) an explanation of the contribution of each author must be provided;
  6. the letter may also give information regarding the type of article the manuscript represents and why the authors feel it would be interest to the readers of Journal of Environmental Rheumatology;
  7. The manuscript must be accompanied by copies of permissions to reproduce published material, report sensitive personal information, to use illustrations of identifiable persons, or to name persons for their contributions.

In preparing their manuscripts authors should adhere to the norms laid out in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (JAMA 1993; 269: 2282-6). The style should be clear and concise, and authors not fluent in English should have their paper corrected by a native English speaker, preferably one with a scientific background.

Manuscripts must be typed double-spaced with wide margins (at least 2 cm on all sides). Single-spaced material is not acceptable. Each manuscript should contain in one single file: one page with title, authors names and all affiliations; one page with abstract and key words; text; acknowledgements; references; individual tables; and legends. Number the pages consecutively, beginning with the title page.

The title page should include:

  1. a concise but informative title of less than 255 characters (do not use acronyms);
  2. the first name, middle initial and last name of each author, with their highest academic degree(s) and institutional affiliation;
  3. the name of the department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed;
  4. the name, complete address, telephone and E-mail address of the author responsible for correspondence;
  5. a short running title (45 characters or less).

The second page should contain a concise abstract, proportional in length to the paper itself, and 3 to 10 indexing terms drawn from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of Index Medicus. All measurements, including hematologic and clinical chemistry data, should be reported in metric units in terms of the International System of Units (SI). Only standard abbreviations should be used.

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Types of articles

NOTE: Excessive authorship should be avoided: case reports with more than 6 authors will not be considered for publication. In letters to the Editors with more than six authors the respective contributions of each must be specified in the accompanying cover letter.

Original articles and brief papers should be divided into the following sections (for case reports and letters see above):

Structured abstract: A summary (250 words or less) suitable for use by abstracting journals, and divided into the following sections: Objective, Methods, Results, and Conclusion.

Introduction: State the purpose of the article and summarise the rationale for the study, giving only the most pertinent references.

Materials and methods: Describe how the study subjects (including controls) were selected. Identify the methods, apparatuses (including manufacturer), and procedures used in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. Give references to established procedures; provide references and brief descriptions for published but not well-known methods; describe new or substantially modified methods. Identify all drugs and chemicals used, including their generic name, dose, and route of administration.
Ethics: For experiments with human subjects, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the standards of the responsible local committee or with the Helsinki Delaration of 1975/83. For animal experiments, indicate which guidelines or national law on the use of laboratory animals were followed.
Statistics: Describe the statistical methods used (citing standard works) in sufficient detail that a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data may verify the reported results. Quantify findings with appropriate indicators of measurement error or unJERtainty (such as confidence intervals). Avoid sole reliance on statistical hypothesis testing, such as the use of P values, which fail to convey important quantitative information.

Results. Present results succinctly and in logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations. In the text emphasize or summarise only the most important observations; avoid repeating the data given in the tables and illustrations.

Discussion. Highlight only the new and most significant aspects of the study and discuss the conclusions that follow from them. Do not repeat in detail material already presented in the Results. Include the implications of your findings and their limitations. Relate the observations to other relevant studies. Avoid conclusions not completely supported by your data.

Acknowledgements. Specify: (a) inputs that deserve acknowledgement but do not justify authorship (scientific advisers, critical review of the proposal, data collection, or participation in a clinical trial [Note: authors must obtain written permission from persons who are acknowledged by name, as readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions]; (b) technical assistance; (c) financial and material support; and (d) financial relationships that may involve a conflict of interest.

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Page charge

To encourage the growth of this journal no publication charges will be applied for the initial 2 years.

References

References should be compiled numerically according to their order of citation in the text (identified by arabic numbers in parentheses), and typed double-spaced. Use the format described in the Uniform Requirements, which is based on the US National Library of Medicine's Index Medicus. Journals titles should be abbreviated in accordance with the List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus (published each January in Index Medicus).

"Unpublished observations" and "personal communications" may not be used as references, and citing abstracts should be avoided. References to written, but not oral, communications may be inserted in the text within parentheses. Manuscripts that have been submitted but not yet accepted should be cited in the text as "unpublished observations".
References must be verified by the authors against the original documents. List all authors when 6 or less; when 7 or more list only the first three and et al.

Standard Journal Article:
BEN-CHETRIT E, CHAN EK, SULLIVAN KF, TAN EM: A 52-kD protein is a novel component of the SS-A/Ro antigenic particle. J Exp Med 1988; 167(5): 1560-71. https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.167.5.1560.
Books and monographs
Personal Author:
EISEN HN: Immunology: An Introduction to Molecular and Cellular Principles of the Immune Response. 5th ed., New York, Harper and Row, 1974: 406.
Editor or Compiler as Author:
DAUSSET J, COLOMBANI J (Eds.): Histocompatibility Testing 1972. Copenhagen, Munksgaard 1973: 12-8.
Chapter in a Book:
ANCUTA CM, ANCUTA E, CHIRIEAC RM: Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies: an update on immunopathogenic significance, clinical and therapeutic implications. In GRAN JT (Ed.): Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies - Recent Developments. London, IntechOpen 2011: 77-90. https://doi.org/10.5772/19615
Published Proceedings Paper:
DEPONT B: Bone marrow transplantation in severe combined immunodeficiency with an unrelated MLC compatible donor. In WHITE HJ, SMITH R (Eds.): Proceedings of the third annual meeting of the International Society for Experimental Hematology. Houston, International Society for Experimental Hematology, 1974: 44-6.
Monograph in a Series:
HUNNINGHAKE GW, GADEK JE, SZAPIEL SV et al.: The human alveolar macrophage. In HARRIS CC (Ed.): Cultured Human Cells and Tissues in Biomedical Research. New York, Academic Press 1980: 54-6. (Stoner GD (Ed.): Methods and Perspectives in Cell Biology, vol. 1).
Agency Publication:
RANOFSKY AL: Surgical operations in short-stay hospitals: United States - 1975. Hyattsville, Maryland, National Center for Health Statistics 1978; DHEW publication no. (PHS)78-1785 (Vital and Health Statistics; series 13; no. 34).
Dissertation or Thesis:
CAIRNS RB: Infrared spectroscopic studies of solid oxygen [Dissertation]. Berkeley, California, University of California, 1965, 156 p.

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Tables and Figures

Restrict tables and figures to those necessary to explain the argument of the paper and assess its support. If a figure or table has already been published, authors must acknowledge the original source, and procure and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material.

Tables should be numbered consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text. Supply a title or legend for each. Place explanatory material in footnotes (using *, ¥, ·, ||, ¶, **, $, §, etc.), not in the legend. Explain non-standard abbreviations, and identify statistical measures of variations such as the SD and SEM. Figures should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned in the text.

Tables and figures must be inserted in the manuscript after the list of references, and not in the body of the text.

Proof-reading. Contributors will be provided with one set of galley proofs and are asked to read them for printer's errors and return them within one week by e-mail. Changes within reason are allowed at no extra cost, but excessive alterations and additions will be charged to the author.

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Send manuscripts and all other editorial material to:

https://www.environmentalrheumatology.com/articles/default.asp


For e-mail queries and information