Guide for Authors

Manuscript Submission

For manuscript submission, one of the authors should submit the manuscript through the online Submit Paper and follow the instructions given on the screen. Only online submissions are accepted for peer review and publication. The author who submits the manuscript is responsible for the paper during all processes. The submitted manuscript must not be published before, or under consideration for publication elsewhere. A copyright transfer forms must be completed (by all authors of the manuscript) before the paper can be published, to facilitate the processing of your manuscript, please fill out the agreement, and submit the completed form and accompanying notes with your paper. All manuscripts in accordance with the journal standards are subject to double-blind peer review by peer reviewers who are experts in the same area.

Manuscript Preparation

Manuscripts should be prepared in the style of the journal and in accordance with the uniform Requirement for Manuscript Submitted to Biomedical Journals (http://www.icmje.org). The editorial office reserves the right to edit the submitted manuscripts in order to comply with the journal's style. In any case, the authors are responsible for the published material.

NOTE

The manuscript must have been spell-checked and grammar-checked.

The manuscript must be written in fluent readable English.

Structure

Your paper should be compiled in the following order: 1. Title Page; 2. Abstract & Keywords; 3. Main Text including: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion; Acknowledgments; Declaration of Interest Statement; References; Appendices (as appropriate); 4. Table(s) with caption(s) (on individual pages); 5. Figures; Figure legends (as a list).

Text Formatting

  1. Manuscripts should be submitted as a ".doc" or ".docx" MS Word file.
  2. Use a normal, ordinary font (e.g., 12-point Times New Roman font) for text.
  3. Use the automatic page numbering function to number the pages.
  4. Use the equation symbols for equations.

 

1-    Title Page

The title page should include:

  1. Manuscript full title
  2. The running title
  3. The name(s) of the author(s)
  4. The affiliation(S) of the author(S)
  5. The e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers of the corresponding author
  6. The ORCID of authors (NOT obligatory)
  7. Number of pages, tables & figures

2-    Abstract

Please provide an abstract that should not exceed 250 words. The abstract should not contain any references and briefly, in a logical progression state the objectives, methods, findings/results, and conclusions of the study. Abstracts should be a continuous narrative and not broken up into subheadings.

  1. The abstract must begin with information about the general knowledge and statistics of the main subject, the aim of the study and the examined hypothesis.
  2. The method that includes the design of the study, inclusion and exclusion criteria for patients’ selection, the most important variables and statistical approach that used to evaluate the hypothesis. The tools used to do all this.
  3. Present the main results which confirm or reject the primary hypothesis, not just P-values or interpretations.
  4. At the end express what the findings might convey, the suggestion for future research and brief interpretation about findings and primary hypothesis.

Keywords

Please provide 4 to 6 keywords. For better keywords selection please check MeSH browser.

NOTE:

 Formatting, such as Greek letters, italics, super and subscripts, may be used.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations should be fully defined for the first time and used consistently thereafter.

NOTE:

Non-standard abbreviations must be spelled out the first time they are used, followed by the abbreviated form in parentheses, thereafter they may be abbreviated without definition. Undefined abbreviations must not be used. Abbreviate units of measure only when used with numbers.

3-    Main File

The main file must contain the following sections:

Main File

 

The manuscript file including 1) Title 2) Abstract (+keywords) 3) Introduction 4) Materials/Patients and Methods/case presentation 5) Results 6) Discussion 7) Conclusion 8) Acknowledgment 9) Conflict of Interest 10) Financial Resources 11) References 12) Tables & Figure Legends 13) Appendices (as appropriate).

 

Artwork and Illustration Guideline

General requirements for preparation of an artwork

Figure and figure labeling should be prepared for sizing to a single or a double column of text without loss of information. Figure labeling should be sized in proportion to the rest of the figure. Color images should be at least 300 DPI in JPEG, TIFF, or BMP format. Illustrations should be designed to fit the journal page with a maximum plate size 254×203 mm, have an additional white border. Larger illustrations will be printed at the discretion of the Editor. Reduction or cropping may be necessary to conserve space. The best results can be obtained from the original artwork and original photographs.

Charts and Diagrams

Diagrams or charts created using conventional software that are readable on a computer screen may be inadequate or deficient when processed for publication. Supply diagrams or charts for the printed journal in a form that retains editing features of the source program, (e.g., a chart or graph created in MS Excel or PowerPoint) so that elements such as shading or labelling can be adjusted for publication. Figure legend begins with the term Fig. in bold type, followed by the figure number, also in bold type.

The legend to each figure should be inserted in your manuscript following the references section.

Figure and Table Numbering

All Figures and Tables are to be numbered using Arabic numerals. Figures and Tables should always be cited in text in consecutive numerical order. Figure parts should be denoted by uppercase letters (A, B, C, etc.). If a supplementary appears in your article and it contains one or more figures and tables, continue the consecutive numbering of the main text. Do not number the supplementary Figures and Tables, "S1, S2, S3, etc." Figures and Tables in online supplementary should, however, be numbered separately.

Tables

Prepare each Table on a separate page, double-spaced and submit the tables separately from the main manuscript. All tables are to be numbered using Arabic numerals. Tables should always be cited in the text in consecutive numerical orders. For each table, please supply a table caption (title) explaining the components of the table above on each table. Identify any previously published material by giving the original source in the form of a reference at the end of the table caption. Footnotes to tables should be indicated by superscript lowercase letters (or asterisks for significance values and other statistical data) and included beneath the table body. The legend to each table should be inserted in your manuscript following the references section.

 

 

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc. should be placed in a separate section at the end of the manuscript before the references. The grant number should be written.

Conflict of interest

The Instructions to Authors who want to publish with Rheumatology Research are in accordance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (www.icmje.org). Authors must acknowledge and declare any sources of funding and potential conflicting interest, such as receiving funds or fees by, or holding stocks and shares in, an organization that may profit or lose through publication of your paper. Declaring a competing interest will not lead to automatic rejection of the paper, but we would like to be made aware of it. The journal asks not only the authors of research articles, but also the editorials, and reviewers to disclose at the time of submission any relationships that could be viewed as potential conflicts of interest. For example, Author A has received research grants from Company A. Author B has received a speaker honorarium from Company X and owns stock in Company Y. Author C is a member of committee Z.

If no conflict exists, the authors should state:

Conflict of Interest: Author A, Author B, and Author C declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Funding Resources: The authors must clarify how the financial resources of the research was provided.

 

References

It is better, authors use Rheumatology Research journal EndNote style for preparing of references.

EndNote style for Rheumatology Research (zip, 2 kB)

Note 1: After downloading and unzipping the EndNote style file please paste it in the following address in Windows computers, [C: Program Files (x86) EndNote X7Styles] and in the word file please select Rheumatology Research style.

Note 2: The authors can get DOIs from "https://www.crossref.org/".

Citation

Reference citations in the text should be identified by numbers in square brackets. Some examples:

1. Epigenetic settings are different in various conditions [3].

2. Epigenetics is commonly defined as stable and heritable changes in gene expression without alterations in DNA sequence [5].

3. Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune fibrotic disorder [1-3, 7].

Reference list

The list of references should only include works that are cited in the text and that have been published or accepted for publication. Personal communications and unpublished works should only be mentioned in the text not in the references. Do not use footnotes or endnotes of word software as a substitute for a reference list. The entries in the list should be numbered consecutively.

There are several examples of references:

Journal article

Hara-Chikuma M, Verkman AS. Aquaporin-3 functions as a glycerol transporter in mammalian skin. Biol Cell 2005; 97(7):479-86. doi: 10.1042/BC20040104.

The names of all authors should be provided, by the usage of “et al” in articles with more than 6 authors.

Cao C, Sun Y, Healey S, Bi Z, Hu G, Wan S. et al. EGFR-mediated expression of aquaporin-3 is involved in human skin fibroblast migration. Biochem J 2006; 400(2):225-34. doi: 10.1042/BJ20060816.

Book

South J, Blass B. The future of modern genomics. vol. 3, 5 edn. Blackwell London; 2001.

Book chapter

Brown B, Aaron M. The rise of modern genomics. In: The politics of nature. Edited by Smith J, 3 edn. Wiley, New York; 2001: 246-362.

Online document

Rheumatoid arthritis. [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rheumatoid_arthritis&action=history].

Dissertation

Mahmoudi M. Dissertation, Experimental acute renal failure. Ph.D., Tehran, Tehran University of Medical Sciences; 2013.

 

The Rheumatology Research journal publishes different types of articles.

Types of Papers

Original articles:

The main part of each issue of the Rheumatology Research is devoted to original research papers that should present new results of interest to a broad spectrum of the journal’s scopes. Papers must describe significant and original observations that can be critically evaluated and if necessary, repeated. They should be arranged as follows: Title page, Main File (Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgement, Conflict of Interest, Funding, References, Tables & Table captions, Figure legends and Figures).

 The minimum number of words for an Original research paper is 2500 and the maximum is 4000 words. The number of references for an Original Research article is 50 and no more than 8 figures/tables are accepted.

 

Review articles:

Review articles, solicited and unsolicited, are actively encouraged and should be composed of systematic, critical assessments of literature and data sources pertaining to diagnostic topics. All articles and data sources reviewed should include information about the specific type of study or analysis. They should be arranged as follows: Title page, Main File (Abstract (unstructured), Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, (For the sections Results, Discussion and Conclusion there can be another type of sectioning), Acknowledgement, Conflict of Interest, Funds, References, Tables, Figure legends and Figures).

The minimum number of words for a Review Article is 3500. The number of references for a Review article is 200 and no more than 10 Figures are acceptable.

 

Short Communication:

There will be special arrangements for rapid communications that will justify very rapid publication because of their exceptionally broad general interest or strikingly novel findings.

The maximum words for a Short Communication is 2000 words. The number of references for a Short Communication is 25 and no more than 4 Figures are accepted.

 

Case Report:

Case reports will be considered only if they represent a significant advance in diagnostic methods, therapy, and prognosis or highlight substantial scientific advances in understanding the mechanism(s) of the disease process. They should be prefaced by a brief introduction, highlighting the salient message, and their discussion should be confined to unusual aspects, not a major review of the literature. They should be arranged as follows: Title page, Main File (Abstract, Introduction, Case Presentation, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgements, Conflict of Interest, References, Figure legends and Figures).

The maximum words for a case report is 2500 words. The number of references for a Case Report is 50 and no more than 6 Figures are accepted.

 

Letters to the editor:

Relating to papers recently published in the journal, or containing brief reports of unusual or preliminary findings. Maximum length 1500 words, one table or figure, and a maximum of 15 references.

 

Author's Responsibility and Ethical Requirements

All relevant permissions to cite the unpublished observations of others must be obtained by the manuscript author(s). The names and initials of these persons must be cited in the text, and permission from the original publisher and author(s) must be obtained. Permission also must be obtained to reproduce or adapt any figures or tables that have been published previously. If the work involves experimentation on living animals, the author(s) must provide evidence that the study was performed in accordance with local ethical guidelines. If the study involves human beings, the author(s) must include a statement that the study was approved by the local ethical committee and that informed consent was obtained from the study participants. For those investigators who do not have formal ethics review committees, the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki should be followed. (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/ pdf/17c.pdf).

NOTE: The journal uses iThenticate software to screen for plagiarism.

The authors must by signing the copyright form, declare that the manuscript submitted has not been submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration. The manuscript has not been published previously (partly or in full), unless the new work concerns an expansion of previous work (please provide transparency on the re-use of material to avoid the hint of text-recycling ("self-plagiarism")).

A single study is not split up into several parts to increase the quantity of submissions and submitted to various journals or to one journal over time (e.g. "salami-publishing").

No data must be fabricated or manipulated (including images) to support the conclusions. No data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were the author’s own ("plagiarism").

Consent to submit has been received explicitly from all co-authors, as well as from the responsible authorities - tacitly or explicitly - at the institute/organization where the work has been carried out, after the work is accepted.

Authors whose names appear on the submission have contributed sufficiently to the scientific work and therefore share collective responsibility and accountability for the results.

Changes in authorship, or in the order of authors, are not accepted after the acceptance for publication of a manuscript.

Requesting to add or delete authors at revision stage, proof stage, or after publication is a serious matter and may be considered when justifiably warranted. Justification for changes in authorship must be compelling and may be considered only after receipt of written approval from all authors and a convincing, detailed explanation about the role/deletion of the new/deleted author. In case of changes at revision stage, a letter must accompany the revised manuscript. In case of changes after acceptance for publication, the request and documentation must be sent via the Publisher to the Editor-in-Chief. In all cases, further documentation may be required to support your request. The decision on accepting the change rests with the Editor-in-Chief of the journal and may be turned down. Therefore, authors are strongly advised to ensure the correct author group, corresponding author, and order of authors at submission.

Upon request authors should be prepared to send relevant documentation or data in order to verify the validity of the results. This could be in the form of raw data, samples, records, etc.

If there is a suspicion of misconduct, the journal will carry out an investigation following the COPE guidelines. If, after investigation, the allegation seems to raise valid concerns, the accused author will be contacted and given an opportunity to address the issue. If misconduct has been established beyond reasonable doubt, this may result in the Editor-in-Chief’s implementation of the following measures, including, but not limited to:

If the manuscript is still under consideration, it may be rejected and returned to the author(s).

If the article has already been published online, depending on the nature and severity of the infraction, either an erratum will be placed with the article or in severe cases complete retraction of the article will occur. The reason must be given in the published erratum or retraction note. Furthermore, the author’s institution may be informed.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

To ensure objectivity and transparency in research and to ensure that accepted principles of ethical and professional conduct have been followed, authors should include information regarding sources of funding, potential conflicts of interest (financial or non-financial), informed consent if the research involved human participants, and a statement on welfare of animals if the research involved animals. Authors should include the following statements (if applicable) in a separate section entitled “Compliance with Ethical Standards” when submitting a paper:

  • Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest
  • Research involving Human Participants and/or Animals
  • Informed consent

Please note that standards could vary slightly per journal dependent on their peer review policies (i.e. single or double blind peer review) as well as per journal subject discipline. Before submitting your article check the instructions following this section carefully. The corresponding author should be prepared to collect documentation of compliance with ethical standards and send if requested during peer review or after publication. The Editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the above-mentioned guidelines. The author will be held responsible for false statements or failure to fulfill the above-mentioned guidelines.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

When reporting studies that involve human participants, authors should include a statement that the studies have been approved by the appropriate institutional and/or national research ethics committee and have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

The welfare of animals used for research must be respected. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals have been followed, and that the studies have been approved by a research ethics committee at the institution or practice at which the studies were conducted (where such a committee exists).

Informed consent

All individuals have individual rights that are not to be infringed. Individual participants in studies have, for example, the right to decide what happens to the (identifiable) personal data gathered, to what they have said during a study or an interview, as well as to any photograph that was taken. Hence it is important that all participants gave their informed consent in writing prior to inclusion in the study. Identifying details (names, dates of birth, identity numbers and other information) of the participants that were studied should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and genetic profiles unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the participant (or parent or guardian if the participant is incapable) gave written informed consent for publication. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve in some cases, and informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt. For example, masking the eye region in photographs of participants is inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic profiles, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning.

After Acceptance

Upon acceptance of your article you will receive a link to the special Author Query Application at Avicenna’s web page where you can sign the Copyright Transfer Statement online. Once the Author Query Application has been completed, your article will be processed and you will receive the proofs.

Copyright transfer

A copyright transfer forms must be completed before the paper can be published, to facilitate the processing of your manuscript, please fill out the agreement, and submit the completed form and accompanying notes with your paper.

Proofreading

Contributors are provided with page proofs and are asked to proofread them for typesetting errors. Substantial changes in content, e.g., new results, corrected values, title and authorship, are not allowed without the approval of the Editor. Proofs must be returned within 72 hours.

Authorship

The author is someone, based on the ICMJE recommendations that meet the following 4 criteria:

  • Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
  • Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
  • Final approval of the version to be published; AND
  • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

 

All the authors who meet the above criteria and whose names come in the manuscript must read the author guideline with precision and be aware of the following notes.

Article Withdrawal 

Only used for Articles in Press which represent early versions of articles and sometimes contain errors, or may have been accidentally submitted twice. Occasionally, but less frequently, the articles may represent infringements of professional ethical codes, such as multiple submission, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data or the like. Articles in Press (articles that have been accepted for publication but which have not been formally published and will not yet have the complete volume/issue/page information) that include errors, or are discovered to be accidental duplicates of other published article(s) or are determined to violate our journal publishing ethics guidelines in the view of the editors (such as multiple submission, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data or the like), maybe “Withdrawn” from Rheumatology Research. Withdrawn means that the article content (HTML and PDF) is removed and replaced with an HTML page and PDF simply stating that the article has been withdrawn according to the Rheumatology Research Policy on Article in Press Withdrawal with a link to the current policy document.

Article Retraction

Infringements of professional ethical codes, such as multiple submission, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data or the like may lead to retraction. Occasionally a retraction will be used to correct errors in submission or publication. The retraction of an article by its authors or the editor under the advice of members of the scholarly community has long been an occasional feature of the learned world. Standards for dealing with retractions have been developed by a number of library and scholarly bodies, and this best practice is adopted for article retraction by Rheumatology Research:

 

  • A retraction note titled “Retraction: [article title]” signed by the authors and/or the editor is published in the paginated part of a subsequent issue of the journal and listed in the contents list.
  • In the electronic version, a link is made to the original article.
  • The online article is preceded by a screen containing the retraction note. It is to this screen that the link resolves; the reader can then proceed to the article itself.
  • The original article is retained unchanged save for a watermark on the pdf indicating on each page that it is “retracted.”
  • The HTML version of the document is removed.

 

NOTE

The Rheumatology Research journal does not charge the authors with any kind of fees for article publication.