The Genetics Research Journal

Manuscript submissions

Instructions to authors comply with the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication” (www.ICMJE.org, updated in April 2010). Editors hold the right to make all the necessary changes to the language and style of the original manuscript in order to adhere to the uniform standards of the Journal.

Article types
Contributions to the Journal are classified into the categories listed in the table below. The maximum word count does NOT include the title, authors and affiliations, abstract, keywords, subheadings, table and figure legends, and references. However, it does include the text in the tables, if any.

Category	Maximum word count	Maximum number of references
Editorial	1500	10
Review	5000	100
Short review	3500	50
Lessons in biostatistics	3000	30
Research integrity corner article	3000	30
Original article	5000	30
Short communication	1500	10
Case report	3000	30

Manuscript preparation

The manuscript should be written in English and uploaded via the online submission system available at ULUTAS Medical Journal Official website.

The following should be submitted:

1. Cover letter
2. Title page
3. Manuscript(without authors and affiliations)
4. Author statement form
5. Conflict of interest disclosure form (for each author)
6. Figure (optional)

Please note that a Manuscript file should not contain any information on the authors and their affiliation. Also, the Manuscript file name should not contain any reference to the author’s name. This is important because all manuscripts are sent for blind peer review. Each corresponding author is required to suggest 3 potential reviewers for the manuscript. Please note that the Editorial board members should not be suggested as reviewers. The author may also suggest opposing reviewers (optional).

 Cover letter

The cover letter should contain the following:

• corresponding authors’ name
• short description of the research study (2-3 sentences) and any other information regarding the manuscript that the Editors may find useful;
• body text word count and number of figures, tables, and graphs in the manuscript;
• suggested category for the manuscript (e.g., original article, short communication or other);
• statement on all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as redundant publications (for example studies based on the same sample, publications of the same biomarker, etc.);
• reasons why authors presume their work may be of interest to the Journal’s readership.

 Title page

The title page should be a separate page. The title page should include:

• the full title of the manuscript;
• short title (up to 50 characters);
• authors names, affiliations (institution, department, city, country) and e-mail addresses for further correspondence;
• corresponding author’s e-mail address and full mailing address (institution, department, street, street number, zip code, city, country). Please note that the e-mail address of the corresponding author will be published in the final version of the article if a manuscript is accepted.

The corresponding author should be marked with an asterisk (*). The affiliations should be noted with a superscript number.

For example:

Giuseppe Lippi1*, Emmanuel J Favaloro2 

1Institute of Clinical Chemistry, Department of Morphological and Biomedical Science, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
2Department of Hematology, Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research (ICPMR), Westmead Hospital, Westmead, Australia

*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Manuscript
A manuscript should be prepared as follows:

• the file should be in MS Word format (*.doc format only, submission system does not support *.docx format);
• the text should be double-spaced throughout including the title page, abstract, body text, references, acknowledgements, individual tables and legends
• page format: A4;
• font: Times New Roman, 12 pt;
• all margins: 2.5 cm;
• do NOT use any styles and formatting (no numbering for titles, no bold fonts);
• do NOT use Headers or Footers; and
• pages should be numbered throughout.

Please note that the cover letter and title page are not included into the manuscript file. All pages of the manuscript (except for the cover letter and title page, which are attached separately) should be within a single document. Original manuscripts should be structured as follows: Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments, Tables and Figures, and References. 

Abstract
All types of manuscripts should contain an abstract. An abstract of 250 words maximum should be provided on a separate page (abstract only, without authors and affiliation). The abstract of an original article should be structured into four headings: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Conclusions. For other article types, abstracts do not have to be structured.

Keywords
Please provide 3-5 keywords from MeSH database, when possible, available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html 

Introduction
In the Introduction section, the authors should highlight new information in the manuscript, the hypothesis, and the aim of their work. The Introduction section should not contain results and conclusions.

 Materials and Methods
The Materials and Methods section should only include information that was available at the time the study was planned. All information obtained during the study should be provided in the Results section. This section should be structured as follows:

• Subjects (if research includes human subjects),
• Materials (otherwise);
• Methods
• Statistical analysis

In the Subjects/Materials section it is recommended to include the following:

• time and place of the study (the dates og the beginning and the end of the study);
• study design (case-control, cohort, diagnostic accuracy etc.);
• inclusion and exclusion criteria;
• relevant demographic and history details (age, gender, diagnostic criteria etc.);

When reporting trials on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards set by the responsible human experimentation committee (institutional and national) and 1975 Helsinki Declaration. All subjects should sign an informed consent form and this information should be expressed in the manuscript. Signed informed consent forms should be archived by the authors. The authors have to provide a written statement that they have received and archived all patient informed consent forms, as required in the Author statement form.

In the Methods section, methods, instruments (give the manufacturer’s name, town and country in parentheses), and procedures should be described in sufficient detail to allow other researchers to reproduce the results. For well-established methods, only references should be provided. In the Statistical analysis section, authors should list all statistical methods used in the study and preselected level of significance (P). If possible, findings should be quantified and presented using appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (e.g., confidence intervals). For more details, see the article: Simundic AM. Practical recommendations for statistical analysis and data presentation in ULUTAS Medical Journal journal. Biochem Med 2012;22(1):15-23. At the end of this section, authors should specify the statistical software used.

Results
State the main or most important finding first. The data presented in the tables or figures should not be repeated in the text. Graphs should be used as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not present the same data in duplicate (e.g., in both graphs and tables). Exact P-values should be provided for all tested differences (e.g., write P=0.048 instead of P<0.05) rounded to three decimal places.

Discussion
Emphasize the new and important conclusion based on the study results in the context of the best available evidence. Do not repeat the data presented in the Introduction or Results section. Clearly, state the limitations of the study. 

Acknowledgements
All contributors who do not meet the authorship criteria should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. These persons must give verbal permission to be acknowledged. Authors should provide that statement in Author statement form. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged.

References
ULUTAS Medical Journal applies the Vancouver referencing style. Literature citation should conform to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) available at www.ICMJE.org. References should be numbered consecutively, using Arabic numerals in parentheses, in the order of appearance in the text.

For example: Prostatic carcinomas with final score < 7 were considered low-intermediate grade; and, with final score > 7 were considered high-grade (4). References cited only in tables or figures should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first appearance in the text of the table or figure. References should be verified using either an electronic bibliographic source, such as PubMed, or print copies from original sources. Authors are responsible for checking that none of the references refer to retracted articles except in the context of referring to the retraction. Also, the authors should not include DOI numbers at the end of cited reference.

Journal titles should be abbreviated according to the style used in the list of Journals Indexed for MEDLINE, posted by the NLM available at:http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html. Examples of various reference formats are available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html The most common examples are as follows:

Journals: Name all authors unless there are more than seven, in which case list the first six-plus et al. For example:

Punglia RS, D’Amico AV, Catalona WJ, Roehl KA, Kuntz KM. Impact of age, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and cancer on prostate-specific antigen level. Cancer 2006;106:1507-13.

Chen L, Wang X, Carter SA, Shen YH, Bartsch HR, Thompson RW, et al. A single nucleotide polymorphism in the matrix metalloproteinase 9 gene (-8202A/G) is associated with thoracic aortic aneurysms and thoracic aortic dissection. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2006;131:1045-52.

Book or handbook:
In English: Burtis CA, Ashwood ER, Burns DE, eds. Tietz Textbook of Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics. 4th ed. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Saunders, 2006.

Book chapter:
In English: Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumours. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, eds. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.

Internet source:
Cahill, J., Barkham, M., Hardy, G., Rees, A., Shapiro, D.A., Stiles, W.B. & Macaskill, N. Outcomes of patients completing and not completing cognitive therapy for depression [Electronic version]. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2003:42;133-43. Accessed July 19, 2003, fromhttp://www.bps.org.uk/publications/jCP_1.cfm.

Tables
Tables with brief captions should be provided with each on a separate page at the end of the document. Use only horizontal lines of a table grid. Tables should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals. Ensure that each table is cited in the text. Each column should have a short heading title and detailed explanation provided in a footnote. All non-standard abbreviations should be explained in table footnotes using the symbols in the following order: *, †, ‡, §, ║, ¶, **, ††, ‡‡, §§, ║║, ¶¶, etc.

Figures
Each figure and its brief caption should be provided on a separate page at the end of the document. Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order of appearance in the text. Technical editors will redesign or recreate all graphical elements (pictures, schematic presentations etc.) of the manuscript if they do not conform to the uniform style of the Journal.

Units of measurement
Units of measurement should be reported according to the Journal style. For a complete list of acceptable units, please see the abbreviations and measurement units section available at Journal web page under Guidelines to authors section. ULUTAS Medical Journal accepts the International System of Units (SI) except for temperature (degrees Celsius), blood pressure (millimetres of mercury) and enzyme activity (U/L).

Abbreviations and symbols
Use only standard abbreviations. Avoid abbreviations in the title of the manuscript. Always spell out abbreviations on the first mention and include the abbreviation in parenthesis unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measurement. For additional information, see the Abbreviations and measurement units section available at Journal web page under Guidelines to authors section.

Language and style
The manuscript should be written in English in understandable style and checked for correct spelling and use of grammar. The Journal does not provide a language editing service. Authors whose first language is not English are strongly advised to have their manuscript edited by a language professional or fluent English speaker before submission. Please note that this does not guarantee the acceptance of the article for publication. Authors may find the list of several language editing services at Journal webpage in the Guidelines to authors section.ULUTAS Medical Journal does not have any preferences for the use of any particular service provider.

Figures

If for some reason, figures cannot be inserted into the manuscript file, they can be uploaded as separate electronic files. Acceptable image file formats for print publication are: *.jpg, *.bmp or *.tiff; the desired resolution is 150 dpi.