Home
Go Back
Submission Guidelines
Medical Rehabilitation (Rehabilitacja Medyczna) is a journal publishing research and clinically relevant articles about the rehabilitation of people with health problems, with bias towards the rehabilitation of people with chronic diseases. The scientific articles can refer to: the occurrence of health problems requiring rehabilitation treatment, testing and diagnosing methods and procedures, intervention methods and procedures, intervention results (including medical, physiotherapeutic, ergotherapeutical, psychological and social interventions), organization and management in rehabilitation and the history of rehabilitation.
Contributions to Medical Rehabilitation (Rehabilitacja Medyczna) can be in one of the following categories: narrative and systematic reviews and metaanalysis - occurrenceof health problems requiring rehabilitation, diagnosis and intervention methods (choice and effectiveness), state-of-the-art articles; articles describing new and original observational and experimental research – the description of research projects (with detailed analysis of methodology), pilot studies, definite results and their discussion; articles referring to testing and diagnosing methods – new methods, analysis of reliability, etc.; brief reports –communications on interesting observations, case studies, new data, research methods, or new ideas and techniques; research methodology articles – referring to the field of rehabilitation sciences; opinion articles – presenting author(s) specific opinions related to rehabilitation problems; commentaries and letters to the Editor - related to a published article in Medical Rehabilitation or in other journals, or related to organizational problems in rehabilitation (published at the discretion of the Editorial Board; the editorial staff reserves the right to condense contributions submitted without consulting the author); editorials -written by the members of the Editorial Board or authors invited by the Editorial Board. It is also possible to submit other kinds of article after preliminary agreement with the Editor.
The following guidelines for authors are in accordance with the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals”1
Authorship responsibility
All persons designated as authors must participate in the work to take responsibility for its content. In multi-center trials, all members of the group must meet the criteria for authorship as defined in the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals”.1 Group members not meeting these criteria should be listed, with their permission, in the acknowledgments.
Authors must reveal to the Editorial Board and describe on an attached cover sheet any conflicts of interest (including financial ones) that the Editorial Board or readers would consider relevant to the presented research or other material. The Board will hold this information in confidence, unless the paper is accepted. Then the Board can publish appropriate information with the article.
Materials which already have been reported in a published article or are described in a paper submitted or accepted for publication elsewhere, in any print or electronic media whatsoever, can not be submitted for publication in Medical Rehabilitation (Rehabilitacja Medyczna). Abstracts that are published in conference proceedings are not considered to be previous publications.
In the case of duplicate publications, if the paper is accepted and published before evidence of duplication is discovered, the Editorial Board will announce the duplication in Medical Rehabilitation (Rehabilitacja Medyczna).
The specified STATEMENT (see below) must be signed by all authors, and submitted with the manuscript. This document may photocopied for submission and is also available at www.rehmed.pl
Authors should prepare manuscripts as described in the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals”.1
The title page should include: (1) the article title; (2) first name, middle initial, and last name of each author, with their highest academic degree(s) and affiliation to institutions(s) to which the work should be attributed; (3) complete name, address, telephone number (including mobile phone number), fax number, and e-mail address of the author designated for correspondence with the Editorial Board; (4) name, address, and e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers of the author to whom the readers’ correspondence should be addressed; (5) the source(s) of grants, equipment, drugs, or other support; (6) information if all or part of the material in the manuscript was presented at a meeting (reporting the organization, city, and date of presentation); (7) In articles prepared by more than one author the contribution of all authors should be described as follows: A – project design; B – data collection; C – statistical analysis; D – data interpretation; E – manuscript preparation; F – literature search; G – funds collection.
Abstract. Manuscripts reporting original data require an abstract with the following parts: Introduction (including main objectives); Research Project (the following descriptions can be used: analysis of measurement method, case study, case series, cross-sectional study, cohort study, case-control clinical study, experimental study with or without randomization, cross-over study, before/after study, comparison to standard criteria, cost/effectiveness study; Material and Methods (including, setting, patients or other subjects or objects, grouping, interventions, procedures, main outcome measures, analysis performed); Results; Conclusions. To describe the study setting(s) one should report whether the setting is the general community, a primary care or referral center, outpatient or inpatient care. In describing subjects in the study one should report key characteristics, numbers of participants (in follow-up studies: proportion of participants who completed the study; in intervention studies: number of patients who withdrew due to adverse effects) and how they were selected (random sample, population-based sample, referred sample, consecutive sample, volunteer sample, sample of convenience). The intervention should be identified by its most common clinical name(s). The main study results must be given in narrative form. An abstract of review articles and articles reporting the results of meta-analyses should preferably include the following parts: Background with main Objectives; Research Method (narrative review, systematic review, metaanalysis); Methodology (Data Sources; Study Selection; Data Extraction, Data Synthesis); Results and Discussion; Conclusions. In the Study Selection portion, the criteria used to select studies should be stated. The abstract should consist of 200-250 words.
Key Words. 3 to 5 indexing terms or key words that describe the manuscript’s subject matter, preferably conforming to Index Medicus Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). Terms already used in the title should be left out.
Acknowledgments. Can relate to work contributions that do not justify authorship, or to financial and material support that may pose a conflict of interest. Persons who are mentioned in acknowledgments must give their permission to be named. Authors are responsible for obtaining such written permission.
Text. In articles presenting research material, the following headings of the parts are advised: Introduction (including background information); Objectives; Material and Methods (including design, setting, patients or other subjects or objects, interventions, outcome measures, methods of analysis); Results; Discussion; Conclusions.
References. Should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they first appear in the text. Use the format used in the Index Medicus (available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lsiou.html). Identify references in text, tables, and legends with superscript Arabic numerals; before a dot in the sentence referred to, after a dot in the section referred to. “Unpublished observation” and “personal communications” may not be used as references (although they can be described in the text or as a footnote - in this case authors must obtain written permission and confirmation of accuracy from the source of personal communication).
Papers accepted but not yet published can be included with the designation of the journal and the note “in press”. Authors must obtain written permission to cite such papers with confirmation of acceptance for publication.
The first 6 authors or editors of any reference must be cited; if there are more authors or editors the information “et al” should be used.
Suppliers. Names and addresses of the manufacturers and/or suppliers of equipment and/or materials used in a study must be identified. Equipment/materials in text, tables, and legends should be identified with superscript lower case.
Tables. Submit each table on a separate sheet. Explanatory matter should be placed in footnotes. Explain in footnotes all nonstandard abbreviations that are used in each table. For footnotes, use the following symbols: *, †, ‡, **, ††, ‡‡, . . .
Figures. Submit 4 complete sets of figures. Letters, numbers, and symbols should be clear and of sufficient size (when reduced for publication each item should still be legible). Titles and explanations should be placed in the legends for figures. The legends should be presented together in numeric order following reference page(s). Figures should be identified on the back, indicating the top of the figure, the number of the figure, and the title of the article. If photographs of persons are used, either the subjects must not be identifiable or their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photographs. If a figure has been published, the author must acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. The Editorial Board reserves the right to determine which figures are appropriate for publication. Black and white figures are preferred.
Units of measurement. Measurements of: length, height, weight, and volume in metric units; temperatures in degrees Celsius; blood pressures in mmHg. All hematological and clinical chemistry measurements are presented according to the International System of Units (SI).
Abbreviations and symbols. Preferably use only standard abbreviations; write out the full term for which an abbreviation stands when it is first used in the text, unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measurement. Statistical terms, abbreviations, and symbols should be clearly defined.
Studies using human or animal subjects. Author(s) must indicate whether the appropriate institutional review board or ethics committee has accepted the procedures. Patients and research subjects have a right to privacy. Identifying information will not be published unless it is essential for the scientific explanation and the patient (or legal proxy) gives written informed consent for publication.
The volume of prepared manuscripts should be as followed: articles – up to 30 000 characters, including summary and references; review articles – up to 30 000 characters, excluding references; brief reports and commentaries – up to 15 000 characters, including summary and references; letters to Editor – up to 5 000 characters.
Printing of the manuscript. On 1 sided A4 white paper. Use standard 12-point type, double-spaced, including title page, abstract, text, acknowledgments, references, tables. Use unjustified, flush-left margins of at least 25mm. Number pages consecutively, beginning with the title page.
Manuscript can be prepared in English or in Polish. In the case of a manuscript being submitted in Polish the following should be translated into English: title, affiliation to institutions(s) to which the work should be attributed, key words, abstract, legends of figures, pictures, tables, etc.
Text, tables and figures should be prepared in Microsoft Word format. Three copies of the manuscript are required, two of which should be masked by removing any words or phrases in the abstract, main text, references, tables, and figures that could reveal the author’s identity.
Authors should also submit (masked and unmasked) electronic copies with text in Microsoft Word format for PC. Tables and figures should be sent in separate, precisely described files. Legends for figures also should be sent as separate files. Figures should be prepared in files allowing corrections (e.g. .eps, .pdf).
Authors submitting manuscripts do so with the understanding that if their work is accepted for publication, article copyright, including reproduction rights in all forms and media, shall be assigned exclusively to ELIPSA-JAIM s.c.
In the cover letter authors can suggest the names and addresses of 3 potential manuscript reviewers who are not affiliated with the authors’ institutions.
Manuscripts must be accompanied by copies of all permissions to reproduce published material, reports regarding sensitive personal information of identifiable persons, and acknowledgements to persons for their contributions. Authors are responsible for the paying of any fees related to applying for these permissions.
Manuscripts with Authors’ Statement (signed by all authors) should be sent to the Editorial Office of Medical Rehabilitation (Rehabilitacja Medyczna), ELIPSA-JAIM, ul. Gontyna 10/1, 30-203 Kraków. An electronic copy should be send on CD or DVD disc and additionally by e-mail to bromboszcz@yahoo.com.
Authors should keep copies of everything submitted. No materials will be returned to the authors.
Manuscripts submitted to Medical Rehabilitation are at first assessed by the editor and the author (indicated for correspondence) is informed as quickly as possible if the article can be processed for publication. The editor can ask for additional explanations and changes. Every manuscript is evaluated by at least one reviewer. Authors are not identified to reviewers.
The peer review process will not begin until the authors have complied completely with the submission requirements.
Revised manuscripts with marked changes should be sent to the editorial office. Authors should include a cover letter indicating which revisions have and/or have not been made. A satisfactory explanation is required if authors have not followed specific recommendations.
Manuscripts accepted for publication are subject to a process of editing that may result in requests for certain additions, deletions, or clarifications. Finally, the manuscript will be typeset and only the designated corresponding author will receive page proofs for approval. Proofs must be returned by the corresponding author within 15 days of receipt to: The Editorial Board of Medical Rehabilitation (Rehabilitacja Medyczna), ELIPSA-JAIM ul. Gontyna 10/1, 30-203 Kraków.
All accepted manuscripts become the property of ELIPSA-JAIM S.C. and may not be published elsewhere without written permission from the publisher.
1 International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. JAMA, 1997, 277, 927-34. (see also: www.icmje.org)