SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

These Submission Guidelines provide authors with essential information on preparing and submitting manuscripts for consideration. Please review all sections carefully to ensure that your submission meets the Journal's scope, format, and ethical requirements.

Required Submission Documents

For submission, authors must provide a cover letter and complete author information in the Author Declaration appendix.

The cover letter must justify the manuscript’s suitability for publication in AFMN Biomedicine, disclose any issues relevant to the Journal’s editorial policies, and include a declaration of all potential competing interests. It should clearly indicate whether the manuscript has been posted as a preprint and confirm that the submission represents original work that has not been published or is not under consideration elsewhere. Authors must also confirm that all co-authors have approved the final version of the manuscript and consent to its submission.

In addition to the Cover Letter, a completed Author Declaration appendix must be submitted as a separate document. In the appendix, please provide each co-author’s full name, institutional email address, and ORCID, as well as all applicable statements and declarations relevant to the manuscript. For more information on the importance of including ORCID in your submission documentation, please refer to: ORCID for Researchers.

The Author Declaration appendix to the cover letter is provided here.

Submission Categories

The Editorial Board considers submissions in the following categories: Research Article, Review Article, Brief Report, Case Report, and Letter to the Editor. Manuscripts must fall within the Journal’s scope and meet the required quality standards; otherwise, they will not be considered for review. Case Reports will be considered only if they document rare pathologies, describe uncommon interventions, or offer insights of particular relevance to a specific medical audience.

Below is the list of article types published in AFMN Biomedicine. Please note that for certain article types, word limits apply to the main text and any in-text tables, but do not include the abstract, keywords, or references.

Research Article

Research Articles are full-length manuscripts that present high-quality, original investigations offering novel and significant scientific contributions of broad relevance to the health sciences community. All studies involving human participants or laboratory animals require prior approval from an Ethics Review Committee, with the corresponding approval number and date clearly stated. For clinical trial reports, authors are required to submit a completed CONSORT or STROBE checklist, along with the corresponding flowchart, whichever is most appropriate for the study design. Submissions without this documentation may be returned as incomplete. If research involves animals, it must adhere to the ARRIVE guidelines: https://arriveguidelines.org/publications. Research Articles must follow the standard full-length structure with the appropriate subheadings: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and References. Recommended length of Research Article is 6000 words maximum (including main text, tables, and figure legends).

Review Article

Review Articles should provide a comprehensive and critical overview of the existing literature on specialized topics, synthesizing all high-quality research evidence and presenting conceptual frameworks that address questions of broad interest in biomedicine. Systematic Reviews must include a detailed description of the literature search strategy, data extraction methods, and, where applicable, the analytical approach used. Submission of a completed PRISMA checklist is mandatory: https://www.prisma-statement.org. Manuscripts submitted without this documentation will be considered incomplete and returned to the authors. Recommended length of Review Article is 6000 words maximum with no more than 100 references.

Brief Report

Brief Reports are concise articles that present original preclinical or clinical research findings of significant interest to the readership. They should follow the same structure as full-length papers, including appropriate subheadings. Recommended length of Brief Report is 2500 words maximum (including the main text and any table or figure legend), with allowance for one display item (either a figure or a table) and no more than 25 references.

Case Report

Case Reports are concise articles that highlight noteworthy clinical observations involving a single patient or a small group of patients. They should describe rare or unusual conditions, novel therapeutic approaches, previously unrecognized adverse effects, or other findings of particular significance to a specific clinical specialty. Submissions will be considered only if they present cases that have not been well documented in the literature. Authors are required to obtain written informed consent for publication from the patient or, when applicable, their legal guardian prior to manuscript submission. Documentation of consent must be available upon request. Manuscripts should be structured under the following sections: Abstract, Introduction, Case Presentation, and Discussion. The total word count should not exceed 1,500 words, inclusive of the main text and any table or figure legends. Only one display item (either a figure or a table) is permitted, and the reference list should be limited to no more than 15 citations.

Letter to the Editor 

A Letter to the Editor provides commentary on a recently published AFMN Biomedicine article and should offer insights of significant relevance and interest to the Journal’s readership. Submissions must be received within one month of the publication of the original article. The authors of the referenced paper will be invited to submit a formal response. Letters should be written in an unstructured format (without standard section headings) and should not exceed 850 words, including the main text and any table or figure legend. A maximum of one display item (either a figure or a table) and up to 5 references are permitted.

Manuscript preparation 

Manuscripts must adhere to standard scientific English, including proper grammar, style, and clarity. Authors who believe their manuscript could benefit from additional language support are encouraged to utilize resources available at their institutions, and/or consider professional English language editing services. Clear and well-crafted manuscripts significantly improve the likelihood of acceptance.

All abbreviations must be defined upon their first appearance in the text. Those not recognized by international standards should be avoided. Abbreviations must not appear in the title.

The main manuscript file (except for the Letters to the Editor) must be organized into the following sections, presented in the order specified below:

• Title page
• Abstract with keywords
• Main text
• Acknowledgements
• Authors' contributions
• Statement of Ethics
• Statement of Competing Interest
• Statement of Data Availability
• Statement of Generative AI Technologies Use
• References
• Tables
• Figures with figure legends

Title page

The title page must include the full title of the manuscript, the full names of all authors, and their institutional affiliations. The corresponding author must be clearly identified and must provide a full postal address, phone number, and institutional email address. Personal or private email addresses are not accepted for correspondence.

The title should be concise, descriptive, and unambiguous, accurately reflecting the main focus and content of the manuscript. A well-written title that clearly indicates the subject matter enhances the visibility and discoverability of the article in major indexing databases.

Abstract with keywords

All articles (except for the Letters to the Editor) must include a concise and factual abstract of no more than 250 words. It should be prepared as a single, standalone paragraph summarizing the study’s purpose, key findings, and main conclusions. Non-standard abbreviations are not allowed. Abstract should be followed by 3 to 5 keywords, as specific as possible to the research topic, for indexing and abstracting purposes.

Please note that the title, keywords, and abstract of your article all influence how it appears in search engine results, directly impacting its visibility and readership.

Main Text

The main text should follow the standard section structure: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. The Methods section must include enough detail to allow full reproducibility of the study, including the full manufacturer name for every proprietary item used. Near the end of this section, authors should add a separate paragraph clearly describing the statistical approaches employed for data analysis. The Results section should summarize the key findings succinctly and provide complete statistical reporting, not just p-values. Review articles may follow an alternative structure appropriate to their content.

Acknowledgements

In the Acknowledgements section, authors may credit individuals not listed as authors and organizations that contributed significantly to the research or preparing the manuscript. Here, all sources of funding that supported the research or the preparation of the submitted manuscript must be disclosed, including the names of sponsors. Please use the following format for your statement: “Research reported in this paper was supported by [name of the funding body/bodies] under award number [specific grant number(s)].” If no funding was received, include the following statement: “This study was not supported by any sponsor or funder.”

Author's Contributions

Promoting transparency in author contributions ensures that credit for specific aspects of the published work is appropriately attributed to each author. The Journal, therefore, requires that the individual contributions of all listed authors be clearly specified. Contributions may include, but are not limited to, designing research studies, performing experiments, analyzing data, providing reagents, or writing the manuscript. Multiple contributions may be assigned to a single author, and individual contributions may involve multiple authors. Author contributions should be indicated using author initials. Authorship changes post-submission should only be made in exceptional circumstances, and any requests for authors to be removed or added must be approved by all co-authors of the original submission, justified in writing to the editor, and in line with criteria defined in COPE authorship guidelines.

Statement of Ethics

All manuscripts must include a Statement of Ethics that ensures transparency and compliance with ethical standards in research involving human participants or animals. Authors should include the following statements as applicable:

• Study Approval

Provide the name and affiliation of the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board that reviewed and approved the study, along with the corresponding approval number. For example: "This study protocol was reviewed and approved by [committee name and affiliation], approval number [XXX], issued on [approval date]."

• Exemptions or Non-Requirement

If ethics approval was not required, or if the study was granted an exemption from ethics review, this must be clearly stated, including the name of the committee that made this determination.

• Consent to participate

For studies involving human participants (Clinical trials, Case Report), authors must state whether written informed consent was obtained from all participants, or from their parents or legal guardians, as appropriate. The Journal requires authors to confirm in writing that informed consent was obtained; however, the consent forms themselves should be retained by the authors to protect participant confidentiality. If written informed consent was not required, or if an exemption was granted, this must be clearly stated, including the name of the Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board that approved the exemption. If the informed consent was obtained, the following wording can be used: “Complete written informed consent was obtained from the patient for the publication of this study and accompanying images”.

Inclusion of these statements is mandatory under this heading, even if ethics approval information is already included in your Methods section.

Statement of Competing Interest

The Journal requires all authors to disclose any potential conflicts of interest. All financial relationships or sources of support, including but not limited to employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership, grants, patents, and royalties, that have occurred within the past three years must be reported, regardless of their perceived relevance to the submitted work. Authors should also disclose any non-financial relationships (personal, professional, or institutional) that could be perceived as influencing the preparation or interpretation of the manuscript. If no conflicts of interest exist, please include the following statement: “The authors declare no relevant conflicts of interest.”

Statement of Data Availability

The Journal is committed to promoting transparency and reproducibility in research. Authors are, therefore, required to include information indicating how the underlying data and supporting analyses for the article can be accessed. Where data sharing is not feasible, the statement must clearly justify the reasons for any restrictions on data availability. 

If any of the above statements are not applicable to your manuscript, please indicate this by stating “Not applicable” under the relevant heading.

References

The Journal uses the Vancouver citation style. References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they first appear in the text. Each in-text citation must correspond to an entry in the reference list, and every reference listed must be cited in the text.

Examples of the Vancouver citation style:

• Journal article: Todd WD, Venner A, Anaclet C, Broadhurst RY, De Luca R, Bandaru SS, et al. Suprachiasmatic VIP neurons are required for normal circadian rhythmicity and comprise molecularly distinct subpopulations. Nat Commun. 2020;11(1):4410.
• Book chapter: Buhr ED, Takahashi JS. Molecular components of the mammalian circadian clock. In: Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology. 2013;(217):3–27.
• Book: Paxinos G, Franklin KBJ. Paxinos and Franklin's The Mouse Brain in Stereotaxic Coordinates. 5^th ed. Cambridge, MA, USA: Academic Press; 2019.

File Formats and Artwork Preparation

Authors are requested to prepare manuscripts using Microsoft Word 2003 or later. Tables and figures should be presented in a clear, consistent format to ensure accuracy and high-quality reproduction.

Tables

• Number all tables consecutively (e.g., Table 1, Table 2, etc.).
• Provide each table with a concise, descriptive title.
• All tables must be cited in the main text and placed at the end of the manuscript file.
• Single-column table width of 85 mm, and double-column table width of 175 mm.
• Tables should use 9pt Helvetica or Arial fonts.
• Table formatting example can be accessed here.

Figures and Illustrations

• Line art, graphs, charts, and schematics must be exported directly from the original software in which they were created.
• Photographs and illustrations must be saved or scanned at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi, in either JPG or TIFF format.
• Artificially increasing image resolution in applications such as Photoshop does not enhance image quality.
• Single-column figure width of 85 mm; double-column figure width of 175 mm. Figure text and labels should use 9pt Helvetica or Arial fonts.
• Figures should be placed in individual files separate from the main document file.

Authors are required to obtain and, upon request, provide all necessary permissions from copyright holders for the reproduction of any previously published material, including illustrations, tables, figures, or substantial text excerpts.

Download Author Checklist.pdf

Revision

During the revision process, authors may be asked to provide additional materials to ensure transparency, accuracy, and compliance with the Journal’s editorial standards. For each revision, authors must submit: 

• A clean copy of the entire manuscript, including references, figures, figure legends, tables, and table legends.
• A marked-up copy showing all revisions and point-by-point responses to all reviewers’/editors’ comments.

Both copies must include the main text, references, figure legends, tables, and table legends. Authors must also provide publication-quality figures prepared according to the Journal’s formatting requirements. If any potential image or figure manipulation is detected prior to publication, the Editorial Board may request the complete primary data to verify the authenticity of the figures.

Post-Acceptance Process

Once a manuscript is accepted, it enters the Journal’s production workflow. During this stage, production staff edit the manuscript for grammar, style, and clarity, prepare figures, and format the text according to the Journal’s style guidelines. The copyedited version (publication proofs) is then sent to the corresponding author for review of typesetting accuracy. Authors are asked to respond to queries (embedded in the proofs) and provide any necessary corrections as an attachment in response to the proof email. Please note that no substantive changes to the manuscript are permitted at this stage. After incorporating the author’s approved corrections, the article will be finalized and made freely available online as an Online First publication under a Creative Commons attribution license (CC BY 4.0). This version will subsequently be replaced by the fully formatted article in the Journal’s regular publication schedule.

Support

For all correspondence, please include the tracking number provided in your submission acknowledgment. If the tracking number is unavailable, include the manuscript title and the corresponding author’s name. To ensure clarity in communication regarding correspondence, inquiries, and editorial decisions, the AFMN Biomedicine staff will typically correspond only with the designated corresponding author. For any questions, please contact: editorial.office@afmn-biomedicine.com.