Guidelines for Authors
Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology is a monthly journal which publishes original papers on clinical or experimental research pertinent to the rheumatic diseases; work on connective tissue diseases and other immune disorders also are within the journal's scope. Contributors may submit Editorials, Original Articles, Rapid Papers, Review Articles, Case Reports and Letters to the Editor. Every issue also contains a section dedicated to the area of Pediatric Rheumatology.
Articles will be considered for publication on the condition that they are submitted solely to Clinical and Experimental 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.
A charge of €130.00 per printed page will be assessed for all articles published. Instructions for payment will be sent to authors along with the proofs. There is no charge for solicited articles.
Accepted articles may be published online free to view at a cost of €500.00, that the Authors must bear; instructions for payment will be sent to authors along with the proofs.
Table of Contents
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:
- a statement by the Authors that the article has not been published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere;
- 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);
- a statement of financial or other relationships that could lead to a conflict of interest;
- a statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all of the authors;
- 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;
- 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 Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology;
- 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:
- a concise but informative title of less than 255 characters (do not use acronyms);
- the first name, middle initial and last name of each author, with their highest academic degree(s) and institutional affiliation;
- the name of the department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed;
- the name, complete address, telephone and E-mail address of the author responsible for correspondence;
- 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.
Monothematic issues
In addition to regular issues, Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology has also been publishing a number of monothematic issues dedicated to the following diseases:
- Behçet’s disease and other autoinflammatory conditions, since 2001;
- Vasculitis, since 2003;
- Scleroderma, since 2009;
- Fibromyalgia and related syndromes, since 2009;
- Sjögren's syndrome, since 2018.
- Myositis, since 2022.
Following the policy of the journal, the articles submitted on these topics are processed with the same peer-review criteria as those published in the regular issues. Once accepted, they are published ahead-of-print online, and subsequently included in the correspondent issue.
Types of articles
- Editorials are brief discussions focusing on the significance and practical implications of topics of current interest.
- Rapid Publications are available at a cost of € 2,000.00, in addition to the page charges. They should report new and original scientific work supported by adequate data. The text should not exceed 1500 words, include a structured abstract and a maximum of 15 references (see below for format). Submitted manuscripts will undergo the standard review process and will be processed within 15 days from receipt. Galley-proofs will be prepared within 15 days from acceptance of the paper, published online within a week after receiving the corrected galley-proofs, and printed in the first available issue. Authors should clearly state in their accompanying letter that they submit the manuscript as a Rapid Publication, and that they accept to bear the relevant cost.
- Original articles are reports of new and original work or descriptions of a consolidated body of experience in a given field. Epidemiological and psychosocial studies are also welcome. The text should not exceed 3500 words (see below for format).
- Brief papers are short communications analogous in content to the original articles (see below for format). The text should not exceed 1500 words, and the bibliography no more than 15 references.
- Reviews are welcome; they will undergo the same review process as other papers. The text should not exceed 4000 words, and should be preceded by a brief abstract.
- Case reports will be considered for publication only if they describe extremely unusual cases or are of particular interest to the clinician. The presentation should be concise (max. 1000 words), and include a short abstract, a clear exposition of the case, and a maximum of 6 authors, 15 references and three tables or figures.
- Original articles in the area of Paediatric Rheumatology are welcome.
- Letters to the Editor may report original work, address problems of current interest, or comment on articles that have recently appeared in the journal. In the last case, the letter will be sent to the authors of the article in question and their reply, if any, will be published together with the letter. Letters should not exceed 600 words, with a maximum of 6 authors and 10 bibliographical references, and may include a maximum of one table or figure. They must be furnished with a title and a set of key words, but no abstract.
NEW:
Letter to Editor Rheumatology: Commentaries and Controversies (LER) is the international free to view and peer-reviewed online journal, now supported jointly by Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology and the Rheumatology Society of Turkey. The main mission of LER is to provide a platform for comments about published clinical or basic science articles in the wide speciality of rheumatology and the related disciplines. The recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (www.icmje.org) can be a guide in the preparation of such letters. Hypothesis generating short manuscripts, brief original observations, case-records, viewpoints and even rebuttals with peer reviewers are also within the scope of LER. If a letter commenting on an article is accepted for publication, authors of the addressed article will be notified, giving them the opportunity to respond.
Once a letter is accepted it will rapidly be published ahead of print free to view at https://www.clinexprheumatol.org; once a year Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology will collect all LER accepted letters in a periodic annual Supplement which will appear both online and in printed paper issue. All the published letters will also appear in PubMed. Letters already accepted by the old LER can still be viewed at http://www.lettertoeditor.org.
Letters commenting on published papers: These will be considered for publication with no time limit following the publication of the original article. The editors encourage the authors to disclose if their letter has been previously submitted to and not accepted by the journal where the commented article had been published. Letters commenting on published papers should have a maximum of 600 words and an unstructured abstract of up to 50 words. They may contain 2 figures or tables and a maximum of 10 references. Letters about original thoughts and observations: Critical opinions on established knowledge , hypotheses, brief and original case reports or brief manuscripts in a letter format about clinical and/or basic science observations are also welcome. These letters may have a maximum of 1000 words and an unstructured abstract of up to 100 words. They may contain up to 4 figures or tables and a maximum of 15 references. Manuscript preparation: All manuscripts should be prepared in the form of a letter. They should be typed double-spaced and have wide margins. A title page, containing the title of the article, the names, academic affiliations of the authors, the contact numbers and e-mail address of the corresponding author should accompany each manuscript. Tables, figures, illustrations: Prepare each table double spaced on a separate sheet. Supply a title for each table. Number tables consecutively in the order of their citation in the text. Place explanations in footnotes. Supply a title for each of them and give explanations at the bottom if needed. Number figures and illustrations consecutively in the order of their citations in the text. References: These should be prepared in PubMed/Index Medicus format and should be listed in numerical order according to the order of their citation in the article. List all authors if their number is 6 or less. List only the first three followed by “et al.” if there are more than 6 authors. Declaration of conflict of interest: All authors must provide a statement describing any relevant conflict of interests for the manuscript.
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, brief papers, and rapid 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 uncertainty (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.
Page charge
A charge of €130.00 per printed page will be assessed for all articles published. Instructions for payment will be sent to authors along with the proofs. There is no charge for solicited articles.
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.
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.
Colour figures. The authors are expected to bear the costs of printing colour plates. The charge is € 800.00 for the first colour figure € 100.00 for each additional colour figure in the same manuscript.
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.
Reprints. Reprints can be ordered from the Editor, using the order form that is sent with the proofs. Orders must be received before the article goes to press; those received after that time are subject to a surcharge.