Guide for Authors

Archives of Anatomy is the official journal of the Sociedade Anatómica Portuguesa | Associação Anatómica Portuguesa. All articles submitted are subject to a peer-review process. Its objectives are to promote scientific quality, timeliness and knowledge in the area of morphological sciences and in particular of Anatomy.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Aims & Scope

Archives of Anatomy (official journal of Sociedade Anatómica Portuguesa | Associação Anatómica Portuguesa) is a scientific journal open to papers covering the areas of embryology and anatomy on its relation to morphogenesis, histology, cytology, cytogenetics, reproductive biology, developmental biology, anthropology, comparative anatomy, evolution, and aging. Anatomy is a morphological science that cannot fail to interest the clinician. Applications of anatomical research to clinical problems in the areas such as neurology, modern imaging techniques and surgery will be welcome. New methods of anatomical teaching and new forms of curricula will be considered for publication. Priority will be given to experimental studies. Archives of Anatomy is a journal written for anatomists and clinicians with a special interest in anatomy.

This journal has no Article Publication Charges.

Categories of manuscripts

Archives of Anatomy accepts the following manuscript types:

Submission process

The articles submission is performed by email – to archivesofanatomy@gmail.com – and should include the following documents:

• Main text document
• Figures, if applicable
• Cover letter
• A declaration signed by the corresponding author attesting that there is not a simultaneous submission or a previous publication of the current work in another Journal, as well as the transfer of publication rights and the absence of conflicts of interest.

All authors will receive a confirmation email of submission.

Ethics in publishing

Archives of Anatomy bases its editorial conduct on independence and in compliance with good international standards for biomedical editions.

Human and animal rights

If the work involves the use of animal or human subjects, the author should ensure that the work described has been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html; EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/legislation_en.htm.

The manuscript should be in line with the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (see: http://www.icmje.org). Authors should include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human subjects. The privacy rights of human subjects must always be observed.

Use of inclusive language

Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities.

Anatomical terminology

The Human anatomical terminology should comply with the international standard Human anatomical nomenclature, International Federation of Associations of Anatomists (see: https://sociedadeanatomica.pt/informacoes/terminologia/ or https://fipat.library.dal.ca/ta2/) Veterinary anatomical terminology should comply with the international standard veterinary anatomical nomenclature, World Association of Veterinary Anatomists (see: http://www.wava-amav.org/).

Conflict of interest

All authors must disclose any personal and financial relationships with other organizations or people that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, grants or other funding consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, and patent applications/ registrations.

Plagiarism

Submission of an article implies that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright holder. Implies also that the work described has not been published previously, except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis.

Authorship and Author Responsibilities

To qualify for authorship of a manuscript, the following criteria should be observed according to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors guidelines: substantial intellectual participation in the conception and design of the work; or in the implementation of the underlying work, acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data for the work; or in the preparation of the article, drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content. The authors should provide approval for publication of the content, and agree 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.

Contributors who do not meet these criteria, but nonetheless provided important contributions to the final manuscript, should be included in the acknowledgement section. It is the author’s responsibility to get written approval by persons named in the acknowledgment section.

Author contributions

For transparency, we encourage authors to submit an author statement outlining their individual contributions to the paper. Please list only 2 initials for each author, without full stops, but separated by commas (e.g. SA, SP). In the case of two authors with the same initials, please use their middle initial to differentiate between them (e.g. SPA, SRP) or second letter of the last name (e.g., SAn, SPe). Please see an example here:

“SA, SP, and PO contributed to conception and design of the study. JA organized the database. SP performed the statistical analysis. SA wrote the first draft of the manuscript. SP, PO, and JA wrote sections of the manuscript. All authors contributed to manuscript revision, read, and approved the submitted version”.

Changes to authorship

At the time of the original submission, authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (1) the reason for the change in author list and (2) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed. Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.

Corrections

Archives of Anatomy recognize the responsibility to correct scientifically relevant errors in previously published articles. Any error recognition should be immediately communicated by the authors. Corrections can be submitted directly to the editorial office using the email archivesofanatomy@gmail.com

Copyright

An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author, upon acceptance of an article, confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a ‘Journal Publishing Agreement’.

Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Preprinted forms may be use by authors in these cases.

Role of the funding source

The authors are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, then this should be stated.

Peer review

The journal operates a single anonymized review process. Upon receipt of the article, contributions will be initially assessed by the Editor-in-Chief for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor-in-Chief is in charge of distribution by the Body of Arbitrators, starting the process of double arbitration by peers. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor’s decision is final. Once the arbitration process is completed, a report is drawn up and the work can be accepted for publication, with or without changes, or it can be rejected for justified reasons, with the author being informed of the result, within a time interval that should not exceed 60 days. The submitted article may be rejected, without arbitration, by decision of the Editor-in-Chief, for lack of originality, limited interest for the journal’s readers, serious scientific or methodological flaws or lack of timeliness. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers which they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Any such submission is subject to all of the journal’s usual procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups.

Referees

The Body of Arbitrators integrates elements outside the Review Board, by invitation made to renowned national and international anatomists and specialists, who agreed to collaborate with Archives of Anatomy.

Please submit, with the manuscript, the names, addresses and e-mail addresses of potential referees. Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used.

ARTICLE STRUCTURE

The manuscripts can be written in English or Portuguese, but should always include a title and an abstract in English.

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Acronyms or abbreviations should not be used in the title or abstract and their use should be avoided, whenever unnecessary, even in the text. The use of abbreviations in the text must be defined in the first use, in full, followed by the insertion of the abbreviation in parentheses. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Units

Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other units are mentioned, please give their equivalent in SI.

Manuscript Formatting

The main text document should be in word format. Every page of the manuscript, including the tile page, references, tables, etc., should be numbered. Manuscripts submitted should have numbered lines, page borders set at 2.5cm; text in Times New Roman font, 12-pt and double- spaced, throughout, i.e. also for abstracts, footnotes and references.

Save the file in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the word processor’s options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. To avoid unnecessary errors, you are strongly advised to use the ‘spell-check’ and ‘grammar- check’ functions of your word processor.

Manuscript Subdivisions

The main text should include the following sections: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Material & Methods (if applicable), Results (if applicable), Discussion (If Applicable), Conclusions, Acknowledgements and Funding Sources (include grants information), Ethical statement (if applicable), Conflicts of interest sentence, References, Tables and Artwork.

Title Page

– Complete title of the article should be concise and informative (120 characters including spaces) and a short title (both in Portuguese and in English). Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.

– Authors name. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled.

– Authors affiliation. Present the authors’ affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names and the ORCID number. Indicate all affiliations with a lowercase superscript letter immediately after the author’s name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and the e-mail address of each author.

– Corresponding author e-mail address. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about methodology and materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.

Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a ‘Present address’ (or ‘Permanent address’) may be indicated as a footnote to that author’s name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

– Main text word count (does not include references, table and legends of the figures).

Abstract

The abstract should be written in Portuguese and in English. For original articles, reviews, and short communications: The abstract should have a maximum of 250 words and be structured as follow: Background, Aim, Material & Methods, Results and Conclusions. It should emphasize new and important aspects of the study or observations.

For case reports: The abstract should be unstructured and have a maximum of 150 words. Letters to the editor and editorials: no abstract needed.

Keywords

Include a maximum of 5 keywords at the end of the abstract. Avoid general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, ‘and’, ‘of’). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

Introduction

Provide an adequate background and state the objectives of the work, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

Material & methods

Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Methods that are already published should be summarized, and indicated by a reference. Any modifications to existing methods should be described.

Results

Results should be concise and clear.

Discussion

Explore the significance of the results of the work, and do not repeat them. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

Conclusions

The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion section.

Appendices

If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Tables and figures in appendices should be given separate numbering: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, and so on.

Acknowledgements and Funding Sources

In the Acknowledgements list those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).

Present funding sources listed in a standard way to facilitate compliance to funder’s requirements. Funding: This work was supported by the National Institute [grant numbers NNN, ccc]. It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

Ethical statement

If the work involves the use of animal or human subjects, the authors should include a statement to ensure that the work described has been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html; or EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/legislation_en.htm; Authors should include a statement in the manuscript that verifies the subjects have given their written informed consent for experimentation with human subjects. In addition, specify the name of the ethics committee who approved the research study and the corresponding reference number.

Conflicts of interest sentence

The authors should include a sentence disclosing any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work.

References

References should follow the standards summarized in the NLM’s International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations for publications in Medical Journals (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html).

References should be listed in a consecutive, numerical order as they appear in the text. Identify reference citations in the text by numbers in square brackets. The list of references should include a maximum of 6 authors. When there are 7 or more authors, the first 6 must be named, followed by “et al”.

Exemple: Garcia AR, Godinho-Pereira J, Figueira I, Malhó R, Brito MA. Replicating the blood-brain barrier properties in an in vitro model: effects of hydrocortisone and/or shear stress. Archives of Anatomy. 2019;8(2):4-20.

Footnotes

Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors can build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Otherwise, please indicate the position of footnotes in the text and list the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.

Tables

All tables must be organized using Arabic numerals. Tables should be included at the end of the manuscript in an editable format and cited in text in consecutive numerical order. Tables should have a title and any explanation essential to the understanding of the table should be given as a footnote at the bottom of the table. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells.

Artwork

Particular attention will be given to high quality illustrations, which are indispensable for a better understanding of anatomical problems. The figures must be sent separately in TIFF (or JPEG) in high resolution (at least 300dpi) formats, but their legends should be included in the end of the manuscript main text. All figures must be organized using Arabic numeral according to their sequence in the text and always cited in consecutive numerical order.

If it is possible to identify a subject in a photography, the face must be masked out and be accompanied by written permission.

• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or use fonts that look similar.
• Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the published version.

If you include figures that were published before, you must submit the permission obtained from the copyright owner for their use (including the Internet). Any material received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from the authors.

Articles that are not submitted in accordance with our instruction are more likely to be rejected.