Instructions for Author

The European Journal of Anatomy is published by the Spanish Society of Anatomy. Between 1996 and 2018 it was published quarterly—4 issues per year. Since 2018 the journal is published bimonthly—i.e., 6 issues per year. We also publish at least one supplement per year.  

The journal is fully peer-reviewed by experts in the field.

No charge is made for publication in EJA, but authors may be required to pay a fee if extensive changes are inserted after the manuscript has been sent to the press.

SCOPE

The European Journal of Anatomy aims to disseminate original research in the following subject areas of Healthcare in Human Sciences and Veterinary: Dissecting Room, Gross Anatomy, Embryology, Histology, Neurosciences, Developmental Biology, Comparative Morphology, History and Medical Education.

Contributions must be original and unpublished elsewhere. The journal does not accept manuscripts that are being under consideration elsewhere. Contributions must be written in correct academic English.

TYPES OF CONTRIBUTIONS

EJA considers for publication the following types of contribution: original articles, reviews, case reports and letters to the editor.

1) Original articles must have the following structure: summary, key words, text (introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion), acknowledgements and references. The maximum length of the text will be 25 DIN-A4 pages (in Word format), double-spaced with 2.5 cm. margins, 12-point Times New Roman or Arial font, with figures and tables submitted as separate files. The number of authors should not be larger than 10.

2) Reviews must have a maximum text length of 30 DIN-A4 pages, (in Word format) double-spaced, with 2.5 cm. margins, i12-pointTimes New Roman or Arial font. The bibliography may not exceed 100 references. The inclusion of figures and/or tables is highly recommended, and they should be submitted as separate files.

3) Case reports provide a summary description of rare variation or cases of specific procedures of clinical interest. Their maximum length should not exceed 10 DIN-A4 pages, tables and/or figures included. The text must be double-spaced, with 2.5 cm. margins 12-point Times New Roman or Arial font. If applicable, figures and tables must be submitted as separate files.

4) Letters to the editor must have a maximum length of 3 DIN-A4 pages. The text must be double-spaced, with 2.5 cm. margins and 12-point Times New Roman or Arial font. If applicable, figures and tables should be submitted as separate files.

5) Abstracts. The Journal publishes the abstracts of the Scientific and Educational meetings of the SAE and SMA (always in English).

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

Manuscripts should be submitted online through the Editorial Manager system at https://editor.eurjanat.com/, and should follow all the recommended steps. Before completing all the items required by the system, writing them down in a separate document is recommended.

1) Cover letter. This letter must contain a 4- or 5-line explanation of the work’s original contribution, a statement that the manuscript has not been submitted elsewhere and a confirmation of the undersigned authors.  

2) Conflict of Interest. The Journal expects the authors to declare any commercial association that may involve a conflict of interest as regards the submitted article.

3) Copyright transfer. The authors must also transfer to the Journal the copyright of the submitted manuscript. This must be done through a Rights Identification and Transfer Sheet signed by all authors.

MANUSCRIPT

1. Title Page.  It must contain:

  • Title of the article. A subtitle may be added, not exceeding 60 characters with spaces.
  • First name and last name of each of the authors, taking into account the signature format for indexing in international databases.
  • Full name of the institution/center of each of the authors, which should be referenced beside the author’s name with Arabic numerals in superscript.
  • Corresponding author. Name and full address of the person responsible for correspondence, including phone number and email address.
  • Key words. These should be 5 words indicative of the content of the work. Controlled reference terms should be used (based on each field of specialty, such as those in the Medical SH (MeSH) for medicine, accessible on http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html.
  • Running title

2. Summary. This should be included as the second page of the manuscript.

  • It must have a maximum of 250 words. The summary must concisely describe the purpose and objective of the research, the material and methods used, the most important results and the main conclusions. The novel and relevant aspects of the work must be emphasized.

3. Manuscript. Third and following pages of the manuscript.

The third and following pages are those of the article itself. Manuscripts should be presented on DIN-A4 size, double-spaced, wide margins (2.5 cm on all sides) and with the pages numbered sequentially on the lower right-hand corner.

Original articles must be divided into the following sections: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements (if any) and References.

3.1. Introduction: This must include the foundation, necessity and purpose of the study, using only the bibliographic citations that are strictly necessary. Data, conclusions or detailed bibliographic reviews should not be presented here.

3.2. Materials and Methods:  This must be presented with sufficient precision to enable the reader to understand and confirm the development of the research. Previously published sources and methods should be described here. Only in case of necessity these should be provided briefly, adding the corresponding references, except when they have been modified.

The sample size and the sampling method used must be described, where appropriate.

When dealing with cadavers we must mention the applicable ethical protocols.

Cases that involve patients (e.g., radiological or surgical findings) must mention the acceptance by the Ethical Committee of the Hospital involved.

When dealing with experimental works in which groups of animals have been used, please indicate whether the research adjusts to the ethical criteria approved by the applicable commission of the Institution/Centre in which the study has been carried out.

3.3. Results:  These will appear in a logical sequence in the text, tables, graphics or figures, without repeating the data included in the text. Try to highlight the important observations. Describe, without interpreting or judging, the observations made with the materials and methods used.

3.4. Discussion: Summarize the findings, relating the observations of this study to those of other studies of interest, highlighting the contributions and limitations of each. Do not repeat the data or other material already commented in other sections in detail. Mention the inferences from the findings and their limitations, including suggestions for future research. Link the conclusions to the objectives of the study, avoiding speculative affirmations and conclusions that are not fully supported by the study’s data.

3.5. Acknowledgements: Please include only those who have made substantial contributions to the study. Likewise, information on sources of grants, aid or financial support (Research Projects) provided to subsidize the work and other applicable specifications.

In case of the use of cadavers, EJA requires the following paragraph in this section: “The authors sincerely thank those who donated their bodies to science so that anatomical research and teaching could be performed. Results from such research can potentially increase scientific knowledge and can improve patient care. Therefore, these donors and their families deserve our highest respect“.

Iwanaga et al., (2020) Acknowledging the use of human cadaveric tissues in research papers. Recommendations from Anatomical Journal Editors. Clin Anat, 34: 2-4.

3.6. References:  The list of all references cited in the text must be placed after the discussion section (or the acknowledgements, if any) in alphabetical order and with the following format (For assistance please consult some article already published in the Journal):

  1. a) All the author(s), with their last name and initial(s) of the first name(s), in capital letters without period or comma separators. If there is more than one author, they must be separated by a comma, but not the conjunction “and”.
  2. b) Year of publication in brackets.
  3. c) Title of the article in the original language, with the appropriate spelling and accents. Place a period after the title.
  4. d) The names of the journals must be written in Italics and abbreviated in accordance with the generally accepted practices in the area of knowledge, whenever there is a reference list (for example, the Index Medicus “List of Journals Indexed”, which publishes the Index Medicus each year in the January issue, and in the Journal Browser section of Medline (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/jrbrowser.cgi). Place a comma after the abbreviated name of the journal.
  5. e) Volume number, with issue number between parentheses, may be added. The separation between this section and section f) shall be a colon followed by a space.
  6. f) First and last pages, separated by a hyphen. Place a period at the end of the quotation.
  7. g) The following are examples of properly referenced bibliographic references:
  8. Journal article.

RIZZOLO L (2002) Human dissection: an approach to interweaving the traditional and humanistic goals of medical education. Anat Rec, 269(6): 242-248.

BHIMALLI S, DIXI D, SIDDIBHAVI M, SHIROL VS (2011) A study of variations in coronary arterial system in cadaveric human hearts. World J Sci Technol, 1(5): 31-35.

  1. Volume supplement.

SHEN HM, ZHANG KF (1994) Risk assessment of nickel carcinogenicity and occupational lung cancer. Environ Health Perspect, 102 Suppl 1: 275-282.

  1. Books and book chapters.

CHABNER BA, RYAN DP, PAZ-ARES L, GARCIACARBONEVO R, CALABRESI P (2001) Antineoplastic agents. In: Hardman JG, Limbird LE, Gilman AG (eds.). Goodman and Gilman’s: The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics. McGraw Hill Companies Inc., USA, pp 1389-1459.

  1. Editor(s) or compiler(s) as author(s)

NORMAN IJ, REDFERN SJ, editors (1996) Mental healthcare for elderly people. Churchill Livingstone, New York.

  1. Conference proceedings.

KIMURA J, SHIBASAKI H, editors (1996) Recent advances in clinical neurophysiology. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of EMG and Clinical Neurophysiology; 1995 Oct 15-19; Kyoto, Japan. Elsevier, Amsterdam.

ILLUSTRATIONS

They must be presented in separate documents

  1. Tables and Graphics: No tables or graphics should be included within the text file or document. These must be presented in separate files, preferably in Word format, numbered according to their order of appearance in the text with Arabic numerals. They are used to clarify important points; double/repeated documentation by means of tables and figures will not be accepted. The titles or captions accompanying them must be explanatory of their content.
  2. Figures: No figures should be included within the text file or document. These are assigned an Arabic numeral according to their order of appearance in the text, identified by the abbreviated term fig.(s). All figures must be neat, have a good resolution of at least 300 Dpi and good contrast. They must be uploaded as individual files in TIFF or JPEG format. What follows contains general advice on how to obtain acceptable images for publication:

1) Look for the better fields of the sample. Avoid artifacts (broken tissue, free epithelium, etc.).

2) Improve image acquisition: focus, brightness and contrast.

3) Images must have high digital quality. JPEG / TIFF format with a minimum resolution of 300 DPI.

3. Abbreviations: Only standard, universally accepted abbreviations or Acronyms shall be used (TERMINOLOGIA ANATOMICA). When a term that is used frequently in the text is to be shortened, the corresponding abbreviation must accompany the full term on its first appearance (in parentheses). Trademarks shall not be used except asneeded, in which case they shall be accompanied by the corresponding symbol on first appearance.

4. Terminology: EJA only accepts terminology supported by Terminologia, IFAA (https://www.ifaa.net/committees/anatomical-terminology-fipat/)

  • Terminologia Anatomica. Stuttgart: Thieme, 1998
  • Terminologia Histologica. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2008.
  • Terminologia Embryologica. 2nd Ed., 2017. https://FIPAT.library.dal.ca
  • Terminologia Neuroanatomica. 2017. https://FIPAT.library.dal.ca

5. Legends of Illustrations: legends or captions must be accompanied by the corresponding number in a separate file. Micro-photographs must include a linear scale of magnification and a short description of the view and abbreviations.

EDITORIAL PROCESS

1) The manuscripts shall be reviewed anonymously by at least two experts (Peer Review System).

2) In general, once the external reports have been received and inspected, the criteria on which the Journal’s editorial staff bases its decision on accepting/rejecting the works are the following: a) originality: completely original, valuable information, repetition of known results; b) timeliness and novelty; c) relevance: applicability of the results in resolving specific problems; d) significance: advancement of scientific knowledge; e) reliability and scientific validity: verified methodological quality; f) presentation: correct academic writing, organization (logical coherence and material presentation).

3) Based on the external reports, the Journal’s Editor-In-Chief will make a decision: 1) accepted, 2) Minor Revision needed, 3) Major Revision needed, 4) Rejection but encourage to resubmit, 5) Rejection.

4) The authors will receive the evaluation reports from the reviewers, anonymously, so that they may make (where appropriate) any necessary corrections or produce point-by-point responses in a separate letter. The maximum time for submitting responses and the reviewed manuscript is 2 months after receipt of the decision.

5) When the manuscript are accepted, the author(s) will receive proofs for correction by e-mail in PDF format. These must be returned with corrections to the editorial staff of the journal by email within 48-72 hours of receipt. Only minimal corrections may be made to the content of the original manuscript without an extra charge applying.

ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY

It is the responsibility and duty of the editorial staff of the European Journal of Anatomy to remind its collaborators of the observance of the following ethical considerations:

1) Informed Consent. In the materials and methods section the authors must mention that the procedures and controls used on patients were carried out after obtaining an informed consent.

2) When describing studies carried out on human beings, authors must indicate whether the procedures followed are in compliance with the ethical standards of the responsible human experimentation committee (institutional or regional). No names, initials or hospital numbers shall be used, especially in the figures.

3) When describing experiments on animals, authors must indicate whether guidelines from an international research institution or council or a national law regulating the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.

4) The Institution financing the research must grant permission for publication.

5) The journal does not accept previously published material. Authors are responsible for obtaining the appropriate permission for partially reproducing material (text, illustrations) from other publications and for citing their source correctly.

  1. When describing use of cadavers, it is necessary to mention the ethical procedure accepted by the institution involved in the research.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

1) The Journal will keep the authors informed of the status of their manuscript.

2) The judgments and opinions expressed in the articles and notices published in the Journal are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Editorial Board.

3) Both the Editorial Board and the publishing company waive all liability for the material published. Neither the Editorial Board nor the publishing company can guarantee or support any product or service advertised in the Journal, nor can they guarantee the claims made by the manufacturer of the aforesaid products or services.

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