Author Guidelines

Manuscripts must be submitted using the online submission and manuscript tracking system Editorial Manager platform. Authors using the system for the first time are required to register in order to obtain a password.

BEFORE SUBMISSION

Before submitting a manuscript take in mind that:

  1. the manuscripts considered suitable for the publication must not:
    • contain previously published material;
    • be published previously:
    • be currently under review at another journal or elsewhere;
  2. manuscripts which include figures, graphics, tables and/or sections of text that have been published previously elsewhere must receive a permission of reproduction from the copyright holder. The person responsible for such request is the corresponding author or the first author. The permission must be presented in written form during the manuscript’s submission. If such permission is absent, all material will be considered as the authors’ own work;
  3. manuscripts reporting data on human/animal subjects must include a declaration in the “Materials and methods” section (see “Editorial policy statement” – “Ethics approval for papers submitted to “Muscles, Ligaments and Tendons Journal”” – “Human rights”/”Animal rights”);
  4. the author in charge to submit the manuscript (usually the Corresponding Author) has to download the Conflict of Interest form from the appropriate section of the internet site and let it sign by all the authors. In case of unavailability of all authors, the missing signatures will be requested if the article will be accepted. The Journal Publishing Agreement can be downloaded and signed by the Corresponding Author. The forms must be sent to editorialoffice@mltj.online. Editorial Office will archive all the COIs and the JPAs forms.  All manuscripts must be submitted by an author and may not be submitted by a third party.
  1. a reference to conflict of interest must be provided (see “Editorial policy statement”– “Ethics approval for papers submitted to “Muscles, Ligaments and Tendons Journal”” – “Conflict of interests”);
  2. all the Authors have to read and approve the manuscript.

All the manuscripts that do not follow the Author Guidelines will be resent to the authors, so the requested changes can be applied.


GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE MANUSCRIPT

  • Title page and text in .docx format
  • Font: Times New Roman
  • Symbol such as α, β, γ, ±, ≥, ≤ have to be written choosing them from the symbol section of Word document (no equation button)
  • 12-point type
  • Margins: 2 cm
  • Interline: 2.0
  • Text alignment: justified
  • Numbered pages
  • Insertion line numbers in the body of the manuscript to facilitate the reviewing and editing processes
  • Words division turned off
  • Standard division into paragraphs (each new paragraph should be indented)
  • Type of only one space following the end of a sentence


COVER LETTER

The Authors must sign a cover letter in which the information of the paragraph “Before submission” of the present Author Guidelines are clearly stated.


TITLE PAGE PREPARATION (WORD FORMAT)

Title page must contain:

– manuscript title;
– short title;
– full name and complete surnames of each Author without qualifications or academic position such as fellowship, resident, assistant or associate professor;
– each Author’s affiliation IN ENGLISH with a department, a faculty, the university, the city and the country;
– name and address of the Institution where the work was carried out;
– information about Corresponding author:

  • complete name and surname;
  • complete address;
  • e-mail address to which the PDF of the drafts will be sent;

– any acknowledgements, if necessary;
– a clear sentence which permits the Editorial Assistants to understand the presence or the absence of conflict of interests.

If reviewers suggest to change the title, the new title will appear in the title page.


MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION (WORD FORMAT)

1)

The first page of the manuscript must contain:

– Abstract (up to 250 words);
– Key words: indicate at least 5 key words in alphabetical order (2 key words should be used in the first 65 typing of the title and in the first 2 lines of the abstract).
– Level of evidence in Arabic number and if necessary with a letter (to deep the meaning of level of evidence we suggest to read Levels of evidence by Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine and Evidence Based Practice Toolkit by the Winona State University).

2)

On the pages that follow, develop the manuscript with the word line numbers to facilitate the reviewers’ activity.

Proceed with the following paragraphs:

– Introduction: a description of the aim and objectives of the research.
– Materials and methods: detailed description of the materials and methods. It is essential to clarify all ethical aspects (see “Editorial policy statement”– “Ethics approval for papers submitted to “Muscles, Ligaments and Tendons Journal”” – “Human rights”/“Animal rights”). The Editor of MLTJ reserves the right to ask for a copy of the Ethics permission of any manuscript submitted to MLTJ.
– Results: the results of the study presented clearly and exhaustively.
– Discussion:

  • analyze the results obtained and their clinical implications, including the strengths and weaknesses, the unanswered questions, and the future research;
  • comparison with the current scientific literature;
  • in addition: implications for clinicians or policymakers.

– Conclusions: significance of the results and the final observations of the Authors.
– Fundings
– Data availability (as mentioned in the Editorial policy statement)
– Authors’ contribution with abbreviated names and surnames (Nicola Maffulli will be NM; Francesco Oliva will be FO)
– References*

Excluding the mentions of the abbreviated names/surnames in Authors’ contribution, DO NOT mention authors and affiliations elsewhere in the main text. If the mention of authors or name of the Institution is necessary, some XXX must be placed to hide the identity to reviewers. During proofreading phase, the XXX will be fulfilled.


*REFERENCES

Accuracy of the bibliography is mandatory.

References should be typed single-spaced at the end of the text. References are to be limited to a maximum of 50 (or 80-100 in the case of review articles). Please make sure that each reference cited in the text is also present in the Reference paragraph (and viceversa).

1) References mentioned in the text (Vancouver System):

when cited in the text, references should be written as follows: (1, 2) – into brackets and not superscript. Do not write the references using uppercase, small caps or italics. Referencing after punctation is not allowed (e.g., […] .(1) ).

If citing the authors of the reference is desired, the number of the reference has to be written into brackets after the authors names, in this way:

  • when there are 2 authors, both the surnames should be given (e.g., Rossi and Pavel (2)).

Note the number into brackets.

  • when there are more than two authors, only the name of the first author should be given, followed by “et al.” (e.g., Rossi et al. (2)).

Note the number into brackets.

2) References to scientific articles should be listed following:

  • the order number corresponding with that of appearance in the text;
  • the author’s surname(s), followed by the initial of first name(s) (without dots of abbreviation);
  • the title of the work in the original language;
  • the name of the journal: use title abbreviations according to the international standards from Index Medicus.
  • the year; volume number (issue number): first and last page numbers of the work.
  • Doi.

Follow the example:

Couch C, Franxman T, Greenhawt M. The economic effect and outcome of delaying oral food challenges. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2016;116(5):420-4. doi: 10.1016/j.anai.2016.02.016.

In the Reference paragraph, all authors should be listed when there are 6 or fewer, when there are 7 or more only the first 3 should be given, followed by “et al.”.

3) References to books should be listed with:

  • Complete book – surname(s) of the author(s)/editor(s) with the abbreviated name(s) (without dots of abbreviation). Title of the book. Town where published: publisher/institution, year.

Follow the example:

Graber M, Vanarsdall RL, Vig KWL. Orthodontics: current principles and techniques. St. Louis: Elsevier, 2005.

  • Chapter of books – surname(s) and abbreviated name(s) of the author(s) who wrote the chapter (without dots of abbreviation). The title of the chapter. In: surname(s) of the author(s)/editor(s) with the abbreviated name(s) (eds) (without dots of abbreviation). Title of the book. Town where published: publisher/institution, year: pp. first page-last page of the chapter.

Follow the example:

Armitage GC. Diagnosis and classification of periodontal diseases. In: Rose LF, Mealey BL, Genco RJ, Cohen DW (eds). Periodontics: Medicine, Surgery and Implants. St. Louis: Elsevier Mosby, 2004: pp. 19-31.

4) Reference to Web links and URLs:

it is preferable all web links and URLs are mentioned with a reference and listed in the Reference paragraph. They should be complete of:

  • title of the site;
  • URL;
  • last access date.

For example: Organization WH. Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ): Analysis Guide. Available at: https://www.who.int/ncds/surveillance/steps/resources/GPAQ_Analysis_Guide.pdf. Last access date: mm/dd/yyyy.


TABLES

Table/s must be submitted in a word format and separately from the manuscript file, following the steps suggested by Editorial manager platform. Tables should be named with the number they represent (for example Table I if the table is the first one). A maximum of 6 tables with a maximum of 10 columns will be accepted. Specific cases and exceptions can be discussed.

Tables must be mentioned in the text and named with Roman numerals (table I, II, IV, etc.). The data must be complete and concise, and any abbreviations should be defined as a legend under the table.

Captions of tables can be written at the end of the text of the study or on the word file of the corresponding table.


FIGURES

Figures must be submitted in one of the formats mentioned below and separately from the manuscript file, following the steps suggested by Editorial manager platform. Figures should be named with the number they represent (for example Figure 1 if the figure is the first one) and should be numbered with Arabic numerals (figures 1, 2, 3, etc.).

It is an interest of the authors providing the highest quality figure format possible. FIGURES HAVE TO BE IN JPG (high resolution: min 300 dpi) or TIFF (high resolution: min 400 dpi) format. All scanned material should be scanned with an appropriate resolution: 300 dpi for colour, 600 dpi for grayscale, 1200 dpi for line art.

Captions of the figures and legends (if present) have to be written at the end of the text of the study.

DO NOT incorporate captions to the figures.


GRAPHICS

In graphs HELVETICA font should be used for graphics’ elements. Graphs are figures, and should follow the rules of the figures.


ACRONYMS, ABBREVIATIONS, UNITS OF MEASUREMENTS

MLTJ recognizes the adoption of the International Systems of Units (SI-Units). You can also refer to Newell DB, Tiesinga E. NIST Special Publication 330. The International System of Units (SI) available to this link: https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.330-2019.pdf.

Acronyms, abbreviations, and units of measurements without a legend and/or incomprehensible are not permitted. The abbreviations can be reported into brackets after the full explicit word (for example: “[…] to the myotendinous junction (MTJ)”). If necessary, a list of abbreviations may be inserted after the abstract.


ADDITIONAL FILES

MLTJ accepts supplementary files in word format (text or tables) or TIFF/JPG format if figures. Videos are not supported. Other file formats such as .xls are not allowed. During the submission phase, indicate the presence of supplementary materials entitling the files as “Appendix n” and uploading them according to the nature of the material (Figure, Table, Text).
Mention in the study the presence of the Appendix, e.g., “See Appendix n”.


FINAL OBSERVATIONS

MLTJ reserves the right to alter manuscripts where necessary to make them conform with the stylistic and bibliographical conventions of the journal. Prior to publication, all texts accepted by the scientific reviewers are reviewed by the journal’s language editor, who may propose changes to improve the style and/or clarity of the text.

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