Scope and Policy of Military Medical Science Letters

Military Medical Science Letters (Vojenské Zdravotnické Listy) is a national professional journal of military doctors, pharmacists and veterinary doctors with a long tradition. It is the oldest military journal in the Czech Republic, first issue of which was published in April 1925. The journal is mainly aimed at military doctors of all specializations, military pharmacists, veterinary doctors, researchers, members of the integrated rescue system units and other qualified personnel. Since 2021 it has been the official journal of the Society of Military Medicine of the Czech Medical Society of Jan Evangelista Purkynì.

The journal informs about research results in the field of military health care. It presents results about preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic activities. Last but not least, it is a significant resource of experience from the practice of the Czech Armed Forces Medical Service. Not only does the content inform readers about professional practice in times of peace, but also readers have a possibility to look into war zone practice.

Contributions from all medical branches, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, medicinal chemistry, the nursing field and other areas, focused mainly on military health care, are welcome to be published in Military Medical Science Letters. All submissions undergo a regular peer-review procedure. Manuscripts are accepted in English language only.

Before the review process, all manuscripts are sent for potential plagiarism check using iThenticate software (https://www.ithenticate.com/). Manuscripts are reviewed by independent reviewers selected by the Editor-in-Chief. They are subjected to a preliminary peer review process to determine their suitability for publication, provided they fulfill the requirements of the journal as described in the Instructions to authors. After the review, manuscripts are returned for revision along with the reviewer’s and/or editor’s comments within 30 days. The review process is single-blinded (i.e. the Reviewer knows Author's details, but the Authors do not recognize the Reviewers). At least two reviews are requested for further manuscript processing.

Submission of Manuscripts

Manuscripts must be submitted directly via submission system at https://mmsl.cz website. Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that 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.

Conflict of Interest

At the end of the submission, the authors must disclose under the subheading "Conflict of Interest Statement"any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) published work. Examples of such conflicts include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony and patent applications/registrations. If there are no conflicts of interest, the authors should state that there are none. Investigators should disclose potential conflicts to participants in clinical trials and other studies and should state in the manuscript whether they have done so.

Copyright

By submitting a manuscript, the authors agree that the copyright of their article is transferred to the publishers if and when the article is accepted for publication. Requests for reproduction should be sent to the publishers.

Ethical Guidelines

General Ethical Standards can be found at: https://mmsl.cz/artkey/inf-990000-0600_Ethical-Standards.php

Originality and plagiarism: The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited or quoted. In publishing any type of contribution, MMSL is committed to deterring plagiarism, including self-plagiarism. MMSL uses the Crossref Similarity Check Powered by iThenticate to screen submitted manuscripts for similarity to published material. Note that your manuscript may be screened during the submission process.

Data access and retention: Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data.

Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication: An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. MMSL does not view the following uses of a work as prior publication: publication in the form of an abstract; publication as an academic thesis; publication as an electronic preprint.

Acknowledgement of sources: Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest: All submissions must include disclosure of all relationships that could be viewed as presenting a potential conflict of interest. During manuscript submission, MMSL authors are required to disclose the nature of any competing and/or relevant financial interest. A statement describing any financial conflicts of interest or lack thereof is published with each manuscript. During the submission process, the corresponding author must provide this statement on behalf of all authors of the manuscript. The statement should describe all potential sources of bias, including affiliations, funding sources, and financial or management relationships, that may constitute conflicts of interest. The statement will be published in the final article. If no conflict of interest is declared, the following statement will be published in the article: "The authors declare no competing financial interest."

Fundamental errors in published works: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author's obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Reporting standards: Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance.

Hazards and human or animal subjects: Statements of compliance are required if the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, or if it involves the use of animal or human subjects.

Use of patient images or case details: Studies on patients or volunteers require ethics committee approval and informed consent, which should be documented in the paper.

Coauthor Notification: The author who submits the manuscript for publication accepts the responsibility of notifying all coauthors that the manuscript is being submitted. Deletion of an author after the manuscript has been submitted requires a confirming letter to the Editor-in-Chief from the author whose name is being deleted.

Preparation of Manuscript

Language

The manuscript should be written in good English - spell-checked and grammar checked. American or British English is accepted, but not a mixture of these.

Cover Letter

Each manuscript must be accompanied by a cover letter containing a short statement describing the novelty and importance of the research.

Reviewers

The authors should provide 2-3 potential reviewers. Kindly provide reviewers‘ full names, addresses and e-mail addresses.

This journal uses a single-blind review, which means the identities of Authors are known, but the Authors do not recognize the Reviewers.

Types of Papers

Book Review should cover an overview of the contents of the book as well as a critical account of the book. Length of text should be around 1 400 -1 800 words.

Case Report is report of a case of a disease, usually with an unexpected presentation, which typically describes the findings, clinical course, and prognosis of the case, often accompanied by a review of other cases previously reported in the biomedical literature to put the reported case in context. The text is limited to 600 words, with two tables or figures and up to 30 references.

Letters to Editor should be submitted in response to an article published in our journal in the previous nine months (three published issues). The text is limited to 300 words, with one table or figure and up to 15 references.

Original Research Articles are scientific reports of the results of original biomedical research. The text should be divided into the following sections: an abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, acknowledgements, and up to 100 references.

Review Article on topics of current interest in biomedicine research will be published.

Short Communication is limited to 1 000 words and is not subdivided. The paper should contain an abstract, main body and references, and contain no more than 2 figures or tables, combined. The abstract is limited to 100 words. This type of an article is for rapid publication of concise presentations of clinical or technical results, or preliminary results in biomedical sciences.

Manuscript Organization

Submit the manuscript (including table and figure legends) using Times New Roman font size of 12 with 1,5 spacing.

Ensure that the following items are present:

  • The manuscript is complete.
  • The full names of all authors are provided (first name and family name).
  • Authors’ affiliations are complete, include the name and e-mail of the corresponding author.
  • Running title of the article is provided.
  • Abstract, descriptive Key words (3-10), Tables and Figures are included.
  • All abbreviations must be explained.
  • References (format VANCOUVER) are in the correct format and cited sequentially in the text.
  • Ethical approval has been obtained and mentioned in the text, if applicable.
  • Registration of Clinical Trials is stated.
  • Authors’ conflict of interest declaration is included.
  • A cover letter containing a brief statement highlighting the value and significance of the work.
  • Numbers have decimal commas, no points, also in Tables and Figures.

Abstract

The abstract should be structured and not exceed 250 words.

Tables and Figures

Tables and illustrations should be numbered in Arabic numerals and submitted on separate pages. For the reproduction of illustrations, only high resolution figures will be accepted (color art 300 dpi, grayscale art 600 dpi, black and white line 1200 dpi). Only black and white illustrations are reproduced in printed form. Color illustrations can be reproduced free of charge in PDF form.

Nomenclature and Abbreviations

Abbreviations should be defined the first time they are used in the text. Where possible, nomenclature and abbreviations should be in accordance with internationally agreed rules. Official names of drugs are preferred to trade names. If trade names are used, they should be capitalized and the trade mark included.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements and details of non-financial support must be included at the end of the text before References. Please note that declarations regarding conflicts of interest should be given separately.

Author Contributions

This information must be included in your manuscript.

Conflict of Interest Statement

This information must be included in your manuscript before the References in this format:

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT: The authors state that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this article. If you have no declaration to make, please write: None declared.

Funding sources

Authors must provide all funding sources. If none of them has been declared, please use the following statement: "Authors declare no financial support".

References

Adhere strictly to the reference style VANCOUVER. All references listed at the end of the paper, must be mentioned in the text, and vice versa. List and number the references consecutively in the order that they appear in the text, including the Tables and Figures. In the text, identify references by using Arabic numerals: 1, 2 in round brackets.

Formatting samples are given below (http://www.citethisforme.com/guides/vancouver/how-to-cite-a-journal):

Article in Journal

Aziz H, Zia A, Anwer A, Aziz M, Fatima S, Faheem M. Zika virus: Global health challenge, threat and current situation. Journal of Medical Virology. 2017;89(6):943-951.

Book

Mettler N. Argentine hemorrhagic fever: current knowledge. Washington: Pan American Health Organization; 1969.

Chapter in a Book

Cabal J, Marek J. Novel detergents. In: Bajgar J, ed. by Nerve agent antidotes. 1st ed. London: Academic Press; 1987.p. 56-68.

Conference Paper

Bista M, Hanna J. Zika virus. 6th European Conference on Travel Medicine. Prague: 2016.p. 33-34.

Journal Article on the Internet

World Health Organisation. Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals.

Footnotes

Author affiliations should be indicated in superscript letters: 1, 2, 3,.

Proofs

Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author and should be returned within 24 hours.

Reprints

PDF version of the article is sent to the corresponding author for free.

Article Processing Charges

There are no Article Processing Charges related to publishing, reviewing, or handling the manuscripts. Manuscripts that are accepted for publication are made freely available via Military Medical Science Letters website.