The journal Soudní Lékařství (Forensic Medicine, abbreviation: Soud Lek) established in 1956 is the official journal the Czech Society for Legal Medicine and Forensic Toxicology of the Czech Medical Association of Jan Evangelista Purkyne. In 1965 is accompanied with Czech and Slovak Pathology in two independent parts. It is intended for publishing of original studies in the field, case reports with novel observations and review articles. The journal publishes articles in national languages (Czech/Slovak) as well as in English. Beside the printed form, the original articles (incl. case reports) are published also on the website of the journal (www.CSpatologie.cz) as Open Access articles with unrestricted online access to maximize their research and diagnostic impact. An article is received with the understanding that it is submitted solely to this journal, and that no substantial portion of it has been submitted elsewhere. Manuscript which is not prepared in accordance with the submission guidelines detailed below will be returned by editorial board to the authors for reworking.
Standard Manuscript Form
All pages of the manuscript should be double-spaced and numbered (including references, tables and figure legends) using 12 point font (preferably Times New Roman) for all text, and with 2.5 cm margins throughout. Please refrain from using End Notes etc. as references or automatic list numbering because these features are lost in conversion: simply type the reference number in parentheses in the text and type the reference list. Formatting, such as Greek letters, italics, super-and subscripts, may be used: the coding scheme for such elements must be consistent throughout. Files saved in older format (Word 97-2003 version .doc) cannot be accepted. Only Word 2010 format is waiting (.docx) and figures in .jpg format no more than 0,5 MB. Please, name your files only Author, underscore, and no more than three introductory words of manuscript title as subsequent: “Author_only three words.docx”. Do not include figures and tables into the text and titles or captions within your illustrations. Abbreviations should be avoided in the title and in Summary. Commonly-abbreviated terms should be spelled out in their first occurrence and then may be referenced in abbreviation through the remainder of the manuscript. Measurements, symbols and abbreviations should conform to SI Units.
Manuscript Preparation
Separate pages (but not separate files!!!) should be used for the title page, short summary and keywords, long summary and keywords, text, references, tables, figure legends, everything in Word 2010. Number pages consecutively starting with the title page. Refer to tables and figures in the text, examples: (Fig. 1), (Tab. 1).
1. Title Page must include:
- Concise title accurately reflecting the findings of the work
- Names of all authors, e.g. First Name(s), Family Name (e.g. Johnny Walker, Jack Daniels etc.)
- Department, institution and address (city, country), where the research was performed
- For the different institutional affiliations use the superscript indexing, e.g., Eliphalet Remington1, Samuel Colt2
- Name, address, phone, fax, and email of the corresponding author.
2. Summary and Keywords:
Each manuscript must be accompanied by two summaries – the Short Summary of max. 500 characters including spaces, and the Long one ranging between 1400 and 1600 characters incl. spaces. If the work is in English, the short English summary as well as the long summary in Czech / Slovak must be included. In justified cases, the Editorial can provide a translation into Czech (the fee is 50-100 €). Underneath the summary, the author should give 3 to 6 keywords, preferably chosen from the medical subject headings (MeSH) in Index Medicus. Separate the keywords by hyphens.
3. Text: start on a new page
- Original article: The text should be divided into sections: INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND METHODS, RESULTS, DISCUSSION, eventually acknowledgement (in this order). For Materials and Methods, authors should describe experimental and statistical methods in enough detail so that other researchers can replicate results and evaluate claims. When providing supplier information for materials sources, the company name should be provided. Website references to company information are not permitted. When appropriate, you can divide the section by subheadings (especially the Results and Discussion). The main headings are presented in full capitals, in a bold font (i.e., RESULTS). Subheadings are presented in a bold font (Subheadings A), lower level in italics + bold (Subheadings B) and the lowest level in italics (Subheadings C). Acknowledgements of people, grants, funds, etc. should be placed in a separate section before the reference list. The names of funding organizations should be written in full.
- Case reports especially written-up single cases which present original observations, new insights into pathogenetic mechanisms and/or information based on novel or developing technology may be published after peer review. The text is to be composed in Introduction -Clinical and forensic history -Materials and Methods -Results -Discussion, or: Introduction -Case report Discussion, when appropriate.
- A Short Communication is not as long as, but adequate and fully comparable with articles “in extenso”. The advantage of a Short Communication is that it can usually be included in print sooner than extensive articles. The text range is between 2000 and 5000 characters incl. spaces. Up to 3 references are acceptable. Information is reviewed for publication and indexed in the same way as articles “in extenso”. The text can be in Czech / Slovak, or English, and must be accompanied by two full Abstracts, equal to articles “in extenso”.
- A Preliminary Note is a variant of the Short Communication and serves for the rapid publication of interim results of scientific research. A requirement for publication is that the results will be provided in full scale “in extenso” immediately after completion of the research. For this reason, a Preliminary Note (Preliminary Communication) is not indexed. The range is about 3000 characters. In exceptional cases, it is possible to include a brief Table simplifying the understanding of the interim results achieved. No quotes or images are included. The text must be accompanied by two short Abstracts of up to 500 characters.
- A Letter to the Editor means exclusively and only readers’ written responses to articles published in the Forensic Medicine (Soudní lékařství). These include both consistent, in support of an article’s conclusion, as well as critical polemical conclusions. For this reason, the Editorial Board will not accept a Letter to the Editor later than one month after the dispatch of a journal. A letter reflects only the writer’s view and Editor does not alter the text, nor is it reviewed, edited, abbreviated or added to. The response of the author of the article, with whose conclusions the Letter to the Editor is in dispute, is expected in the shortest possible time. The text range of a Letter to the Editor cannot exceed 2000 characters. Letter to the Editor correspondence is not indexed. The number of authors of a Letter to the Editor may not exceed 3.
On a wide range of topics appear regularly in the Journal. Articles may be unsolicited, or may be commissioned by the Editor-in-Chief. Contributors are welcome to submit single articles directly, or may wish to discuss their proposal in advance. The review should begin with an introduction and end with a conclusion or a perspective. It should be accompanied by a short informative abstract including key words. Reviews are subject to the other requirements of original papers and will undergo the same peer-review process.
4. References
Reference citations in the text should be identified by numbers in parentheses. Some examples: (3), (3,5), (1-5), (1-3,7) etc. List of references (heading References) should begin on a new page, be double-spaced and numbered consecutively in order of citation in the text, including citations in tables and figure legends. Reference citations should not appear in titles or headings. Each reference must have an individual number. Always use the standard abbreviation of a journal’s name according to the Index Medicus. Please avoid excessive referencing. Personal communications and unpublished works should only be mentioned in the text. Do not use footnotes or endnotes as a substitute for a reference list. References with less than seven authors should list all names; for seven and more authors, list the first three names followed by et al. References should conform to the style of the Journal. Sample references are given below:
Journals:
Eren B, Akan O, Turkmen N, et al. An unusual case of firearm injury. Soud. Lek 2013; 58(2): 31-32.
Chapter in edited books:
Levine B, Moore KA. Postmortem Drug Measurements. In: Payne-James J, Byard PW, Corey TS, Henderson C, eds. Encyclopaedia of Forensic and Legal Medicine Amsterdam, Elsevier; 2005.
Books:
Sellier KG, Kneubuchl BP. Wound Balistic. Amsterdam – London: Elsevier; 2000: 192-197.
Article in press:
Baselga J, Rothenberg ML, Tabernero J, Loretelli C, Bianchi F. TGF-ß1, pSMAD and TGFß-related markers in patients with advanced metastatic cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. In press 2011.
5. Tables
Tables should be typed double-spaced and submitted on separate pages, as part of the manuscript file. All tables are to be numbered using Arabic numerals and should always be cited in text in consecutive numerical order, example: (Tab. 1). For each table, please supply a table caption (title) explaining the components of the table. Give each column a short or abbreviated heading. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table. Be sure that each table is cited in the text.
6. Figure legends at the end of the main document. Each figure should have a concise caption describing accurately what the figure depicts. Figure legends should be submitted as part of the manuscript and microphotos should state the staining method and magnification. If the exact scale is critical, scale bars should be used on the photograph and specified in the legend. Figures should always be cited in text in consecutive numerical order, example: (Fig. 1).
Non-Native English Speakers: Authors who are not native speakers sometimes receive negative comments from referees or editors about the English-language usage in their manuscripts, and these problems can contribute to a decision to reject a paper. To help reduce the possibility of such problems, we strongly encourage such authors to have the manuscript reviewed before submission for clarity by a colleague whose native language is English.
SUBMISSION ITEMS include a cover letter, the manuscript and figures. All contributions should be submitted electronically via email to the Editor-in-Chief.
The cover letter (signed by the corresponding author) must include following statements:
- that the manuscript, or parts of it, have not been and will not be submitted elsewhere for publication
- that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, and that the requirements for authorship have been met
- statement of financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest. If no conflict exists, authors should state: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest
Where scanned signatures (in PDF file) cannot be provided in the electronic submission, authors may send a duplicate signed copy to the Editorial Office via the post or by courier. Without the signed cover letter, the manuscript will not be accepted for publication. The Copyright Transfer Agreement must be signed by the authors before the manuscript is accepted for publication (it will be provided at the end of the review process).
SUBMISSION ADDRESS:
Jan Krajsa, M.D., Ph.D. – Managing editor
Dept. of Forensic Medicine,
Fakultní nemocnice u sv. Anny v Brně
Pekařská 664/53 | 602 00 Brno
602 00 Brno, Czech Republic
E-mail: jan.krajsa@fnusa.cz