Editorial Requirements

The editorial office of the "Medical Library Forum" journal accepts only previously unpublished research, developed in a computer format, appropriate for MS Word, sent to the e-mail address: fbm@wum.edu.pl. The research should contain information about all persons responsible for its creation -– none of the people who meet the ICMJE criteria of authorship can be omitted. Full name, surname, and affiliation in English are required. One should also indicate corresponding author and provide the e-mail address. A biographical note about the first author of the research and ORCID numbers of all authors are welcome. 

Studies are published in Polish, English or in both language versions. The editors help English-speaking authors translate the title and abstract to Polish. Submissions should not exceed 24,000 characters with spaces (not including bibliography).

SUBMISSIONS SHOULD CONTAIN:
  • title in Polish and English,
  • summary in Polish and English, each containing about 400-800 characters with spaces.
  • keywords in English,
  • bibliography – in the Latin alphabet –- developed in a Vancouver-style numerical system.

The editorial staff does not charge for publishing the work, nor does it pay royalties.
Authors retain moral and proprietary copyrights to the work.

AUTHORS' BRIEF GUIDE

TITLE

Numerous publications compete for the reader's attention in scientific databases. The relevant title is therefore essential due to the potential recipient, who often only based on this criterion decides whether the research is in the circle of thier interests. Therefore, it is worth trying to make the title attract attention and encourage to read the abstract and the entire text. Guides recommend including relevant information and statements in the title, referring to the main discovery described in the publication, as well as giving the title a provocative wording or form of a question.

ABSTRACT

Abstract of the scientific publication has an essential function, because it is often on its basis that the potential reader decides to read the full content of the publication. This is particularly important in the case of scientific databases in which usually only a summary is available, not complete research. The abstract should, therefore, accurately describe the content of the publication, constitute an independent whole and encourage to reach for the whole article. We encourage you to read the tips contained in the guidebook of the European Association of Scientific Editors [PDF]:

The abstract must reflect the content of the article, as for most readers it will be the major source of information about your study. You must use keywords within the abstract, to facilitate on-line searching for your article by those who may be interested in your results (many databases include only titles and abstracts). In a research report, the abstract should be informative, including actual results. Only in reviews and other wide-scope articles, should the abstract be indicative, ie listing the major topics discussed but not giving outcomes. Do not refer in the abstract to tables or figures, as abstracts are also published separately. References to the literature are also not allowed unless they are absolutely necessary (but then you need to provide detailed information in brackets: author, title, year, etc.). Make sure that all the information given in the abstract also appears in the main body of the article.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The bibliography should be arranged in a numerical system (Vancouver). The list of literature should be placed at the end of the work, and the items should be numbered according to the order in which they appear in the text. References should be in the form of Arabic numerals placed in square brackets – e.g., [1]. Please provide all authors of referenced publications; in the case of books, it is acceptable to indicate the first six authors. In order to ensure readability, the full title of the journal should be stated, and the full range of pages should also be provided When using bibliography managers (e.g., Mendeley, EndNote), one should indicate Vancouver as the style of bibliography. Please see examples below.

ARTICLE
  • Hirsch JE. An index to quantify an individual's scientific research output. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. 2005;102(46):16569-72.
  • Garfield E. The history and meaning of the journal impact factor. JAMA. 2006;295(1):90-3.
  • Ross-Hellauer T, Deppe A, Schmidt B. Survey on open peer review: Attitudes and experience amongst editors, authors and reviewers. PloS One. 2017;12(12):e0189311.
BOOK
  • Weiner J. Technika pisania i prezentowania przyrodniczych prac naukowych. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN; 2012. Polish.
  • Patience G, Boffito D, Patience P. Communicate Science Papers, Presentations, and Posters Effectively. Boston: Academic Press; 2015.
CHAPTER
  • Watała C. Proces recenzji publikacji naukowej. In: Watała C. Różalski M. Boncler M. Kaźmierczak P. Badania i publikacje w naukach biomedycznych. Tom 2. Przygotowywanie publikacji. Bielsko-Biała: Alfa-Medica Press; 2011. pp. 138-158. Polish.
  • Benestad HB, Laake P. Chapter 4 - Research Strategies, Planning, and Analysis. In: Laake P, Benestad HB, Olsen BR, editors. Research in Medical and Biological Sciences (2nd Edition). Amsterdam: Academic Press; 2015. pp. 89-124.