Submissions

Author Guidelines

Preparing a Manuscript

Manuscripts should be written in English or in Hungarian (with abstract written in English). The entire text should be single-spaced and must contain page and line numbers in order to facilitate the review process. Your manuscript must be written using MS-Word.

 

Submitting an incomplete manuscript will cause a delay in review.

 

Manuscript categories

Original Research Papers: Original full-length research papers which have not been published previously, except in a preliminary form, may be submitted as regular papers. Original research papersshould not exceed 3,000 words (The 3,000 words is for the text of the paper only. It excludes the abstract, references, tables and captions) in length.

Review Articles: Review articles are welcome but should be topical and not just an overview of theliterature. Review articles should not exceed 5,000 words in length.

Short Communications: Reports on important new results that fall within the scope of the journal may be submitted as short communications. These papers should not exceed 1,500 words in length and should follow the structure of an original research paper.

Manuscripts must include the following sections in the order listed.

Title Page

The first page of the manuscript should be a title page with the following:

    Title (50-word maximum)

    Author names and affiliations

    Corresponding author email address

    Keywords (3-6)

    Number of pages

    Number of figures, tables

Abstract (250 words maximum)

The abstract should be clearly written and readily comprehensible to the broad readership of Acta Sana. It should provide a concise summary of the objectives, methodology, key results, and major conclusions of the study. It should be written in complete sentences, without subheadings.

Introduction (650 words maximum, including citations)

The introduction should briefly indicate the objectives of the study and provide enough background information to clarify why the study was undertaken and what hypotheses were tested.

Materials and Methods

The Materials and Methods section should be brief but sufficient to allow other investigators to repeat the research. This section may be divided by subheadings.

Results

This section may be divided by subheadings.

Discussion (1,500 words maximum, including citations)

The discussion section should be as concise as possible and include a brief statement of the principal findings, a discussion of the validity of the observations, a discussion of the findings in light of other published work dealing with the same or closely related subjects, and a statement of the possible significance of the work. This section may be divided by subheadings.

Acknowledgements

This is a short text to acknowledge the contributions of specific colleagues, institutions, or agencies that aided the efforts of the authors.

Conflict of Interest Statement

A Conflict of Interest Statement needs to be included at the end of the manuscript before the references. Here, the authors need to declare whether or not the submitted work was carried out in the presence of any personal, professional or financial relationships that could potentially be construed as a conflict of interest.

References

All citations in the tex must be in the reference list. The references should only include articles that are published or accepted. For accepted but unpublished works use "in press" instead of page numbers. Unpublished data, submitted manuscripts, or personal communications should be cited within the text only, for the article types that allow such inclusions. Preprints can be cited as long as a DOI or archive URL is available, and the citation clearly mentions that the contribution is a preprint. If a peer-reviewed journal publication for the same preprint exists, the official journal publication is the preferred source.

Acta Sana operates an APA (American Psychological Association) reference style.

Figures

Figures must be numbered independently of tables and cited in the text. A title should be part of the legend and not lettered onto the figure. A legend must be included in the manuscript document after the reference list, and should include enough detail to be intelligible without reference to the text.

Figures must be submitted as separate files in TIFF or EPS format and be submitted at the size they are to appear: 1 column (maximum width 8.5 cm), 1.5 columns (maximum width 11.6 cm) or 2 columns (maximum width 17.6 cm). They should be the smallest size that will convey the essential scientific information.

Color figures should be in RGB format and supplied at a minimum of 300 dpi. Monochrome (bitmap) images must be supplied at 1200 dpi. Grayscale must be supplied at a minimum of 300 dpi. For figures in vector-based format, all fonts should be converted to outlines and saved as EPS files to ensure that they are reproduced correctly.

Tables

All tables must be numbered independently of figures and cited in the manuscript. Each table should include a title and legend; legends should be included in the manuscript file after the reference list. Legends should include sufficient detail to be intelligible without reference to the text, and define all symbols and include essential information.

Each table should be double-spaced. Multiple-part tables (A and B sections with separate subtitles) should be avoided, especially when there are two [different] sets [or types] of column headings.

Do not use color or shading, bold or italic fonts, or lines to highlight information. Indention of text and sometimes, additional space between lines is preferred.

Review Process

The Reviewing Editor will typically select two independent reviewers to evaluate each paper. If a consensus is not reached, a third opinion may be sought. Manuscripts will be kept confidential by reviewers.

Revisions

When submitting a revised manuscript, you must:

Submit within 3 months of the decision letter. If an extension is needed, contact acta.sana@etszk.u-szeged.hu before the deadline.

Submit a point-by-point reply to the reviews showing how reviewer concerns were addressed.

Submit the manuscript text (including tables, if any) in Word with all insertions indicated in bold or colored font, so that reviewers can easily see the changes you have made.

Submit publication-quality digital figures, one per file. Check all aspects of illustrations carefully to avoid alterations in the proofs.

Proofs

Authors should be aware that Acta Sana limits author alterations in proof. Only corrections of factual errors, copyediting errors, or in the quality of figure reproduction are allowed.

To speed publication, authors are limited to 4 business days to review and return proofs.

Once a manuscript is accepted, authors’ names can only be added, deleted, or altered with the approval of the editors. Requests for changes to the author list will delay publication of a manuscript.

Retractions

Acta Sana will retract an article at the authors’ request at any time with consent of all authors. The authors may provide a brief explanation of the error(s) prompting the retraction or may simply state the article has been retracted at the authors’ request. To request a retraction, the corresponding author should contact the editor-in-chief.

Contact Information

Acta Sana Editorial Board

Temesvári Krt. 31.
Szeged
6726
Hungary
Email: acta.sana@etszk.u-szeged.hu