• Introduction
• Content
• Manuscript Preparation
• Cover Letter
• Manuscript Submission
• Peer Review
• Retraction Policy
• Archiving

Journal Physiotherapia Croatica follows the instructions for the manuscript preparation published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors – ICMJE and the World Association of Medical Editors – WAME, and recommends the same to authors. Ethical standards comply with those of the Committee on Publication Ethics – COPE and the Council of Science Editors – CSE. 

It is required to include with the manuscript the following documents:

1. Author(s) guarantee form declaration;

2. Statement of Authorship
   

Manuscripts submitted without the above attachments and cover letter will not be considered.

Journal Physiotherapia Croatica publishes the following peer-reviewed articles: Meta-analyses and Systematic reviews, original research articles, case report, brief  reports and Letters to the Editor.

Manuscript length (not including title page, abstract, references, tables or figure legends) depends on the type of study:

• Meta-analyses and Systematic reviews: up to 6000 words
• Original research article: up to 5000 words
• Case Report (with Review of the Literature): up to 5.000 words
• Brief Report: up to 1.200 words
• Letter to the Editor: up to 1.000 words

Authors may be invited, or in some cases required, to place important supplementary material as electronic addenda (eAddenda).

Title Page

A short title of the manuscript should be suggested at the top of the page, in Croatian and in English, with the names and surnames of the author(s). Below should follow the name of the author’s/authors’ affiliation(s), with his/her academic degree, and the name of the institution where he/she works. It is required to include the address of the corresponding author whom the editorial board can contact.Also, please provide three statements:

• Ethical Approval: list the Ethics Committee(s) that approved the study.

• Funding: any sources of funding should be stated.

• Conflict of Interest: Disclosed conflicts will be published if they are believed to be important to readers in judging the manuscript. If there are no conflicts of interest, authors should state that there are none.

Acknowledgments should include statements of important contributions that do not justify authorship. The nature of the contribution should be specified. It is customary to seek permission of people named in the acknowledgments.

Abstract

An structured abstract in Croatian and in English (of no more than 250 words) is required for all submissions using the headings: Introduction, Aim, Design, Materials and Methods, Results and Conclusion. Below abstract should be given four to six key words in Croatian and in English. Terms from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of Index Medicus should be used for keywords. 

Introduction

The introduction should provides the aims of the research. Only references essential to understanding these aims should be included, without any data or conclusions.

Materials and Method

The selection and all the important characteristics of the participants or laboratory animals studied or observed should be listed. All measurements should be given in SI units. Where aspects of the method have been described in other widely-available publications a reference to those publications may suffice, whereas newly-developed procedures should be described in more detail. The name of any ethical committee that has approved the conduct of the research should also be stated.  In the design section, describe the overall design, especially the timing of intervention and measurement, and any randomisation or blinding procedures. In the participants section, outline the recruitment procedures and the inclusion and exclusion criteria for eligibility of participants, therapists, and centres. In the intervention section, give as much detail as necessary so that the intervention could be faithfully replicated by a reader.

In the data analysis section, outline any a priori power analysis carried out to determine the number of participants needed for the study. Statistical procedures should be described in detail to enable the reader to calculate the stated probabilities from the original results.

Where possible, findings should be quantified and presented with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty. The statistical software used should be specified.

Results

The first subheading should be Flow of participants, therapists, and centres through the study where the numbers at each point in the study are presented as well as baseline characteristics. Results should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations. Pertinent results should be reported using text and/or tables and/or figures; tables are more useful than figures because exact values are given. Avoid repeating in the text data presented in tables or figures. Do not duplicate data in tables and figures.

Discussion

New and important findings should be emphasised. Data already presented in the Method and Results sections should not be repeated. It is important to explain the significance of the results obtained, implications and limitations of the findings and their clinical application should be discussed. Observations from the study should be compared with other relevant studies. Do not include a separate conclusion at the end of the Discussion.

Conclusion

The main conclusions are drawn based on the author’s or authors’ own results, separately after the discussion.

Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship, such as persons who have provided technical help, or support in general, should be listed under Acknowledgements. Financial and material support should also be listed.

Abbreviations

Only standard abbreviations should be used. The spelled-out abbreviation followed by the abbreviation in parentheses should be used at the first mention unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measurement. Abbreviations should be avoided in the manuscript title.

Tables

Tables should be presented on a separate page. They should not be submitted as photographs. Each table should have a title (in Croatian and in English) and be be numbered consecutively in the order to which they are referred in the text.Tables should be self-explanatory and simple. Table legends should be given below the table.

Figures

Figures should start on a separate page after the tables. They should be displayed at the proposed publication size and numbered consecutively in the order to which they are referred in the text. A short caption should be given below each figure. Do not place boxes around figures. Do not put axes on the top and right sides of graphs. Use symbols and/or line types rather than colour to differentiate data. Where several graphs refer to closely-related material, present them as separate panels of a single figure labelled A, B, C, etc., and provide one caption explaining what is in each panel. Photographs should be in sharp focus, have simple backgrounds, and be in black and white unless colour is essential to illustrate the point. For publication, photographs should be supplied as digital images saved at a minimum of 300 dpi in .jpg format.

Figure descriptions and text in figures should in Croatian and in English. Each figure should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which it appears in the text. Illustrations should be made in a quality appropriate for print publication. Photocopied images or photographs are not suitable for reproduction. Photographs of individuals will be published only with the written consent of the person photographed (or his/her guardian), or the individual should be rendered unrecognizable (concealing the eyes, face, etc.). If a figure is taken from other sources, permission for such reproduction obtained from the respective editor/author should be submitted. If submitted in electronic format, figures/illustrations should be in a high resolution JPEG format, a minimum of 1,500 pixels wide. The editorial board reserves the right not to publish any figures/illustrations that fail to meet the above requirements.

Graphs and line drawings generated by commonly-used graphing programs (such as Microsoft Excel) are acceptable.

Written permission should be obtained for use of previously published Figures and Tables, and for publication of photographs of recognisable subjects. These documents should be uploaded with the final manuscript once it has been accepted.

Style

Manuscripts should be written in simple, direct, and grammatically-correct English or Croatian. Use gender neutral and non-labelling language (e.g., 'People with sacroiliac pain' rather than 'sacroiliac pain patients'). When people are enrolled in a trial, use 'participant' rather than 'subjects'.

References

Only essential references should be cited. The referencing style used by the journal is the JAMA style, or which can be found as a standard referencing style in EndNote, RefWorks, Mendeley, and Zotero. If you use reference management software such as these, please convert your paper to the JAMA style before submission. Journal titles should be abbreviated according to the journals list in PubMed. Please ensure that all references are complete and presented using numbered style.

References are cited in ordinal numbers, according to the order in which it appears in the text (the first reference cited is number 1). In manuscripts with six or less authors, all the authors should be listed; if there are seven authors, or more, the first three should be listed, followed by “et al.”. Journals should be cited with abbreviations as used by Index Medicus.

Citing references – examples:

• Journal article:
  Horvat K, Murat A, Lovak K. Evidence-based physiotherapy. Physioth Croat. 2010;57:25-34.
• Journal supplement:
  Horvat K, Murat A, Lovak K. Evidence-based physiotherapy. Physioth Croat (Suppl 1). 2010; 57:25-34.
• Books and monographs:
  
  • Individual author(s):
    Horvat K. Evidence-based physiotherapy. Zagreb: HZF; 2012, p.234.       
  • Editor:
    Horvat K, Murat A, ed. Evidence-based physiotherapy. Zagreb: HZF; 2012, p.234.      
  • Chapter in a book:
    Lovak K. How to write an article. In: Horvat K, Murat A, ed. Evidence-based physiotherapy. Zagreb: HZF; 2012, p.234.

Cover letter should include the tittle of article, importance of the article, name, address and telephone number (landline and mobile) of the corresponding author who will communicate with the editorial board, and will be responsible for arranging the necessary amendments with other authors. Also, the type of article should be stated in the letter. The Statement of Authorship, and Authorship garantee form must be enclosed with the letter. Manuscripts submitted without these enclosures will not be considered.

All manuscripts, correspondence and editorial material for publication should be submitted at e-mail: journal.physioth.croat@gmail.com

Compulsory Authorship Form / Contribution of the Paper

Journal Physiotherapia Croatica policy on Authorship is based on the guidelines for authorship in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals 2004 (www.icmje.org) which states that 'authorship should be based on 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) final approval of the version to be published. Conditions 1, 2, and 3 must all be met. Acquisition of funding, the collection of data, or general supervision of the research group, by themselves, do not justify authorship'. Manuscript submission, and Authorship form signifies that all authors satisfy the ICMJE criteria for authorship.

Research manuscripts are subject to peer review. Journal Physiotherapia Croatica operates a double blind review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final.

Reviewers will usually have specific expertise in the field and a record of recent publication in peer-reviewed journals. Reviewers are asked to advise the Journal Editor if the manuscript is credible and of importance to the physiotherapy profession; they are also asked to comment on the manuscript's validity, relevance, clarity, and conciseness. They are asked to provide their reports within four weeks of receipt of the manuscript.

Reviewers are asked to consult checklists where appropriate. Specifically, reviewers of randomised controlled trials are asked to consult the CONSORT e-checklist, reviewers of systematic reviews are asked to consult the PRISMA statement, and reviewers of studies of the accuracy of diagnostic tests are asked to consult the STARD checklist.

The Journal Editor considers the reviewers' comments and decides if the manuscript is to be accepted in its current form, accepted subject to minor revisions, potentially publishable but requiring significant revision, or not suited to publication in Physiotherapia Croatica. Authors are provided with the reviewers' comments, sometimes with additional comments made by the Editor, and are informed of the decision. Authors of manuscripts requiring revision are invited to consider and respond to the comments made by the reviewers and the Journal Editor, revise the manuscript accordingly, and re-submit. Usually the revised manuscript is returned to the original reviewers for further comment. Some manuscripts undergo several rounds of review before a final decision (accept or reject) is made.

The Journal Physiotherapia Croatica may, under certain circumstances, publish a retraction or issue an expression of concern or issue a correction.

In the event a journal is no longer published all content on the page will be retained.