Instructions for Authors



Template to be used for submission

Instructions for Authors

Medicine and Materials is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal dedicated to research at the interface of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, biomedical engineering, and materials science.

Priority is given to manuscripts in which materials, biomaterials, medical devices, implants, prostheses, pharmaceutical materials, material–biological interactions, or materials-based technologies constitute a central scientific component of the study.

Authors are encouraged to consult the journal’s Aims and Scope before submission.

1. Accepted Types of Paper

Medicine and Materials accepts the following types of contributions:

  • Original Research Articles
  • Review Articles
  • Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses
  • Short Communications
  • Case Reports with clear relevance to biomaterials, medical devices, implants, prostheses, pharmaceutical materials, or materials-based healthcare technologies
  • Book Reviews and Project Reviews relevant to the scientific scope of the journal

Manuscripts dealing exclusively with general clinical medicine, epidemiology, medical education, healthcare administration, pharmacotherapy, or other healthcare topics without a clear and substantial materials, biomaterials, medical-device, pharmaceutical-material, or biointerface component are generally outside the primary scope of the journal.

2. Editorial and Reporting Standards

Medicine and Materials follows internationally recognized recommendations for responsible medical and biomedical publishing, including:

Authors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts comply with the ethical and reporting standards appropriate to the type and design of the study.

For full details, see the journal’s Publication Ethics, Rights and Malpractice Statement and Editorial Process and Peer Review.

3. Originality and Peer Review

Only original and previously unpublished manuscripts are considered for publication.

A manuscript submitted to Medicine and Materials must not be simultaneously under consideration by another journal.

All manuscripts are screened for textual similarity using plagiarism-detection software before or during editorial assessment.

Manuscripts that successfully pass initial editorial screening are evaluated using single-blind peer review:

  • reviewers know the identities of the authors;
  • authors do not know the identities of the reviewers;
  • each manuscript is normally evaluated by at least two independent reviewers.

Submission of a revised manuscript does not guarantee acceptance.

4. Authorship and Author Contributions

Authorship must comply with the ICMJE authorship criteria.

All listed authors must:

  1. have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
  2. have participated in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content;
  3. have approved the final version to be published;
  4. agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work and for appropriately resolving questions relating to its accuracy or integrity.

Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet all authorship criteria should be acknowledged rather than listed as authors.

All research articles must include an Author Contributions statement. Authors are encouraged to use the CRediT Contributor Roles Taxonomy.

Example:

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, A.A. and B.B.; Methodology, A.A.; Investigation, B.B. and C.C.; Data Curation, C.C.; Writing – Original Draft Preparation, A.A.; Writing – Review & Editing, B.B. and C.C.; Supervision, C.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

5. ORCID

Authors are encouraged to provide their ORCID iDs. The corresponding author should provide an ORCID iD whenever available.

ORCID identifiers should be provided together with the author information and may be displayed in the published article.

6. Conflicts of Interest

All authors must disclose financial and non-financial relationships or activities that could reasonably be perceived to influence the submitted work.

Every manuscript must contain a Conflicts of Interest statement.

If no conflict exists, authors should state:

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

7. Funding

All sources of financial support must be disclosed, including the funding organization and grant number where applicable.

If no external funding was received, authors should state:

Funding: This research received no external funding.

Where relevant, authors should also describe the role of the funder in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or the decision to publish.

8. Research Involving Human Participants

Research involving human participants, identifiable human material, or identifiable human data must comply with applicable institutional, national, and international ethical standards and, where applicable, the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Where ethical review is required, manuscripts must state:

  • the full name of the Institutional Review Board or Ethics Committee;
  • the ethics approval or protocol number;
  • the approval date, where applicable;
  • that approval was obtained before the research was conducted.

Example:

Institutional Review Board Statement: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of [institution] (protocol no. XXX; date of approval: DD Month YYYY).

If ethical approval was waived or was not required, the manuscript must explain the reason and, where applicable, identify the authority granting the exemption or waiver.

9. Informed Consent and Consent for Publication

Where applicable, written informed consent must be obtained from participants before inclusion in research.

The manuscript should contain an Informed Consent Statement such as:

Informed Consent Statement: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants involved in the study.

If informed consent was waived, authors must explain the reason and identify the responsible ethics authority where applicable.

Written consent for publication must also be obtained where identifiable patient information, photographs, imaging, or case details are published.

10. Research Involving Animals

Animal research must comply with applicable institutional, national, and international animal-welfare requirements.

Where applicable, studies should comply with Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes.

Authors must provide:

  • the approving animal ethics committee or competent authority;
  • the ethics approval or protocol number;
  • relevant animal-welfare standards;
  • sufficient information concerning animal care and experimental procedures.

Animal studies should follow the ARRIVE reporting guidelines where applicable.

11. EQUATOR Reporting Guidelines

Authors are expected to use the reporting guideline appropriate to their study design.

Study type Recommended reporting guideline
Randomized controlled trial CONSORT
Observational study STROBE
Systematic review / Meta-analysis PRISMA
Case report CARE
Diagnostic accuracy study STARD
Clinical trial protocol SPIRIT
Prediction model study TRIPOD
Animal research ARRIVE
Qualitative research COREQ / SRQR
Health economic evaluation CHEERS
Quality-improvement study SQUIRE

Authors should identify the reporting guideline used in the manuscript and may be requested to submit the corresponding completed checklist as supplementary material.

12. Clinical Trial Registration

Prospective clinical trials should be registered in an appropriate publicly accessible clinical trial registry in accordance with applicable ICMJE recommendations.

The registry name and registration number must be included in the manuscript where applicable.

13. Review Articles

13.1 Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses must provide a transparent and reproducible methodology and should follow PRISMA or another appropriate reporting guideline.

The manuscript should report, where applicable:

  • databases and information sources searched;
  • date range covered;
  • date of the final search;
  • complete or reproducible search strategy;
  • keywords, search terms, and Boolean operators;
  • inclusion and exclusion criteria;
  • study-selection procedure;
  • risk-of-bias or quality assessment;
  • protocol registration;
  • PRISMA flow diagram.

13.2 Narrative Reviews

Narrative reviews must also describe how the literature was identified and selected.

Authors should report:

  • databases or information sources consulted;
  • literature-search period;
  • principal search terms or concepts;
  • criteria used to select literature;
  • date of the literature search where applicable.

Narrative reviews must provide a sufficiently comprehensive, balanced, and current bibliography appropriate to the breadth of the subject.

The journal does not impose an arbitrary minimum number of references; adequacy is assessed in relation to the subject, scope, and claims of the review.

14. Case Reports

Case Reports are considered only when they have clear relevance to biomaterials, medical devices, implants, prostheses, pharmaceutical materials, or materials-based healthcare technologies.

Case reports should follow the CARE reporting guideline.

Where identifiable patient information is included, written informed consent for publication must be obtained from the patient or an authorized representative.

15. Data Availability

Research manuscripts must include a Data Availability Statement.

Examples include:

Data Availability Statement: The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

or

Data Availability Statement: The data generated and analyzed during this study are available in the [repository name] repository at [link/DOI].

If access to data is restricted for ethical, privacy, contractual, or legal reasons, the limitation should be clearly explained.

16. Artificial Intelligence and AI-Assisted Technologies

Artificial intelligence tools, language models, chatbots, and other AI-assisted technologies cannot be listed as authors or co-authors.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, references, data, images, interpretations, and integrity of the submitted work.

If generative AI or AI-assisted technologies were used to generate or substantively modify manuscript text, images, coding, data analysis, or other research-related content, authors must disclose their use.

The disclosure should identify the tool and explain how it was used.

Where AI-assisted technology forms part of the research methodology, its use should be described in the Materials and Methods section in sufficient detail for scientific evaluation and, where possible, reproducibility.

Routine spelling, grammar, or conventional language-editing tools that do not generate substantive intellectual content generally do not require the same level of disclosure.

Authors must independently verify AI-generated information and references.

17. Copyright and Open Access

Authors retain copyright in their work.

Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits sharing, distribution, reproduction, and adaptation in any medium or format, including for commercial purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and source, a link to the license is provided, and changes are indicated.

By submitting to Medicine and Materials, authors grant the journal a non-exclusive worldwide right to publish, distribute, and archive the article.

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted third-party material, including photographs, screenshots, figures, tables, maps, graphics, or other protected content.

18. Style and Format

Manuscripts must be written entirely in English. Either British or American English may be used, but the chosen form should be used consistently throughout the manuscript.

Original Research Articles and full Review Articles should normally contain approximately 4,000–12,000 words. Short Communications, Case Reports, Book Reviews, and Project Reviews may be shorter where appropriate.

Manuscripts should be written clearly, concisely, and without unnecessary ambiguity.

Manuscripts that do not comply with the journal’s scientific, ethical, reporting, or formatting requirements may be returned to the authors before peer review.

19. Submission

Submission proceeds electronically.

The manuscript must be provided as a Microsoft Word file with figures and tables inserted at appropriate positions in the text.

A cover letter is mandatory.

The cover letter should confirm that:

  • all authors have approved the manuscript and its submission;
  • the manuscript is original and is not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere;
  • all authors meet the applicable authorship criteria;
  • the manuscript fits the scientific scope of Medicine and Materials;
  • the principal novelty and significance of the work are stated;
  • Conflicts of Interest have been disclosed;
  • ethical approval and informed consent have been obtained where applicable;
  • the relevant reporting guideline has been followed where applicable;
  • clinical trial registration information is provided where applicable;
  • AI-assisted technology has been disclosed where applicable.

All editorial correspondence, including decisions and requests for revision, is conducted by e-mail.

20. Preparation of the Manuscript

USE THE JOURNAL TEMPLATE

A Microsoft Word file is required.

Standard page format:

  • B5 (ISO): 176 × 250 mm;
  • margins: approximately 2 cm;
  • single-column format;
  • Times New Roman;
  • main text: font size 10;
  • figures and tables inserted in the appropriate position in the manuscript.

Avoid unnecessary or complex formatting. Use bold, italics, subscripts, superscripts, and mathematical symbols where scientifically appropriate.

21. Article Structure

For Original Research Articles, the recommended order is:

  1. Title
  2. Authors
  3. Affiliations
  4. Corresponding Author
  5. ORCID iDs
  6. Abstract
  7. Keywords
  8. Introduction
  9. Materials and Methods
  10. Results
  11. Discussion
  12. Conclusions
  13. Supplementary Materials, where applicable
  14. Author Contributions
  15. Funding
  16. Institutional Review Board Statement
  17. Informed Consent Statement
  18. Consent for Publication, where applicable
  19. Data Availability Statement
  20. Acknowledgements
  21. Conflicts of Interest
  22. AI Use Disclosure, where applicable
  23. References

Where a declaration is not applicable, authors should state:

Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.

Review articles should replace the experimental methodology section with an appropriate Review Methodology / Literature Search / Search Strategy section.

22. Title

The title should be concise, informative, and accurately reflect the content of the manuscript.

Avoid unnecessary abbreviations and formulae.

23. Authors

Please provide authors’ full names. Family names may be written in CAPITAL LETTERS if required by the journal template.

One author must be clearly identified as the corresponding author.

The corresponding author’s valid e-mail address must be provided.

Telephone and fax numbers are not mandatory for publication unless requested by the Editorial Office.

24. Affiliations

Provide the institutional affiliation at which the work was performed.

Use superscript numbers to associate each author with the appropriate affiliation.

Each affiliation should include:

  • department or unit;
  • institution;
  • city;
  • country.

Author e-mail addresses and ORCID iDs should be provided where available.

25. Abstract

A concise and factual abstract is required.

The abstract should briefly describe:

  • the purpose or background of the study;
  • the principal methodology;
  • the most important results;
  • the principal conclusions.

The abstract should normally not exceed 200 words.

For clinical trials, systematic reviews, and other study types where a structured abstract is appropriate, authors are encouraged to follow the relevant reporting guideline.

26. Keywords

Provide up to 8 keywords.

Avoid unnecessarily broad terms and abbreviations that are not firmly established in the field.

27. Introduction

The Introduction should provide an adequate and balanced scientific background, identify the research problem or knowledge gap, and clearly state the objectives of the study.

28. Materials and Methods

The methodology must be described in sufficient detail to permit scientific evaluation and, where reasonably possible, reproducibility.

Authors should describe:

  • materials and samples;
  • experimental design;
  • participants or specimens, where applicable;
  • inclusion and exclusion criteria;
  • equipment and analytical methods;
  • statistical methods;
  • ethical approval and consent where applicable;
  • relevant reporting guideline;
  • clinical trial registration where applicable.

Methods that have been published previously may be summarized with appropriate references, while any significant modification should be described.

29. Results

Results should be presented clearly, logically, and concisely.

Do not duplicate the same data unnecessarily in text, tables, and figures.

Statistical results should be reported with appropriate measures of uncertainty or variability where relevant.

30. Discussion

The Discussion should interpret the findings in relation to the study objectives and relevant literature.

Authors should address the significance, implications, and limitations of the study and avoid unsupported conclusions.

31. Conclusions

The Conclusions should present the principal findings and their scientific or clinical significance.

Claims should be supported directly by the results presented.

32. Abbreviations

Define non-standard abbreviations at first use in both the abstract and main text where applicable.

Use abbreviations consistently throughout the manuscript.

33. Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements should identify individuals, organizations, or technical support that contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria.

Permission should be obtained from individuals who are named in the Acknowledgements where appropriate.

34. Appendices

If more than one appendix is included, identify them as Appendix A, Appendix B, etc.

35. Mathematical Formulae

Present simple formulae within the normal text where practical.

Equations displayed separately should be numbered consecutively where they are referenced in the text.

36. Nomenclature, Units, Abbreviations and Symbols

Use SI units wherever appropriate.

Insert a space between numerical values and units.

Define specialized symbols and abbreviations at their first occurrence.

37. Artwork

  • Use consistent lettering and sizing.
  • Number figures consecutively according to their appearance in the text.
  • Use clear and logical file names.
  • Provide figures at approximately the size expected in the published article.
  • Use JPEG or TIFF format where separate files are requested.
  • Recommended resolution: at least 300 dpi for photographic images.
  • Figures will be published in colour online without additional colour charges.

Images must not be manipulated in a way that could misrepresent scientific information.

38. Figures

Figures should be inserted in the manuscript near their first citation.

Each figure must be cited in the text and have a concise explanatory caption.

Example:

Figure 1. SEM image of the investigated surface at 500× magnification.

Where identifiable individuals are shown, appropriate consent for publication is required.

39. Tables

Tables must be numbered consecutively according to their first appearance in the text.

Tables should present information efficiently and should not unnecessarily duplicate data already presented in the text or figures.

Example:

Table 1. EDX composition of the obtained layer.

40. References

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and relevance of all references.

Every reference cited in the text must appear in the reference list, and every reference in the reference list must be cited in the text.

Authors should consult and verify the original source wherever possible.

References should not be included merely to increase citation counts or satisfy inappropriate citation requests.

DOIs should be provided whenever available.

Reference Style

References should be cited in the text using numbers in square brackets in the order in which they first appear.

Example:

Previous studies have demonstrated similar behaviour [1-3].

The reference list must be numbered consecutively according to citation order.

Examples

Journal article:
[1] Xu, L.; Liu, C.; Wan, Y.; Wang, X.; Xiao, H. Effects of heat treatments on microstructures and mechanical properties of Mg–4Y–2.5Nd–0.7Zr alloy, Materials Science and Engineering: A, 2012, 558, pp. 1–16, DOI: 10.1016/j.msea.2012.06.085.

Conference proceeding:
[2] Lobefaro, M.; Sandu, I.C.A. Authentic versus faked iconography: a study on the behavior of painting materials, Proceedings of Science Meets Archaeology and Art History – Balkan Symposium on Archaeometry, 18–20 September 2008, Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia, p. 64.

Book:
[3] Goffer, Z. Archaeological Chemistry, 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons Inc., New Jersey, 2007, p. 155.

Patent:
[4] Fristad, W.; Saad, K. Phosphate Conversion Coating Concentrate, Patent US2003209289, 2003.

Web resource:
[5] Author/Organization. Title of webpage. Available online: URL (accessed DD Month YYYY).

41. Submission – Editorial Requirements

The manuscript should be submitted electronically as a Microsoft Word file.

The manuscript should contain author names and affiliations because the journal operates a single-blind peer-review process.

The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the Editorial Office and for ensuring that all co-authors receive relevant editorial correspondence.

42. Correspondence and Review Time

All correspondence, including acknowledgement of submission, editorial decisions, and revision requests, is conducted by e-mail.

The peer-review and editorial process may normally require approximately 4–24 weeks, depending on reviewer availability, manuscript complexity, and revision requirements.

If a manuscript is accepted, authors may receive proofs for final checking before publication.

Proof corrections should normally be limited to typographical or production errors and should not introduce substantial new scientific content.

43. Article Publication Charge

No submission fee is charged.

The Article Publication Charge (APC) is for now suspended. When available will be payable only after formal acceptance following peer review.

Payment or ability to pay does not influence peer review or editorial decisions.

For current details, see the journal’s Article Publication Charge page.

44. Post-Publication Corrections

Authors must promptly notify the journal if they discover a significant error or omission in a published article.

Depending on the nature of the issue, the journal may publish an Erratum, Corrigendum, Addendum, Expression of Concern, or Retraction in accordance with the journal’s Publication Ethics policy.

45. Additional Policies

For further information, please consult: