About the Journal

Medicina Academica Integrativa is a peer-reviewed open access journal of the University of Mostar, aimed to publish original scientific contributions aimed to increase knowledge and skills in the field of integrative, comprehensive and holistic medicine. The specific aim is to promote integrative health through multidisciplinary integrative and systematic way as well as to stimulate collaboration and joint scientific projects.

 

The Guidelines for Authors – Medicina Academica Integrativa

General considerations

Medicina Academica Integrativa is a peer-reviewed open access journal of the University of Mostar, aimed to publish original scientific contributions aimed to increase knowledge and skills in the field of integrative, comprehensive and holistic medicine.

The specific aim is to promote integrative health through multidisciplinary integrative and systematic way as well as to stimulate collaboration and joint scientific projects.

Manuscripts are published in English language only.  All submitted manuscripts are given equal consideration, irrespective of the country they originate from, as long as the following main criteria are met:
 

• A manuscript is written and prepared according to the Journal’s Instructions for authors.
• A manuscript is within the scope of the Journal, i.e., in the field of new research, perspectives and treatment promoting better understanding health and disease as well higher treatment effectiveness and efficiency in medicine.
  Throughout the entire editorial process, Medicina Academica Integrativa follows the best practice guidelines given by the Committee on publication ethics (COPE) (available at: http://publicationethics.org/files/Code%20of%20Conduct.pdf) and Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (available at: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/). All manuscripts are screened for originality and similarity. Plagiarism checks are performed using authenticated tools (iThenticate/Turnitin).
  
  Editors at Medicina Academica Integrativa are committed to ensure the integrity and promote innovative and evidence-based sources of information in order to maintain the quality and ensure the impact of the papers published in our Journal, according to the principles set by Sarajevo Declaration on Integrity and Visibility of Scholarly Publications communication (http://www.cmj.hr/2016/57/6/28051276.htm). ​

Instructions for authors

Manuscripts must be written in standard and grammatical as well as clear and concise scientific English. It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure the quality of the language. The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to our readership. All accepted articles are immediately available online under a Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0) license, ensuring free and unrestricted access for the global research community.

Submission of the manuscript

Submission of a manuscript implies:

• that the work described has not been published before (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review or thesis);
• that it is not under consideration for publication anywhere else;
• that its publication has been approved by all co-authors, if any, as well as by responsible authorities – tacitly or explicitly – at the institute where the work has been carried out.

This must be stated in the Covering letter.

Manuscripts submitted for publication must contain a statement to the effect that all human studies have been approved by a suitably constituted Ethics Committee of the institution within which the work was undertaken and that it conforms to the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki in 1995 (as revised in Edinburgh 2000). All investigations on human subjects must include a statement that the subject gave informed consent and patient anonymity should be preserved. Any experiments involving animals must be demonstrated to be ethically acceptable. This should be stated in the Subjects sections of the manuscript (see below).

Authors are asked to refrain from submitting papers which have overlap in content with previously accepted papers by the same authors. If the differences between the two are substantial enough that the papers should be considered as distinct, authors are advised to forward copies of both to the Editorial Office.

The editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the above-mentioned requirements. The author will be held responsible for false statements or for failure to fulfil these requirements.

The manuscript, together with the Covering letter, should be uploaded electronically to the official page of Medicina Academica Integrativa: https://pauk.sum.ba/ojs/mai/

By accessing the online submission you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. The Editorial Office will acknowledge the receipt of the manuscript and provide it with a manuscript reference number. The reference number of the manuscript should be quoted in all correspondence with the Editorial Office. Each manuscript undergo double-blind peer review by at least two independent experts in the relevant field. Reviewers are selected based on their scientific expertise, publication record, and absence of conflicts of interest.

Where revisions are sought prior to publication, authors are advised to incorporate any suggestions which they agree would improve their paper. The response letter (separate Word file) should thoroughly respond to each reviewer's comment (numbered), indicating where in the text it has been dealt with, or why the authors disagree or cannnot incorporate it. After the assessors' further comments have been received, the editors will make the final decision, including priority and time of publication, and the right to modify and, if necessary, shorten the material for publication.
 

Types of papers

Types of accepted papers are given below. Word count for the manuscript includes only the plain text (not tables, figures, abstracts or references).

Contributions will be considered for the following categories:

• Original research: max 4000 words, plus structured Summary (max 300 words), 3-5 key words, up to 7 tables and figures
• Review: max 4000 words, plus structured Summary (max 300 words), 3-5 key words, up to 7 tables and figures
• Narrative review: max 4000 words, plus (un)structured Summary (max 300 words), 3-5 key words, up to 7 tables and figures
• Brief report: max 1500 words, including a 100-word Summary, 3 keywords, up to 15 references plus 1 table or 1 figure
• Letter to the Editor: 600-800 words, up to 6 references
• Case report: max 1000 words, no abstracts or key words, up to 10 references plus 1 table or 1 figure
• Book review
• Invitation/Announcement

Preparation of the manuscript

 

• Submit the manuscript as an editable Word (preferred) or Rich Text Format (RTF) document.
• Use Times New Roman in 12 point size and double line spacing.
• All pages should be numbered.
• Use a clear system of headings to divide up and clarify the text, with not more than three grades of headings.
• Figures should be submitted as separate TIF or EPS format files and the desired position of figures and tables should be indicated in the manuscript.
• Footnotes to the text are not allowed.
• All measurements must be given in standard SI units.
• Abbreviations should be used sparingly and only where they ease the reader's task by reducing repetition of long terms. Initially use the word in full, followed by the abbreviation in the parentheses. Thereafter use the abbreviations.
• Drugs should be referred to by their generic names. When a brand name is used, it shall begin with a capital letter and the manufacturer's address details should be given.
• Do not use pejorative labels such as 'schizophrenics', instead refer to 'patients with schizophrenia'.

Manuscripts should be presented in the following order:

1. Title page
 

• the title of the paper – should be short, informative and contain the major key words
• the full names of the authors and position titles at the respective institutions
• the addresses of the institutions at which the work was carried out (addresses for authors other than the correspondence author should contain the department, institution, city and country)
• indicate all affiliations with superscript number after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address
• corresponding author - the full postal and email address, plus facsimile and telephone numbers, the department, institution, city and country
• word count, number of tables and figures

The title page should be uploaded separately. The rest of the manuscript should not contain personal information of the authors.


2. Manuscript (Summary and Text)

The first page of the manuscript should carry on a Summary/Abstract in the region of 300 words, followed by a list of 3-5 key words or short phrases drawn, if possible, from the medical subject headings (MeSH) list of Index Medicus (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html). The Summary should state, whenever applicable, very specifically, the main purposes, procedures, findings, and conclusions of the paper, emphasizing what is new or important.

For original papers and review articles, a structured Summary using the headings is preferred:

• Background (questions addressed; principal aims of a review);
• Subjects and Methods (design, setting, sample, interventions, chief outcome measures; for reviews sources of data and criteria for their selection);
• Results (main findings together with their statistical significance, if possible);
• Conclusions (those related to results, limitations as appropriate, clinical and research implications; for reviews principal conclusions and clinical and research implications)

3. 
   Text
   
   It should be divided by subheadings into the following sections:

• Introduction (authors should provide an adequate background and end with the aims of the study);
• Subjects and methods (Subjects with ethical considerations and informed consent, Methods, Statistical Analyses; authors should provide sufficient detail to enable possible reproduction of the study);
• Results (the results section should simply state the findings of the research arranged in a logical sequence without bias or interpretation)
• Discussion (the discussion section should contain interpretation of the results and their comparison with previous studies, also include limitations of the study);
• Conclusions (needs to summarize the content and purpose of the paper)

4. 
   Acknowledgements
   
   The source of financial grants and other funding should be acknowledged. The contribution of institutions, colleagues, technical writers or language editors should be noted. Thanks to anonymous reviewers are not needed. If there are no acknowledgements please state so by putting 'None' in the respective section.
   
   
   5. Conflict of Interest
   
   Authors are requested to disclose any commercial or other associations that might pooose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted articles. If there is no conflict of interest please put 'None to declare' in the respective section.
   
   
   6. Contributors
   
   It is required to declare every author's individual contribution to the manuscript. Every author should be mentioned for his exact work (e.g. design of the study, literature searches and analyses, statistical analyses, interpretation of data, manuscript writing, etc.).
   
   
   7. References

• In the text give the author last name and publication year within parentheses (e.g. Jakovljevic 2008, Sartorius 2009).
• If there are two authors, both should be named (e.g. Svrakic & Cloninger 2010, Sher & LaBode 2011).
• If there is an article with more than two authors, only the first author's name plus 'et al.' need to be given (e.g. Sartorius et al. 1996, Stinson et al. 2008).
• If there is more than one reference by the same author or team of authors in the same year, differentiate between papers by adding a, b, c, etc. to the publication year, both in the text and the list of references.

All references cited in the text are to be listed in the References section at the end of the text, in alphabetical and chronological order under the last name of the first author.

Where there are more than six authors, list the first six authors and use 'et al.'. All works cited must be listed at the end of the paper, ordered alphabetically by first author's name. Names of journals should be abbreviated in the style used in Index Medicus.


References should be listed in the following form:

Grant BF, Hasin DS, Blanco C, Stinson FS, Chou SP, Goldstein RB et al.: The epidemiology of social anxiety disorder in the United States: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. J Clin Psychiatry 2005; 66:1351-61.

Svrakic DM & Cloninger RC: Epigenetic perspective on behavior development, personality, and personality disorders. Psychiatr Danub 2010; 22: 153-66.

Reiter RJ & Robinson J: Melatonin. Bantam Books, NewYork, 1995.

Doghramji K, Brainard G & Balaicuis JM: Sleep and sleep disorders. In Monti DA & Beitman BD (eds): Integrative Psychiatry, 195-339. Oxford University Press, 2010.


8. Tables

Tables should be included on separate pages and numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals (e.g. Table 1). Column headings should be brief, with units of measurement in parentheses. All abbreviations and symbols should be defined in the legend. The table and its legend should be understandable without reference to the text. Desired position of tables should be indicated in the text.

9. Figures

Illustrations such as graphs, diagrams or photographs should also be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals (e.g. Figure 1) on separate pages, after the Tables. They should contain a short title followed by a concise description. All abbreviations and symbols should be defined in the legend. The figure and its legend should be understandable without reference to the text. Provide a letter stating copyright authorization if figures have been reproduced from another source. Photographs of persons must be made unidentifiable or the subject's written permission must be obtained. Desired position of figures should be indicated in the text.

Copyright

Authors retain full copyright to their work and all associated publishing rights without restriction. By submitting and publishing in the journal, authors grant the journal a non-exclusive right to publish, reproduce, and disseminate the article in all forms and media, while retaining the freedom to reuse, distribute, and build upon their work, provided that proper attribution to the original publication is given.

Galley proofs

Unless indicated otherwise, galley proofs are sent to the corresponding authors as Acrobat PDF files and should be returned with the least possible delay. Authors are advised that they are responsible for proof-reading of the text, references, tables and figures for absolute accuracy. Major alterations made in galley proofs, other than essential correction of errors, are unacceptable at this stage and authors may be charged for excessive alterations.

Electronic Storage and Preservation of Journal Content

The content of Medicina Academica Integrativa is made available and uploaded to the SUMPAUK data repository, which stores journals from all faculties of the University of Mostar, making it easily accessible to researchers and students at the university. This allows for greater access to the journal and the research it contains, and facilitates the exchange of knowledge and ideas.

The Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Manuscript Preparation

Medicina Academica Integrativa follows the position of of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and WAME Recommendations on Chatbots and Generative Artificial Intelligence in Relation to Scholarly Publications with regards to the utilization of AI and AI-assisted technology in manuscript preparation.  

Use of AI Tools and Transparency: 
Authors must clearly state in the text of the manuscript all uses of artificial intelligence (AI) tools (e.g., language editing) used in the preparation of the manuscript. This includes specifying the name, version, and purpose of the AI tool used. The use of AI tools should not compromise the original content and scientific integrity of the manuscript. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and appropriateness of all content generated or modified by AI. 

Authorship and Accountability: 
Authorship encompasses a range of tasks that can only be performed by humans, and authors are accountable for ensuring the article's originality and possessing the requisite qualifications for authorship. While AI can be employed for language corrections during the article writing process (and this should be explicitly stated in the article), it cannot be included as an author, as it is essential to maintain the originality and quality of the article. Authors must take full responsibility for all aspects of the manuscript, including data collection, analysis, interpretation, and writing. AI tools cannot be used to delegate this responsibility. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and reliability of all claims and conclusions in the manuscript. 

Image Generation and Copyright: 
Medicina Academica Integrativa is committed to upholding existing copyright laws and recognized best practices in publication ethics. Due to ongoing legal uncertainties surrounding AI-generated visual content, the use of such material in our publications is generally not permitted, except in the following cases: 

- Licensed Content from Agencies: Images or artwork sourced from agencies with which we have contractual agreements, provided the content was created in a legally and ethically sound manner. 

- Content Discussing AI: Visual or video content that is directly referenced in an article focused on artificial intelligence. These cases will be reviewed individually. 

- All approved exceptions must be clearly labeled as “AI-generated” within the image or figure caption. 

Authors must verify the accuracy and appropriateness of the images generated by AI, and clearly state the AI methodology used within the manuscript. Any AI-generated content must comply with scientific standards and ethical guidelines.

 

Article Processing Charges (APCs)
This journal does not charge any article processing charges (APCs) or submission, processing, review, or publication fees at any stage of the editorial process. Authors are not required to make any payments in order for their manuscripts to be considered, reviewed, accepted, or published.

Open Access Statement

This is an open access journal, which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

For further information about Medicina Academica Integrativa, as well as full-text articles published in this Journal, visit the homepage: https://pauk.sum.ba/ojs/mai/