Memorias do isntituto Oswaldo Cruz

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

The Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz is the official journal of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute and welcomes original contributions from research scientists throughout the world. The journal publishes original research in the fields of parasitology (including protozoology, helminthology, entomology and malacology), microbiology (including virology, bacteriology and mycology), tropical medicine (including pathology, epidemiology and clinical studies) as well as basic studies in biochemistry, immunology, molecular and cell biology, physiology, and genetics related to these fields. Short communications in the form of Research Notes are also considered. Review articles are invited and topics should be written in a concise, clear and direct style. The journal publishes bimonthly, six issues constitutin one volume per year. Occasionaly papers presented at symposia or congresses are published as a supplement. There are no page charges.

Authors submitting a manuscript do so on the understanding that if is accepted for publication, copyright of the article, including the right to reproduce the article in all form and media, shall be assigned exclusively to the Memórias. The journal will not refuse any reasonable request by authors for permission to reproduce any contribution. Each manuscript should be accompanied by a covering letter from the author who will be responsible for correspondence regarding the manuscript, containing his complete adress and fax number for contact.

An affidavit must be provided, containing the title of the manuscript, and affirming that (i) all data contained are accurate; (ii) all authors have participated in the work in a substantive way and are prepared to take public responsibility for the work; (iii) the manuscript being submitted to this journal has not been published in total or in part, and it is not being submitted for publication elsewhere. For studies involving human subjects, the authors must assure that their work was conducted in conformance with the principles embodied in the Declaration of Helsinki, and they must include a statement that the experiment was performed with the knwoledge and consent of each subject or of the parent or guardian when the subject was a child. These affidavits must be followed by the names in print of the authors, their signatures, and the dates in which each of them signed this document. Authors from different countries or institutions may sign in different sheets containing the same basic statement.

Papers must be written either in Portuguese or English. English of low quality is a major cause of rejection or delay in publication and we strongly advise authors with English as a foreign language to have their manuscripts checked by someone with English as their first language, preferably a scientist.

Manuscript and figures should be sent in quadruplicate (original and three copies) to the Secretary, Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Av. Brasil 4365, 21045-900 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil. Manuscripts must be offered exclusively to the Memórias and should be typed (Times New Roman, 12) double-spaced throughout the text, figure captions, references and notes, with margin of at least 3 cm. Manuscripts will be refereed critically by at least two reviewers; acceptance will be based on scientific content and presentation of the material.

The manuscript should be arranged in the following order: running title, title, authors’ names, department or laboratory where the work was done, name and address of the institution, summary, key words, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, acknowledgments (if any), and references. Sponsorships should be mentioned as a footnote on the first page.

Summary: up to 200 words, must outline the objective of the study, the methodology, state the conclusion, and indicate their significance.

Key words (indexing terms): 3-6 items must be provided.

Introduction: should set out the purpose of the study, give a brief summary (not a review) of previous relevant work, and state what new advance has been made in the investigation.

Materials and Methods: should briefly give clear and sufficient information to permit the study to be repeated by others. Standard techniques need only be referenced.

Results: should be a concise account of the new information discovered, with the least personal judgement.

Discussion: should be limited to the significance of the new information and relate the new findings to existing knowledge. Only unavoildable citations should be included. In taxonomic papers, Results may be replaced by Description, Redescription, Revision of Taxon, etc., and Discussion by Remarks.

References: must be accurate. In the text use authors’ surname and date, e.g., Lutz (1910) or (Lutz 1910). With two authors it is (Lutz & Neiva 1912) or Lutz and Neiva (1912). When there are more than two authors, only the first is mentioned: Lutz et al. (1910) or (Lutz et al. 1910). The references at the end of the paper should be arranged in alphabetic order according to the surname of the first author. Only citations that appear in the text should be referenced. Unpublished papers, unless accepted for publication, should not be cited. Each reference should include: last names and initials of all authors, year, complete title of the paper, abbreviated name of the journal, volume, number, and first and last pages. Abbreviations of periodical names must follow the rules of Index Medicus and/or Biological Abstracts. Work accepted for publication should be referred to as “in press”. Unpublished data should only be cited in the text as “unpublished observations”, “manuscript in preparation” or “personal communication” within parentheses. This type of citation must be verified by the author against the original document and must be approved by the persons concerned. The Editor may ask for written authorization.

Examples of references

Journal article:

Chagas C 1909. Nova tripanosomiaze humana. Estudos sobre a morfolojia e o ciclo evolutivo do Schizotrypanum cruzi n. g., n.sp., ajente etiolojico de nova entidade morbida do homem. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 1: 159-218.

Chagas C, Villela E 1922. Forma cardiaca da tripanosomiase americana. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 14: 15-61.

Book or Thesis:

Morel CM 1983. Genes and antigens of parasites. A laboratory manual. 2nd. ed. Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, xxii + 580 pp.

Chapter in book:

Cruz OG 1911. The prophylaxis of malaria in central and southern Brazil, p. 390-398. In R Ross, The prevention of malaria. John Murray, London.

Acknowledgements: should be short and concise, and restricted to those absolutely necessary.

Illustrations: should be kept to a minimum commensurate with the need to illustrate particular structures or conditions, to summarize data or to record quantitative results. Details of results presented in this way should not be repeated in the text. Figures and tables must be understandable without reference to the text.

- Figures should be mounted on a manuscript-size sheet. Photographs must be sharply focused, well contrasted, black and white glossy prints. Photographs and line drawings must be marked on the back with the author’s name, the figure number and an arrow pointing to the top. If mounted onto a plate, the figures should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numbers. All half-tone plates should be mounted to the exact width of one or two columns. They will be printed without increase or decrease in size. Magnification must be indicated by a line or bar in the figure, and referenced, if necessary in the caption (e.g., bar = 1 mm, etc.). Plates and line figures must fit either 1 column (7 cm) or the full width (14.5 cm) of the page, and should be shorter than the page length to allow inclusion of the legend. Legends must be provided on a separate sheet. Letters and numbers on figures should be of a legible size upon reduction or printing. All lettering, numerals, etc., for figures and plates should be in Letraset or an equivalent. Type written material, even of good quality, is not acceptable.

- Tables should supplement, not duplicate, the text. They must be prepared to fit in one or two colums, and should be numbered with Roman numerals. If a table cannot be typed completely on a single page, typing must be continued on separate, individual pages. Do not tape paper together, or use oversized paper.

Symbols: acronyms and abbreviations (other than the standard ones for units of weight, measure, etc.) may be used only sparingly in the text. They must not be used in the titles. They should be explained in full when first mentioned. Metric units must be consistently.

Short communications should be brief and direct. Their objective is to communicate rapidly single results or techniques and will usually be published more quickly than longer papers. They should occupy no more than two printed pages including figures and/or tables. They should not contain excessive references. References should be cited in the text, in parentheses ...studied by O Mangabeira Fo. (1942 Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 37: 190-201) or ...as formely described (G Faria 1910 Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 2: 286-292) always presenting author’s initials and complete date unless cited for the second time (Faria loc. cit.). The running title and key words must be provided.

Authors should follow these instructions carefully. Manuscripts that do not conform to these guidelines will not be reviewed and will be returned to the author for modifications.

Diskette submission: once a paper is accepted for publication, the authors should send the revised manuscript, along with an IBM-compatible disk containing the text of the paper (including tables and graphics) in any more common MS-DOS word-processing format (Word or Word Perfect for Windows) . The disk must be labelled with the name of the text file, the word-processing software used (indicating version number), and the accession number of the paper.

Proofs will be sent to authors for correction of printer’s errors. Other changes will not be accepted. Proofs must be returned, signed, to the Secretary by the stipulated date.

Authors will receive 30 reprints free. Additional copies can be supplied at cost.

For other instructions the authors should consult and follow the most recent numer of the Memórias, or contact Memórias Office by phone (55-021-598.4335) or fax (55-21-280.5048).