Instructions for Authors

Mission and Scope

Mission
The mission of GaBI Journal is to provide an independent, high quality, authoritative, and peer reviewed platform for the publication of scientific articles concerning any aspect of the research into and development of cost-effective medicines, irrespective of their source.

This Open Access journal will thus make information on pharmaceutical innovation and developments in generic and biosimilar medicines accessible to everyone, including physicians, pharmacists and nurses, patients/consumers, drug developers, third-party payers, legislators and assessors. This is achieved by:

  • independent peer review
  • collaboration with all relevant stakeholders (physicians/prescribers, regulatory authorities, industry, third-party payers and governments)
  • publishing via open access channels, both in print and electronically.

Scope and profile
The scope of GaBI Journal is broad and of interest and relevance to professionals active in clinical practice, pharmaceutical science and policy. Materials published in GaBI Journal include high quality research reports, literature reviews and case studies, all of which are peer reviewed.

Manuscripts on all aspects of generic and biosimilar medicines, covering areas in clinical, fundamental, technical, economic and social aspects of pharmaceuticals and therapeutics are welcome. In addition, high quality work submitted in other formats, for example, scientific and evidence-based commentaries may also be considered. In all cases, the emphasis is on quality, originality and knowledge contribution to those involved in health care.

All manuscripts submitted to GaBI Journal are subject to a rigorous peer review process. GaBI Journal plans to be indexed in PubMed, and that indexing will be retrospective. GaBI Journal is published quarterly. All articles are published in English. The initial circulation exceeds 5,000 copies to professionals in clinical practice and healthcare policies, pharmaceutical experts and scientists worldwide.

GaBI Journal is unique as an independent, peer reviewed academic journal—it encompasses all aspects of generic and biosimilar medicines development and use, from fundamental research to clinical application and policies.

Submission of manuscripts

All manuscripts must be submitted through our Editorial Office, authors may email the office on manuscript (pre-)submission queries.

Word length limitations are limits, not targets; each published article should be no longer than required to convey why the research was conducted, how it was done, what it showed, and what it means. When at all possible, authors are urged to aim for compactness of expression in print, providing critical supplemental material as appendices for electronic publication via GaBI Journal or GaBI Online. The editors reserve the right to move to an online appendix any tables, figures, etc., not essential to the understanding of the text.

Filler photographs
Filler photographs are unsolicited photographs. It can be unrelated to the contents of the Journal that are published. There are no restrictions on the subject of photographs; however, photographs of recognizable people are not published.  Photographs typical for GaBI Journal, or related to generics, biologicals, receptors, research … are welcome.  Click here for further information.

Please follow our ‘Instructions for Authors’ prior to submitting a manuscript.

Editorial policy

GaBI Journal adheres to the standard of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) – Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication, see www.ICMJE.org.

Approval of an article rests with the Editor-in-Chief who reserves the right to revise the article and/or request the author to edit the contents. All material is subject to review by members of the Editorial Board and a panel of international reviewers. Acceptance of material is based on scientific rigour and innovation.

Because GaBI Journal is distributed on a complimentary basis, a nominal service fee is charged for submitted papers to defray the initial submission and administration costs.

There is an article processing charge (APC) if the manuscript is accepted for publication, the APC is to cover editorial production costs and for online first publication. Exemption of the APC for publication can be extended to exceptional manuscripts that carry no industry or university grants, sponsors’ interest, or alternative form of support, against a signed form of ‘Disclosure of Financial Interest’, at the publisher’s discretion. Otherwise, a standard APC is applied. Invited manuscripts are not subject to any fees.

The corresponding author will receive page proofs of his/her contribution for final approval before publication. The author will be responsible for bringing to the attention of the publisher any changes that need to be made within two days after sending of the page proof. The corresponding author will receive two complimentary copies of the journal. Further copies may be requested, and the charges will be borne by the author.

Authors are encouraged to suggest the names of possible reviewers who are able to provide an unbiased review though these recommendations may or may not be used. Names, postal and email addresses of three to four experts in the appropriate area of research should accompany each manuscript submission. The Editor-in-Chief’s decision on the choice of peer reviewers should be final. Reviewers suggested should not be from the same institution as the author and should have expert knowledge of the subject. You should not have substantially worked with the reviewer in the past few years, and in particular, this should not be someone who has already reviewed or otherwise contributed to the manuscript. To the best of your  knowledge,  reviewers  should  not  have  conflicts  (financial,  personal) which would interfere with their objectivity. Selected scientist(s) will be invited to act as reviewer(s).

Copyright

It is a condition of publication that manuscripts submitted to GaBI Journal have not been and will not be simultaneously submitted or published elsewhere. By submitting a manuscript, the authors agree that the copyright of their article is transferred to the publisher if and when the article is accepted for publication. The authors are required to sign a ‘Copyright Transfer’ form at time of manuscript submission.

Authorship and contributorship

Authorship decisions and contributor disclosures are explicit ways of assigning responsibility, giving credit for intellectual work and ensuring transparency. Most journals have adopted the ICJME guidelines, which state that author- ship credit should be based on the following criteria:

  • Authors are those who made a significant contribution to (a) the study concept and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (b) drafting/revising the manuscript for important intellectual content; and (c) approval of the final version to be published
  • Authors must meet all three criteria
  • All other persons making contributions that do not meet all three criteria should be acknowledged, typically by degree, academic or business affiliation, and specific contributions

Further information is available from: doi/full/10.1185/03007995.2010.499344

Preparation of manuscripts

Manuscripts should be submitted in Microsoft Word file including tables and figures, typewritten as straight text only (except Latin words), with double line spacing and all pages of the manuscript should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the title page, to facilitate the editorial process. The text should not cover more than 40,000 characters with spaces (approximately 5,300 words) unless otherwise agreed.

Requirements for manuscripts are in accordance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals*. Please do not use footnote or endnote features. Manuscripts should be arranged in the following order:

Title page
Title of the article (maximum 25 words): the title should be concise, objective, comprehensive and informative; and may be expanded by means of subtitle.

Author(s) (maximum 12) and institutional affiliations: surnames and initials of all authors (or of only the first six), highest academic degree. The names of the department(s) and institution should be attributed.

Address for correspondence: professional title, name of the author, name of department, name of university/institution, full postal address in the format of street number, street name, zip code, city, country (with no punctuation), telephone and fax numbers, email, address of the corresponding author who can be reached during office hours.

Introductory sentence (maximum 30 words): this is required for the contents page.

Running title (maximum 12 words): short running title for use in subsequent pages, if the original title is longer than the maximum.

Disclaimers, if any.

Source(s) of support: in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or all of these.

Word counts: word count of title, introductory sentence, running title, abstract, keywords, text and acknowledgements are required.

Figures and tables: indicate the number of figures and tables attached to the manuscript.

Manuscript
Manuscripts normally contain the following, as appropriate:
Abstract (maximum 250 words for review article, meta-analysis and original research): to attract reader’s attention, a structured abstract that adequately describes the work and highlights its significance. The abstract should include only text. Avoid the use of abbreviations and citations. This should be provided in the format: Introduction/Study Objectives, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion and Funding Sources.
Keywords: three to six keywords should be provided in alpha order. Please do not use footnote or endnote features.
Text: the most used division of sections is: Introduction/Study Objectives, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion. Organise manuscript text into sections generally matching abstract sections. Abbreviations should be kept to a minimum and defined when first introduced. Do not abbreviate diseases or conditions, e.g. MI. Use generic drug names.
Acknowledgement(s): this has three components.

  1. Contributors: list those (medical writers, proofreaders and editors) who contributed to the manuscript but do not meet the criteria for authorship. The editors reserve the right to request a letter of agreement from those listed in the Acknowledgement section. If you cite individuals (rather than groups) in any Acknowledgement, you will be asked to provide written approval from each for including their name(s) when the manuscript is accepted for publication.
  2. Funders: include all funding sources, grants, and other financial support received for the work represented in the manuscript both internal and external, institutional and industry. Include the granting institution and grant number if relevant.
  3. Prior presentations: include the name and date of any conference at which the paper was presented.

Others: authors are encouraged to add a summary paragraph on how they would explain the information in their manuscript to patients, how the patient can utilise this information, or how the information is related to patients. The information will be published in the ‘For patients’ section of the journal.

Reference style and format
Number references consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in text, tables and legends by Arabic numerals in square brackets. Only papers closely related to the authors’ work should be cited. Exhaustive lists should be avoided. Please follow the style given in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals*, see citation example listed below. List all authors when there are six or fewer, when there are seven or more, list the first six and add ‘et al.’ Authors’ names (initials preceded by surname, no periods after initials), complete title of the article, name of journal (abbreviate according to Index Medicus or the list of Journals Indexed for MEDLINE, posted by NLM), year/month, volume, issue, page numbers. Include the city and publisher’s name for books. Authors must double-check the completeness and accuracy of all references because errors in the references are a common cause of delays in publishing accepted manuscripts.

Examples of reference style
Articles: Class JN, Langis L. A patient-centred paradigm for the biosimilars market. Generics and Biosimilars Initiative Journal. 2012;1(1):17-21. doi:10.5639/gabij.2012.0101.006
Books: Fleiss JL. Statistical Methods for Rates and Proportions. New York: John Wiley and Sons; 1981:165-8.
Websites: GaBI Online – Generics and Biosimilars Initiative. Merck enters biosimilars deal with Korea’s Hanwha [www.gabionline.net]. Mol, Belgium: Pro Pharma Communications International; [cited 2011 Jun 23]. Available from: www. gabionline.net/Biosimilars/News/Merck-enters-biosimilars-deal-with-Korea-s-Hanwha

Abstracts and letters must be identified as such. Papers in press and papers already submitted for publication may be included in the list of references. No citation is required for work that is not yet submitted for publication.

Pictures, graphics, figures and tables
Figures should be submitted in high resolution PDF, TIFF or JPEG format with maximum quality (minimum 300 dpi) in black and white (colour figures are accepted with extra charge). Figures should be numbered consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text. Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends for illustrations, not on the illustrations themselves. If a figure has been published before, permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material must be obtained and the original source acknowledged. Tables should each be submitted likewise in a separate file. Number tables consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each. All non-standard abbreviations should be explained.

Units of measurement
Measurements of length, height, weight, and volume should be reported in metric units (metre, kilogram, or litre) or their decimal multiples. Temperatures should be given in degrees Celsius. Blood pressures should be given in millimetres of mercury. All haematological, clinical chemistry, and other measurements should be reported in the metric system in terms of the International System of Units (SI). The symbol L for litre is recommended in order to avoid the risk of confusion between the letter l and the number 1.

Abbreviations and symbols
Use only standard abbreviations. Avoid abbreviations in the title, abstract and introductory sentence. The spelled-out abbreviation followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis should be used on first mention unless it is a standard unit of measurement, and except for e.g., i.e., etc., and vs (between figures/numbers).

Statement of Informed Consent

Authors are required to ensure the following guidelines are followed, as recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Ethical Considerations in the Conduct and Reporting of Research: Privacy and Confidentiality, and Protection of Human Subjects and Animals in Research.

Patients and Study Participants
Patients have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent. Identifying information, including names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that an identifiable patient be shown the manuscript to be published. Authors should disclose to these patients whether any potential identifiable material might be available via the Internet as well as in print after publication. Patient consent should be written and archived either with the journal, the authors, or both, as dictated by local regulations or laws.

All authors obtain written patient consent and that this be archived by the author and available for inspection for a period of at least three years.

A written statement should be included in the manuscript that attests that the authors have obtained and archived written patient consent.

Nonessential identifying details should be omitted. Informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt that anonymity can be maintained. For example, masking the eye region in photographs of patients is inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should provide assurance, and editors should so note, that such alterations do not distort scientific meaning. 

Research Ethics

Protection of human subjects and animals in research
When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (5). If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

Permissions

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to include any copyrighted materials from the author and publisher for the use of quotes, illustrations, tables, and other materials taken from previously published works not in the public domain. The letters of permission should accompany the manuscript. The original source should be mentioned in the figure caption or table footnote.

Conflict of interest disclosure

At time of submission, the manuscript must be accompanied by the Conflict of Interest Disclosure statement which is available from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), or click here to download the Conflict of Interest Disclosure statement. Each author must disclose and describe any affiliations or financial arrangements or relationships with any company whose product appears prominently in the manuscript, or with any company making a competing product, or with the organisation that sponsored the research. Authors should also state that they have full control of all primary data and that they agree to allow the journal to review their data if requested. Disclosure must be included in the text of the manuscript, and such information will not influence the editorial decision.

GaBI Journal abides by the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals* outlined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Available from: www.icmje.org/index.html

Comment

GaBI Journal welcomes informed scientific debate. Comments are a personal opinion. If you would like to comment on issues raised by any of GaBI Journal’s editorial articles, please contact the editorial office.

Please refer to the respective editorial sections under ‘Instructions for Authors’ at www.gabi-journal.net for submission instructions.

*Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. JAMA. 1997 Mar 19;277(11):927-34 and Med Educ. 1999;33(1):66-78.

Independent Editorial Services

A properly written manuscript in English is the first criterion to enter the review process. GaBI Journal’s team of editors offer authors the opportunity to have their manuscripts reviewed by a native English-speaking Science Editor for independent language editing prior to submission. Authors interested in this voluntary and paid service should contact the editorial office for further details.

Last update: 2020-07-22 Go Back Print

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