Reports of Practical Oncology and Radiotherapy (RPOR)is an interdisciplinary bimonthly journal, publishing original contributions in clinical oncology and radiotherapy, as well as in radiotherapy physics, techniques and radiotherapy equipment.

Review process

Manuscripts are evaluated on the basis that they present new insights to the investigated topic, are likely to contribute to a research progress or change in clinical practice or in thinking about a disease. It is understood that all authors listed on a manuscript have agreed to its submission. The signature of the corresponding author on the letter of submission signifies that these conditions have been fulfilled.

Received manuscripts are first examined by the RPOR editors. Manuscripts with insufficient priority for publication are rejected promptly. Incomplete packages or manuscripts not prepared in the advised style will be sent back to authors without scientific review. The authors are notified with the reference number upon manuscript registration at the Editorial Office. The registered manuscripts are sent to independent experts for scientific evaluation. We encourage authors to suggest the names of possible reviewers, but we reserve the right of final selection. The evaluation process usually takes 1-3 weeks. Submitted papers are accepted for publication after a positive opinion of the independent reviewers.

Conflict of interest

Authors of research articles should disclose at the time of submission any financial arrangement they may have with a company whose product figures prominently in the submitted manuscript or with a company making a competing product. Such information will be held in confidence while the paper is under review and will not influence the editorial decision, but if the article is accepted for publication, the editors will usually discuss with the authors the manner in which such information is to be communicated to the reader.

Because the essence of reviews and editorials is selection and interpretation of the literature, RPOR expects that authors of such articles will not have any financial interest in a company (or its competitor) that makes a product discussed in the article.

RPOR policy requires that reviewers, co-editors, editorial board members reveal in a letter to the Editor-in-Chief any relationships that they have that could be construed as causing a conflict of interest with regard to a manuscript under review. The letter should include a statement of any financial relationships with commercial companies involved with a product under study.

Permissions

Materials taken from other sources must be accompanied by a written statement from both author and publisher giving permission to RPOR for reproduction. Obtain permission in writing from at least one author of papers still in press, unpublished data, and personal communications.

Patients confidentiality

Changing the details of patients in order to disguise them is a form of data alteration. However authors of clinical papers are obliged to ensure patients privacy rights. Only clinically or scientifically important data are permitted for publishing. Therefore, if it is possible to identify a patient from a case report, illustration or paper, Editors of RPOR ask for a written consent of the patient or his/her guardian to publish their data, including photograms prior to publication.

The description of race, ethnicity or culture of a study subject should occur only when it is believed to be of strong influence on the medical condition in the study. When categorizing by race, ethnicity or culture, the names should be as illustrative as possible and reflect how theses groups were assigned.

Disclaimer

Every effort is made by the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board of RPOR to see that no inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement appear in the Reports of Practical Oncology and Radiotherapy. However, they wish to make it clear that the data and opinions appearing in the articles and advertisements herein are the responsibility of the contributor, sponsor or advertiser concerned. Accordingly, the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board accept no liability whatsoever for the consequences of any such inaccurate of misleading data, opinion or statement. Every effort is made to ensure that drug doses and other quantities are presented accurately. Nevertheless, readers are advised that methods and techniques involving drug usage and other treatments described in RPOR, should only be followed in conjunction with the drug or treatment manufacturer's own published literature in the readers own country.

CRITERIA FOR MANUSCRIPTS

The Editorial Board of Reports of Practical Oncology and Radiotherapy takes under consideration for publication original articles with the understanding that neither the manuscript nor any part of its essential substance, tables or figures have been published previously in print form or electronically and are not under consideration by any other publication or electronic medium. This restriction does not apply to abstracts or press reports published in connection with scientific meetings. Copies of any closely related manuscripts should be submitted to the Editor along with the manuscript that is to be considered by RPOR

RPOR discourages the submission of more than one article dealing with related aspects of the same study.

Each submission packet should include the statement signed by the first author that the work has not been published previously or submitted elsewhere for review and a copyright transfer.

CATEGORIES OF ARTICLES

Accepted papers are published in the following journal sections:

• original papers (not more than 10 pages)
• review articles (not more than 8 pages)
• preliminary communications for rapid communication of preliminary data (not more than 4 pages)
• technical notes ( not more than 2 pages)
• letters to the Editor for comments on recent articles (not more than 1 page)
• case reports (not more than 8 pages)

PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPT

Guidelines for submission in Reports of Practical Oncology and Radiotherapy are in accordance with: Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (N Eng J Med, 1997; 336: 309-15).

Summary page

SUMMARY in structured form, not exceeding 250 words, should consist of four paragraphs labeled: Aim, Background, Materials and Methods, Results, Conclusion. Each summary section should begin on a new line and briefly describe, respectively, the purpose of the study, how the investigation was performed, the most important results and the principal conclusion that authors draw from the results.

KEY WORDS (3 to 6) or short phrases should be written at the bottom of the page including summary. The use of the items included in Index Medicus (Medical Subject Headings) is advised.

Text

The text of the article should be divided to eight paragraphs labeled: Background, Aim, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgements, References.

Background should contain scientific rationale and the general introduction to the article.

Aim should clearly describe of the study (in case of a review) purpose of the article.

Material and methods should describe clearly the selection of observational or experimental subjects (patients or laboratory animals) including controls, such as age, gender, inclusion and exclusion criteria, (the circumstances for rejection from the study should be clearly defined), randomization and masking (blinding) method.

The protocol of data acquisition, procedures, investigated parameters, methods of measurements and apparatus should be described in sufficient detail to allow other scientists to reproduce the results. Name and references to the established methods should be given. References and brief description should be provided for methods that have been published but are not well known, whereas new or substantially modified methods should be described in detail. The reasons for using them should be provided along with the evaluation of their limitations. The drugs and other chemicals should be precisely identified including generic name, dose and route of administration.

The statistical methods should be described in detail to enable verification of the reported results.

Provide information on patient's informed consent. Studies on patients and volunteers require informed consent documented in the text of the manuscript. Where there is any unavoidable risk of breach of privacy - e.g. in a clinical photograph or in case details - the patient's written consent to publication must be obtained and copied to the journal. Information on approval of a Local Ethical Committee should also be provided.

Results should concisely and reasonably summarize the findings. Restrict tables and figures to the number needed to explain the argument of the paper and assess its support. Do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Give numbers of observation and report exclusions or losses to observation such as dropouts from a clinical trial. Report treatment complications. The results should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables and illustrations. Do not repeat in the text all the data from the tables or graphs. Emphasize only important observations.

Discussion should deal only with new and/or important aspects of the study. Do not repeat in detail data or other material from the Background or the Results section. Include in the Discussion the implications of the findings and their limitations, including implications for future research. The discussion should confront the results of other investigations especially those quoted in the text.

Conclusions should be linked with the goals of the study. State new hypotheses when warranted. Include recommendations when appropriate. Unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by the obtained data should be avoided.

Acknowledgements

List all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship, such as technical assistants, writing assistants or head of department who provided only general support. Financial and other material support should be disclosed and acknowledged.

References

References must be numbered consecutively as they are cited. References selected for publication should be chosen for their importance, accessibility, and for the "further reading" opportunities they provide. References first cited in tables or figure legends must be numbered so that they will be in sequence with references cited in the text. The style of references is that of Index Medicus. List all authors when there are six or fewer; when there are seven or more, list the first three, then "et al.". The following are sample references:

Standard journal article
Lahita R, Kluger J, Drayer DE eta al: Antibodies to nuclear antigens in patients treated with procainamide or acetylprocainamide. N Engl J Med 1979;301:1382-85

Article with published erratum
Koffler D, Reidenberg MM: Antibodies to nuclear antigens in patients treated with procainamide or acetylprocainamide [published erratum appears in N Engl J Med 1979;302:322-5]. N Engl J Med 1979; 301: 1382-5.

Article in electronic form
Drayer DE, Koffler D: Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 1995 Jan-Mar [cited 1996 Jun 5];1(1):[24 screens]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/eid.htm.

Article, no author given

Cancer in South Africa [editorial]. S Afr Med J 1994;84:15

Book, personal author(s)
Ringsven MK, Bond D: Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996

Book, editor(s) as author
Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors: Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996

Book, Organization as author and publisher
Institute of Medicine (US). Looking at the future of the Medicaid program. Washington, The Institute, 1992.

Chapter in a book
Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP: Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York, Raven Press, 1995. p. 465-78

Conference proceedings
Kimura J, Shibasaki H, editors: Recent advances in clinical neurophysiology. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of EMG and Clinical Neurophysiology; 1995 Oct 15-19; Kyoto, Japan. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1996

Conference paper
Bengtsson S, Solheim BG: Enforcement of data protection, privacy and security in medical informatics. In: Lun KC, Degoulet P, Piemme TE, Rienhoff O, editors. MEDINFO 92. Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Medical Informatics; 1992 Sep 6-10; Geneva, Switzerland.

Avoid using abstracts or review papers as references. Unpublished observations and personal communications can not be used as references. If essential, such material may be incorporated in the appropriate place in the text.

Manuscripts must be accompanied by a covering letter signed by the first author. This must include:

1. information on prior or duplicate publication or submission elsewhere of any part of the work as defined earlier in this document;
2. a statement of financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest;
3. a statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, that the requirements for authorship as stated earlier in this document have been met, and that each author believes the manuscript represents honest work; and
4. the name, address, and telephone number of the corresponding author, who is responsible for communicating with the other authors about revisions and final approval of the proofs.

The letter should give any additional information that may be helpful to the Editor, such as the type of article in the particular journal that the manuscript represents and whether the author would be willing to meet the cost of reproducing color illustrations.

The manuscript must be accompanied by copies of any permission to reproduce published material, to use illustrations or report information about identifiable people, or to name people for their contributions.