Instructions for authors
• Medycyna Paliatywna/Palliative Medicine is a quarterly journal of the Polish Association of Palliative Medicine addressed to doctors of various fields of medicine who take care of patients with incurable and life-limiting diseases. Major topics of the journal include symptomatic treatment, pain control and control of other clinical problems related to chronic, progressing and devastating diseases. The journal also discusses ethical issues and organisational problems concerning palliative diseases.
• The journal publishes: original papers, short reports, review papers, case reports, letters to the Editor, chronicle notes and reports of conferences/meetings and book reviews. The articles are published in Polish or English.
• Manuscripts should be submitted online via the Editorial System:

http://www.editorialsystem.com/mp/login/

All papers to be published in the journal are reviewed in a double-blind review process (the authors and reviewers are anonymous to each other).
Detailed rules of paper reviewing are presented on the website of the journal (http://www.termedia.pl/Czasopismo/Medycyna_Paliatywna-59/Info); these rules comply with the guidelines of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (http://www.nauka.gov.pl/).
Everyone listed as the author of the paper is responsible for reliability and completeness of data presented in the work. Do not submit manuscripts which repeat in full or in part articles already published.
The layout of articles presenting results of clinical trials regarding drugs and medical procedures should meet the recommendations published previously by the CONSORT Group (Moher D. et al., Ann Intern Med 2001; 134: 657–662). The authors are expected to provide an exhaustive description of the methods of funding the trial and the role of the sponsor in planning, executing and analysis of outcomes and of the impact of the funding institution on the contents of the manuscript.
Regardless of the topic of the work, the text should use international names of the drugs.
Meta-analysis of observational studies in epidemiology should be prepared on the basis of the MOOSE recommendations (Stroup D.F. et al., JAMA 2000; 283: 2008-2012). Recommendations of the QUOROM group should be used in meta-analysis of randomised trials (Moher D. et al., Lancet 1999; 354: 1896-1900). Directions on how to prepare works as to diagnostic accuracy studies are contained in the STARD standard (Bossuyt P.M. et al., Clin Chem 2003; 49: 7-18).
We expect that studies to be published meet the requirements of the Declaration of Helsinki (1989). Information on the approval of the respective ethics committee and informed consent of patients to participate in the study should be given in the Material and methods section of each manuscript in which diagnostic or therapeutic intervention is not a part of the standard procedure.
Authors of case reports are obliged not to disclose personal data of patients and for photographs, written consent of the patient to publication of his/her image should be always obtained. Having read the manuscript and/or upon the reviewer’s suggestion, the Editors may ask the authors to provide the approval issued by the respective Ethics Committee.
The journal applies procedures to secure the original nature of the scientific publications in line with criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). Therefore, the contribution of each author must be specified, including who is the author of the study concept, assumptions, methods, study protocol etc. and also the affiliation of each author must be stated.
The Editors observe the highest standards of scientific publication and the cooperation with the authors is based on transparency of information on the actual contribution of persons/institutions in the development of the publication. All cases of ghost-writing and guest authorship will be subject to customary penalties as an indication of scientific misconduct.
Manuscript preparation
The manuscript should use 12-point fonts, be double-spaced throughout with 2.5 cm wide margins. The text should not be formatted.
The entire text of original and review articles (including tables, figures, references and supplementary material) should not be more than 24 pages. Case reports should not have more than 12 pages, and letters of the Editors, reports and reviews – not more than 3 pages. A short report of maximum 8 pages may contain maximum 2 figures or 2 tables, or 1 figure and 1 table, and 10 references.
• The title in Polish and English, full names of the authors, place of work of the authors, and the address (including email address) of the corresponding author should be stated in respective sections in the Editorial System when submitting the manuscript.
• The abstract in Polish and English of 200-250 words, and for review papers and case reports – maximum 150 words, should be submitted via the system. The abstract of the original paper should be structured as follows and contain: aims, material and methods, results and conclusions. 3–6 key words should be given in line with Index Medicus (Medical Subject Heading).
• The document containing the original paper submitted via the Editorial System should contain the text of the paper in the following order:
1) Introduction and aims: the introduction should be brief, if possible, and clearly state the research hypothesis and aims of the study.
2) Material and methods: the description of the study group or material should be detailed and contain all information necessary to assess the reliability of results obtained and/or make it possible to repeat the research experiment by others; the statistical analysis section should contain information on statistical tests and programmes used.
3) Results: Results that are directly related to the topic of the work should be given; it is advised to provide also tables and/or figures.
4) Discussion.
5) Conclusions: They should be concise and be drawn only from the results presented and also respond to the aim of the work stated in the introduction.
6) Acknowledgements: These should provide information on the sources of funding (grant numbers); acknowledgements should be addressed to persons who had a significant contribution to the work. Consent of each person whose name is given in the article should be obtained. Authors should reveal here any financial and other relationships and provide potential sources of conflict of interest in relation to the submitted article.
7) References: References should be given in the order in which they appear in the body text. The references should be given in square brackets with a space between a comma and a consecutive number e.g. [3, 4, 8]. The authors are obliged to check the accuracy of the citing. If there are more than four authors, the names of the first three are to be given, followed by “et al.”. Abbreviated journal titles as per Index Medicus should be given.
Example references:
Journal article: Sorge J, Sittl R. Transdermal buprenorphine in the treatment of chronic pain: results of a phase III, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study. Clin Ther 2004; 26: 1808-1820.
Book: Jarosz J. Medycyna paliatywna – rozważania ogólne.
In: Medycyna bólu. Dobrogowski J, Worliczek J (eds). Wydawnictwo Lekarskie PZWL, Warsaw 2004; 355-356.
8) Tables: Tables (one table per page) should be numbered using Arabic numerals in the order they appear in the text. The place of the table should be indicated. Information in the tables should not duplicate content in the text. Explanations to the table, e.g. expansion of abbreviations is given in the footnote underneath the table.
9) Figures: Figures should be numbered and saved as .jpg, .bmp or .tif files. Photographs sent in the electronic format should have a resolution of 300 dpi and be saved as. tif or .jpg files. The place of the photograph in the text should be indicated. If the figure (photograph) was already published, the source should be stated and written consent of the copyright holder to re-publication should be obtained.
Abbreviations should always be explained at first mention (this also applies to abstracts). Other than in exceptional situations, abbreviations should not be used in the title of the paper or titles of sections.
Authors are obliged to submit the manuscript and attach:
• cover letter containing a representation to the effect that: 1) all authors listed have read the manuscript and approved its submission for publication; 2) the head of the institution in which the work has been prepared accepts its submission for publication; the cover letter should be submitted via the Editorial System;
• completed publication agreement which transfers copyrights to the Publisher and contains the authors’ representation to the effect that: 1) they hold full copyrights to the work, including rights or licences to publish all photographs, figures and tables etc. contained in the work; 2) they have not transferred copyrights to the work to any other entity and they have not granted any licence to publish the work to any entity; 3) the article is original and free from legal defects; 4) the article has not published yet; 5) the agreement does not violate any third party rights, including rights of the institution that employs the authors or institutions the authors collaborate with on any legal basis. The authors declare no conflict of interest or disclose a potential conflict.
A model agreement is available on the website of the journal. It can be also downloaded via the Editorial System when submitting the manuscript. A completed and signed copy of the agreement should be submitted via the Editorial System or sent by facsimile or post to the Publisher’s address.
Compliance with these requirements is a prerequisite to publish the paper in the journal. Submissions that do not comply will be returned to authors for revision.

Review process
Manuscripts submitted in line with the Rules of work publication are assessed by reviewers. The Editors select reviewers taking into account the topic presented in the article to be printed. Each paper is assessed by independent reviewers in a double-blind review process. The reviewer assesses the manuscript via the Editorial System on the basis of questions designed specifically for the title. The reviewer may also make additional comments on the text. The paper is accepted for publication after the Editor-in-Chief receives positive expert opinions.



ETHICAL STANDARDS AND PROCEDURES
Termedia Publishing House is committed to upholding standards of ethical behaviour at all stages of the publication process. We follow closely the industry associations, such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME) and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), that set standards and provide guidelines for best practices in order to meet these requirements.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF AUTHORS
The Author(s) is obliged to prepare and send the article in accordance with the requirements set out in the journal Editor. Moreover the Author(s) is obliged to submit editorial complemented by a statement which will be included: a statement about the originality of the content of the article (work not yet published anywhere), the integrity of the copyrights of others, no conflict of interest or its application, as well as the superior permission to publish an article in the journal. Authors are obliged to participate in peer review process. The Author(s) are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes, they also should provide a list of references.
Author(s) are responsible for disclosing all financial and personal relationships that might bias or be seen to bias their work.
Authors may, at any time before accepting the article for publication, withdraw the article by submitting a statement in the electronic system of the Editorial System.

AUTHORSHIP CRITERIA AND/OR WHO SHOULD BE LISTED AS A CONTRIBUTOR
Termedia Publishing House in the matter of authorship criteria and/or who should be listed as a contributor, respects standards recommended by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics). Detailed information about those criteria you can find in COPE Report publicationethics.org/files/2003pdf12_0.pdf.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF REVIEWERS
Articles are selected for publication in double blind selection system and published in open access system. Reviewer shall review by the electronic system on the basis of questions prepared for a specific title. It is also possible for a reviewer to send individual comments to be published in the article content.
All judgments and findings in the peer-review process should be objective. Reviewers should have no conflict of interest (they make a statement before proceeding to review.). Reviewers - if is a legitimate need - should point out relevant published work which is not yet cited, and reviewed by them articles should be treated confidentially prior to their publication.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF EDITORS
Editors are responsible for deciding which articles are accepted for publication. Editors act in a balanced, objective and fair way while carrying out their expected duties, without discrimination on grounds of gender, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, ethnic or geographical origin of the authors.
Publisher and Editors are always ready to publish corrections, clarifications, withdrawals and apologies if there is a legitimate need.
In the situation when there is a suspicion that an inappropriate research procedure described in the work sent by autors has taken place, the authors are obliged by the editorial office - if not yet submitted - to submit information regarding the approval of the described research procedure by a properly established ethics committee to conduct clinical trials.


Copyright: Journal allow the author(s) to hold the copyright and allow the author(s) to retain publishing rights. On the detailed information, please contact journals@termedia.pl.