ISSN 2618-4095
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Author Guidelines

• Scope and policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Sending of manuscripts

The journal AJRPT publishes original articles as well as methodological works, which include translations and validations, and case reports. If you wish to obtain more information, access the "information for authors" section.

The Argentinian Journal of Respiratory & Physical Therapy (AJRPT) accepts research studies in the field of respiratory and physical therapy, including clinical trials —basic or applied—, on the evaluation, prevention, and treatment of respiratory and motor disorders. Our Editorial Board is committed to disseminating high quality research articles in the field of respiratory and physical therapy.

Roles and responsibilities of authors and contributors

Who is an author?

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) has developed four criteria for authorship to reduce ambiguity regarding the definition of the roles of authors and contributors. The criteria are as follows:

1. Substantial contribution to the conception or design of the article, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.

2. Participation in the drafting of the research study or the critical revision of its intellectual content.

3. Involvement in the approval of the final version to be published.

4. Ability to take responsibility for all aspects of the article to ensure that issues related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the study are appropriately investigated and resolved.

In addition to being partially responsible for the study, an author must be able to identify that their co-authors are also authors. Authors should have confidence in the integrity of their co-authors' contributions.

Any person designated as an author must meet all four criteria that define authorship, and those who meet the criteria should be identified as authors. Individuals who do not meet the criteria should be acknowledged in the acknowledgments section. These criteria aim to reserve authorship status for those who deserve to be credited as authors and assume responsibility for the study.

The individuals conducting the study are responsible for identifying who meets these criteria, ideally during the planning phase, making appropriate modifications as the study progresses. It is the collective responsibility of the authors, not the journal to which the study is submitted, to determine that all individuals listed as authors meet the four criteria. If a request is made to add or remove an author after the manuscript has been submitted or published, the journal's editors will request an explanation and require all authors mentioned, including the one to be removed or added, to sign a statement in accordance with the requested change. For any additional guidance on this matter, it is important to note that AJRPT follows the guidelines provided by COPE.

The contributions made by each author in the research process should be systematically identified using the CRediT taxonomy (Contributor Roles Taxonomy).

On the title page of the manuscript (download the title page template here), authorship roles should be identified in the following order, with each author assigned to their respective role and omitting roles that are not applicable to their research:

Conceptualization: xxxxxx
Data curation: xxxxxx
Formal analysis: xxxxxx
Funding acquisition: xxxxxx
Investigation: xxxxxx
Methodology: xxxxxx
Project administration: xxxxxx
Resources: xxxxxx
Software: xxxxxx
Supervision: xxxxxx
Validation: xxxxxx
Visualization: xxxxxx
Writing - original draft: xxxxxx
Writing - review and editing: xxxxxx

Each role is defined as follows:
Conceptualization: Ideas; formulation or evolution of the research objectives and general goals.
Data curation: Management activities to annotate (produce metadata), clean up data, and maintain research data (including software code, when necessary for interpreting the data itself) for initial use and subsequent reuse.
Formal analysis: Application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other formal techniques to analyze or synthesize study data.
Funding acquisition: Acquisition of financial support for the project leading to this publication.
Investigation: Conducting research and investigation process, specifically performing experiments or collecting data/evidence.
Methodology: Development or design of the methodology; creation of models.
Project administration: Management and coordination responsibility for planning and executing research activity.
Resources: Provision of study materials, reagents, materials, patients, laboratory samples, animals, instrumentation, computer resources, or other analysis tools.
Software: Programming, software development; design of computer programs; implementation of computer code and supporting algorithms; testing of existing code components.
Supervision: Supervision and leadership responsibility in planning and executing research activities, including external mentoring of the core team.
Validation: Verification, either as part of the activity or separately, of the general replicability/reproducibility of the research results/experiments and other research products.
Visualization: Preparation, creation, or presentation of the published study, specifically the visualization/presentation of data.
Writing - original draft: Preparation, creation, or presentation of the published study, specifically the initial drafting (including substantive translation).
Writing - review and editing: Preparation, creation, or presentation of the published study by the original research group members, specifically critical review, commentary, or revision - including pre- or post-publication stages.

Additionally, on the main page, any editorial contribution made by external organizations, individuals, funding bodies, or individuals employed by funding sources should also be acknowledged.

The corresponding author is the person who assumes responsibility for communication with the journal's editorial office during manuscript submission, peer review, and the editorial process. They are generally responsible for ensuring that all administrative requirements with the journal and details regarding authorship, ethical committee approval, clinical trial registration, and declaration of conflicts of interest are completed correctly, although these functions may be delegated to one or more co-authors. Throughout the submission and peer review process, the corresponding author should be available to respond to queries in a timely manner and, after publication, to address criticisms of the study and cooperate with anycorrections or retractions if necessary.

Non-author contributors

Contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship but have made significant contributions to the research or the manuscript should be acknowledged in the acknowledgments section. This may include individuals who provided technical assistance, guidance, or valuable discussions but did not meet the criteria for authorship.

Examples of activities that, by themselves (without other contributions), do not qualify a contributor as an author include: funding acquisition, general supervision of a research group, administrative support, assistance during writing, technical editing, translation, or proofreading. These contributions can be specified (for example, as scientific advisors, critical reviewers of the study proposal, data collection, providing participants, or attending to patients included in the study, participating in the writing or technical editing of the article).

Unclear authorship criteria become evident in various circumstances and at different stages of the evaluation process and can lead to the suspension of the review process or even rejection of the article. Among the main problems identified, the following can be listed:

• Authors who request changes in the order of appearance without the consent of the other authors.

• Authors who include co-authors without notifying them or seeking their consent.

• Authors who discover that their name was included in an article once it has already been published, without having given their consent.

• Authors who discover that their name was not included in the publication and was removed by the corresponding author without seeking their consent.

• Ghost authors: They can be nonexistent individuals created to be listed as authors or individuals who meet the authorship criteria but are not listed as authors.

• Ghost writers: Individuals who have written the study but are not listed as authors. If a professional writer has participated in the article, whether they meet the criteria for authorship depends on the authorship criteria applied.

• Guest author: Authors who lend their name without having participated in the research.

Plagiarism detection

According to the policy of the journal, manuscripts must be original (drafted by the individuals who are listed as authors) and unpublished (not previously published in printed or digital format). To ensure academic integrity and prevent plagiarism, the journal implements a set of strategies to avoid plagiarism in publications as recommended by the COPE guidelines.

Authors are required to refrain from committing plagiarism, which is defined as the appropriation of texts from other authors without their consent and without properly citing the source, even in cases where explicit permission has been obtained from the original authors. Additionally, authors are expected to avoid the inclusion of substantial parts of their own previously published works in the submitted texts, ensuring that there is no more than a 20% overlap between a previous text and the proposed work.

The plagiarism check process is carried out during peer review. The journal's editors use an anti-plagiarism software tool (iThenticate) to analyze each article. If similarities exceeding 20% are detected, the article undergoes a thorough evaluation. The report generated by iThenticate is reviewed by the editors, who contact the authors to inform them about the percentage of plagiarism if it is deemed unacceptable. After this control process, the editors send a report to the author, which may result in the definitive rejection of the article or, alternatively, provide an opportunity to rewrite the work, properly citing the sources of the identified plagiarized texts. Please refer to the steps proposed by COPE in case a possible plagiarism is detected during the review process in the following link.

PEER-REVIEW PROCESS

The evaluation process is carried out under the protection of confidentiality, for which both the reviewers and the authors are unaware of their respective identities (double blind).

Based on the opinions issued by external reviewers, the articles may be accepted for publication, rejected, or their publication is subject to compliance by the authors with the modifications requested by the reviewers.

In case modifications are requested, authors must rework their papers and submit them within the indicated deadline to be re-evaluated. Each evaluation will have two double-blind evaluations. In case of controversy between the opinions, the editorial committee will resolve the decision based on the arguments given by the evaluators and the possibility of resorting to a third evaluation. Those articles that do not comply with the editorial guidelines of the journal will not be accepted for evaluation.

CONDUCT AND BEST PRACTICES 

AJRPT adheres to the code of conduct and best practices established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to ensure the quality of the articles published and properly address the needs of both readers and authors.

To publish in AJRPT, a submission must include the following files:

- Cover Letter: Authors are required to send a cover letter describing how their study contributes to the field of respiratory and physical therapy and highlighting its clinical and/or scientific value. For guidelines, please click on Cover Letter.

- Conflict of Interest: Authors are required to submit a conflict-of-interest disclosure. To download the conflict-of-interest disclosure form, please click here.

- Title page: For guidelines, please click here. 

- Manuscript: To download a manuscript template, please click on original article, case report, or systematic review.     

- Figure/s: The combined number of figures and tables must not exceed 5 (for example, 3 tables and 2 figures). Surplus figures and tables may be included as "Supplementary Material". Click here to see guidelines for figures. 

- Supplementary material (if applicable). Supplementary material (for example, informed consent, ethics committee approval, figures, tables, protocols) may be included in a single word document.  

AJRPT highly recommends that health researchers use reporting guidelines while writing their manuscripts. The most commonly used reporting guidelines are available at the EQUATOR network website [www.equator-network.org]. Authors are required to follow the reporting guidelines for their specific study design and ensure that their manuscript addresses the reporting criteria. Complying with these basic requirements may greatly improve the value of their manuscript, facilitate/improve the peer-review process, and enhance their publication chances in AJRPT. For guidelines, click here.

Read before proceeding:

The combined number of figures and tables must not exceed 5 (for example, 3 tables and 2 figures). Surplus figures and/or tables may be included as "Supplementary Material". 

Figures must be attached in separate files in JPG, PNG or TIFF.

Manuscripts must be submitted as a Microsoft Word file (.doc or .docx).

Manuscripts must follow this order: title, abstract, quick look, main body, references, figure legends, figure contents, and tables.

Manuscripts must include line numbers. 

The content of the manuscript must agree with the content of the metadata.

The text of the manuscript must not exceed 4000 words (excluding abstract, keywords, references, figure/s, table/s, and quick look). Download template here.  

Title

The full title must be in Spanish and English and agree with the title page. 

Abstract

The abstract must not exceed 250 words. It must summarize the major aspects of the entire study. Findings not appearing in the main body should not be included in the abstract. 

If applicable, the abstract should include the ClinicalTrials.gov registration number. Submit 2 versions: in Spanish and English. The abstract must be structured according to the following sections:  

• Objective

• Materials and method

• Results

• Conclusion

• Keywords: List six keywords that represent the essence of your manuscript so that it may be included in national and international biomedical databases. Keywords may be selected from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) thesaurus of Index Medicus, produced by the National Library of Medicine, available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh, or from the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) thesaurus, produced by the Virtual Health Library, available at http://decs.bvs.br/E/homepagee.htm. Keywords must be written in lowercase and separated with a comma. 

Click here to see a tutorial video on identifying keywords.

Quick Look

The Quick Look section in AJRPT provides readers with a concise message of the study.
The Quick Look section has two headings: the first is Current Knowledge and the second is What this study contributes to our knowledge.

Include the Quick Look section under the heading Quick Look at the beginning of your manuscript, between the title and the abstract.

Current knowledge

Write 2-4 declarative sentences summarizing current understanding of the topic being studied. Think of it as defining the state of the art.

- State the current evidence on the subject, by providing clear declarative statements.
- Do not ask a question.
- Do not state what is not known or that a topic requires further research.

What this study contributes to our knowledge
Write 2-4 declarative sentences summarizing the main message of the study. Use past tense. Provide only information supported by the data.
- Describe the main findings.
- Describe the environment (for example, a laboratory model).
- Write statements that can be understood without re-reading the data.
- Do not overstate the importance of your findings or speculate (for example, due to improved oxygenation, the technique might reduce mortality [speculation]).
- Do not include statistics or numerical data.
- Do not suggest further research.
The Editors reserve the right to edit the Quick Look section for accuracy, style, and length.

Example of Quick Look

Current knowledge
Orotracheal extubation (OTE) may be associated with different complications. The literature describes two OTE methods: the traditional technique and the positive pressure technique. Laboratory studies have suggested extubation with positive pressure. Some studies have reported clinical results with this technique.
What this paper contributes to our knowledge

The positive pressure OTE technique without endotracheal suction, compared with the traditional technique, showed no higher incidence of complications. Therefore, it could be performed in intensive care units.

Main body

The main body must not exceed 4000 words and must include the following 5 sections:

Introduction. Specify what has been studied and why. It must include a theoretical framework, literature review, grounds, and objective.

Materials and method. Describe how the study has been conducted. This section should provide enough details to allow the reader to judge the study's validity and replicate it. Indicate design, environment, duration, population, ethics and research committee approval, ClinicalTrial.gov registration number (if applicable), eligibility criteria, sampling method, variable operationalization, assessment procedures, data collection method, interventions, and statistical analysis. For statistical analysis and reporting guidelines, click here. 

Results. Report the findings of your study. This section includes the outcome of the study, without bias or interpretation or elements belonging to other sections. It is the shortest but most important section. Use past tense (passive voice is preferred). Report results from the general (e.g., sample characteristics) to the specific (e.g., primary and secondary outcomes). Be neutral, without bias or interpretation. Avoid redundancy, i.e., do not present the same data in a table and the text.

Discussion. Interpret your study findings. In this section, include your study findings, interpretation of findings and their connection with the literature, limitations and strengths, suggestions for further research, and possible implications.

Conclusion. This section provides a clear and concise answer to the primary objective of your study.

References

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references.
A reference superscript number is inserted into the text immediately next to the term or statement being cited, with no space in between. If the reference number is used at the end of a sentence, the superscript number should be inserted after the period. Do not use parentheses. Non-correlative reference numbers must be separated with a comma. 

For example, “as reported in the literature.1,2,5,7 ”

In the case of 3 or more correlative reference numbers, write the first and last, separated with a dash. 

For example, “ as reported in the literature. 1-6 ”

Reference list must be numbered consecutively in the order they are first mentioned in the text. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered following the order established by the first identification in the text of the table or figure.
Include updated references and, preferably, the most relevant sources published in the past five years. Do not include unpublished sources. If possible, include direct references to the original sources. Authors, editors, or reviewers should not use references to promote their own interests.

References must conform to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors´ (ICMJE) recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals.
Click here to see a to see a tutorial video on identifying the correct reference format, as required by AJRPT.  

Include up to six authors. If more than six authors are included, list the first six and “et al”, except if there is a total of 7 authors. In that case, list all 7.

Titles must be abbreviated in accordance with the List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus, provided by the National Library of Medicine, available at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals.  

Some examples are provided below. For further examples, visit https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html. 

Printed articles

Dellinger RP, Vincent JL, Silva E, Townsend S, Bion J, Levy MM. Surviving sepsis in developing countries. Crit Care Med. 2008; 36 (8): 2487-8.

Levy MM, Vincent JL, Jaeschke R, Parker MM, Rivers E, Beale R, et al. Surviving Sepsis Campaign: Guideline Clarification. Crit Care Med. 2008; 36 (8): 2490-1.

Digital articles

Buerke M, Prondzinsky R. Levosimendan in cardiogenic shock: better than enoximone! Crit Care Med [Internet]. 2008 [cited 2008 Aug 23]; 36 (8): 2450-1. Available from: http://www.ccmjournal.com/en/re/ccm/abstract.00003246-200808000-00038.htm

Hecksher CA, Lacerda HR, Maciel MA. Características e evolução dos pacientes tratados com drotrecogina alfa e outras intervenções da campanha "Sobrevivendo à Sepse" na prática clínica. Rev Bras Ter Intensiva [Internet]. 2008[citado 2008 Ago 23; 20(2): 135- 43. Available at: http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rbti/v20n2/04.pdf

Cochrane database articles

Mayfield S, Jauncey-Cooke J, Hough JL, Schibler A, Gibbons K, Bogossian F. High-flow nasal cannula therapy for respiratory support in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014. 7; 3: CD009850.

Supplementary material

Walker LK. Use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for preoperative stabilization of congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Crit Care Med. 1993; 21 (Supp. 1): S379-S380.

Letters

Haynes JM. Expiratory reserve volume maneuver may be the preferred method for some patients during spirometry testing (letter). Respir Care 2013; 58 (2): e14-e15. author response: e15.

Books

Doyle AC. Biological mysteries solved. 2nd ed. London: Science Press; 1991. Book chapters Lachmann B, van Daal GJ. Adult respiratory distress syndrome: animal models. In: Robertson B, van Golde LM. Pulmonary surfactant. 2nd ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1992. p. 635-66.

Published abstracts

Varvinski AM, Findlay GP. Immediate complications of central venous cannulation in ICU [abstract]. Crit Care. 2000; 4 (Suppl 1): P6. Articles in the press Giannini A. Visiting policies and family presence in ICU: a matter for legislation? Intensive Care Med. In press 2012.

Figure legends

Although each figure is submitted as a separate file, figure legends must be embedded in the text of the manuscript.

Every figure must include a legend explaining every component of the figure and any abbreviations. The legend should be self-sufficient and allow the reader to understand the figure without referring to the text.

For example,
Figure 1. Flow diagram. ICU: intensive care unit; IMCU: intermediate care unit; ER: emergency room; MW: medical ward; E1: evaluation 1; E2: evaluation 2; E3: evaluation 3; E4: evaluation 4.

Legends are placed at the end of the manuscript, after reference list. 

Figure content

In order to facilitate edition, it is important to include in this section all the textual content of each figure. 

For example,

Content of Figure 1: 

- 253 ICU/IMCU/ER Subjects
- 123 Deaths 
- 14 Transfers 
- 116 ICU/IMCU/ER Subjects
- 36 admitted to MW
- 8 Continue hospitalization
- 5 Lost-to-follow up
- 18 followed-up subjects 

Figure content must be at the end of the manuscript after Figure Legend.

Table/s

Each table must be embedded in the text of the manuscript in an editable format (not as an image) .
Tables must have a title, be self-sufficient and allow readers to understand the table without referring to the text. Tables should be numbered and mentioned consecutively in the text, Table 1, Table 2, etc. Any abbreviations and symbols must be explained in footnotes at the bottom of the table. For footnotes use the following symbols, superscripted, in the following order: *, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, **, ††.  Tables must be at the end of the manuscript, after the textual content of the figures. The combined number of figures and tables must not exceed 5 (for example, 3 tables and 2 figures). Surplus figures and tables may be included as "Supplementary Material".

Abbreviations

Units of measurement. Use the decimal system, in which commas are used for decimal numbers (e.g.: 2,05). Use spaces, not commas, to separate thousands (e.g.: 1 000 000), except in thousand units < 10 000 (e.g. 9875).

Abbreviations, initials, acronyms, and symbols. Avoid their use in title and abstract. Only standard units of measurement may be abbreviated without need to be defined. Abbreviations in the abstract or main body must be preceded by the complete term, unless it is an international standard measurement unit. For example: cmH2O, ml, kg, etc. Abbreviate only if a terms appears more than 5 times in the main body of the manuscript.

To start the submission process, you must be registered. If you are a first-time user, click here to register.  

Copyright Notice

Authors who publish in this journal accept the following conditions:

- Authors retain all moral and economic rights to their works, assigning only the right of first publication to AJRPT. Consequently, the authors may make other independent and additional contractual agreements for the distribution of the article or text.

- Authors will retain their copyright and accept AJRPT's distribution license, which is Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike License.

- Authors may make other independent and additional contractual arrangements for the distribution of the version of the article published in this journal (e.g., inclusion in an institutional repository or publication in a book) as long as they clearly indicate that the work was first published in this journal.

- Authors are allowed and encouraged to publish their work on the Internet (e.g., on institutional or personal pages) only once they are published in AJRPT, as it may lead to productive exchanges and faster and wider dissemination.

Before initiating the submission of your article, you need to have a username and password to access the platform. If you don't have these credentials, register by clicking [here]. If you already have a username and password, log in to the system [here].

After logging in, you will be directed to the "Submissions" screen. Click on "New submission" located on the right side of the screen to start the process of uploading your article.

You will be guided through a five-step process. For detailed guidance on these steps, refer to the "Step-by-Step Guide".

Before starting the submission, it is recommended to review the section "How to Prepare Your Article" to ensure the correct presentation of your work.