Guidelines and Recommendations

Annali Italiani di Chirurgia advocates for biomedical and biological research which is complete and transparent, including applied biological research. The authors are recommended to adhere to the minimum reporting guidelines provided by the EQUATOR network and follow the guidelines of ‘Good Publication Practice’ outlined by COPE and ICMJE. These guidelines aim to ensure responsible and ethically sound publication of articles.

Furthermore, according to the ICMJE's ‘Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals’, we encourage authors, reviewers, and editors to follow the best practices and guidelines for ethical behavior in academic journal publishing.

Type of Study	Guideline	Checklist
Randomized Controlled Trials	CONSORT	CONSORT checklist
Observational Studies including Cohort, Case-Control, and Cross-Sectional Studies	STROBE	STROBE checklist
Systematic Review or Meta-Analysis	PRISMA	PRISMA checklist
Case Reports	CARE guidelines	CARE checklist
Animal Research	ARRIVE guidelines	ARRIVE checklist

The reporting guidelines for other types of studies can be found at https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/.

Submission of a manuscript to a journal of Annali Italiani di Chirurgia implies that all authors have read and agreed to its content and that the manuscript conforms to the journal’s policies.

Manuscript Categories

Article: An article, also known as original research or original article, refers to a research report on scientific experiments, trials, investigations, and so on. It typically includes the background, hypothesis, methods, and results of research, interpretation of the results, and value analysis of the findings. All articles are peer reviewed. A structured abstract (AIM, METHODS, RESULTS, CONCLUSIONS) is required, with the main text not exceeding 6,000 words and references not exceeding 80 items.

Case Report: A case report (including case series) is a detailed report regarding rare diseases or complications, and is used to describe the symptoms, signs, pathological characteristics, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of individual or minority cases. It aims to make other researchers aware of the possibility of specific phenomena occurring. The writing of case reports requires a structured abstract and should follow the CARE guidelines. Authors are encouraged to upload the CARE checklist as supplementary materials when submitting. All articles are peer reviewed. A structured abstract is required, with the main text not exceeding 2500 words and references not exceeding 45 items.

Review: A review refers to a summary and synthesis of existing literature in a particular research field, extracts useful information based on one or more issues, and analyzes the current status, trends, and research prospects in that area. Reviews take various forms, such as narrative review, descriptive review, and scoping review. All articles are peer reviewed. The main text should not exceed 8,000 words, with references not exceeding 150 items.

Systematic Review: A systematic review is a secondary study that strictly follows systematic methods. It aims to address a clearly defined research question by employing systematic, transparent, and reproducible approaches to comprehensively search, screen, evaluate, and synthesize existing primary studies. The objective is to provide an objective and unbiased summary of a specific research topic to support evidence-based decision-making and future research. A meta-analysis is a quantitative research method that is typically conducted within a systematic review. It employs statistical techniques to combine and quantify data from multiple independent but related studies, providing a more precise estimate of the overall effect. Meta-analysis integrates results from various studies through weight calculations, heterogeneity assessments, and sensitivity analyses, enhancing statistical power and reducing the impact of insufficient sample sizes in individual studies. All articles are peer reviewed.

For qualitative systematic reviews and meta-analyses, a structured abstract is required, with the main text not exceeding 8,000 words and references not exceeding 150 items. The PRISMA checklist or MOOSE checklist should be provided as supplementary materials. We encourage authors to register their qualitative systematic review and meta-analysis on public registration platforms such as PROSPERO before conducting the work, and to include the registration URL and number in the manuscript. 

Editorial: An editorial is typically written by invited editorial board members, senior editors, or expert scholars and offers reflections and insights on a specific issue, event, or societal hot topic, aiming to guide public opinion or call for action. It is usually theoretical, focusing on the author's viewpoints and presenting an independent conclusion, but should not contain unpublished research data. These articles are not usually peer reviewed. An abstract is not required, with the main text typically not exceeding 1,500 words and references not exceeding 15 items.

Letter: A letter is a concise form of communication intended to share brief scientific findings, observations, or academic perspectives. It serves to promote rapid exchange, scholarly discussion, and timely dissemination of ideas within the field. Letters do not require an abstract. This section primarily accepts two types of submissions: Comments and short reports.

(1) Comments: We welcome comments from readers on articles published in Annali Italiani di Chirurgia. Such submissions should be concise and focused, and will be forwarded to the authors of the original article, who may choose to respond. These articles are not usually peer reviewed. The main text should not exceed 1,000 words, with no more than 5 references.

(2) Short Reports: A brief communication presenting original data or findings. To ensure scientific rigor and credibility, short reports are subject to peer review, as with full-length original articles. These articles are peer reviewed. The main text should not exceed 1,500 words, with no more than 10 references and a maximum of 2 figures or tables.

Clinical Guideline: A clinical guideline refers to systematic recommendations formulated for specific clinical situations (such as how to diagnose, treat, or manage a medical condition) to assist healthcare professionals in making appropriate decisions. The development or revision of guidelines is usually conducted by multidisciplinary experts in accordance with relevant local or international guidelines, taking into account normativeness, credibility, and feasibility. Based on high-quality evidence, the guidelines provide standardized processes with clear and explicit recommendations. All articles are peer reviewed. An indicative abstract is recommended, with no limit on the main text length or the number of references.

Manuscript Preparation

Title page

• Manuscript title

• Author names

• Author affiliations including department (if applicable), institution, city, state/province (if applicable), ZIP code, country

• Clearly identified corresponding author with a valid email address

• ORCID ID(s) for each author (if available)

• Graphical abstract (if applicable)

• Relevant reporting guidelines required for the study (if applicable)

• Statements on data availability, author contributions, ethics approval and informed consent, funding, conflicts of interest, and acknowledgments

• Permissions for copyrighted materials, preprint information, notice of any redundant or duplicate publication, and any applicable disclaimers

Manuscript

Title

The title should be concise, clearly descriptive, and readily comprehensible. The use of Arabic numerals or puns is discouraged.

Abstract

The abstract should describe the main objectives of the study, highlight the most significant results and their implications, and effectively convey the key aspects of the article. References, hyperlinks, or formulas are not permitted.

The format of the abstract varies with the type of manuscript. Please prepare the abstract according to the requirements of the corresponding Manuscript Categories.

Clinical Trial Registration (if applicable)

Any research study involving the prospective assignment of human participants or groups to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes is considered a clinical trial. Authors should provide the name of the Clinical Trials Registry Platform and the clinical trial registration number (TRN) in the final line of the abstract.

Keywords

List 3–8 relevant keywords. We recommend drawing keywords from the MeSH.

Main Text

The main text of the manuscript should be organized according to the following structure: a) Introduction; b) Materials and Methods (or Case Presentation in a Case Report); c) Results; d) Discussion; e) Conclusions.

Availability of Data and Materials

This section should specify where and how the data supporting the results and analyses of the study can be accessed. If the article does not contain any data, please state “Not applicable.” For more details, see Data Sharing Policy.

Author Contributions

The individual contributions of each author to the manuscript should be clearly specified, with each author identified by their initials. For more details, see Authorship and Acknowledgments.

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

For studies involving humans or animals, detailed information on ethical approval must be provided, including the name of the ethics committee and the approval number. For more details, see Research Ethics.

Funding

All sources of funding, including financial support, must be disclosed. If the research was funded or supported by an organization or institution, the name of the funding body and the grant number should be specified.

Acknowledgment

List all individuals who assisted with the research, any support not covered in the Funding section, and all relevant disclaimers. For more details, see Authorship and Acknowledgments.

Conflict of Interest

All interests, funding, or employment that could inappropriately influence the integrity of the submission should be fully disclosed. For more details, see Conflict of Interest.

References

Authors are responsible for citing references accurately and should attest that the references cited support the associated statement. The reference list should accurately reflect the current state of knowledge in the field, maintain balance, and include citations from a diverse range of authors, sources, and schools of thought. Authors must avoid excessive and inappropriate self-citation or coordinated efforts among several authors to collectively self-cite.

The reference list must be organized in numerical order. It should include only those citations that are crucial to the presentation. In cases where the number of authors is less than six, the names of all authors should be listed. However, if there are more than six authors, the first six authors' names should be listed, followed by "et al." The standard journal title should be fully written out without any abbreviations, and page numbers should be specified. When referencing in the text, use the corresponding numerical [number] for each reference.

Examples of References:

(1) Journal:
① Less than 6 authors
[1] Costantino M. The rhinogenic deafness and SPA therapy: clinical-experimental study. La Clinica Terapeutica. 2008; 159: 311–315.

② More than 6 authors
[2] Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Research. 2002; 935: 40–46.

(2) Book:
[1] Dybvig DD, Dybvig M. Det tenkende mennesket: filosofiog vitenskapshistorie med vitenskapsteori. 2nd edn. Tapir akademisk forlag: Trondheim. 2003.
[2] Lang TA, Secic M. How to report statistics in medicine. American College of Physicians: Philadelphia. 1997.

(3) Patent:
[1] Myers K, Nguyen C, inventors; 3F Therapeutics, Inc., assignee. Prosthetic heart valve. USA: United States patent US 6,911,043. 28 June 2005.

(4) If there are non-English journals in the reference, please insert the journal language as the ending:
[1] Ellingsen AE, Wilhelmsen I. Sykdomsangst blant medisin- og jusstudenter. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2002; 122: 785–787. (In Norwegian)

(5) Website:
[1] Fugelsnes E. Oppvarmet støv kan gi økte helseplager. 2004. Available at: http://www.forskning.no/Artikler/2004/mars/1079517069.32 (Accessed: 1 April 2004).

Supplementary Materials

Supplementary materials (including but not limited to documents, videos, tables, figures, and datasets) must be submitted together with the manuscript, and each supplementary file should have a concise, descriptive title.

All supplementary materials should be cited sequentially in the main text, with in-text citations corresponding exactly to their file names. All supplementary files will undergo peer review and be published online alongside the article.

Abbreviations

All acronyms and abbreviations used in the manuscript should be defined upon their first appearance in the abstract, main text, and figures or tables. Each abbreviation should be given in parentheses immediately after its first definition and used consistently throughout the manuscript.

Examples of Abbreviations:

Main content: Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is acknowledged as the primary complication associated with tibial plateau fractures (TPFs), necessitating the implementation of preventive measures such as physical exercise.

Figure/Table notes: MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; LCS, laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Figures and Tables

• Images must be saved and submitted as separate files, with a resolution of no less than 300 dpi.

• Figures and tables should be cited sequentially in the main text and numbered consecutively in the order they appear, and also should be embedded in appropriate locations within the text.

• Each figure or table must include a brief title.

• For composite figures, the contents of each subfigure should be explained in the figure legend.

• Statistical symbols, special markings, and shading should be clearly annotated in figure/table notes.

• Images must be anonymized to remove any information that could identify individuals or institutions.

• If an image has been previously published, the source and written permission from the copyright holder for reproduction must be provided.

Annali Italiani di Chirurgia requires that all submitted color images be published online in color. To ensure optimal reproduction quality, photographs, histological images, and radiographic figures must meet high-quality standards. Acceptable image file formats are .eps, .ai, .pdf, .tiff, .png, or editable .jpeg/.jpg files. Images in .doc/.docx format are unaccepted.

Furthermore, to maintain the integrity and scientific validity of blotting techniques (including but not limited to protein blotting) and gel data reporting, authors are encouraged to upload the original, untrimmed, and unadjusted figures as supplementary files at the initial time of submission. It is essential to ensure that every figure cited in the text is clear, concise, properly annotated, and presented in numerical order.

Notice

If the manuscript contains missing information, it will be subject to further review by the Editorial Office. Notwithstanding acceptance, the manuscript will not proceed to publication until all required revisions have been completed by the authors. The authors bear full responsibility for the authenticity and accuracy of their research data and the reliability of their conclusions.

To improve clarity and ensure editorial consistency, the Editorial Office reserves the right to make reasonable copyediting, formatting, and layout adjustments to the manuscript’s text and figures, without altering the scholarly content, data, or conclusions. The finalized version will be sent to the corresponding author for final proofreading, with all co-authors copied on the communication.  The corresponding author must confirm approval within the specified timeframe (usually within 48 hours) to ensure timely publication.

The viewpoints or expressions conveyed in the manuscripts featured in Annali Italiani di Chirurgia are representative of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the perspectives of the editors, the editorial board, or the publisher. The editors, editorial board, and publisher explicitly disclaim any responsibility or liability for such materials. Authors bear the ultimate responsibility for the content published.

Article Processing Charge

Upon acceptance for publication, all authors are required to pay the Article Processing Charge (APC), which is typically 1500 EUR, to cover the cost of publication. Please contact the Editorial Office (editorial@annaliitalianidichirurgia.it) for payment information.