Author Guidelines

Information for authors including editorial standards for the preparation of manuscripts

Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica first appeared as “Annali di Laringologia Otologia e Faringologia” and was founded in 1901 by Giulio Masini. It is the official publication of the Italian Hospital Otology Association (A.O.O.I.) and, since 1976, also of the Società Italiana di Otorinolaringoiatria e Chirurgia Cervico-Facciale (S.I.O.Ch.C.-F.).

The journal publishes original articles (clinical trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional surveys, and diagnostic test assessments) of interest in the field of otorhinolaryngology as well as clinical techniques and technology (a short report of unique or original methods for surgical techniques, medical management or new devices or technology), editorials (including editorial guests - special contribution) and letters to the Editor-in-Chief. Articles concerning scientific investigations and well prepared systematic reviews (including meta-analyses) on themes related to basic science, clinical otorhinolaryngology and head and neck surgery have high priority.
The journal publishes furthermore the Official Report of the annual Congress of the Italian Society of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery as well as special columns regarding the Italian Society.
Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (http://www.icmje.org).

Authors are also strongly recommended to review the following guidelines and the “template”.

Authors need to register with the journal (http://www.actaitalica.it) prior to submitting their article via the online submission platform (OJS) or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the five-step process.
Texts must be original and should not be presented simultaneously to more than one journal.
All scientific papers are published in English (British spelling and grammar) with English and Italian titles, abstracts and key words. The text will be submitted to English language review by the publisher at no costs to the authors. The Editor reserves the right to refuse any article not written in an appropriate English style. (The editorial staff will assist, if requested, all foreign authors in the Italian translation of titles, key words and abstracts).
Only papers strictly adhering to the editorial instructions outlined herein will be considered for publication. Acceptance is upon the critical assessment by experts in the field (Reviewers), the introduction of any changes requested and the final decision of the Editor-in-Chief.
Submission implies that publication has been approved by all co-authors, as well as by the director of the Institute or Department where the work has been carried out.

TEMPLATE TO PREPARE THE MANUSCRIPT

Before you prepare your manuscript, download the “template” and use that as a starting point for your manuscript.
If you already have prepared your paper, please use “copy - paste special - unformatted text” to enter your text in the “template”. Please prepare a complete manuscript in the Word “template” and save it in .doc(x).
Upload all figures in seperate files.
Further instructions are available on the “template” and are also indicated below.

AUTHORSHIP STATEMENT FORM

The corresponding author must fill in and sign the Authorship Statement form and upload it in the submission process.
Paper copies of manuscripts will not be accepted.
After submission, you will receive a confirmation of receipt of your manuscript via OJS. You can also check the status of your manuscript on OJS. The editorial staff will inform you via OJS once a decision has been made.

MANUSCRIPT FORMAT

General instructions

Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica publishes the types of articles defined below. When submitting your manuscript, please follow the instructions relevant to the applicable article category. Your manuscript will be returned to you if it does not meet these criteria.
Please prepare a complete manuscript in the Word “template” and save it in .doc(x).
Do not format the text in any way (avoid styles, borders, shading...); use only character styles such as italics, bold, underlined, super and subscript.
Do not send the text in PDF.
Notes to the text, indicated by asterisks or similar symbols, should appear at the bottom of the relevant page.

Text should be arranged as follows:

• A concise and informative title not exceeding 100 characters including spaces (only in English).


• Running title not exceeding 100 characters including spaces.


• The authors’ full first names and surnames. List ORCID ID alongside respective authors, when available. Do not add any degrees or titles.


• Name and address of the Institute or Institutes where the work was carried out; if the authors are affiliated with different Institutes, the first author and any others from the same Institute should be indicated with 1 (in superscript), the names of the authors from another Institute with 2, and so on.


• Name (written in full), surname and address of the corresponding author, including telephone, fax numbers and e-mail address, to whom galley proofs are to be addressed.


• Type of article: categorise the article in one of the following types: Original Article / Review article (meta-analysis) / Editorial / Letter to the Editor / Clinical techniques and technology.


• A Cover Figure (11x11 cm [1300x1300 pixel] definition 300dpi): authors can choose between a good quality photo, image (TAC, RM, surgical interventions or other) or drawing of a topic related to the article, or create a representative synthetic slide. The caption must instead be very concise as in the example. In the text of the article there must then be a reference to the Figure itself as a Cover Figure.


• Abstract only in English (no longer than 1,300 characters including spaces for each language) should be clear and concise. See specific instructions for article categories for further indications.


• Key words (only in English - max. 5 using Mesh terms for indexing purposes).


• Main body of manuscript: see specific instructions for article categories, below


• Mathematical terms and formulae, abbreviations, and units of measure should conform to the standards set out in www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf. Use only standard abbreviations. The spelled-out abbreviation followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis should be used on first mention unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measurement. Drugs should be referred to by their chemical name; the commercial name should be used only when absolutely unavoidable (capitalising the first letter of the product name and giving the name of the pharmaceutical firm manufacturing the drug, town and country).


• Acknowledgements. Within this section, list those contributors who have not met the authorship criteria. 


• Conflicts of interest. Authors must fully disclose any existing or potential conflicts of interest of a financial, personal or any other nature that could affect or bias their research. If applicable, authors are also requested to describe the role of the finding source(s) in the study design, data acquisition, analysis and interpretation, and writing of the manuscript. No potential conflicts of interest must also be explicitly stated.


• Funding. Authors should describe in the "Funding" section, at the end of the manuscript, all funding sources (e.g. full name of funding organizations, grant numbers). The role of the sponsor, if any, in the study design, in the acquisition analysis and interpretation of data, in drafting the manuscript should be briefly described. If the sponsor has not been specifically involved in the research this should be stated.


• Authors’ contributions. The individual contributions of authors to the manuscript should be specified in this section.


• Ethical consideration. If your study involves human or animal subjects or records of human patients you MUST have obtained ethical approval. Ethical approval or exemption are required for retrospective studies on patients’ records. Please state in this section whether ethical approval was given, by whom and the relevant Judgement’s reference number). Also refer to indications above in the Ethical consideration paragraph.


• References should be limited to the most essential and relevant (see specific instructions for article categories for number of references requested), published allegedly in the last decade, identified in the text with consecutive numerals (with numbers in superscript) and listed at the end of the manuscript in the order in which they are cited. The format of the references listed should conform with the examples indicated below. For papers with more than three authors only the first three authors must be indicated, followed by “et al.”. Abbreviate journal names as in Index Medicus.

DOI NAME MUST BE INCLUDED WITH EACH REFERENCE (when available).
Examples of the correct format for citation of references:
Journal article: Berretti G, Colletti G, Parrinello G, et al. Pilot study on microvascular anastomosis: performance and future educational prospects. Acta Otorhinolaryngol Ital 2018;38:304-9. https:// doi.org/10.14639/0392-100X-1583
Books: Smith DW. Recognizable patterns of human malformation. Third Edition. Philadelphia: WB Saunders Co.; 1982.
Chapters from books or material from conference proceedings: Krmpotic-Nemanic J, Kostovis I, Rudan P. Aging changes of the form and infrastructure of the external nose and its importance in rhinoplasty. In: Conly J, Dickinson JT, editors. Plastic and reconstructive surgery of the face and neck. New York, NY: Grune and Stratton; 1972. p. 84.
Articles published online ahead of print: Lehrich BM, Yasaka TM, Goshtasbi K, et al. Outcomes of primary versus salvage surgery for sinonasal malignancies: a population-based analysis. Laryngoscope 2020 Jul 24 [Online ahead of print]. https://doi.org/10.1002/lary.28925
Web references: For web references, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI name, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list. Istituto Superiore di Sanità. Epicentro. Sorveglianza integrata COVID-19 in Italia. https://www.epicentro.iss.it/coronavirus/sars-cov-2-sorveglianza-dati. Accessed April 17, 2020.

• Tables (see “Specific instructions for article categories” below for number of tables required) should be typewritten and numbered consecutively with Roman numerals at the end of the text after the references. The same data should not be presented twice, both in the text and tables. Each table should have above a brief title and be self-explanatory and be cited in the text (Tab. I, Tab. II, etc.). The table should be supplement the material in the text rather than duplicate. Insert any notes at the end of the table. Explain all the abbreviations.


• Figures (see “Specific instructions for article categories” below for number of figures required) should be uploaded in separate files. Do not include the figures in the text file but cite them only, numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc.). Figure legends should be indicated at the end of the text file and allow the reader to understand the figures without reference to the text. All symbols used in figures should be explained. Remove any information that can identify a patient. Deduct from the text 1,250 characters including spaces for figures a quarter of a page in size, 2,500 characters including spaces half a page in size and 5,000 characters including spaces entire page in size. Software and format: preferably send images in .TIFF or .JPEG format, resolution at least 300 dpi (IMPORTANT: maximum dimension for each single file/image is 2 Mb). Insert an extension that identifies the file format (example: .TIFF; .JPEG). Authors are invited to send colour images which will be printed at no extra cost. 
  A Cover Figure (11x11 cm [1300x1300 pixel] definition 300dpi): authors can choose between a good quality photo, image (TAC, RM, surgical interventions or other) or drawing of a topic related to the article, or create a representative synthetic slide. The caption must instead be very concise as in the example. In the text of the article there must then be a reference to the Figure itself as a Cover Figure.

Specific instructions for article categories

Original articles for the sections of Head and neck, Thyroid, Laryngology, Rhinology, OSAHS, Maxillo facial and plastic surgery, Audiology, Vestibology, Otology

Original articles are full-length original reports of clinical or basic science data, which have not yet been published, that cover topics in all areas of interest of otorhinolaryngology and that represent advanced information and a new contribution to biomedical literature. Article types include, but are not limited to: clinical trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional surveys and diagnostic test assessments. An emphasis is given for higher levels of evidence. Both adult and pediatric problems are included.
Text should not exceed 30,000 characters including spaces from the Introduction to the Conflict of Interest Statement, excluding the title page, abstract and references. The first page should specify the type of article (original article) and if it is a clinical trial, cohort study, etc. The abstract should be structured and include Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusions. The main text should be structured in:
Introduction: the introduction (which must not exceed 5,000 characters including spaces) should put the focus of the manuscript into a broader context, and keep in mind readers who are not experts in the field. The introduction should conclude with a brief statement of the overall aim of the study.
Materials and methods: this section should provide enough detail to allow full replication of the study by suitably skilled investigators. If the authors prefer, they can subdivide this section in various headings that should be provided in italics: e.g. Patients, Surgery, ELISA, Statistical analysis (if present, the type of statistical analysis should ALWAYS be specified in the Materials and methods section. If your study involves human or animal subjects or records of human patients you MUST have obtained ethical approval. Ethical approval or exemption are required for retrospective studies on patients’ records. Please state in the “Ethical consideration” section, at the end of the text, whether ethical approval was given, by whom and the relevant Judgement’s reference number).

Results: the results section should provide details of all of the data that are required to support the conclusions of the paper. There should be a brief introduction of each section and end with a summarising sentence of the main findings without discussion. The section may be divided into subsections, each with a concise subheading (in italics). We recommend that the results section be written in the past tense.
Discussion: include a review of the key literature. If there are relevant controversies or disagreements in the field, they should be mentioned so that a non-expert reader can delve into these issues further. The discussion should consider the major conclusions of the work along with some explanation and/or speculation on their significance. How do the conclusions affect the existing assumptions and models in the field? How can future research build on these observations? What are the key experiments that remain? The discussion should be concise with solid arguments.
Conclusions: conclusions and hypotheses should be firmly established/supported by the data presented, and any speculations should be clearly identified as such. No new data should be presented in the discussion.
References should NOT EXCEED 25.
Tables should be limited to 5.
Figures should be limited to 5.

Review article (meta-analysis)

Manuscripts should review topics of contemporary interest and importance. Reviews ideally should address controversial issues by expressing all different points of view. Critical assessments of literature and data sources on important clinical topics in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery or on basic research are required. The review should be comprehensive and authoritative as reflected by a contemporary bibliography.

Text should not exceed a total of 50,000 characters including spaces. The abstract should be unstructured. The introduction should outline explicitly the clinical problem and rationale for conducting the review. Review articles should not require a Materials/Methods or Results section. Furthermore we recommend, particularly for meta-analyses a Methods section that specifies the information sources and search strategy, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and potential biases in the review process, and a Results section that describes study selection, characteristics and statistical methods for summarising data. Discussion should interpret results in light of the total available evidence. The conclusion is to summarise key findings.
References should NOT EXCEED 100.
Tables and/or figures should be limited to 10, overall.

Editorials express opinions on current topics of interest. They are nearly always solicited by the Editor-in-Chief or by the members of the Editorial Board, although unsolicited editorials may occasionally be considered. Editorials may provide a commentary on an article in the issue of the journal in which they appear or published elsewhere. Editorials are limited to 8,000 characters including spaces with at least 10 references. No abstract is required. They may include 1-2 figures or tables. They should have no more than 2 authors.

Letters to the Editor-in-Chief should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief regarding published material or information of timely interest and particularly if controversy exists. They should be brief and not exceed 8,000 characters including spaces, with no more than 10 references, and only 1 figure and/or table. No abstract is required. If the letter is related to a previously published article in Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica, it must be submitted within 6 months of publication. Letters commenting papers are sent to the authors of those papers for a response. The authors are invited to look for recent articles published in Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica during the last 12 months to check for hot topics of interest in our journal.

Clinical Techniques and Technology is a short report on innovative solutions to clinical problems by unique methods: a) surgical techniques or medical management; b) new devices or technology. The manuscripts cannot be only theoretical but must include clinical data on at least 5 subjects. Text should not exceed more than 15,000 characters including spaces, 5 references, and a total of 5 original and quality figures and/or tables. The abstact should be unstructured. Manuscript should conform to the following format: a) introduction; b) description of the clinical techniques or technology; c) discussion that should clearly indicate how the reported work fits with the current body of world literature.

In memoriam: the publication of a remembrance of a deceased person can be requested to the Editor-in-Chief. The text should not exceed more than 3,000 characters including spaces. A photograph should be included.

Annual Congress Report: the article (review article or original article) should not exceed approximately 43,000 – 45,000 characters including spaces. About 1250 characters (including spaces) should be deducted for each table/figure occupying ¼ of  a.word format page and about 2500 characters (including spaces) for each table/figure occupying ½ of a .word page. For review articles references should not exceed 100, for original articles references should not exceed 25 (use Word "template").

Submitting revisions.

If the authors are invited to submit a revised paper within 1 month, they should re-submit it uploading it on OJS  using password and username used to complete the first submission. Please re-name your manuscript as “Revised manuscript n…”.

-  Please include at the beginning of the same file a letter to reviewers describing the changes made point-by-point according to the reviewer’s comments.

-  Please be sure to upload all parts of the submission including main manuscript and figures.

-  Please ensure that you return your manuscript with the changes clearly marked (you can use the Track Changes function in Word or simply highlight where changes have been made).

-  Please during submission of the revised manuscript don’t delete the first and original version of your manuscript. 

If you need assistance please contact the Editorial office. Please in any correspondence provide the corresponding author’s name, title of the manuscript, manuscript number (very important) and a clear description of the problem.

After acceptance.

Galley proofs will be sent via OJS to the corresponding author for final approval. The authors are required to carefully check the proofs and return them within 3 days of receipt. Substantial changes in title, authorship, affiliations, content, corrected values and references are not allowed without the approval of the Editor-in Chief.  If the proofs are not received in time, the authors will have to rely on the Editor's corrections only. The authors are responsible for mistakes that have been overlooked. The date of receipt and the date of acceptance by the Scientific Committee will appear on each publication. The article may be published online first after receipt of the corrected proof. A pdf of all articles published is available in open access at www.actaitalica.it. Paper reprints will be provided only if requested by the authors and will be charged at extra cost (please contact Susanna Campigli (scampigli@pacinieditore.it) for price quotation upon receipt of galley proofs).
The Publisher remains at the complete disposal of those with rights whom it was impossible to contact, and for any omissions.

Printing contribution.

The corresponding author accepts  to be charged Euro 300.00 as printing contribution for the article. Payment details will be sent upon acceptance of the article.
Payment must be charged by credit card or bank transfer within 15 days of receiving the printing contribution form, which the authors must send completed in all its parts.
After this deadline the article will not be accepted for publication.

Contact information.

Editorial Office: Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica, Division of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, ASST Spedali Civili – University of Brescia, piazzale Spedali Civili 1, 25123 Brescia, Italy.
 Website: www.actaitalica.it - E-mail: actaitalicaorl@ieo.it.