Submissions

Author Guidelines

1. Before you submit

Before you submit, we recommend familiarizing yourself with the following.

• Make sure you are submitting to the most suitable journal - Aims and scope
• Understand the costs and funding options - Fees and funding
• Make sure your manuscript is accurate, readable, and complete (general formatting rules for all article types) - Guidelines
• Understand the copyright and license agreement - Editorial Policies

2. Ready to submit

To give your manuscript the best chance of publication, follow these editorial policies and formatting guidelines.

The Ultrasound Journal publishes the following article types:

1. Original Research Papers
2. Review Articles / Systematic Reviews / Meta-Analyses
3. Narrative / Scoping Reviews
4. Editorials
5. Images
6. Correspondence
7. Letters to the Editor
8. TUJ Advances
9. TUJ Viewpoints
10. Research Letters
11. Case Reports

Read below on “PART II – Article-type specific guidelines” to find style and formatting information for the article you are going to submit.

Manuscripts should conform to the following reporting guidelines:

• Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: PRISMA
• Randomized Clinical Trials: CONSORT
• Observational studies: STROBE
• Studies of diagnostic accuracy: STARD
• Animal pre-clinical studies: ARRIVE
• Other types of health-related research: Consult the EQUATOR web site for appropriate reporting guidelines.

GUIDELINES FOR MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Note: The following introductory section applies to all article types published in the journal. It describes the general requirements for manuscript preparation. Specific guidelines for each article type are provided in the subsequent sections.

PART I – General guidelines (applicable to all article types)

Please make sure you have the following information available before you submit your manuscript: 

Author information
Full names and email addresses of all co-authors on your manuscript.

Cover letter
A cover letter that includes the following information, as well as any additional information requested in the instructions for your specific article type (see main manuscript section above):

• An explanation of why your manuscript should be published in The Ultrasound Journal
• An explanation of any issues relating to journal policies.
• A declaration of any potential competing interests.
• Confirmation that the content of the manuscript has not been published, or submitted for publication elsewhere.
• If you are submitting a manuscript to a particular special issue, please refer to its specific name in your covering letter.

List of abbreviations

If abbreviations are used in the text they should be defined in the text at first use, and a list of abbreviations should be provided.

Declarations

All manuscripts must contain the following sections under the heading 'Declarations':

• Ethics approval and consent to participate
• Consent for publication
• Availability of data and material
• Competing interests
• Funding
• Authors' contributions
• Acknowledgements
• Authors' information (optional)

Please see below for details on the information to be included in these sections.

If any of the sections are not relevant to your manuscript, please include the heading and write 'Not applicable' for that section.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Manuscripts reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must:

• include a statement on ethics approval and consent (even where the need for approval was waived)
• include the name of the ethics committee that approved the study and the committee’s reference number if appropriate

Studies involving animals must include a statement on ethics approval.

If your manuscript does not report on or involve the use of any animal or human data or tissue, please state “Not applicable” in this section.

Consent for publication

If your manuscript contains any individual person’s data in any form (including individual details, images or videos), consent to publish must be obtained from that person, or in the case of children, their parent or legal guardian. All presentations of case reports must have consent to publish.

You can use your institutional consent form if you prefer. You should not send the form to us on submission, but we may request to see a copy at any stage (including after publication).

If your manuscript does not contain data from any individual person, please state “Not applicable” in this section.

Availability of data and materials

All manuscripts must include an ‘Availability of data and materials’ statement. Data availability statements should include information on where data supporting the results reported in the article can be found including, where applicable, hyperlinks to publicly archived datasets analysed or generated during the study. By data we mean the minimal dataset that would be necessary to interpret, replicate and build upon the findings reported in the article. We recognise it is not always possible to share research data publicly, for instance when individual privacy could be compromised, and in such instances data availability should still be stated in the manuscript along with any conditions for access.

Data availability statements can take one of the following forms (or a combination of more than one if required for multiple datasets):

• The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available in the [NAME] repository, [PERSISTENT WEB LINK TO DATASETS]
• The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
• All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files].
• The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due [REASON WHY DATA ARE NOT PUBLIC] but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
• Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
• The data that support the findings of this study are available from [third party name] but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of [third party name].
• Not applicable. If your manuscript does not contain any data, please state 'Not applicable' in this section.

Competing interests

All financial and non-financial competing interests must be declared in this section.

If you are unsure whether you or any of your co-authors have a competing interest please contact the editorial office.

Please use the authors’ initials to refer to each authors' competing interests in this section.

If you do not have any competing interests, please state "The authors declare that they have no competing interests" in this section.

Funding

All sources of funding for the research reported should be declared. The role of the funding body in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript should be declared.

Authors' contributions

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

Please use initials to refer to each author's contribution in this section, for example: "FC analyzed and interpreted the patient data regarding the hematological disease and the transplant. RH performed the histological examination of the kidney, and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript."

Acknowledgements

Please acknowledge anyone who contributed towards the article who does not meet the criteria for authorship including anyone who provided professional writing services or materials.

Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those mentioned in the Acknowledgements section.

If you do not have anyone to acknowledge, please write "Not applicable" in this section.

Group authorship (for manuscripts involving a collaboration group): if you would like the names of the individual members of a collaboration Group to be searchable through their individual PubMed records, please ensure that the title of the collaboration Group is included on the title page and in the submission system and also include collaborating author names as the last paragraph of the “Acknowledgements” section. Please add authors in the format First Name, Middle initial(s) (optional), Last Name. You can add institution or country information for each author if you wish, but this should be consistent across all authors.

Please note that individual names may not be present in the PubMed record at the time a published article is initially included in PubMed as it takes PubMed additional time to code this information.

Authors' information

This section is optional.

You may choose to use this section to include any relevant information about the author(s) that may aid the reader's interpretation of the article, and understand the standpoint of the author(s). This may include details about the authors' qualifications, current positions they hold at institutions or societies, or any other relevant background information. Please refer to authors using their initials. Note this section should not be used to describe any competing interests.

Footnotes

Footnotes should be designated within the text using a superscript number. It is not allowed to use footnotes for references/citations.

REFERENCES

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear in the text (in order of citation). They have to be placed in round brackets and NOT in square brackets or superscripted for example: (1,2) or (1-3). References cited only in tables or in legends to figures should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text.

The list of references should be typed in numerical order and indicate: authors’ names (all authors when six or less; when seven or more list only the first six and add “et al.”); article title, name of the Journal (abbreviated as in Index Medicus), publication year, volume and first and last page numbers.
Please, don’t use the bold or the italics styles for the references and do not insert a dot after the name of authors. After the name of the cited Journals insert a dot followed by doi. If it is not available replace it with PMID.

The recommended style for references should be mainly based on Vancouver style. Bibliographic References as adapted by PubMed Citation-National Library of Medicine (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

• Authors:

  • up to 6 authors → list all;

  • 7 or more authors → list the first 6, followed by et al.

• Article title: use sentence case (capitalize only the first word of the title and proper nouns).

• Journal titles: use abbreviations according to Index Medicus / PubMed.

• Year: placed immediately after the journal name.

• Volume and pages: page ranges must be abbreviated (e.g., 351-8).

• DOI: include when available; if not available, report PMID.

• Do not use bold, italics, or a period after author names.

Examples:

Journal article
Pennisi F, Odelli S, Borlini S, Morani F, Signorelli C, Renzi C. Impact of the Covid pandemic on timely cancer diagnosis across European healthcare settings: a scoping review. Ann Ig. 2024;36(2):194-214. doi: 10.7416/ai.2024.2596.

Electronic journal
Vanelli M. Tips to avoid weak scientific English. Acta Biomed. 2021;92(3):e2021235. doi: 10.23750/abm.v92i3.11810.

Organization as author
Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002;40(5):679-86. doi: 10.1161/01.hyp.0000035706.28494.09.

Book
Strunk Jr W, White EB. The elements of style. 4th ed. New York: Longman; 2000.

Chapter in a book
Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. pp. 93-113.

Conference proceedings
Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour Conference. 2001 Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.

Web references
World Health Organization (WHO). Global strategy on digital health 2020-2025. WHO; 2021. Available from: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/documents/gs4dhdaa2a9f352b0445bafbc79ca799dce4d.pdf [Last accessed: 2024 Jul 12].

Exceptions

• Unpublished data and personal communications: cite only in the text, not in the reference list.

• Non-English articles: indicate the language in square brackets after the pages.

• Supplements: specify Suppl.

General formatting information

Manuscripts must be written in concise English.

Quick points:

• Use double line spacing
• Include line and page numbering
• Use SI units: Please ensure that all special characters used are embedded in the text, otherwise they will be lost during conversion to PDF
• Do not use page breaks in your manuscript

File formats

The following word processor file formats are acceptable for the main manuscript document:

• Microsoft word (DOC, DOCX)
• Rich text format (RTF)

Please note: editable files are required for processing in production. If your manuscript contains any non-editable files (such as PDFs) you will be required to re-submit an editable file if your manuscript is accepted.

For more information, see “Preparing figure” below.
 

Style and language

For editors and reviewers to accurately assess the work presented in your manuscript you need to ensure the English language is of sufficient quality to be understood. If you need help with writing in English you should consider.Please note that the use of a language editing service is not a requirement for publication in The Ultrasound Journal and does not imply or guarantee that the article will be selected for peer review or accepted.

What should be cited?

Only articles, clinical trial registration records and abstracts that have been published or are in press, or are available through public e-print/preprint servers, may be cited.

Unpublished abstracts, unpublished data and personal communications should not be included in the reference list, but may be included in the text and referred to as "unpublished observations" or "personal communications" giving the names of the involved researchers. Obtaining permission to quote personal communications and unpublished data from the cited colleagues is the responsibility of the author. Either footnotes or endnotes are permitted. Journal abbreviations follow Index Medicus/MEDLINE.

Any in press articles cited within the references and necessary for the reviewers' assessment of the manuscript should be made available if requested by the editorial office.

Preparing figures

When preparing figures, please follow the formatting instructions below.

• Figure titles (max 15 words) and legends (max 300 words) should be provided in the main manuscript, not in the graphic file.
• Tables should NOT be submitted as figures but should be included in the main manuscript file.
• Multi-panel figures (those with parts a, b, c, d etc.) should be submitted as a single composite file that contains all parts of the figure.
• Figures should be numbered in the order they are first mentioned in the text, and uploaded in this order.
• Figures should be uploaded in the correct orientation.
• Figure keys should be incorporated into the graphic, not into the legend of the figure.
• Each figure should be closely cropped to minimize the amount of white space surrounding the illustration. Cropping figures improves accuracy when placing the figure in combination with other elements when the accepted manuscript is prepared for publication on our site. For more information on individual figure file formats, see our detailed instructions.
• Individual figure files should not exceed 10 MB. If a suitable format is chosen, this file size is adequate for extremely high quality figures.
• Please note that it is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce figures (or tables) that have previously been published elsewhere. In order for all figures to be open access, authors must have permission from the rights holder if they wish to include images that have been published elsewhere in non open access journals. Permission should be indicated in the figure legend, and the original source included in the reference list.

Figure file types

We accept the following file formats for figures:

• EPS (suitable for diagrams and/or images)
• PDF (suitable for diagrams and/or images)
• Microsoft Word (suitable for diagrams and/or images, figures must be a single page)
• PowerPoint (suitable for diagrams and/or images, figures must be a single page)
• TIFF (suitable for images)
• JPEG (suitable for photographic images, less suitable for graphical images)
• PNG (suitable for images)
• BMP (suitable for images)
• CDX (ChemDraw - suitable for molecular structures)

Figure size and resolution

Figures are resized during publication of the final full text and PDF versions to conform to the standard dimensions, which are detailed below.

Figures on the web:

• width of 600 pixels (standard), 1200 pixels (high resolution).

Figures in the final PDF version:

• width of 85 mm for half page width figure
• width of 170 mm for full page width figure
• maximum height of 225 mm for figure and legend
• image resolution of approximately 300 dpi (dots per inch) at the final size

Figures should be designed such that all information, including text, is legible at these dimensions. All lines should be wider than 0.25 pt when constrained to standard figure widths. All fonts must be embedded.

Figure file compression

Vector figures should if possible be submitted as PDF files, which are usually more compact than EPS files.

• TIFF files should be saved with LZW compression, which is lossless (decreases file size without decreasing quality) in order to minimize upload time.
• JPEG files should be saved at maximum quality.
• Conversion of images between file types (especially lossy formats such as JPEG) should be kept to a minimum to avoid degradation of quality.

If you have any questions or are experiencing a problem with figures, please contact the customer service team at redazione@mattioli1885.com

Preparing tables

When preparing tables, please follow the formatting instructions below.

• Tables should be numbered and cited in the text in sequence using Arabic numerals (i.e. Table 1, Table 2 etc.).
• Tables less than one A4 or Letter page in length can be placed in the appropriate location within the manuscript.
• Tables larger than one A4 or Letter page in length can be placed at the end of the document text file. Please cite and indicate where the table should appear at the relevant location in the text file so that the table can be added in the correct place during production.
• Larger datasets, or tables too wide for A4 or Letter landscape page can be uploaded as additional files. Please see [below] for more information.
• Tabular data provided as additional files can be uploaded as an Excel spreadsheet (.xls ) or comma separated values (.csv). Please use the standard file extensions.
• Table titles (max 15 words) should be included above the table, and legends (max 300 words) should be included underneath the table.
• Tables should not be embedded as figures or spreadsheet files, but should be formatted using ‘Table object’ function in your word processing program.
• Color and shading may not be used. Parts of the table can be highlighted using superscript, numbering, lettering, symbols or bold text, the meaning of which should be explained in a table legend.
• Commas should not be used to indicate numerical values.

If you have any questions or are experiencing a problem with figures, please contact the customer service team at redazione@mattioli1885.com

Preparing additional files

As the length and quantity of data is not restricted for many article types, authors can provide datasets, tables, movies, or other information as additional files.

All Additional files will be published along with the accepted article. Do not include files such as patient consent forms, certificates of language editing, or revised versions of the main manuscript document with tracked changes. Such files, if requested, should be sent by email to the journal’s editorial email address, quoting the manuscript reference number.

Results that would otherwise be indicated as "data not shown" should be included as additional files. Since many web links and URLs rapidly become broken, Mattioli 1885 requires that supporting data are included as additional files, or deposited in a recognized repository. Please do not link to data on a personal/departmental website. Do not include any individual participant details. The maximum file size for additional files is 20 MB each, and files will be virus-scanned on submission. Each additional file should be cited in sequence within the main body of text.

PART II – Article-type specific guidelines

1. 1. Before you submit

   Before you submit, we recommend familiarizing yourself with the following.

   • Make sure you are submitting to the most suitable journal - Aims and scope
   • Understand the costs and funding options - Fees and funding
   • Make sure your manuscript is accurate, readable, and complete (general formatting rules for all article types) - Guidelines
   • Understand the copyright and license agreement - Editorial Policies

    

   2. Ready to submit

   To give your manuscript the best chance of publication, follow these editorial policies and formatting guidelines.

   • The Ultrasound Journal publishes the following article types:
   1. Case Report
   2. Matters Arising
   3. Brief Report
   4. Research
   5. Review

   Click the relevant link to find style and formatting information for the article you are going to submit.

   Manuscripts should conform to the following reporting guidelines:

   • Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: PRISMA
   • Randomized Clinical Trials: CONSORT
   • Observational studies: STROBE
   • Studies of diagnostic accuracy: STARD
   • Animal pre-clinical studies: ARRIVE
   • Other types of health-related research: Consult the EQUATOR web site for appropriate reporting guidelines.

    

   GUIDELINES FOR MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

   Note: The following introductory section applies to all article types published in the journal. It describes the general requirements for manuscript preparation. Specific guidelines for each article type are provided in the subsequent sections.

   PART I – General guidelines (applicable to all article types)

   Please make sure you have the following information available before you submit your manuscript: 

   Author information
   Full names and email addresses of all co-authors on your manuscript.

   Cover letter
   A cover letter that includes the following information, as well as any additional information requested in the instructions for your specific article type (see main manuscript section above):

   • An explanation of why your manuscript should be published in The Ultrasound Journal
   • An explanation of any issues relating to journal policies.
   • A declaration of any potential competing interests.
   • Confirmation that the content of the manuscript has not been published, or submitted for publication elsewhere.
   • If you are submitting a manuscript to a particular special issue, please refer to its specific name in your covering letter.

   List of abbreviations

   If abbreviations are used in the text they should be defined in the text at first use, and a list of abbreviations should be provided.

   Declarations

   All manuscripts must contain the following sections under the heading 'Declarations':

   • Ethics approval and consent to participate
   • Consent for publication
   • Availability of data and material
   • Competing interests
   • Funding
   • Authors' contributions
   • Acknowledgements
   • Authors' information (optional)

   Please see below for details on the information to be included in these sections.

   If any of the sections are not relevant to your manuscript, please include the heading and write 'Not applicable' for that section.

   Ethics approval and consent to participate

   Manuscripts reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must:

   • include a statement on ethics approval and consent (even where the need for approval was waived)
   • include the name of the ethics committee that approved the study and the committee’s reference number if appropriate

   Studies involving animals must include a statement on ethics approval.

   If your manuscript does not report on or involve the use of any animal or human data or tissue, please state “Not applicable” in this section.

   Consent for publication

   If your manuscript contains any individual person’s data in any form (including individual details, images or videos), consent to publish must be obtained from that person, or in the case of children, their parent or legal guardian. All presentations of case reports must have consent to publish.

   You can use your institutional consent form if you prefer. You should not send the form to us on submission, but we may request to see a copy at any stage (including after publication).

   If your manuscript does not contain data from any individual person, please state “Not applicable” in this section.

   Availability of data and materials

   All manuscripts must include an ‘Availability of data and materials’ statement. Data availability statements should include information on where data supporting the results reported in the article can be found including, where applicable, hyperlinks to publicly archived datasets analysed or generated during the study. By data we mean the minimal dataset that would be necessary to interpret, replicate and build upon the findings reported in the article. We recognise it is not always possible to share research data publicly, for instance when individual privacy could be compromised, and in such instances data availability should still be stated in the manuscript along with any conditions for access.

   Data availability statements can take one of the following forms (or a combination of more than one if required for multiple datasets):

   • The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available in the [NAME] repository, [PERSISTENT WEB LINK TO DATASETS]
   • The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
   • All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files].
   • The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due [REASON WHY DATA ARE NOT PUBLIC] but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
   • Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
   • The data that support the findings of this study are available from [third party name] but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of [third party name].
   • Not applicable. If your manuscript does not contain any data, please state 'Not applicable' in this section.

   Competing interests

   All financial and non-financial competing interests must be declared in this section.

   If you are unsure whether you or any of your co-authors have a competing interest please contact the editorial office.

   Please use the authors’ initials to refer to each authors' competing interests in this section.

   If you do not have any competing interests, please state "The authors declare that they have no competing interests" in this section.

   Funding

   All sources of funding for the research reported should be declared. The role of the funding body in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript should be declared.

   Authors' contributions

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

   Please use initials to refer to each author's contribution in this section, for example: "FC analyzed and interpreted the patient data regarding the hematological disease and the transplant. RH performed the histological examination of the kidney, and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript."

   Acknowledgements

   Please acknowledge anyone who contributed towards the article who does not meet the criteria for authorship including anyone who provided professional writing services or materials.

   Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those mentioned in the Acknowledgements section.

   If you do not have anyone to acknowledge, please write "Not applicable" in this section.

   Group authorship (for manuscripts involving a collaboration group): if you would like the names of the individual members of a collaboration Group to be searchable through their individual PubMed records, please ensure that the title of the collaboration Group is included on the title page and in the submission system and also include collaborating author names as the last paragraph of the “Acknowledgements” section. Please add authors in the format First Name, Middle initial(s) (optional), Last Name. You can add institution or country information for each author if you wish, but this should be consistent across all authors.

   Please note that individual names may not be present in the PubMed record at the time a published article is initially included in PubMed as it takes PubMed additional time to code this information.

   Authors' information

   This section is optional.

   You may choose to use this section to include any relevant information about the author(s) that may aid the reader's interpretation of the article, and understand the standpoint of the author(s). This may include details about the authors' qualifications, current positions they hold at institutions or societies, or any other relevant background information. Please refer to authors using their initials. Note this section should not be used to describe any competing interests.

   Footnotes

   Footnotes should be designated within the text using a superscript number. It is not allowed to use footnotes for references/citations.

   REFERENCES

   References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear in the text (in order of citation). They have to be placed in round brackets and NOT in square brackets or superscripted for example: (1,2) or (1-3). References cited only in tables or in legends to figures should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text.

   The list of references should be typed in numerical order and indicate: authors’ names (all authors when six or less; when seven or more list only the first six and add “et al.”); article title, name of the Journal (abbreviated as in Index Medicus), publication year, volume and first and last page numbers.
   Please, don’t use the bold or the italics styles for the references and do not insert a dot after the name of authors. After the name of the cited Journals insert a dot followed by doi. If it is not available replace it with PMID.

   The recommended style for references should be mainly based on Vancouver style. Bibliographic References as adapted by PubMed Citation-National Library of Medicine (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

   • Authors:

     • up to 6 authors → list all;

     • 7 or more authors → list the first 6, followed by et al.

   • Article title: use sentence case (capitalize only the first word of the title and proper nouns).

   • Journal titles: use abbreviations according to Index Medicus / PubMed.

   • Year: placed immediately after the journal name.

   • Volume and pages: page ranges must be abbreviated (e.g., 351-8).

   • DOI: include when available; if not available, report PMID.

   • Do not use bold, italics, or a period after author names.

   Examples:

   Journal article
   Pennisi F, Odelli S, Borlini S, Morani F, Signorelli C, Renzi C. Impact of the Covid pandemic on timely cancer diagnosis across European healthcare settings: a scoping review. Ann Ig. 2024;36(2):194-214. doi: 10.7416/ai.2024.2596.

   Electronic journal
   Vanelli M. Tips to avoid weak scientific English. Acta Biomed. 2021;92(3):e2021235. doi: 10.23750/abm.v92i3.11810.

   Organization as author
   Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002;40(5):679-86. doi: 10.1161/01.hyp.0000035706.28494.09.

   Book
   Strunk Jr W, White EB. The elements of style. 4th ed. New York: Longman; 2000.

   Chapter in a book
   Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. pp. 93-113.

   Conference proceedings
   Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour Conference. 2001 Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.

   Web references
   World Health Organization (WHO). Global strategy on digital health 2020-2025. WHO; 2021. Available from: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/documents/gs4dhdaa2a9f352b0445bafbc79ca799dce4d.pdf [Last accessed: 2024 Jul 12].

   Exceptions

   • Unpublished data and personal communications: cite only in the text, not in the reference list.

   • Non-English articles: indicate the language in square brackets after the pages.

   • Supplements: specify Suppl.

    

   General formatting information

   Manuscripts must be written in concise English.

   Quick points:

   • Use double line spacing
   • Include line and page numbering
   • Use SI units: Please ensure that all special characters used are embedded in the text, otherwise they will be lost during conversion to PDF
   • Do not use page breaks in your manuscript

   File formats

   The following word processor file formats are acceptable for the main manuscript document:

   • Microsoft word (DOC, DOCX)
   • Rich text format (RTF)
   • TeX/LaTeX 

   Please note: editable files are required for processing in production. If your manuscript contains any non-editable files (such as PDFs) you will be required to re-submit an editable file if your manuscript is accepted.

   For more information, see 'Preparing figures' below.
    

   Style and language

   For editors and reviewers to accurately assess the work presented in your manuscript you need to ensure the English language is of sufficient quality to be understood. If you need help with writing in English you should consider.Please note that the use of a language editing service is not a requirement for publication in The Ultrasound Journal and does not imply or guarantee that the article will be selected for peer review or accepted.

   What should be cited?

   Only articles, clinical trial registration records and abstracts that have been published or are in press, or are available through public e-print/preprint servers, may be cited.

   Unpublished abstracts, unpublished data and personal communications should not be included in the reference list, but may be included in the text and referred to as "unpublished observations" or "personal communications" giving the names of the involved researchers. Obtaining permission to quote personal communications and unpublished data from the cited colleagues is the responsibility of the author. Either footnotes or endnotes are permitted. Journal abbreviations follow Index Medicus/MEDLINE.

   Any in press articles cited within the references and necessary for the reviewers' assessment of the manuscript should be made available if requested by the editorial office.

   Preparing figures

   When preparing figures, please follow the formatting instructions below.

   • Figure titles (max 15 words) and legends (max 300 words) should be provided in the main manuscript, not in the graphic file.
   • Tables should NOT be submitted as figures but should be included in the main manuscript file.
   • Multi-panel figures (those with parts a, b, c, d etc.) should be submitted as a single composite file that contains all parts of the figure.
   • Figures should be numbered in the order they are first mentioned in the text, and uploaded in this order.
   • Figures should be uploaded in the correct orientation.
   • Figure keys should be incorporated into the graphic, not into the legend of the figure.
   • Each figure should be closely cropped to minimize the amount of white space surrounding the illustration. Cropping figures improves accuracy when placing the figure in combination with other elements when the accepted manuscript is prepared for publication on our site. For more information on individual figure file formats, see our detailed instructions.
   • Individual figure files should not exceed 10 MB. If a suitable format is chosen, this file size is adequate for extremely high quality figures.
   • Please note that it is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce figures (or tables) that have previously been published elsewhere. In order for all figures to be open access, authors must have permission from the rights holder if they wish to include images that have been published elsewhere in non open access journals. Permission should be indicated in the figure legend, and the original source included in the reference list.

   Figure file types

   We accept the following file formats for figures:

   • EPS (suitable for diagrams and/or images)
   • PDF (suitable for diagrams and/or images)
   • Microsoft Word (suitable for diagrams and/or images, figures must be a single page)
   • PowerPoint (suitable for diagrams and/or images, figures must be a single page)
   • TIFF (suitable for images)
   • JPEG (suitable for photographic images, less suitable for graphical images)
   • PNG (suitable for images)
   • BMP (suitable for images)
   • CDX (ChemDraw - suitable for molecular structures)

   Figure size and resolution

   Figures are resized during publication of the final full text and PDF versions to conform to the standard dimensions, which are detailed below.

   Figures on the web:

   • width of 600 pixels (standard), 1200 pixels (high resolution).

   Figures in the final PDF version:

   • width of 85 mm for half page width figure
   • width of 170 mm for full page width figure
   • maximum height of 225 mm for figure and legend
   • image resolution of approximately 300 dpi (dots per inch) at the final size

   Figures should be designed such that all information, including text, is legible at these dimensions. All lines should be wider than 0.25 pt when constrained to standard figure widths. All fonts must be embedded.

   Figure file compression

    

   Vector figures should if possible be submitted as PDF files, which are usually more compact than EPS files.

   • TIFF files should be saved with LZW compression, which is lossless (decreases file size without decreasing quality) in order to minimize upload time.
   • JPEG files should be saved at maximum quality.
   • Conversion of images between file types (especially lossy formats such as JPEG) should be kept to a minimum to avoid degradation of quality.

   If you have any questions or are experiencing a problem with figures, please contact the customer service team at redazione@mattioli1885.com

   Preparing tables

   When preparing tables, please follow the formatting instructions below.

   • Tables should be numbered and cited in the text in sequence using Arabic numerals (i.e. Table 1, Table 2 etc.).
   • Tables less than one A4 or Letter page in length can be placed in the appropriate location within the manuscript.
   • Tables larger than one A4 or Letter page in length can be placed at the end of the document text file. Please cite and indicate where the table should appear at the relevant location in the text file so that the table can be added in the correct place during production.
   • Larger datasets, or tables too wide for A4 or Letter landscape page can be uploaded as additional files. Please see [below] for more information.
   • Tabular data provided as additional files can be uploaded as an Excel spreadsheet (.xls ) or comma separated values (.csv). Please use the standard file extensions.
   • Table titles (max 15 words) should be included above the table, and legends (max 300 words) should be included underneath the table.
   • Tables should not be embedded as figures or spreadsheet files, but should be formatted using ‘Table object’ function in your word processing program.
   • Color and shading may not be used. Parts of the table can be highlighted using superscript, numbering, lettering, symbols or bold text, the meaning of which should be explained in a table legend.
   • Commas should not be used to indicate numerical values.

   If you have any questions or are experiencing a problem with figures, please contact the customer service team at redazione@mattioli1885.com

    

   Preparing additional files

   As the length and quantity of data is not restricted for many article types, authors can provide datasets, tables, movies, or other information as additional files.

   All Additional files will be published along with the accepted article. Do not include files such as patient consent forms, certificates of language editing, or revised versions of the main manuscript document with tracked changes. Such files, if requested, should be sent by email to the journal’s editorial email address, quoting the manuscript reference number.

   Results that would otherwise be indicated as "data not shown" should be included as additional files. Since many web links and URLs rapidly become broken, Mattioli 1885 requires that supporting data are included as additional files, or deposited in a recognized repository. Please do not link to data on a personal/departmental website. Do not include any individual participant details. The maximum file size for additional files is 20 MB each, and files will be virus-scanned on submission. Each additional file should be cited in sequence within the main body of text.

    

   PART II – Article-type specific guidelines

    

   

    

   Papers Formats Typically Published by The Journal

   Note: while these broad categories of paper are those typically published in The Ultrasound Journal, we are always interested in novel or original approaches.  If you would like your manuscript considered for publication, but it is in a different format than those listed here, please contact the Editor-in-Chief (francesco.corradi@winfocus.org). 

    1. Original Research Papers

   Research Papers should meet the following criteria:

   • The manuscript presents the results of primary scientific research
   • The results have not been published in full elsewhere
   • Analyses are performed to a high technical standard and are described in full in the manuscript
   • Conclusions are presented in a clear and concise manner and are supported by the data
   • Manuscripts must be written in English using standard scientific terms
   • The research meets all applicable ethical standards
   • The article adheres to appropriate reporting guidelines and community standards for full data disclosure. In general papers of studies that have been pre-registered or have a pre-published or approved protocol and analysis plan are prioritized
   • All conflicts of interest should be clearly stated in the manuscript
   • It is mandatory to upload the appropriate EQUATOR checklist for your study. Please find the appropriate checklist at EQUATOR Network
   • According to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, designation as an author must satisfy three conditions. Each author must have:

   - Contributed substantially to the conception and design of the study, the acquisition of data, or the analysis and interpretation of the data

   - Drafted or provided critical revision of the article

   - Provided final approval of the version submitted for publication

   • A statement detailing the role of each author in the study should be reported in an appropriate Authorship statement section of the manuscript in compliance with the ICMJE recommendations. ((https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html)
   • At the Editor’s discretion, authors may be asked to reduce the number of authors in the byline, whenever appropriate. The authors may add a study group name as an author in the byline and list the study group members in an appropriate footnote in the first page of the manuscript in order to have their names entered in PubMed as Collaborators.
   • In addition to the abovementioned statements an Authorship and Conflict of Interest form should be completed, signed by each author and uploaded with the manuscript. The form can be downloaded here.
   • A 250-word abstract and 3-5 keywords are required
   • Papers should contain the following Sections:
   1. Abstract
   2. Introduction and Background. This section should address the following: previous scientific information on the topic of the study, the basic question addressed by the study, how the study will address the question, and why this question is of significance and interest. 
   3. These should be described in sufficient detail that another investigator could repeat the study.
   4. This should address any of the issues raised in the In Introduction and Background.
   5. Limitations of the Study.
   6. Conclusions and potential avenues of future research.
   • The abstract should include the following sections:
   1. Background
   2. Methods
   3. Results
   4. Conclusions
   • Original papers should not exceed 3,000 words.
   • Up to 50 references are permitted. If a higher number of references is needed, explain the reasons during the submission processes. 
   • When reporting the results of a randomized controlled trial, author(s) should use the CONSORT statement as a guide in preparing the manuscript. 
   • IRB/ethical committee approval and patient informed consent statements should be reported in the manuscript in the Materials and Methods section or in a separate section at the end of the manuscript
   • Authors of original papers and reviews are requested to provide the following information:

   - A 140-character Tweet that may appear online via the TUJ website or social media platforms. This Tweet will not form part of the print version of the manuscript

   CONSORT-statement

    

   2. Articles

   Review Articles, Systematic Reviews, Meta-Analyses

   • Review articles should not exceed 4,000 words and 75 references. Supplementary information can be published in electronic supplements without limitation.
   • Authorship should comply with the ICMJE (https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html) recommendation for authorship and the role of each author should be specified in the first page of the manuscript below the byline.
   • At the Editor’s decision, authors may be asked to reduce the number of authors in the byline whenever appropriate. The authors may add a study group name as an author in the byline and list the study group members in an appropriate footnote in the first page of the manuscript in order to have their names entered in PubMed as Collaborators.
   • In addition to the abovementioned statements, an Authorship and Conflict of Interest form should be completed, signed by each author and uploaded with the manuscript. The form can be downloaded below.
   • Authors of original papers and reviews are requested to provide the following information:

   - A 140-character Tweet that may appear online via the TUJ website or social media platforms. This Tweet will not form part of the print version of the manuscript

   Three types of reviews are considered: Narrative, Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (or a combination of both). It is strongly recommended that systematic reviews and meta-analyses comply with the PRISMA Statement, which is available here. 

   • An abstract summarizing the underlying scientific questions, the approach to the analysis of the literature, and significant conclusions should be included.

    

   3. Narrative/Scoping Reviews

   These papers represent a state-of-the-art discussion of a specific field of research and are prepared by senior authors with a broad knowledge of the field.

   • Narrative reviews should not exceed 4,000 words and 80 references and should contain figures and tables
   • A statement detailing each Author’s role in the study and conflict of interest is mandatory for all papers
   • In addition to the abovementioned statements an Authorship and Conflict of Interest form should be completed, signed by each author and uploaded with the manuscript. The form can be downloaded here.
   • IRB/ethical committee approval and informed consent statements are not required
   • A structured abstract is not required

    

   4. Editorials

   Editorials are usually written by invitation, but spontaneous submissions will be accepted on merit.

   The purpose of editorials is to discuss current developments in ultrasonology, to give context to articles in the current issue of The Journal or to discuss events of note. Both descriptive figures and photographs are welcomed. We also welcome viewpoints that present opinions or controversial issues. These articles may address any important topic in ultrasonology including clinical medicine, research, knowledge translation, public health, health policy and ethics. 

   Editorials should not exceed 1,200 words and include at least one table or figure. 

   • Editorials have a maximum of 3 authors 
   • No abstract
   • Conflict of interest disclosure is mandatory for all papers and should be accompanied by a form to be signed by each author. The form can be downloaded here.

    

   5. Images
   • Submission under the Image section should be of high scientific quality and provide key teaching points to be gleaned from the image and case. They must be unique and adhere to ethical standards with patient/relative approval when appropriate, protection of patient identity and privacy, and local ethics approval as appropriate. 

   The section is not supposed for the publication of case-reports. The focus is on the images.

   • The accompanying text should not exceed 500 words. A maximum of five authors is permitted.
   • No abstract

    

   6. Correspondence

   Correspondence can be submitted for discussion of recently published articles and other topical matters; correspondence articles should not exceed 800 words (you do not need to include references, tables and figure captions in this word count) and should have no more than 10 references. One figure or one table may be included.

   • The total number of authors should not exceed 5
   • At the Editor’s discretion the authors of the commented original article may be invited to write a reply, which also should not exceed 800 words, 5 references (including the original TUJ article and the related correspondence) and 1 figure or table

    

   7. Letters to the Editor
   • Letters to the editor provide an opportunity to present results of high scientific value where a short format is most appropriate. Typically, letters are dedicated to small pilot/feasibility studies and/or preliminary data. They must not exceed 500 words, 5 references and 1 figure or table.
   • The journal does not consider case reports or brief reports for publication.
   • Authorship of letters to the editor should be limited to 5 authors or less. In case of letters which stem from an original study with a higher number of authors, a choice must be made by the authors on the names that should appear in the byline and those that may appear in a footnote or in a study group
   • Study group collaborating authors should be included in the front page but separate from the byline
   • To the Editor’s discretion the authors may be asked to specify the role of each author in the article preparation

    

   8. TUJ Advances

   TUJ Advances are short reviews which provide an overview of the most recent developments and key new concepts within a specific field. TUJ Advances submissions should not exceed 2000 words. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome, but it might be advantageous to confer with one of the Associate Editors to confer on the topic and align goals.

    

   9. TUJ Viewpoints

   The TUJ Viewpoint format comprises a focused mini-review and concise editorial commentary on a specific emerging topic in Ultrasonography. Viewpoint editorials should not exceed 2000 words and should not have an abstract. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome, but it might be advantageous to confer with one of the Associate Editors to confer on the topic and align goals.

    

   10. Research letters

   Research letters are case study articles, brief report of research findings, preliminary studies or short reports presented in the format of a letter to the editor.

   Research letters do not contain an abstract.

   Research letters should not exceed 1200 words (you do not need to include references, tables and figure captions in this word count).

    

   11. Case Reports

   The publication of original and interesting case reports that contribute significantly to medical knowledge may be considered.

   The total number of authors should not exceed 5

   Manuscripts must meet one of the following criteria:

   1. Unexpected or unusual presentations of a disease.
   2. New associations or variations in disease processes.
   3. Presentations, diagnoses and/or management of new and emerging diseases.
   4. An unexpected association between diseases or symptoms.
   5. An unexpected event in the course of observing or treating a patient.
   6. Findings that shed new light on the possible pathogenesis of a disease or an adverse effect.