General Guidelines

Audience

The audience for SEEd Medical Publishers Open Access Books varies depending from each single book, ranging from every health care professional to patients, passing through medicine students, health economists, legal practitioners, etc. It has to be specified in the Prospectus file during the presubmission.

Key Formatting Points

The Prospectus file is the preliminary form, downloadable here, to be filled and uploaded when firstly submitting the book concept to the Publisher. During this presubmission phase, the corresponding Author, before filling the fields in the Catalog page, uploads a Prospectus as Submission component. Please, refer to the Publishing Process section to have a general overview in the whole handling process of your manuscript.

During this presubmission phase, just the Prospectus and the Catalog data are considered. The full body text should be added as Book Manuscript Submission Component file after the first acceptance of the Prospectus by the Press Editor.

Once the Prospectus is accepted, the submission phase begins. Please ensure your book concurs with the following format:

• Title: concise, preferably not more than 180 characters.
• Author(s) names, affiliations and email.
• Corresponding author: including full name, and e-mail. Address and phone numbers may also be reported.
• Abstract: this is the book synopsis; less than 300 words. No references should be cited in the abstract.
• Keywords: approximately 3-5 keywords, possibly adhering to MESH terms.
• Book Manuscript: body of text, organized in appropriate chapters and subchapters.
• References (For full details on formatting see “References” section below):
  • Should be cited as [First author, publication year] in the text or in Tables and Figures.
  • In the reference section quote first three authors’ names. If there are more than three, then quote first three, et al.
• Figures/Tables (For full details on formatting see “Manuscript preparation” section below): summary figures/tables/boxes are very useful, and we encourage their use. The author should include illustrations and tables to condense and illustrate the information they wish to convey. If any of the figures or tables used in the manuscript requires permission from the original publisher, it is the author’s responsibility to obtain this. Figures must be in an editable format.

Manuscript Preparation

Headings

No more than three levels of subheading should be used to divide the text and should be clearly designated.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations should be defined on their first appearance, and in any table and figure footnotes. It is helpful if a separate list is provided of any abbreviations.

Language

English books are preferred (American spelling). SEEd offers a service for authors who are not native English. Please contact us if you need any language service, as English language editing or translation. However, we consider also Italian, French, German, and Spanish books.

References

• Author’s names should appear without full stops in their initials
• Quote first three authors’ names. If there are more than three, then quote first three et al.
• Insert the publication year in parenthesis.
• Journal name should be in italics and abbreviated to standard PubMed format
• Volume number followed by semicolon
• Page number range separated by a hyphen with no spaces

Examples

• Journal example: Hostler D, Everson-Stewart S, Rea TD, et al; Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium Investigators (2011). Effect of real-time feedback during cardiopulmonary resuscitation outside hospital: prospective, cluster-randomised trial. BMJ 342: d512; https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d512
  or: Difonzo M (2017). Rapid Response Systems: how to interpret levels of evidence. Clinical Management Issues 11: 71-88; https://doi.org/10.7175/cmi.v11i2.1271
• Book example: Lunet N (2010). Meta-analysis of observational studies. In: La Torre G (ed). Applied Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Torino: SEEd Medical Publishers
• Meeting abstract example: Smith AB, Jones CD (1994). Recent progress in the pharmacotherapy of diseases of the lower urinary tract. Presented at: 13th International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry. Atlanta, GA, USA, 28 November-2 December 1994
• Website example: Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (2003). 11^th ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster Inc. Available at: http://ww.m-w.com/dictionary.htm
  or: National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (2009). Antisocial personality disorder. London: NICE. Available at: http://guidance.nice.org.uk/CG77/PublicInfo/pdf/English (last accessed January 2011)

Figures and Schemes

Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text. Define in the legend all abbreviations that are used in the figure.

Figures should be placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.

Schemes, diagrams and flow-charts should be provided in an editable electronic format such as PowerPoint, or Excel.

Tables and Boxes

Tables should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text. Define in the legend all abbreviations that are used in the table/box. Tables and boxes can be incorporated into the body of the manuscript, preferably in either Word or Excel format.

Tables and Figures Copyright

If a table, or a figure or a box has been published previously (even if you were the author), acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material where necessary.

As the author of your manuscript, you are responsible for obtaining permissions to use material owned by others. Since the permission-seeking process can be remarkably time-consuming, it is wise to begin writing for permission as soon as possible.

Please send us photocopies of letters or forms granting you permission for the use of copyrighted material so that we can see that any special requirements with regard to wording and placement of credits are fulfilled. Keep the originals for your files. If payment is required for use of the table/box, this should be covered by the author.

This platform charges the following author fees.

Publication fees vary depending on the type of publication and the pagination.

All manuscripts submitted to this website are submitted under the Open Access publishing model.

That means that all the books are freely available on line. This is made possible by a fee that covers the cost of the services we provide.

The publication fees, payable when your manuscript is editorially accepted and before publication, is charged either to you, your institution or funder. Following payment of the publication fees, papers will be published and made open access. 

Payment can be made by any of the following methods:

• Credit card. Payment can be made online using a secure payment form as soon as the manuscript has been editorially accepted. We will we send a receipt by email once payment has been processed.
• Wired Bank Transfer. You will receive an invoice to be payed within 30 days of the manuscript receiving editorial acceptance.
• PayPal. Payment can be made as soon as the manuscript has been editorially accepted. We will we send a receipt by email once payment has been processed.

No taxes are included in this charge. If you are resident in any European Union country you have to add Value-Added Tax (VAT) at the rate applicable in the respective country. Institutions and holders of VAT registration number not based in the Italy can have the VAT charge recorded under the EU reverse charge method, this means VAT does not need to be added to the invoice. You are required to supply us the VAT registration number.

If you would like your book to be published open access, but you genuinely cannot afford this fee, then individual waiver requests are considered on a case-bycase basis and may be granted in cases of genuine need. Priority for this waiver programme will be given to applications by authors from countries eligible for the Research4Life programme.

If you do not have funds to pay such fees, you will have an opportunity to waive each fee. We do not want fees to prevent the publication of worthy work.

All the books/chapters undergo single-blind peer review: therefore, Reviewers’ identities are concealed from the Authors, throughout the review process. A summary of this process is available here.

1. Author Submits the Prospectus

In this presubmission, the Author usually submits a brief text as Prospectus via online system. It should include a brief synopsis (2-3 rows) for each chapter and the intended readership. Occasionally, we may accept such files by email.

2. Press Editor’s First Consideration

The Press Editor reads title, abstract, chapters’ synopsis, and readership and evaluates if they fit with the audience, the expertise (e.g. the book focuses on aspects non regarding the medical field), and the purposes of the Publisher. If not, the Press Editor promptly rejects the Prospectus, declining the submission or suggesting more suitable Publishers to submit the book.

3. Author Submits the Manuscript

The Author usually submits the book via online system. Occasionally, we may accept submissions by email.

4. Press Editor’s First Assessment

All manuscripts receive an internal review by the Press Editor and the Editorial Team, who check for:

• Quality and consistency;
• Plagiarism, using the iThenticate software and following the COPE guidelines;
• Adherence to the Author Guidelines.

If the manuscript is not appropriate or is not sufficiently interesting may be promptly rejected. Sometimes, if the manuscript is not suitable for SEEd Medical Publishers, the Editor may suggest to submit the manuscript to a more appropriate Publisher.

Other manuscripts are sent to the peer review process.

5. Peer Review Process

The Press Editor identifies possible Reviewers from SEEd database and PubMed and sends invitations. Two to four Reviewers are required. About four weeks (this time range may vary depending on the book/chapter length) are given to the Reviewers to complete the review, give their recommendation (accept, decline, revisions required, resubmit for review, or resubmit elsewhere), and submit the checklist via web.

6. Press Editor’s Evaluation

The Press Editor receives comments and recommendations from the Reviewers. If the Reviewers’ comments differ widely, an additional Reviewer may be invited in order to take a final decision on the manuscript.

The final Press Editor’s decision can be:

• Accept submission without editorial revisions.
• Revisions required: the Author is invited to revise the manuscript to address specific concerns. Revised manuscripts are evaluated by the Press Editor.
• Resubmit for review: the Author is invited to substantially revise the manuscript in terms of consistency, writing, and organization before reconsideration. Resubmitted manuscripts are reviewed by the Press Editor and Reviewers.
• Resubmit elsewhere: the Author is invited to submit the manuscript to a more appropriate Publisher.
• Decline submission: the book/chapter is not adequate for publication, usually because of major interpretational problems, poor quality, or ethical problems.

Once the final decision is taken, the Press Editor informs the Author. In all case, the Reviewer’s comments are sent to the Author.

7. Next Steps

If the manuscript is accepted, the Press Editor sends it to the editing process and checks any legal and administrative documentation. Finally, the book is published.