Preparation of Manuscripts – regular paper and minireview

The manuscript of the full-length original paper or minireview in general:

  • Should not exceed 30 typed pages (up to 1800 characters per page without spaces) including tables and figures, each on separate page
  • Be typed in 12 points Times New Roman font
  • Every portion of the manuscript should be double-spaced
  • No part of the manuscript should be underlined and written using capital letters

The full length paper should be divided into the following sections written in sequence: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Experimental: Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments, Literature.

Title

The title should briefly describe the contents of the paper. Below the title, the manuscript should include full name (including first name and middle initial) of each Author and affiliations of all Authors. Street address, telephone number and e-mail address should be given only for the corresponding Author (or corresponding Authors, when apply) and placed in the footnote at the bottom of the first page. Under the Authors affiliations the proposed running title should be included (50 characters including spaces).

Graphical Abstract

A graphical abstract should be a one image file and represent the article’s topic in an attention-grabbing way. The graphical abstract should have a clear start and end, preferably “reading” from top to bottom or left to right. Authors must provide an image that represents the work described in the paper.

The graphical abstract should be a high-quality illustration or diagram in any of the following formats: JPEG, TIFF, PNG, AI, EPS, PDF, or MS Office files. Written text in a graphical abstract should be clear and easy to read, using one of the sans serif fonts, e.g., Arial or Calibri, 12–16 points.

The minimum required size for the graphical abstract is 800 × 600 pixels (width × height). When submitting larger images, please make sure to keep to the same ratio.

Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the submission system by selecting “graphical abstract” from the drop-down list when uploading files.

Abstract

Limit the Abstract to 250 words or fewer. Because the abstract will be published separately by abstracting services, it must be complete and understandable without reference to the text. It should be written in an impersonal form. Abbreviations, diagrams and references are not allowed.

Keywords

Five keywords or short phrases should be given below the abstract. If names of microorganisms are used, they should precede the key words, and be followed by the latter in alphabetical order. All keywords should be relevantly connected with the subject matter (avoid common terms like: bacteria, medium, soil, temperature etc.) as they will be used for indexing purposes.

Introduction

The introduction should provide background information to allow the reader to understand and evaluate the results of the present study and describe the purpose of the undertaken research. However, broad “academic lectures” on the subject and extensive literature reviews should be avoided.

Experimental

Materials & Methods

This section should contain description of materials (biological and others) used and sufficient technical information so that the experiments can be repeated. For commonly used materials and methods (e.g. commonly used media, protein determination) a simple reference is sufficient. Novel or modified procedures should be described in detail.
When a large number of microbial strains or mutants were used in a study, include strain tables identifying the sources and properties of the strains, mutants, bacteriophages, plasmids, etc.

Results

In the Results section, only the results of the experiments should be included; reserve extensive interpretation of the results for the Discussion section. When justified by the nature of the paper the Results and Discussion sections may be combined into Results and Discussion chapter. The results should be presented as concisely as possible and illustrated with tables or figures if applicable (presentation of the same results in both tables and figures is not acceptable). All Tables and Figures must be referred to in the main body of the text.

Discussion

The Discussion should provide an interpretation of the obtained results in relation to previously published work and to the experimental system at hand and should not contain extensive repetition of the Results section or reiteration of the introduction. In some papers the Results and Discussion can be combined into one section as mentioned above.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements for financial support and for a personal assistance (with the permission of person named) are given in two separate paragraphs below the main text.

Literature (and references)

In-text references and the reference list at the end of the paper should be prepared according to the Council of Science Editors (CSE) documentation Name-Year (N-Y) system.

In-text references should be cited in the form of the author’s last name and publication year in parentheses, e.g. (Nowak 2017). When a paper has two authors, it should be cited in parentheses as follows: (Nowak and Smith 2017).

When a paper has more than two authors, the first author’s name should be followed with “et al.” and the year of publication, e.g. (Nowak et al. 2002). While references occur that are not identified by the authors’ names and year, use a, b, etc., after the year (Nowak et al. 2002a; 2002b).

When you cite multiple works by different authors, put the sources in chronological order from oldest to most recent (and alphabetically, if published in the same year). Separate studies by a semicolon: (Nowak et al. 2008; Smith et al. 2016).

The list of the papers cited (Literature) is organized alphabetically according to the last name of the first author and not numbered. When there is more than one work by the author, those works are organized chronologically. Authors’ first names are rendered as capitals after their surnames as in an example: Nowak BS, Smith J, Coward PP. Papers with one only author are listed in chronological order (the earliest first); papers with two authors are listed alphabetically according to the last name of the first author and the last name of the second author. Papers with three or more authors appear as those with two authors and are listed chronologically.

Only the first word of a book or article title should be capitalized. Titles are not italicized. However, species names are italicized.

Here, you find examples:
Rumbaugh KP, Sauer K. Biofilm dispersion. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2020 Jun;18:571–586. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-020-0385-0
Ilczyszyn WM, Sabat AJ, Akkerboom V, Szkarlat A, Klepacka J, Sowa-Sierant I, Wasik B, Kosecka-Strojek M, Buda A, Miedzobrodzki J, et al. Clonal structure and characterization of Staphylococcus aureus strains from invasive infections in paediatric patients from South Poland: association between age, spa types, clonal complexes, and genetic markers. PLoS One. 2016 Mar 18;11(3):e0151937. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151937
Baraniak A, Grabowska A, Izdebski R, Fiett J, Herda M, Bojarska K, Żabicka D, Kania-Pudło M, Młynarczyk G, Żak-Puławska Z, et al.; KPC-PL Study Group. Molecular characteristics of KPC-producing Enterobacteriaceae at the early stage of their dissemination in Poland, 2008-2009. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2011 Dec;55(12):5493–5499 https://doi.org/10.1128/AAC.05118-11
Samet A, Bronk M, Sledzińska A, Labon M, Rybak B. [Nosocomial bacteremia] (in Polish). Przegl Epidemiol. 2006;60(1):35–41.

Use the proper journal title abbreviations (ISO4 standard) as indicated in the PubMed Journal Database.

References for books follow should be provided in the order: Author(s). Title. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher. Year. Extent.
As in an example: Nowak C, Smith P, Howard M. Virulence factors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Warsaw (Poland): PTM Press; 2008. p. 203–208.

References for chapters or other parts of a book should be provided in the order: Author(s). Chapter title. In: Editor(s). Book title. Place of publication: Publisher; Year. Page numbers for that chapter.
As in an example: Kosecka-Strojek M, Buda A, Międzobrodzki J. Staphylococcal ecology and epidemiology. In: Savini V, editor. Pet-to-man travelling staphylococci. A world in progress. Cambridge (USA): Academic Press; 2018. p. 11–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813547-1.00002-9

The Editorial Office strongly recommends using the dedicated software to manage and edit citations and literature. To easily adjust or change references according to the PJM requirements, choose a CSE citation style (N-Y option), which is build-in in these programs. List and comparison of reference management software may be viewed e.g., at the Wikipedia site.