Submissions

Author Guidelines

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

Birth and Growth Medical Journal (BGMJ) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Department of Education and Training of the Local Health Unit of Santo António (DEFI/ULS de Santo António). It has been published quarterly since 1992 and is indexed in SciELO and referenced in several scientific databases.

The journal’s primary aim is to promote and disseminate scientific knowledge, encouraging research in the fields of Maternal-Fetal, Neonatal, and Paediatric Health.

The journal publishes editorials, original articles, review articles, clinical case reports, image-based cases, letters to the editor, and current perspectives. Only manuscripts written in English are accepted for submission.

Adopting an open access policy, all articles are freely and fully available at https://revistas.rcaap.pt/nascercrescer, under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-NC 4.0).

BGMJ does not charge any fees to authors or readers. The responsibility for managing the scientific content lies entirely with the editorial board.

AUTHORSHIP CRITERIA AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Birth and Growth Medical Journal adheres to the guidelines for manuscript submission to biomedical journals developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Authorship in a scientific article must be based on the criteria outlined in the ICMJE’s Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. Authorship or co-authorship requires the following four conditions to be met:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the study; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
• Participation in drafting the manuscript and in critically revising its content;
• Final approval of the version to be published;
• Agreement to be accountable for the accuracy and integrity of the entire work.

The cover letter must specify the individual contribution of each author to the work.

Anyone who contributed to the research but does not meet all four authorship criteria must be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section.

A Conflict of Interest Statement and Authorship Form must be completed and signed by all authors and submitted along with the other required documents.

ETHICS AND CONSENT

Authors must ensure that the study on which the submitted manuscript is based complied with ethical and professional standards, as well as all applicable legislation and regulations, in accordance with the principles set out in the Declaration of Helsinki.

Where applicable, authors are required to state that informed consent was obtained from participants, and that the study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the institutions involved.

Submission of a Conflict of Interest and/or Funding Declaration is mandatory.

USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

Birth and Growth Medical Journal permits the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the preparation of manuscripts, provided that such use is clearly and appropriately disclosed by the authors.

Authors must specify, either in the Acknowledgements section or in a footnote, the type of tool used (e.g., ChatGPT, Grammarly, etc.) and the nature of its contribution (e.g., support in drafting, language editing, image generation, or data analysis).

The responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and scientific integrity of the content remains entirely with the authors. The use of AI does not exempt authors from ethical standards, nor does it replace human authorship.

FUNDING

Sources of funding must be mentioned at the end of the manuscript.

EDITORIAL PROCESS AND PEER REVIEW

Submissions must be made exclusively online through the journal’s platform. Upon submission, the corresponding author will receive an automatic confirmation email. All manuscripts are evaluated by the Editorial Board and undergo double-blind peer review. Editorial decisions include acceptance, revision, or rejection.

If revisions are requested, authors must submit the revised manuscript clearly indicating where changes were made. Additionally, a Word document must be provided with a point-by-point response to the reviewers’ comments, justifying the changes made or explaining why certain suggestions were not followed.

OPEN ACCESS AND LICENSING

The journal provides immediate open access to all content under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence. There are no submission or publication fees. Digital preservation is ensured through systems such as CLOCKSS.

ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGES

here are no article processing charges (APCs) for publication in BGMJ.

PUBLICATION GUIDELINES

SUBMISSION

Manuscripts must be submitted via the journal’s online platform: https://revistas.rcaap.pt/nascercrescer.

The manuscript should be submitted in a recent version of Microsoft Word, accompanied by a cover letter and the authorship and conflict of interest declaration.

All submissions must be written in English and follow the structure below:

1 – Title;

2 – Authors;

3 – Abstract and Keywords;

4 – Main Body of the Article;

5 – References;

6 – Figures;

7 – Tables;

8 – Figure and Table Legends;

9 – Acknowledgements and Disclosures.

The pages should be numbered according to the sequence mentioned above.

On the first page

A clear and concise title, never identifying the institution where the study was conducted;

The authors’ names (first and last, or clinical name), followed by their respective affiliations (Service, Department, Institution), email contacts, ORCID ID, and each author’s contribution (see: https://credit.niso.org/);

Identification of the corresponding author for correspondence, including postal address, email, and telephone number.

On the second page

An abstract, avoiding the use of abbreviations;

Abstracts must follow the specific structure according to the article type submitted;

Following the abstract, keywords should be listed in alphabetical order to serve as the basis for article indexing. Terms should be consistent with the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).

GENERAL GUIDELINES

Abbreviations used must be specified. When necessary, they should be fully spelled out the first time they appear in the text. If more than six abbreviations are used, the inclusion of a table explaining all abbreviations is recommended. Abbreviations are not accepted in article titles.

Measured parameters or values should be expressed in international units (SI units, The SI for the Health Professions, WHO, 1977), using the abbreviations adopted in Portugal.

Numbers from one to nine should be written in full, except when used as units of measurement or accompanied by decimals. Numbers greater than nine should be written in Arabic numerals, except when starting a sentence.

Regarding results, information should not be duplicated in both the text and tables; the main results should be highlighted in the text.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

References should be listed and numbered in the order they appear in the text, using Arabic numerals formatted as superscripts (e.g., ⁽⁴⁾).

Sequential references should be indicated by listing only the first and last numbers, separated by a hyphen (e.g., ^(4-7)). Non-sequential references should be separated by commas (e.g., ^(4,7,9)). References must always be placed at the end of each sentence, after the full stop.

Authors must ensure that all references comply with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscript submitted to biomedical journals (www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html) and use the abbreviated journal titles adopted by the Index Medicus. Authors can consult the NLM’s Citing Medicine page for formatting recommendations for various reference types.

Some examples follow:

Medical journal article: List the first six authors followed by et al. (in italics) if there are more than six authors; article title; journal name; year; volume; issue; and page numbers. Example: Haque KN, Zaidi MH, Haque SK, Bahakim H, el-Hazmi M, el-Swailam M, et al. Intravenous Immunoglobulin for prevention of sepsis in preterm and low birth weight infants. Pediatr Infect Dis 1986; 5(6): 622-5. https://doi: 10.1097/00006454-198611000-00004.

Book chapter: Author(s), chapter title, editor(s), book title, edition number, city, publisher, year of publication, first and last pages of the chapter. Ex.: Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. p. 465-78.

Book: Author(s), book title, edition number, city, publisher, year of publication, and total number of pages. Example: Jenkins PF. Making sense of the chest x-ray: a hands-on guide. 2nd edition. London: Taylor & Francis; 2013. p. 120.

Electronic reference: Electronic journal article. Example: Jeha G, Kirkland J. Etiology of hypocalcemia in infants and children. January 2010. (Accessed May 8, 2013). Available from: http://www.uptodate.com.

FUGURES AND TABLES

Figures and tables should be submitted on separate pages, in high-quality digital format, accompanied by a title and an explanatory legend when necessary.

Each table and figure must be numbered sequentially using Arabic numerals, in the order they are cited in the text.

All abbreviations or symbols used must be explained in the legend.

If a figure or table is a direct copy or modified version from a published source, its origin must be acknowledged, and permission for use should be obtained when appropriate.

Photographs or diagnostic images of patients must ensure anonymity, and must be accompanied by written consent for publication from the patient or their legal guardian.

The total number of figures and tables should not exceed the limits specified for each article type.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DISCLOSURES

Acknowledgements, statements regarding the presence or absence of any conflicts of interest for any of the authors, as well as information on the sources of funding for the study, should appear on the last page.