Instructions for authors

Healthcare Letters is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal addressing research, policy and implementation related to healthcare and medical outcomes. The journal publishes original scientific contributions, literature review, letter to editors and case reports, that are characterised by topicality and content relevance.

The editorial board accepts manuscripts in Slovak, Czech, and English languages that are peer-reviewed by at least two reviewers. The journal uses double-blind review. During the review process, publishers undertake to keep confidential information about the authorship of the reviewed contribution by reviewers, and vice versa. They further undertake not to use any part of the unpublished manuscript without written consent of the author. The handling editor will make an overall decision on scientific and ethical quality of a manuscript using the Board Members and peer reviewer comments.

The final decision on the issue of acceptance, revision or rejection of the contribution for publishing is in the full competence of the Editorial Board. The authors are responsible for language correction (the language and grammar of their contribution). The Editorial Board has the right to make minor stylistic modifications of the text without consulting them with the author of the text. The author will be familiarised with each correction during copyright correction of the contribution and also with the rejection of a manuscript that does not fit into the concept of the journal or was not approved by a reviewer. The contribution which contain formal deficiencies will be returned to authors for rewriting.

Contributions have to meet the basic ethical principles in accordance with the published ethics of publishing policy of the journal Healthcare Letters. In the manuscript, it should be noted that the study of which the contribution is part, has been approved by the Ethics Committee (there should be written the exact designation of the committee). It should also be noted that the involvement of respondents in the study was voluntary and the data was treated confidentially. Identification data of individuals included in the study cannot be included in the text of the manuscript, in photographs or ancestry (origin), unless such information is scientifically necessary and unless the probant (or his/her legal representative) has provided informed consent to publish the data. In this case, the patient has to be acquainted with the manuscript. The provision of informed consent to patients must be communicated in the text of the manuscript. The author is also required to indicate possible funding sources and to comment on the potential conflict of interest. The work must include a statement about that, and in case of acceptance, it will not be included in another journal, which must be signed by all the authors to indicate their agreement to the content of the manuscript. The contributions that were accepted belong to the permanent ownership of the journal and no part of the accepted manuscript can be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher.

Preparing the manuscript:

For peer-reviewed manuscript, appropriate length for the text is 12 standard (21 600 characters including spaces).
Recommended setting for MS Word - abstract: font type Times New Roman, size 12, line spacing single (1.0), all margins set to 2.5 cm, left alignment, do not separate words by a hyphen.
Recommended setting for MS Word – the text of the manuscript: size 12, line spacing 1.5, all margins set to 2.5 cm, left alignment, do not separate words by a hyphen.
Do not use bold and italics (except for quotation) in the manuscript. Use the bold only to indicate the title of the contribution, individual sub chapters, tables and figures.
Tables, pictures and figures have to be placed in the particular part of the contribution (the author does not send them apart). Tables, figures and pictures must be marked with a number and title, and there must be the link to them in the text of manuscript. The font size for the table and figure is 10pt.
The title page of the manuscript should contain the following data: The title in Slovak or Czech and English languages, the name and surname of the authors (with academic titles), the affiliation and the correspondence address of contributing authors, the contact details of the first author or the author, respectively the of the author for correspondence.

Headings for Abstract – should be structured. It should include the following:

Theoretical background,
Objectives,
Research sample and method,
Results,
Conclusions.

Headings for Literature Review – should include the following parts:

Title in Slovak (or Czech) and English languages,
Abstract in Slovak (or Czech) and English language (limited to 250 words),
Keywords – limited to 5 keywords in Slovak (and Czech) and English language,
Introduction,
Text – including the objectives or the research problem,
Methodology – method of selection of literary sources, method of analysis,
Results – presentation of own results of analysis,
Conclusions,
List of references.

Headings for Original Scientific Contribution – should include the following parts:

Title in Slovak (or Czech) and English languages,
Abstract in Slovak (or Czech) and English language (limited to 250 words),
Keywords – limited to 5 keywords in Slovak (and Czech) and English language,
Introduction,
Objective,
Research sample,
Methodology,
Research results,
Discussion,
Conclusions,
List of references – in alphabetical order.

Make sure that all the references included in the List of references are cited in the manuscript and vice versa.

Editorial series Nursing; Physiotherapy: In the text, it is preferred to cite according to the method of the first data (including the number of pages). The references cited in the manuscript are listed in the List of references in alphabetical order. All authors are mentioned, however, when the reference has more than three authors, the first three authors are mentioned and the abbreviation “et al.” is added in the end.

Editorial series Laboratory Medicine; Public Health: In the text, it is preferred to quote by numerical link method, the order of the links corresponds to the first occurrence of their quote. If multiple citations of the same document are followed, they have the same number as the first quote. The quote number is quoted in square brackets []. . All authors are mentioned, however, when the reference has more than three authors, the first three authors are mentioned and the abbreviation “et al.” is added in the end. In the literature list, the items are listed by order numbers.

References – examples of the correct formats are as follows:

Monographies/books:

SURNAME N. Title of the Monograph: Subtitles. Edition. Place of edition: Editor, year of edition, number of pages, ISBN.

Chapters in monographs/books:

SURNAME N. Title. In Surname, M. of the editor(s). The Title of the Monograph. Edition. Place of edition: Editor, year of edition, ISBN, page range (page from-to).

Contribution in the serial publication:

SURNAME N. Title. Journal. year; volume (number): page range.

Contributions in e-journals and other articles:

SURNAME N. Title. The title of e-journal. [CDROM]. Year of edition; volume (number): [Date of citation]. Accessibility and access. ISSN.

Legislative documents:

The title and the number of the legislative document/year of edition and the abbreviation of the official document. Title. Notes.

Send the manuscript in electronic form together with the Initiates file download Cover Letter to the following e-mail address: zdravotnicke.listy@tnuni.sk

The journal offers space for advertisement and journal sponsorship, primarily focused on healthcare products and services. The editorial board and publisher have the exclusive right to refuse advertisement or sponsorship without giving any reason. Both editorial board and publisher ensure contributors that editorial and advertising activities are independent, and advertisers and sponsors cannot influence the publishing and review process.