Manuscript Preparation Information

Sections and Organization

  1. Supporting Documentation Cover Letter
  • Article category guidelines
  • Title of manuscript
  • Authors details
  • Corresponding Author
  • Type of Peer Review
  • Authorship requirements
  • Acknowledgments
  • Previous manuscript submission
  • Disclosure of Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities
  • Editorial suitability and Author Confirmation(s) 
  • Redundant or Duplicate Publication
  • Keywords
  • Funding Statement
  • ChatGPT and Chatbots
  • Generative AI Images 
  1. Main Manuscript Components - use the BHTY Manuscript Template to assist creating your submission located at https://blockchainhealthcaretoday.com/index.php/journal/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/6
  • Abstract, Plain Language Summaries (PLS), and Video Abstracts
  • Introduction
  • Methods (or Methods and Materials)
  • Human and Animal Subjects
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Supporting information captions
  • References
  • REQUIRED Data Availability Statement (DAS), data sharing, reproducibility and data repositories
  • Supporting Information
  • Figures, Tables and Multimedia

 

  1. Supporting Documentation Cover Letter

This document facilitates blinded review and production of galley proofs should the submission be accepted. All items below should be contained in the Supporting Documentation Cover Letter. For further details on article types and editorial policies, see BHTY Informtion for Authors located here. 

Article category guidelines

Follow guidance for developing each component below. Many manuscripts are rejected due to formatting issues. For additional resources available to aid authors in improving article quality, please see:

Recent ICMJE guidelines include:

Duplicate publication: results or data contained in reports published by health technology assessment agencies or regulatory agencies are no longer considered to be duplicate publications.

Title of Manuscript

Include a full title of up to 200 characters

Author details (names, credentials, affiliations and ORCID ID)

Enter all qualifying author names in the order each should appear on the manuscript including the following details:

  1. First name (or initials, if used), Middle name (or initial), Last name (surname/family name)
  2. List each author’s credentials, i.e. PhD, MD etc.
  3. Each author listed must have an affiliation. The affiliation can include department, university, or organizational affiliation. Please include city, state/province (if applicable), and country.
    • If an author has multiple affiliations, enter them all on this document. In the BHTY submission system, enter only the preferred or primary affiliation. Author affiliations will be listed in the same order they are listed in the submission file. Author names will be published exactly as they appear in the manuscript. BHTY will not be responsible for incorrectly submitted information.
  4. ALL Author ORCID ID(s) and author emails are required. Obtaining one is easy and free. Click here to register for one. Should your manuscript be accepted, ORCID IDs will be included in the published article.
  5. Ideally, each author should register on the BHTY journal site here.

Corresponding author role

The submitting author will be designated as the “corresponding author” in the submission system. Corresponding authors act as BHTY's primary contact and the only author able to view or change the manuscript while it is under editorial review.

The corresponding author role may be transferred to another coauthor with the written approval of all authors. Transferring the corresponding author role also transfers access to the manuscript submission. The corresponding author will be listed as such upon publication.

 Corresponding author contact details

Please provide full contact details for the corresponding author including email, mailing address, and telephone number(s).

Submission Category selection

The corresponding author will select the BHTY Submission Category below for the manuscript submission. Note, your word limit for research manuscripts is 12,000 not including references, and 15,000 words for Special Reports with 80-100+ references.

  • Original Research
  • Proof of Concept/Pilots/Methodologies
  • Use Case
  • Narrative/Systematic Reviews/Meta-Analysis
  • Clinical Case Studies
  • *Technical Briefs & Short Reports
  • *Editorial or Discussion
  • *Letter to the Editor

*Not to exceed 2000 words not including references. Blog word maximum is 1000 words.

Type of Peer Review

Authors can chose Transparent Peer Review (TPR) for manuscripts submitted or double blind anonymous peer review where a complete accounting and history of the manuscript peer review reports is published at the same time as the manuscript. Readers will be able to see ALL the transparent exchange(s) between authors and reviewers. Authors can choose to opt in of the process at submission, and can opt out anytime. If an author, reviewer, or editor, chooses to opt out, the review process for that paper will begin again double blind with new reviewers. Should you have questions, please contact the publisher at t.cenaj@partnersindigitalhealth.com. Opt in by indicating you would like to participate in the cover letter.  

Authorship requirements

Manuscripts are exclusively submitted to BHTY, with the understanding they have not been published elsewhere, in any form, and will not be submitted elsewhere, unless declined by BHTY.

If a manuscript was submitted to another journal and declined, the author should disclose why and what attempts have been made to revise the manuscript for resubmission. Authors are responsible for all statements made in the article and references cited.

BHTY follows ICMJE recommendations for scholarly work in medical journals. Details may be obtained here. BHTY requires these guidelines and recommendations are met for authors submitting papers to BHTY for review and publication.

Below you will find the "Role of Authors and Contributors" as outlined by ICMJE. Should you wish for a more detailed explanation, please click here. All authors must meet all four criteria below.

  • Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
  • Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
  • Final approval of the version to be published; AND
  • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

BHTY urges researchers to consider researcher contributions and authorship criteria in multi-region collaborations in effort to promote greater equity and transparency in research collaborations.  Researchers should follow the recommendations set out in the Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings when designing, executing and reporting their research and provide a disclosure statement in their manuscript regarding the global ethics code.

Consortia Authors, a collective of authors, or large multi-author group, can be listed as a consortium or "group name." Individual authors can be listed on the main author and consortium lists. All authors within a consortium must be listed at the end of the paper. As per the ICMJE, "when submitting a manuscript authored by a group, the corresponding author should specify the group name if one exists, and clearly identify the group members who can take credit and responsibility for the work as authors." 

Non-Author Contributors who do not meet the criteria above can be listed in the Acknowledgments section of your manuscript. See the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines for "Non-Author Contributors" here. Obtaining funding, collecting of data, or overall supervision of a research group does not qualify authorship. Authors are required to include a statement of responsibility in the manuscript that specifies the contribution of every author. 

ORCID IDs should be included for ALL authors.

BHTY expects all authors to review, discuss, and agree to their individual contributions and roles.

Acknowledgments

Those who contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria should be listed in Acknowledgments with a description of their role. Authors are responsible for ensuring those named in Acknowledgments agree to be included.

Previous manuscript submission

If a manuscript was submitted to another journal and declined, the author should disclose why, and what attempts have been made to revise the manuscript, for resubmission. Authors are responsible for all statements made in the article and references cited.

Disclosure of Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities

Authors are responsible for disclosing financial and non-financial relationships and activities that might bias the interpretation of results. 

Relationships and activities may include any financial interests, direct or indirect, that might raise questions regarding bias in the your work, conclusions, implications or perspectives stated – including relevant commercial or other sources of funding for each individual author.

Note: BHTY board members must alert and declare their role in the Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities section in the cover letter.

Public trust in the scientific process and credibility of published articles hinges in part, on the transparency and trust publishers and authors are able to insure from collecting and reporting research, to writing research manuscripts, peer review, editing and publication of work. Professional judgments must not be influenced by financial gain. Purposeful failure to disclose relationships and activities is a form of misconduct. Authors must disclose all as per journal requirements and forms. The ICMJE has developed a Disclosure Form to facilitate and standardize authors’ disclosures. Authors are required to submit this form when a manuscript is submitted. Upload it on the journal submission portal when you upload your manuscript.

Examples include:

  • Involvement in a business (such as ownership, employment, contracting or speaking for) that would financially gain from the publication of the work
  • Rivalry in the same research area
  • Potential career advancement based on the publication of the research
  • Being asked to assess the work of a close colleague or relative for the journal

It is the role of the corresponding author to ensure this is adhered to.

Editorial suitability and Author Confirmation(s)

Please address the following questions:

  1. Why is this manuscript suitable for publication in BHTY?
  2. Why will your study, initiative, or opinion inspire researchers or clinicians, and how will it improve patient care or public health, or drive the understanding and impact of the sector forward?
  3. All cover letters should contain these sentences:
    1. We confirm this manuscript has not been published elsewhere, no parts are plagiarized in any form or degree, and is not under consideration by another journal.
    2. All authors have approved the manuscript, and agree with its submission to Blockchain in Healthcare Today

Redundant or Duplicate Publication

According to COPE, a redundant publication is a “work, or sections of that work, that is published more than once.”  If redundant or duplicate publication is attempted or occurs without notification to BHTY, the journal will follow the editorial action contained in the COPE Flowchart for Redundant Publication.

Authors should alert the editor if the work includes subject matter about which a previous paper has been published. Referred work should be referenced in the new paper. Copies of materials, including papers in press, should be submitted with your manuscript submission to assist the editor in determining how to handle the issue.

Keywords

We ask you provide up to five (5) article keywords relating to your manuscript and subject matter. This is important for SEO indexing for search engines and can heighten searchability of articles and improve relevancy for readers. Keywords should be included in titles, subheadings and at the beginning and end of work. Use Google Adwords to find keywords that will provide the most visibility for your work.

Funding Statement

This section should describe sources of funding that have supported the work. Please include relevant grant numbers and the URL of any funder's web site. Please also include this sentence: “The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.” Otherwise, describe the role of your sponsors or funders, and amend the aforementioned sentence as needed.

ChatGPT and Chatbots 

BHTY follows WAME Recommendations on ChatGPT and Chatbots. Click here for the full article.

  1. Chatbots cannot be authors. Chatbots cannot meet ICMJE authorship criteria. Chatbots cannot hold copyright. Authors submitting a manuscript must ensure that all those named as authors meet ICMJE authorship criteria.
  2. Authors should be transparent when Chatbots are used, provide information about how they were used in the cover letter, and also disclose use in the Acknowledgments section of the manuscript. Authors submitting a paper in which a chatbot/AI was used to draft new text should note such use in the acknowledgment; all prompts used to generate new text, or to convert text or text prompts into tables or illustrations, should be specified. When an AI tool such as a chatbot is used to carry out or generate analytical work, assist with reporting results (e.g., generating tables or figures), or writing computer codes, this should be stated in the body of the paper, in both the Abstract and the Methods section. In the interests of enabling scientific scrutiny, including replication and identifying falsification, the full prompt used to generate the research results, the time and date of query, and the AI tool used and its version, should be provided.
  3. Authors are responsible for the work performed by a Chatbot in their paper (including the accuracy of what is presented, and the absence of plagiarism), and for appropriate attribution of all sources including for material(s) produced by the Chatbot.
  4. Editors and peer reviewers should specify to authors, publisher, and each other, any use of chatbots in the evaluation of the manuscript and generation of reviews and correspondence. If chatbots are used in communications, an explanation as to how they were used will be disclosed BEFORE used to te publisher. Editors and reviewers are responsible for any content and citations generated by a chatbot and should be aware chatbots retain prompts fed to them, including manuscript content, and supplying an author's manuscript to a chatbot breaches confidentiality of the submitted manuscript.

BHTY encourages the use of Chatbots and ChatGPT to assist with abstracts and Plain Language Summaries (PLS), and generating article keywords.

Generative AI Images 

Generative AI image creation has resulted in legal copyright and research integrity issues. Partners In Digital Health (PDH) follows existing copyright law and best practices regarding publication ethics and DOES NOT permit its use for publication. Exceptions are images and video that are directly referenced in a piece that is specifically about  AI and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This policy will be reviewed and adapted as needed.

Note: Use of non-generative machine learning tools to manipulate, combine, or enhance existing images or figures should be disclosed in respective manuscript captions and disclosed upon submission in the cover letter for transparent purposes and ethical review.

Should you have questions, contact the publisher at t.cenaj@partnersindigitalhealth.com

 

  1. Main Manuscript File Submission (facilitates double blind review) - use the BHTY Manuscript Template to assist creating your submission located at https://blockchainhealthcaretoday.com/index.php/journal/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/6

Title page

Include a full title of up to 200 characters without author names or titles, to ensure double blind peer review.

Abstract

Your research manuscript submission MUST contain an abstract. The Abstract comes after the title page in the manuscript file. The journal requires structured abstracts. The abstract should be 250-400 words. Please see CONSORT or PRISMA style abstract formats to determine which to use for your paper.

The abstract must be structured with headings (Objective, Design, Setting, Participants, Interventions, Main outcome measures, Results, Conclusions). For meta-analyses headings are typically: Objective, Design, Results, and Conclusion.

Provide trial registration number(s) for clinical randomized controlled trials.

Trials must be registered in a public trials registry that is a primary register of the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP), at or before enrolling the first patient and registrations must have 24 -item trial registration dataset.

Authors using AI to conduct a study should describe its use in both the Abstract and Methods sections to enable replication

Plain Language Summaries (PLS) 

Maximum 250 word summaries are encouraged for authors to include in manuscripts and for index in PubMed. These summaries have emerged as a valuable article addition that distill scientific information in a simple and easy to read form for the broadest possible understanding across a variety of stakeholders, thereby expanding the reach of an author’s work. Communicating the significance of scientific research evidence to audiences including patients and mass media can provide more inclusion across nontechnical, non-specialist, and time-challenged audiences.

To be indexed in PubMed, the PLS should be 250 words or less, written in English, submitted in plain text, use simple words, phrases and short sentences, be distinct from the abstract, avoid jargon, be factual and straightforward, provide answers to the questions: why was the study done, what did researchers do and find, what the results mean, and what the impact is in the wider field? Make the PLS consistent with the same overall key points and conclusions as the scientific abstract and tag it with metadata and keywords to improve discoverability for SEO and indexes.

Place the PLS after the Abstract and before the Introduction, under its own heading: “Plain Language Summary.” The PLS will be peer reviewed.

Video Abstract

BHTY accepts video submissions to compliment an author's written work. Videos can demonstrate simulations, experimental demos, or "interviews" with authors/researchers. Authors should submit a jpeg representing the video and/or transcript of audio. Video format may be MP4. Length: 5-7 minutes maximum.

Should you have additional questions as to Figures, Tables, and Multimedia, please contact the managing editor or publisher.

Introduction

The Introduction should present a broad context for the manuscript. Think of readers who are not experts that may read your article. Include a brief review of key literature. If there are relevant issues pro and con in the field, mention them so a non-expert can understand. The Introduction should end with a statement of the overall purpose of the experiment(s) and a commentary on whether it was achieved.

Background

This section should clearly describe your study rationale. It should end with a statement of the specific study hypothesis and/or study objectives.

Methods and Findings

  • Describe study participants or what was studied (e.g., hospital readmission, be specific). Describe the study design, intervention, methods used, outcome measure(s), and any follow up
  • Include how many participants completed out of those enrolled, and response rates where applicable
  • Describe how results were analyzed, i.e., which specific statistical tests were used
  • Describe the main outcomes and quantify results using % confidence intervals if possible. Describe adverse events.
  • Describe any limitations of the study
  • Authors using AI to conduct a study should describe its use in both the abstract and Methods section to enable replication
  •  

Methods should provide enough detail for reproduction of the findings. Protocols for new methods should be included. Well-established methodological procedures may simply be referenced. A full description of the methods should be included within the manuscript.

Methods should also include a section with descriptions of any statistical methods used. The description should conform to the ICMJE Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals: Writing and editing for biomedical publication, published in the J Pharmacol Pharmacother. 2010 Jan-Jun; 1(1): 42–58., and available at the following link here. It reads as follows:

Submit detailed protocols for newer or less established methods. Well-established protocols may simply be referenced. Protocol documents for clinical trials, observational studies, and other non-laboratory investigations may be uploaded as supporting information.

We recommend you explore laboratory protocols in protocols.io, where protocols can be assigned their own persistent digital object identifiers (DOIs).

To include a link to a protocol in your article:

  • Describe your step-by-step protocol on protocols.io
  • Select Get DOI to issue your protocol a persistent digital object identifier (DOI) 
  • Include the DOI link in the Methods section of your manuscript using the following format provided by protocols.io.

This allows editors and reviewers to consult your protocol when evaluating the manuscript. Any referenced protocol(s) will automatically be made public when your article is published.

Conclusions

Provide an interpretation of results with recommendations for future research.

For clinical trials, provide the trial identification number(s) and name(s) (e.g., trial registration number, protocol number or acronym).

Human and Animal Subjects 

BHTY endorses appropriate reporting guidelines when writing a health research manuscript. The most commonly required reporting guidelines may be found on the EQUATOR Network , which also gives general information on how to choose the correct guideline and why guidelines are important.

BHTY follows the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

The ICMJE Recommendations guide accurate and unbiased reporting of industry-sponsored clinical trial data in medical journals. A key update in the current version is:

  • Reporting of trial participants: authors should discuss how representative the study sample is of the larger population of interest; in cases where race or ethnicity data were not collected, authors should explain why not.

When reporting research involving human data, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed have been assessed by the responsible review committee (institutional and national), and/or in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration (revised in 2013). Authors must explain rationale for their approach and demonstrate the institutional review body explicitly approved any doubtful aspects of the study. Approval by a responsible review committee does not preclude editors from forming their own judgment as to whether the conduct of the research was appropriate. Authors must remember to add the trial registration number to the end of the abstract.

All authors should seek approval to conduct research from an independent local, regional, or national review body (e.g., ethics committee, institutional review board), and provide documentation of such upon an editors request.

Authors should include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human subjects, observing privacy rights of human subjects. Identifying information, including names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent requires an identifiable patient is shown the manuscript to be published. Informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt that anonymity can be maintained. If identifying characteristics are de-identified, authors should provide assurance that such changes do not distort scientific meaning.

For manuscripts reporting experiments on animals, the corresponding author must confirm that all experiments were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. The manuscript must include a statement identifying the institutional and/or licensing committee approving the experiments, including any relevant details.

Results

The Results section should include all primary and secondary outcome measures analyzed. The section may be divided into subsections, each with a concise subheading. Tables and figures central to the study should be included in the main paper. The Results section should be written in past tense.

For smaller data sets and certain data types, authors may provide their data within their manuscript or in Supporting Information files accompanying the manuscript. Authors should attempt to maximize the accessibility and reusability of data by selecting file formats where data can be easily and efficiently extracted. An example is spreadsheets or flat files in lieu of PDFs for tabulated data.

Ensure the methodology has been accurately described for statistical analysis. Include details and access to original data to verify results. Provide confidence levels, and define terms and symbols.  Include software used. In comparative studies, power calculations are usually required. In research manuscripts, requiring complex statistics, the advice of an expert statistician should be sought at the design/implementation stage of the study. It is appropriate to include statisticians as co-authors. Should you have further questions, please contact the managing editor.

BHTY strongly urges authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction. Authors can include relevant software code and data in the peer review process by uploading it to BHTY’s Code Ocean computational reproducibility workflow.

Discussion

The Discussion should be tightly argued. Start with a summary of the main findings. Include paragraphs on the generalizability, clinical relevance, strengths, and limitations of your study. You may also want to add the following considerations for research and review papers:

  • How conclusions affect existing knowledge in the field?
  • How might future research build on your observations and what path forward should we seek as a result? Consider population health, patient diversity etc.

References

All available works can be cited in the reference list and must be formatted in the Vancouver style. MANUSCRIPTS WILL BE REJECTED IF NOT FORMATTED PROPERLY. For details visit https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html

Acceptable sources for references include:

  • Published or accepted manuscripts
  • Manuscripts on preprint servers, if the manuscript is submitted to a journal and also publicly available as a preprint
  • Do not cite the following sources in the reference list:
    •  Unavailable and unpublished work, submitted but not yet accepted manuscripts.  Include this data as supplementary material or deposit the data in a publicly available database.
  • References are listed at the end of the manuscript and numbered in the order that they appear in the text.
  • Do not include citations in abstracts or author summaries. 
  • DO NOT REFERENCE ARTICLES FROM PREDATORY OR PSEUDO-JOURNALS

Note: Make sure the parts of the manuscript are in the correct order before ordering the citations.

​Formatting references 

  •  BHTY will make every effort to link references electronically to the papers they cite, therefore, proper formatting of the references is crucial. 
  • BHTY uses the reference style outlined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), also referred to as the Vancouver style. DOI numbers should be included where available.
  • In-text citations
    • We suggest you cite supporting information in the manuscript text, but this is not a requirement. If you cite supporting information in the text, citations do not need to be in numerical order.

Two examples of Vancouver style for the most commonly cited references are shown below. Note: bold type shows what must be added to the citation if available. Do not use bold type in your reference list.

  • If you have the DOI:

Oliver M, Teruel MA, Molina JP, Romero-Ayuso D, González P. Ambient intelligence environment for home cognitive telerehabilitation. Sensors (Basel) 2018;18:3671-4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/s18113671 

  • If you have the URL:

Xixi L, Rai A, Ganapathy K. Designing cost-effective telemedicine camps for underprivileged individuals in less developed countries: a decomposed affordance-effectivity framework.  J Assoc Inf Syst 2020;25:9-12. Available from: https://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol21/iss5/3 [cited 9 July 2021].

REQUIRED: Data Availability Statement (DAS), data sharing, reproducibility and data repositories

  1. What is a Data Availability Statement (DAS)?

A Data Availability Statement (also called Data Access Statement) tells the reader if the data behind a research project can be accessed, where and how. Authors should include hyperlinks to public databases to make it easier for the readers to find them.

  1. What to Include and where?

The DAS should appear in the manuscript immediately after the Disclosures statement. When datasets are included as integral supplementary material in the paper, they must be declared (e.g., as "Dataset 1") and cited in the DAS, and should appear in the references.

  1. What is an example of a data availability statement?

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in [repository name] at [URL], reference number [reference number]. The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article [and/or] its supplementary materials.

Generally, there are four common, and sometimes overlapping, situations that authors should use as guidance (see below).  Authors should feel free to include any additional details that may be relevant.

  1. When datasets are included as integral supplementary material in the paper, they must be declared (e.g., as "Dataset 1" following our current supplementary materials policy) and cited in the DAS, and should appear in the references.

Data availability. Data underlying the results presented in this paper are available in Dataset 1, Ref. [3].

  1. When datasets are cited but not submitted as integral supplementary material, they must be cited in the DAS and should appear in the references.

Data availability. Data underlying the results presented in this paper are available in Ref. [3].

  1. If the data generated or analyzed as part of the research are not publicly available, that should be stated. Authors are encouraged to explain why (e.g. the data may be restricted for privacy reasons), and how the data might be obtained or accessed in the future.

Data availability. Data underlying the results presented in this paper are not publicly available at this time but may be obtained from the authors upon reasonable request.

  1. If no data were generated or analyzed in the presented research, that should be stated.

Data availability. No data were generated or analyzed in the presented research.

Link Your Datasets to Your Article once your article is published, and update your repository work with the DOI for your article.

BHTY encourages uploading code at Code Ocean, a cloud-based computational reproducibility platform. We encourage you to include your code with your manuscript submission for peer review, as well as publish this code to share with all upon article acceptance.

In addition, Dryad has declared its willingness to accept medical datasets. Figshare, Mendeley Data and Open Science Framework  may be considered. To explore other certified data repositories, see  FAIRsharing or re3data.org.

Be sure to select a repository that issues a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and has a preservation plan for perpetuity. Researchers are encouraged to  consider FAIR Data Principles when depositing data.

Supporting Information

Authors can submit essential supporting files and multimedia files along with their manuscripts. All supporting information will be subject to peer review. All file types can be submitted. Supporting information files are published exactly as provided, and are not copyedited.

Supporting information captions

List supporting information captions at the end of the manuscript file and not in a separate file. The file number and name are required in a caption. We recommend including a one-line title. You can include a legend, but it is not required.

Figures, Tables and Multimedia

Figure preparation files and integrity

BHTY acknowledges authors may manipulate images for purposes of clarity. Manipulation for purposes of deception or fraud is ethical misconduct and will be dealt with accordingly. Images may not be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or inserted. Please follow the CSE's guidelines for more information: http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/resource-library/editorial-policies/white-paper-on-publication-ethics/3-4-digital-images-and-misconduct

Figure citations

  • Cite figures consecutively in the order they have been cited in the text.  If you are using a figure that has been published previously, you must obtain written approval to reproduce it.
  • Figure captions must be inserted in the text of the manuscript immediately following the paragraph in which the figure was first cited (read order). Do not include captions as part of the figure files themselves. Please be sure all numbers, letters, and symbols that appear with figures are large enough to read when they are reduced for publication.
  • Legends for illustrations should be on a separate page of the manuscript
  • Upon revision, each figure must be prepared and submitted to the submission system as an individual file

Tables

Cite tables in ascending numeric order upon first appearance in the manuscript file.

Place each table in your manuscript file directly after the paragraph in which it is first cited (read order). Do not submit your tables in separate files.

Tables require a label (e.g., “Table 1”) and brief descriptive title to be placed above the table. Place legends, footnotes, and other text below the table. 

Multimedia and 3D Models

BHTY publishes multimedia and 3D models embedded in the HTML and PDF versions of articles. These will be displayed in line with article text, as are with figures.

Multimedia and 3D models are accepted when needed to show findings that 1) are critical to argue article conclusions and 2) can't be satisfactorily presented in text, table, or figure. The editors will determine if this medium is used appropriately.

Text Citation

Multimedia and 3D models must be numbered independently of figures and tables, and cited at the relevant point in the manuscript text, e.g., “Movie 1”, and “Model 1”.

Title

A title should be part of the legend and not incorporated in the multimedia or 3D model itself.

Legends

A legend must be included in the manuscript document after the reference list and not included in the video or 3D model itself. Legends should include sufficient detail to be intelligible without reference to the text. Legends must define all symbols and include essential information. If videos are not in real time and the time is not displayed in the video, the period represented must be stated in the legend. Rather than stating “See text,” legends should be more specific; for example, “See Results”.

Size and Format

Video and 3D models should be sized to convey essential scientific information. 3D models must be in U3D format. 

Video file size limit is 25 MB. If the video file is larger, please supply it via WeTransfer or Dropbox. Upon publication of the article, large video files can be placed on a separate server or repository (Figshare) or similar, whereby a link to the video file will be included in the article abstract.

Please be sure to optimize videos for PC, tablet, and smartphone viewing.

For each video, please submit a preview image, or poster frame, that best illustrates the main focus.

Should you have additional questions as to Figures, Tables, and Multimedia, please contact the managing editor or publisher.