gms | German Medical Science

GMS Health Innovation and Technologies

EuroScan international network e. V. (EuroScan)

ISSN 2698-6388

Information for authors

1. General Information

GMS Health Innovations and Technologies (GMS HInT) is an open access e-journal from international HealthTechScan (I-HTS), which publishes articles for the entire range of the medical sciences and public health policies. All articles go through a peer review procedure before publication. The authors' guidelines principally follow the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors: Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals.

GMS Health Innovations and Technologies (HInT) collects tiered article processing fees (APCs) from its authors. The publication fees vary depending on the submitter, the project background and the quality of the article. The publication fees serve to finance the costs incurred for the respective publication. The costs for the general infrastructure of the journal are borne by I-HTS.

General fee schedule:

  • Individual authors 350 € per publication (100 € processing | 250 € publication)
  • Projects, working groups or groups of authors 2,000 € per publication (500 € processing | 1,500 € publication)

For particularly outstanding articles, i-HTS may decide on the basis of the expert opinions and a recommendation by the Editorial Board on an exemption from publication fees.

For organisations and scientific networks with regular publications, packaged prices and special individual agreements can also be arranged.
The financial costs aim to provide quality-assured, transparent and sustainable support for the Open Access journal in the spirit of good scientific practice.

2. Publication Requirements

The submitted manuscripts or substantial parts of them should not have been previously published or submitted for publication elsewhere. The presentation of the content as an abstract at a conference is not regarded as a publication. 

3. Authorship and Copyright

In the event of publication, the author grants GMS Health Innovations and Technologies (HInT) the right to store the article in databases for an unlimited period of time and to distribute and reproduce it in electronic form. All other exploitation rights of the author are not restricted, but a first publication notice (originally published in: e.g. GMS HInT. 2019;3:Doc...) must be added in case of further publication. 

All authors should ensure that they have substantially contributed to the article and that they are in agreement with form and contents of the manuscript.

The author conducting the negotiations confirms in the Author’s Contract that he/she holds the copyright rights to their works as well as on the text, illustrations and audio-visual material supplied. If material (e.g. illustrations or tables) from other sources is used, the author must submit a written statement from the holder of the copyright holder indicating agreement with a publication in GMS Health Technology Assessment.

4. Conflict of Interests

Financial or other support from institutes or companies, as well as public funding, is to be stated in the acknowledgments. All financial or other connections that the author has to a company or institution, their products or competition products which play an important role in the representation of the facts of the matter, should be described and enclosed on a separate form. Such statements are handled confidentially and only when the manuscript is accepted for publication does the editorial staff discuss with the author in which form this information will be published. The data will be stored in accordance with data protection requirements and legal framework conditions for the publisher.

5. Protection of Patients’ Rights to Privacy

When using images of patients, it must be guaranteed that the person is not identifiable on the basis of the portrayal and the explicit written consent is required for the use of personal data. Otherwise, the author must seek explicit consent from the person concerned (or their representative) that he/she agrees to the publication in the present form. The existence of such consent is to be confirmed by the author in writing and a corresponding copy of the confirmation must be attached to the submission. This will not be published.

5.1 Informed Consent

All manuscripts on clinical research performed on humans or with materials obtained from humans must include a section declaring that the research project has been approved by the relevant institutional ethics committee and that patients or probands have given their informed consent to participate in the study after appropriate clarification prior to their inclusion in the study. A copy of the Ethics Committee's letter must be attached to the submission in electronic form. This data will not be published and will be stored for the publisher in accordance with data protection requirements and legal framework conditions.

5.2 Ethical Treatment of Animals

All manuscripts on animal research must set out the procedures by which the ethical treatment of animals has been guaranteed. A declaration by the authors that the work complies with legal standards and international ethical criteria must be attached to the publication submission. This data will not be published and will be stored for the publisher in accordance with data protection requirements and legal framework conditions.

6. Manuscript Preparation

6.1 General Information

The preferred (but not exclusive) language of publication is English. Summaries in German may also be submitted. i-HTS reserves the right to translate the text and publish it in its database.

Manuscripts may contain tables, graphics, images or other audio-visual material.

When submitting an original article in English, an abstract in English must be included. When submitting an original article in German, authors must include an abstract in both German and English.

Further language versions of the article can be published as an appendix on request.

6.1.1 Title Page

The title of the manuscript is to be stated in the article language on the first page and – if applicable in the original language (see 6.1) – followed by the surnames and first names of all authors, their e-mail addresses and the institutions in which they work.

The corresponding author is to be assigned. The name, postal address and e-mail address of the author conducting the correspondence must be stated separately on the first page.

6.1.2 Abstract and Key Words

All articles must contain an English and/or a German abstract. Articles should also contain suggestions for keywords. These should be based on current terminology standards. Suitable standards are, for example, Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) or WHO classifications (ICD, ICF, ICHI).

6.1.3 Literature References

The literature cited in the text is to be listed at the end of the article according to the Vancouver Style of References, which is also used in Medline. In text literature citations should be given a consecutive number in the order in which they appear in the text and placed in square brackets. At the end of the article the references should be listed according to their corresponding number. Footnotes are not to be used. When submitting an article, the reference list should also be uploaded in a separate standard document (CSV file).

Some Examples:

Standard journal article:
[1] Seeber B, Baumann U, Fastl H. Localization ability with bimodal hearing aids and bilateral cochlear implants. J Acoust Soc Am. 2004;116:1698-1709. DOI:10.1121/1.1776192
Listing with more than  6 authors; use of et al. possible:
[1] Helms J, Müller J, Schön F, Arnold W, Janssen T, Ramsden R, et al. Evaluation of Performance with the COMBI 40 Cochlear Implant in Adults: A Multicentric Clinical Study. ORL J Otorhinolaryngol Relat Spec. 1997 Jan-Feb;59(1):23-35. DOI: 10.1159/000276901

Monograph:
[2] Kießling J, Kollmeier B, Baumann U. Versorgung mit Hörgeräten und Hörimplantaten. 3. Aufl. Stuttgart: Thieme; 2017.

Chapter/contribution from monograph:
[3] Weinstein L, Schwartz MN. Pathological properties of invading organisms. In: Sodeman WA Jr, Sodeman WA, editors. Pathological physiology: mechanisms of disease. Philadelphia: Saunders; 1974. p. 457-72
[3] Döring W, Hamacher V. Neue Sprachverständlichkeitsmessungen in der Klinik: Aachener Logatomtest und Dreinsilber im Störschall. In: Kollmeier B, Hrsg. Moderne Verfahren der Sprachaudiometrie. Heidelberg: Median; 1992. S. 137-168.

Conference proceedings/conference contribution with abstract/proceedings in the Internet:
[4] Kroth M, Gabrielpillai J, Leinung M, Syed A, Baumann U, Stöver T, Diensthuber M. Methoden zur kontinuierlichen Verbesserung der Lehre für Medizinstudenten im Fach Hals-Nasen-Ohrenheilkunde. In: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie, Hrsg. 88. Jahresversammlung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie. Erfurt, 24.-27.05.2017. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2017. Doc17hno076. DOI: 10.3205/17hno076
[4] Harley, Naomi H. Comparing radon daughter dosimetric and risk models. In: Gammage RB, Kaye SV, editors. Indoor air and human health. Proceedings of the 7th Life Sciences Symposium; 1984 Oct 29-31; Knoxville, TN. Chelsea (MN): Lewis Publishers; 1985. p. 69-78.

CD-ROM:
[5] Anderson SC, Poulsen KB. Anderson's electronic atlas of hematology [CD-ROM]. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia; 2002.

Journal articles on the Internet:
[6] Eysenbach G. SARS and population health technology. J Med Internet Res. 2003; 5(2):e14. Available from: http://www.jmir.org/2003/2/e14/

Website:
[7] Robert Koch Institut (RKI). Infektionsschutz. [last updated 2012 Mar 07, cited 2018 Jul 9]. Available from: https://www.rki.de/DE/Content/Infekt/infekt_node.html

Dissertation:
[8] Müller C. Perzeptive Analyse und Weiterentwicklung eines Reimtestverfahrens für die Sprachaudiometrie [Dissertation]. Göttingen: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen; 1992.

DIN/standards:
[9] DIN EN 60645-2 Audiometer Teil 2: Geräte für die Sprachaudiometrie. Beuth Verlag, Berlin; 1997.

Further detailed sample references under: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html.

6.2 Article types

Research articles
These are scientific articles, e.g. on the methodology of HTA. These manuscripts should show that they make a significant contribution to the clarification of the formulated problem.
Research articles are to be subdivided into the following sections: Abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion and conclusion.

Review articles
Review articles should reflect on the current state of research of a particular topic in detail and summarise and clarify open research questions. They should contain an abstract and introduction and furthermore, they can be structured according to the requirements of the topic.

Case reports
Case reports describe an interesting and relevant case for scientific and/or practical application. They are to be subdivided into the following sections: Abstract, introduction, case description, discussion, and conclusion.

Short Contributions
This category includes technology descriptions, book reviews, and conference contributions.
Comments, news items or letters to the editor are welcome. Reports from networks, organisations, and associations also fall under this category.
 

Editorials
These editor’s remarks accompany individual article series. They are intended to describe the objectives, background, and scope of the special series.

Research data/Study (see 6.3)

More comprehensive study and scientific project results can also be published on topics. Raw study results can be published as described in the following section (see 6.3).

Foreign language articles in other languages (not in German or English) can be added as an Appendix to the original document. However, this addition is not relevant with regard to citation eligibility. This refers exclusively to the German or English text. The article versions in the additional languages do not go through a peer review process. However, the author confirms that this version corresponds to the original document in terms of content

6.3 Research Data/Primary Data (Supplementary Material)

Authors are expected to submit relevant underlying data in addition to the manuscript for peer review and publication. This complies with the demands of funding organizations like the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the European Research Council in terms of “Good scientific practice”. German Medical Science cooperates with Dryad repository to achieve this in an easy way. Dryad is an international repository of data underlying peer-reviewed scientific and medical literature, and a membership organization, governed by journals, publishers, scientific societies, and other stakeholders.

Research projects (e.g. complete HTA reports) can be fully published in a separate section – Research Reports. For this purpose, the respective products must be prepared as PDFs. Further corresponding publication information can be obtained from the Editorial Office. Publication fees may be waived in connection with an article and appropriate delivery. Benefits of publishing research data/primary data include:

For authors:

  • Citeability: via persistent identifiers (DOI)
  • Long-term archiving
  • Independent quality assurance through peer review
  • Legal security: Like the article, data are published under a Creative commons licence. Dryad is using the Creative Commons Zero.

For the scientific community:

  • Subsequent use: enables further interpretation of data, utilization for follow-up research projects, creation of interconnections between data sets, data/text mining
  • Transparency: through traceability and reproducibility (if applicable) of research results
  • Efficiency: through limitation of work and financial expenses

Please submit a descriptive caption together with your data. Use of platform-independent file formats is required, such as:

  • For additional documentation (e.g. detailed case reports): PDF
  • For image data: GIF, TIFF, PNG, JPG
  • For audio-visual material: MPG
  • For text or tabular data: TXT, CSV

If you have further questions about the data submission, please send an e-mail to help@datadryad.org.

7. Technical Requirements

7.1 Typography and Technical Terms

When writing manuscripts, do not use block letters or manual or automatic hyphenation. Line breaks should only be inserted for paragraphs. References are to be numbered in the text as explained under 6.1.3 and the reference list must be written as text at the end of the document, under no circumstances by means of an automatic footnote function. All figures and tables must be provided with legends and numbered consecutively according to their occurrence in the text.

The basic units of the International System of Weights and Measures (SI) and the units derived from them should be used for all measurements. The unit “mmHg” is permissible for the indication of blood pressure values and the unit C for the indication of temperatures. If other units of measurement are used in figures and tables, the conversion factors shall be given in the legend.

Abbreviations without resolution should only be used if they are commonly used (DNA, WHO). All other abbreviations should be dissolved when used for the first time. If necessary, a list of abbreviations should be added.

7.2 Text Formats

Acceptable text formats are MS-Word (*.doc/*.docx) and Rich Text Format (*.rtf).

7.3 Graphic Formats

The following graphic formats may be used: the formats TIFF and BMP; GIF and PNG for charts, JPG for photos. The graphics should be integrated in the text. The image files should correspond to a resolution of at least 300 dpi.

8. Abstracting/Indexing

GMS Health Technology Assessment is covered by the following abstracting/indexing services: