JOINTS accepts several types of articles as follows:

• Brief Commentary

Brief Communications are short manuscripts that have important and generally preliminary data on a specific issue.

• Case Reports (only with accompanying Literature Review)

Case Reports will be considered for publication only if of particular interest and if accompanied by a Review of the literature on the specific topic covered in the manuscript. In particular, we consider for publication Case Reports reporting unusual clinical conditions, unreported diseases, rare side effects of therapy, and so on. The abstract should be no longer than 300 words and should highlight all your key points concisely. It should be structured as follows: INTRODUCTION or BACKGROUND; CASE REPORT or CASE PRESENTATION; CONCLUSIONS. Case Reports have to include a final section for informed consent. Permission or written consent should be obtained to draft the manuscript. The consent can be obtained by the patient or parents in case the patient is a minor.

• Clinical Protocols

Clinical Protocols describe protocols referring to proposed or ongoing trials that have not completed participant recruitment at the time of submission.

• Clinical Trials

Clinical Trials are articles related to phase 2/3 trials that have completed participant recruitment and data analysis at the time of submission. In such articles, authors must indicate the specific number or code referring to trial registration (e.g., ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier) and approval by the local Ethics Committees.

• Conference Proceedings

Conference proceedings consist of a collection of abstracts and/or posters that were presented at an association’s conference. These articles provide opportunities for researchers to present their research and gain insights from other researchers and colleagues in their field.

• Editorials

Editorials are short articles that provide an insight into issues of topical importance to the journal’s target audience or researchers. The articles should provide an expert perspective on a topic of recent interest. This contribution is usually solicited by the Editors. If unsolicited, the authors are advised to contact the Editor-in-Chief (submission.joints@verduci.it) with an outline of the proposed review and CV of the authors.

• Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor consist of comments on an article published in JOINTS. The inclusion of Letters to the Editor in the journal is at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief, and they may undergo external peer review. All Letters to the Editor will be subsequently sent to the author of the original article, who will have 60 days to provide a Reply to be published alongside the Letter.

• Meta-analyses and Systematic Reviews

Meta-analyses use statistical methods to combine data from multiple and systematically selected studies. These manuscripts should be based on a rigorous methodological and statistical approach described in detail in the methods section applied to a relevant basic or clinical issue. This contribution may also undergo statistical revision. According to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), to conduct a systematic review or meta-analysis, the Authors have to follow the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA: http://www.prisma-statement.org/).

To perform a high-quality analysis, the Authors are requested to follow some specific guidelines:

– Authors have to clearly state objectives and pre-defined eligibility criteria for studies (e.g., inclusion and exclusion criteria, etc.);

– Authors have to clearly describe the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data;

– The methodology should be accurate and reproducible;

– Authors have to conduct a systematic search that aims at identifying all relevant studies on the topic analyzed;

– Authors have to assess the validity of the findings of the included studies (e.g., risk of bias);

– Authors have to present a systematic analysis with detailed characteristics and findings of the included studies.

• Meeting Reports

Meeting Reports are synopses of meetings and symposia, usually shorter than six journal pages (22000 characters including spaces). Reports must be submitted within three weeks of the end of the meeting. Authors should contact the Editor-in-Chief (submission.joints@verduci.it) prior to submitting Meeting Reports.

• Opinion Papers

Opinion Papers should be solicited by the Editor-in-Chief and deal with a controversial topic in either basic or clinical topics on which the author, a recognized expert in the field, is invited to express his/her personal views and interpretation.

• Original Articles

Original Articles should present novel work that makes a significant impact within the aims and scope of the journal and which provides an important advancement in the reader’s knowledge or understanding. Supporting data or additional experimental details can be submitted as Supplementary Information. Original Articles may be recommended to be resubmitted as Short Communications at the discretion of the Editors.

• Standard Methods and Operating Procedures

Standard Methods and Operating Procedures articles provide an overview of a novel method, test or Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) related to the field of regenerative medicine. The method described may be either novel or could provide a demonstrable improvement of a pre-existing method.

Article length and word count

In most cases, there is no strict limit on word count or number of pages, tables, figures and references. However, the editorial recommendation is that authors write concisely. The main text should be no more than 6,000 words long (not including Abstract, References and Figure legends). Articles should not contain more than 250 references.

Exceptions apply for the main text of Brief Communications (maximum length: 5,000 words with up to 30 references and 2 tables and/or figures), Editorials (maximum length: 10,000 words with up to 30 references and 2 tables and/or figures) and Opinion Papers (maximum length: 10,000 words with up to 30 references and 2 tables and/or figures). Letters are restricted to the discussion of papers already published in the journal, with a maximum of 1,000 words, one table or figure and up to 20 references.

Short Reports and Case Reports will be considered for publication only if of particular interest and accompanied by a short review.  The structured abstract must not exceed 300 words.