Author Guidelines

Ethical Policy for Authors

Authors should observe high standards concerning Ethical policy for authors of the journal as set out by the Commission on Publication Ethics (COPE). Any cases of ethical misconduct are treated very seriously and will be dealt with by the COPE guidelines.

Authors should present an accurate account of the work performed (an objective account of its significance). Details and references must be sufficient enough to permit others to replicate the work. Research results should be interpreted correctly to avoid damage to the trust in the journal.

Authors are responsible for assuring that data, results, quotes, citations, images and/or other materials in the manuscript are not fabricated or manipulated and cited accordingly. Proper acknowledgement of the work of others must always be given.

The journal publishes only original works which have neither been published elsewhere nor are under review elsewhere. Authors are asked to provide information on the re-use of the material. Unethical publishing behaviour is constituted if a single study is split up into several parts to increase the number of submissions.

The journal uses Crossref Similarity Check powered by iThenticate to check for duplication and attribution in submitted manuscripts. Manuscripts that are found to have been used in other works without proper acknowledgement will occur immediate rejection.

All researchers, listed in the list of the authors, should have made a significant impact in preparing the manuscript and share collective responsibility and accountability for the results. All, who have made a significant contribution, must be included in the list of the authors. After acceptance of a manuscript changes of authorship or order of the authors is not possible.

Any financial or another impactful conflict of interests which could influence the results or their interpretation should be disclosed. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication or plagiarism the publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend the paper in question. It includes the prompt publication of an erratum or, in the most severe cases, the complete retraction of the affected work.

Papers are submitted in electronic format only; please submit 3 documents:

1. Author(s)
Authors’ names (with all diacritic symbols)
ORCID ID (recommended)
Academic affiliations and your institutions ROR
Email addresses of all authors and indicate corresponding author
Postal address

In case if there is more than one author, please provide an explanation at the end of the article detailing each author's contributions according to the CRediT criteria. Reference: CRediT_Taxonomy_Terms_and_Definitions_list. 

Example: Author contributions
J. J.: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing - original draft, writing - review & editing, visualization. L. S.: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing - original draft, writing - review & editing. 

2. Abstract
Title of the paper;
Structured abstract in English (containing Background, Materials and Methods, Results, Conclusions);
Keywords in English (up to 5), for indexing purposes;
Abstract in Lithuanian (if possible, otherwise the editors will provide a translation of the abstract);
Keywords in Lithuanian (if possible, otherwise the editors will translate the keywords for you).

3. Manuscript

Title
Main body of the paper, with Introduction/Background, Materials and Methods, Results, Limitations, Discussion, Conclusions as separate chapters. Please use Vancouver (AMA) citation style for references in the text (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_system): refer to the source with a number in a square bracket, e.g. [1], that will then correspond to the full citation in your reference list.

• Place bracketed citations within the line of text, before any punctuation, with a space before the first bracket.
• Number your sources as you cite them in the paper. Once you have referred to a source and given it a number, continue to use that number as you cite that source throughout the paper.
• When citing multiple sources at once, use a comma or dash between numbers: [1, 3, 5] or [1 - 5].

References (with DOI links where available)

Accessibility
The European Accessibility Act, which requires e-publications to be accessible to all, including blind and partially sighted individuals, came into force in 2025. We will ensure that the e-files are properly prepared; however, you need to describe the tables and illustrations in your article in a way that a blind person can understand. 

For examples of illustration descriptions, refer to the Guide to Image Descriptions – AccessiblePublishing.ca. Place your description under the table or illustration in square brackets [ ] to provide a clear explanation. These descriptions will not be visible in the final version, but are essential for language editors and layout artists during production.