Author Guidelines

Preparing for submission in Acta Dermato-Venereologica Please note that submission of a manuscript is held to imply that it has not previously been published and is not otherwise submitted for publication (except as an abstract, which in that case has to be stated). Authorship: All persons designated as authors in a paper must participate sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility in its contents. Everyone meeting the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) requirements for authorship should be included as an author of a paper. Any individuals who have contributed to the article but who do not meet these criteria for authorship should be listed by name and affiliation in an ‘Acknowledgments’ section instead. The journal may require authors to justify assignments of authorship. Please note that it should be a maximum of 5 authors for Short Communications and Quiz. Length: Articles and Reviews should be kept short and written in a succinct manner. Full articles may include a maximum of 3000 words (from introduction to the end of discussion sections), 5-6 figures/tables/graphs and up to 40 references (up to 4000 words for reviews). Short Communications (brief definite reports without an Abstract and a maximum of 5 authors and 15 references) should not exceed 2 typeset pages (i.e. ~1,200 words in total and one illustration or up to 3 illustrations if the number of words is proportionally reduced). Research Letters (brief definite reports without an Abstract and a maximum of 5 authors and 8 references) should not exceed 750 words (maximum 2 tables/and or figures). We encourage authors to submit illustrative case reports with high educational value as a Quiz. Please use the template below for guidance how to prepare your Quiz.  We encourage authors to avoid repetitions and redundant information in their manuscripts. Extensive figures and tables with a compilation of data, or extensive metholdological descriptions, can preferably be presented as supplementary material.

Submission: Submit the manuscript as one Microsoft Word file; using 12-point font (Times New Roman); 1.5-spacing; and employs italics, rather than underlining. All tables are placed at the end of the paper, after the references. Figures should also be imbedded at the end of the manuscript. Additionally, please note that the figures should be submitted in the running manuscript as well as separate EPS, JPEG or TIFF files. Any supplementary material must also be submitted at the end of the manuscript file, but supplemental figures should also be submitted separately. Any supplementary video should be submitted separately.

Language: All papers should be written in English (British or American). Upon submission, it is essential that the language is irreproachable. If the Editorial Board finds that the manuscript do not fulfill these criteria, it will be sent back to the authors, along with an instruction to send the manuscript for language review at the author's risk and expense. If resubmitted, a receipt of an external language review will be required.

Conflict of interest and funding: Authors are responsible for recognising and disclosing financial and other conflicts of interest that might bias their work. They should acknowledge in the manuscript all financial support for the work and other financial or personal connections to the work. If they have no interests to declare, this should be stated (recommended wording: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare).

UN Declaration of Human Rights: ActaDV makes a statement against war and violence, in all parts of the world, and therefore requires all authors to confirm that they accept and agree with the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights when submitting a manuscript to the journal.

Use of large language models: As of February 15, 2023, the use of large language models (LLMs) including Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT, OpenAI, San Francisco, CA, USA) are allowed by the Editorial office. Please read this editorial for further details. If authors submitting their work to ActaDV opt to use LLMs to help in the writing process, it is mandatory to state this in the Acknowledgements section. Please state the exact program used including how it was used. We would like to remind all submitting authors that textbook knowledge should consistently be avoided. It is essential that a balanced, unbiased, and accurate literature review is always responsibly compiled by the listed authors and must never be left to LLM. When utilizing LLMs in writing, their application should be limited to enhancing readability and language. LLMs should not supplant essential authoring responsibilities, such as generating scientific, educational, or medical insights, or drawing scientific conclusions. It is crucial to use these technologies under human supervision and to rigorously review and edit the resulting content. Content generated by LLMs may sound credible but can be erroneous, incomplete, or biased. The authors of a manuscript bear full responsibility and accountability for their work's content.

Importantly, authors must never assign authorship or co-authorship to LLMs or any other machine learning technologies. Authorship involves responsibilities and duties uniquely attributable to humans, including addressing questions regarding the work's accuracy and integrity, approving the final manuscript, and consenting to its submission. Authors must also ensure the originality of their work, and verify the qualifications for authorship of the listed authors.

Preprint policy: ActaDV does not consider postings on not-for-profit preprint servers, such as bioRxiv, to be duplicate publication. Hence, such preprint postings will not jeopardize consideration for publication in the journal. Please note however, that although eligibility for consideration for publication in ActaDV will not be compromised by preprint posting, it could have a negative impact on the novelty of the submission if widespread publicity is achieved. Preprints should be published under a CC-BY-NC license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0).

Arrangement of manuscript

In order to primarily save authors time, and make the peer review faster for reviewers, we have prepared manuscript templates to help authors when submitting their manuscript to ActaDV. We strongly recommend you to use these for your submissions. Please click on the template of

relevance to download this to your computer.

Manuscript template - Full reports
Manuscript template - Short communication (please note that the Material and methods section as well as the Results section are not obligatory for all short communications, such as case reports)
Manuscript template - Quiz
Manuscript template - Research Letter

Manuscripts should normally be divided into Title Page, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and References. Please note the following:

• The title is important; it should be informative without being too long.
• Textbook knowledge should be avoided in the Introduction; instead the reader should be suggested recent reviews for detailed backgrounds.
• The Material and Methods section should as far as possible be in the form of references to previous reports.
• The Results should be presented either in the running text or in Tables and/or Figures without repeating all data.
• The Discussion should not start with a long introduction but more directly discuss the meaning of the results in relation to previous studies; any limitations of the study should be highlighted.
• The number of illustrations and tables can be kept minimal in the main paper, but additional supplementary material may be used.

Title page to include:
a) the title of the article;
b) name of the authors;
c) the institutions of origin;
d) a short title and for Short Communications and Research Letters also the corresponding author's name, address, and e-mail.
e) Manuscript word count (from the Introduction to the Discussion sections)

Please note that it should be a maximum of 5 authors for Short Communications, Research Letters and Quizzes.

Abstract: The abstract, not exceeding 200 words, should state the reason that prompted the study, purpose, methods, the most important findings and as a conclusion the single most important finding. The abstract should be unstructured (i.e., written with no headlines). In general, abbreviations are not allowed and references should not be used. Below the abstract: Title of the journal; The principal author's complete address, including e-mail. The Abstract should be typed on a separate sheet.

Significance: Include a significance of a maximum of 100 words, which is easily read and understood also by non-scientific readers. Please avoid medical and statistical terms and try to explain your work to your “neighbour”. Emphasize the relevance of your work, how it will contribute to existing research and also how it will benefit society.

Key words: A list of 3-6 keywords suitable for indexing terms should be typed at the bottom of the Abstract page. Please select your keywords using the following link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/

Pagination: Ensure that all text pages are correctly numbered in the top right-hand corner, beginning with the title page.

Headings: Please use the following headings: ABSTRACT, MATERIALS AND METHODS, RESULTS, DISCUSSION, AND REFERENCES.

Subheadings: Use lower case letters italicized or underlined.

References: Should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. No abstracts from proceedings or submitted manuscripts not in press are allowed. Identify references in the text using Arabic numerals in parenthesis (NOT in superscript). The style of references must follow the Vancouver system (please click here for the EndNote-template), and for the abbreviations of journal titles: please consult the Journals database, hosted at www.nlm.nih.gov.

1. Reference to periodicals: Tsutsumi R, Adachi K, Yoshida Y, Yamamoto O. Drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome in association with varicella. Acta Derm Venereol 2015; 95: 503-504.
2. Reference to books: Handwerker H. Itch hypothesis. In: Carstens E, Akiyama T, editors. Itch: Mechanisms and Treatment. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press; 2014: p. 2-8.
3. Journal article in electronic format: Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 1995 Jan-Mar [cited 1996 Jun 5]; 1(1): [24 screens]. Available from: URL:http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/eid.htm

Please note that only published findings, and manuscripts in press should be cited in the reference list. Unpublished findings, i.e. research findings which have not been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal or other formal publication (including preprints), must be shown as footnotes only and should not be included in the reference list. Footnotes should be numbered and indicated using superscript in the text. Please note however, that ActaDV advices you to only consider adding these types of references when deemed necessary.

Tables and figures: Line drawing and lettering should be large enough to sustain photoreduction. Tables are to be numbered consecutively with Roman numerals. Each table should be typed on a separate sheet and should have a descriptive, self-explanatory title (i.e. no unexplained abbreviations) above the table to which it refers. Highlight an introductory sentence in bold and list footnotes below the table, using a, b, c for referencing. Asterix is used for probability values. Place other explanatory text above the table.

All illustrations should be considered as figures. Each graph, drawing, or photograph should be numbered in sequence with Arabic numerals. All figures should have legends, listed on one separate sheet.

Microarray databases: Acta Dermato-Venereologica supports the efforts of the Functional Genomics Data Society to standardize the presentation of microarray data, on which further guidance can be found here. In addition, the journal strongly recommends the supplemental microarray data be deposited in a public database such as Gene Expression Omnibus or Array Express or submitted for peer-review with the initial submission of the manuscript.

Reviews: Due to the high number received manuscript we are unable to give priority to scoping or narrative reviews. Systematic reviews must adhere to the PRISMA guidelines (please find the link below) and preferably these reviews should also be registered at prospectively at PROSPERO https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/.

Manuscript checklists:

For observational studies, please follow the STROBE statement and submit a completed STROBE checklist as supporting information.

For randomized controlled trials, please follow the CONSORT statement and submit a completed CONSORT checklist as supporting information.

For systematic reviews, please follow the PRISMA statement and submit a PRISMA checklist as supporting information.

For prediction investigations please follow the TRIPOD guidelines and submit a TRIPOD checklist as supporting information.

Social Media

To strengthen the impact and visibility of research published in our journal, we encourage authors to assist us by providing content suitable for sharing across various social media platforms.

Social media summary for Short communication, Original report, and Systematic review

To enhance the reach and influence of their research, authors are encouraged, though not required, to submit a social media summary of no more than 300 words alongside their short communication, original report, or systematic review. The editorial office strongly advocates for this practice, considering it to be in the authors' best interest to maximize the visibility and impact of their work. The social media summary should contextualize the findings for the practicing dermatologist, offering them a clear and concise understanding of your work's implications. We wish to highlight the critical role that author contributions play in the social media dissemination of their work upon submission to Acta DV, as the impact and reach of social media engagement are significantly influenced by the quality of the materials provided.

Quiz Case Reports shared online

Accepted manuscripts in the Quiz section will be shared online to engage interest and interactivity. We kindly ask you to use the template provided to facilitate the online format of your Quiz.

Supplementary material

Supplementary material can include for example video- and audio files but also figures, tables, and datasets that are of relevant to the main article. Including supplementary material with your article can make it more discoverable, and help maximizing downloads and citations. For supplemental video content please adhere the instructions provided in the section below.

Please make sure to include any supplementary files at the same time as you submit your manuscript, although a video abstract can be sent upon acceptance instead.

Supplemental material will be published as submitted, and will thus not be checked for scientific content, it will not be copyedited and it will not be typeset. Please note that publishing supplementary material involves a fee of 25 €/file to cover administration costs, but video files will be published free of charge.

Video Abstracts

Video abstracts is an excellent way of getting others to engage with your research, ultimately increasing the visibility and impact of your work. Through a video abstract you can introduce the article in your own words, telling readers what the unique contribution of your article is and why they should read it. We recommend keeping a video abstract short and to the point (no more than 3-4 minutes) and that you use images, charts or tables to help explain the focus of your article. Consider the aim of the video throughout – to get people to read your article. The best video format is MP4 although other video formats such as MOV and MPEG4 are also supported. The minimum dimension is 426 x 240 and the max dimension is 3840 x 2160.

Since people have wide-screen computers, please use the 16:9 format for your recording. Most users today are familiar with PowerPoint and as such we have prepared a PowerPoint-template with the Acta DV logotype. Examples of author-videos can be found here video abstract sample 1 and sample 2. The video abstract should be prepared and finalized only after formal manuscript acceptance. The Video Abstract will not be peer-reviewed and will be published free of charge.

Graphical Abstracts/Infographics (Optional)

A graphical abstract, also commonly known as a visual abstract, is a concise, pictorial representation of the main findings or the core concept of a research paper. Acta DV, recognizing the importance of visual communication in today’s scientific discourse, encourages authors to include a graphical abstract as part of their submission. This optional but recommended element may be added as a supplementary figure in the supplemental material of the paper. The graphical abstract serves as a visual summary that encapsulates the essence of the study, making it easier for readers to quickly understand the key points and the significance of the research. Graphical abstracts are designed to catch the eye of readers, facilitating broader engagement with both the scientific community and the public by making research findings accessible at a glance.

To create an effective graphical abstract for Acta DV, authors should aim to visually represent the methodology, results, and conclusions of their study in a clear, concise, and visually appealing manner. This often involves the use of diagrams, figures, and minimal text to convey the study's essence without oversimplifying or misrepresenting the findings.

While the preparation of a graphical abstract requires additional effort on the part of the authors, the potential benefits in terms of increased engagement, accessibility, and impact on social media platforms make it a worthwhile endeavor.