Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines

Manuscript Submission

It is a fundamental condition that submitted manuscripts have not been and will not be published elsewhere. Upon acceptance of a manuscript for publication, the publishers acquire complete and exclusive copyright for all languages and countries.

Manuscripts deemed aligned with the journal's objectives by the editor-in-chief are reviewed by associate editors and two or more external readers.

Acceptance by the editor-in-chief is based on the quality of the work as a substantial contribution to the field and on the overall presentation.

Author Guidelines:

The Revue Tunisienne de Biologie Clinique is published by the Tunisian Society of Clinical Biology. The published topics encompass all aspects and disciplines of Clinical Biology.

The journal accepts general review articles, research articles, original contributions, case presentations, continuing education notes, press or book reviews, and letters to the editor.

All articles are reviewed by at least two anonymous readers selected by the editorial board. The authors' names are not declared to readers. The Editorial Board will ensure that there is no conflict of interest in the attribution of readers.

Manuscripts published by RTBC may be written in English, French or Arabic. The title, abstract and keywords must be provided in two languages, including English.

All articles are reviewed by at least two anonymous reviewers selected by the editorial committee. The names of the authors are not disclosed to the reviewers. The editorial committee will ensure that there is no conflict of interest in the assignment of reviewers.

Manuscripts submitted to  La revue Tunisienne de Biologie Clinique can be written in French, English, or Arabic. The title, abstract, and keywords must be provided in two languages, with English being mandatory.

 

SECTIONS

  • EDITORIALS: These should provide an overview of a current issue. They should not exceed 5 typed pages and include fewer than 10 bibliographical references. Renowned personalities in the field of medical biology are generally invited by the editorial committee to contribute.
  • GENERAL REVIEW: This aims to present an update on knowledge and highlight recent acquisitions of data on a specific and well-defined subject. Unless justified, the article should not exceed 30 typed pages and may include up to 8 illustrations, tables, or figures. It should be accompanied by:

    Bibliographic references (up to a maximum of 50) should not aim to be exhaustive but rather current and selective.

    An abstract in French and English, with a maximum of 250 words, should be informative and indicate the purpose of the work, key results, quantified whenever possible, and conclusions.

    A concise title in French and English.

    Keywords (up to 5) in French and English.

    General review article is authored by experts who have conducted research on the relevant topic and are often published on an invitation basis by the editorial committee. However, suggestions to the editor-in-chief can also be proposed.

  • ORIGINAL ARTICLES: These aim to present a scientific report on original methods, clinical-biological investigations in which biology plays a predominant role, experimental approaches, or protocols for addressing issues in human pathology. The writing guidelines are identical to those for general reviews. Original articles should include the following sections: introduction, materials/patients and methods, results, discussion, and references.

  • DAILY PRACTICE: This section is dedicated to the daily practice of biology. Topics may include technical or economic evaluations of reagents or equipment, adaptation of methods to existing equipment, quality assurance and vigilance, semiotic value of analyses, laboratory organization and management, clinical cases or records, and more. The typical format for articles is a maximum of 15 typed pages, including a title, an abstract (in French and English), keywords (in French and English), an introduction, case presentation, discussion, and references. Additionally, the bibliography should not exceed 10 references, and the manuscript may include 5 tables and/or figures, along with a summary in French and English.

  • OPINION ARTICLE. In this section, the author shares their subjective opinions on a given topic, and argues in favor of their viewpoints. The typical format should consist of a maximum of 5 typed pages and fewer than 10 bibliographic references.

  • IMAGES IN BIOLOGY: This section aims to present illustrations, consisting of one or more photographs, with educational or informative value. Articles, preferably submitted in English and authored by up to four individuals, should not exceed 300 words and may be accompanied by a maximum of three references. Photographic materials should be of excellent quality (see instructions below).
  • LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: This section offers the opportunity to provide clarifications, remarks, or the results of personal experiments related to a topic in biology (analytical methodology, clinical relevance of a test, practice in medical biology) presented in the Tunisian Journal of Clinical Biology. The manuscript should not exceed 3 typed pages, with a possible illustration (figure or table) and fewer than 5 references.

  • ABOUT A CASE: This section aims to present interesting or unusual clinical-biological situations for educational purposes for medical biologists. A description of the case should be written in a maximum of 250 words, followed by 3 guiding questions to assist in resolving the case. The answers to the questions should be provided by discussing the case resolution and should not exceed 250 words, accompanied by a maximum of 5 references. A QR code will be generated at the end of the manuscript, containing additional educational questions related to the case in interactive format (Multiple Choice Questions, image clicking, associations, etc.). The entire content (case and questions) must be written in both French and English.

  • CONTINUING EDUCATION NOTES: This is a section that allows the presentation of theoretical information that can be useful for continuing education in Clinical Biology. They are often published on an invitation basis by the editorial committee. However, suggestions to the editor-in-chief can also be proposed.

Manuscript Preparation

  • Manuscripts are written in French, Arabic, or English. In all cases, grammatical and spelling rules must be strictly adhered to; the editorial committee will return all manuscripts for language correctness and adequacy, whether written in French, Arabic, or English.

  • Manuscripts will be submitted exclusively electronically on the dedicated website of the Tunisian Journal of Clinical Biology at the following address: Submission to the RTBC

  • No manuscript will be accepted if sent by postal mail or email.

Manuscripts should include the following elements:

  • Title. The title should clearly reflect the content of the manuscript and should not exceed 15 words. Include a title in English if the article is written in French and vice versa.

  • Abstract. It is mandatory (in French and English) for all sections (except the "Letters to the Editor" section) and should be structured as follows: introduction, objectives, Materials/Patients and methods, results, and study conclusions. The abstract should not contain any abbreviations or references. Its length should be limited to 250 words.

  • Keywords. These should be placed on the abstract page. 5 keywords should be provided in two languages, with English being mandatory. It is of utmost importance that the keywords are in accordance with MeSH (accessible, notably, through the PubMed main page).

  • Text. The first page should include the following: the intended section, first names and last names of the authors, source of the work, titles (in French and English), professional and email addresses of the authors, and the precise address of the corresponding author (including phone number and email address).

First names and last names in the order of the authors, each followed by the index number of their address, and the professional addresses of each author.

Any acknowledgments.

  • In the manuscript, abbreviations must be explained (given in parentheses) upon their first appearance in the text. All abbreviations should be in internationally recognized format. Well-known abbreviations like "DNA" or "ATP" can be used directly.

  • Tables. They should be presented on separate pages from the text and numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals in the order of appearance in the text. Each table should have a brief explanatory title at the top. Footnotes may be inserted when necessary.
  • Figures. They are numbered in Arabic numerals in the order of appearance in the text. The numbers, titles, and legends of the figures should be placed on a separate page.
  • Illustrations. Photographic materials should be of excellent quality (or have a minimum resolution of 600 dpi for digital versions in jpeg or tiff format). Figure captions should be typed on a separate page. Captions should allow for reading and understanding without the need to refer to the text. All illustration materials must be referenced in the text. In the event that some of the illustrations are created by third parties, whether previously published or not, the author agrees to obtain all necessary permissions from these parties for the integration of these illustrations into their article and their use in this form. The author will provide these reproduction permissions with their manuscript.

  • References: Bibliographic references will be listed in the order of appearance in the text (cited in the text by their number in square brackets). Include all authors if there are six or fewer, or the first six authors followed by "et al." when there are more. All references must be cited in the text.

For articles: Authors' last names followed by their first name initials. Title of the article in the original language. Abbreviated journal name according to the type of Index Medicus (no punctuation after abbreviations); year, volume: first and last pages of the article. Example:

  • For journal articles:

    1. Panteghini M, Forest JC. Standardization in laboratory medicine: new challenges. Clin Chim Acta 2005;355:1-12.

  • For book chapters:

    1. Panteghini M, Bais R, Van Solinge WW. Enzymes. In: Burtis CA, Ashwood ER, Bruns DE, eds. Tietz Textbook of Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics. 4th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders, 2006:597-643.

  • For books. (Follow the same author presentation) Title of the book. City: Publisher's name, year of publication: page number.

  • Abbreviations. Authors should avoid abbreviations. Any acronym or abbreviation necessary should be explained at its first appearance in the text. Any enzyme should be identified by its international nomenclature upon its first appearance in the text.
  • The names and units of chemical or biological substances.  The recommendations of IUPAC-IUBMB and IFCC should be followed. 
  • Ethics. Any study involving a group of patients should adhere to the principles expressed in the Helsinki Declaration. To prevent interpretation difficulties in this area, please mention in the text that ethical approval was obtained from the institutional or national ethics committee for the study's execution. Similarly, studies reporting experiments on live animals must have been conducted in accordance with legal provisions concerning animal experimentation; this information should be mentioned in the text.

Open Access

La Revue Tunisienne de Biologie Clinique applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0)  license to works we publish. Under this license, authors agree to make articles legally available for reuse, without permission or fees, for virtually any purpose. Anyone may copy, distribute, or reuse these articles, as long as the author and original source are properly cited.

For more information on this license, we encourage you to visit the official Creative Commons licenses website.

Article evaluation

Manuscripts are submitted to the Editorial Committee, which assigns them to at least two experts in the field. The manuscripts are reviewed and evaluated following the principle of double anonymized peer review. After the final acceptance of the manuscript, minor modifications solely related to style (and illustrations) may be made directly by the editorial committee without consulting the author, in order to expedite publication.