Folia Morphologica is an official journal of the Polish Anatomical Society. The journal publishes original articles and reviews that deal with morphology (anatomy, cytology, embryology, histology, and histochemistry) in the broadest sense. These papers may be descriptive, experimental, and methodological. Papers dealing with practical application of morphological research to clinical problems may also be considered. Full-length papers as well as short research notes can be submitted. Papers of a purely descriptive nature dealing with the morphology of non-mammals, which should appear in zoological journal, cannot be accepted for publication with the exception of individual communications of special interest for the field of morphology; as a whole.

All rights reserved, including translation into foreign languages. No part of this periodical, either text or illustration, may be used in any form whatsoever. It is particularly forbidden for any part of this material to be copied or translated into mechanical or electronical language and also to be recorded in whatever form, stored in any kind of retrieval system or transmitted, whether in an electronic or mechanical form or with the aid of photocopying, microfilm, recording, scanning or in any other form, whitout the prior written permission of the publisher. The rights of the publisher are protected by national copyright laws and by international conventions, and their violation will be punishable by penal sanctions.

The Journal is committed to prompt evaluation and publication of submitted articles. All manuscripts together with supplementary files (if applicable) should be submitted online via the journal web page. The submission and review process is fully electronic and submissions by e-mail or postal mail will not be accepted. Please follow the manuscript preparation directions presented below. Manuscripts submitted for publication in the Journal are evaluated as to whether they present new insights into the announced topic and are likely to contribute to progress in research or to changes in medical practice. Received manuscripts are initially examined by the Journal editors. Manuscripts with insufficient priority for publication are rejected immediately to allow the authors to recognize deficiencies and submit the paper to another journal or resubmit a revised version. Incomplete submissions or manuscripts not prepared in the required style are sent back to the authors without scientific review.

If manuscript is accepted for review, the authors will be notified in the electronic way only with the reference to the article ID number in the electronic system. Articles are evaluated by at least two outside referees who are contacted before being sent a paper and asked to return comments within time period indicated by Editors. All submitted manuscripts are treated as confidential documents, and reviewers are instructed to treat manuscripts as such. The peer review process is also confidential and identities of reviewers are not released. Referees are asked to provide a written review together with recommendation of acceptance, requirement for revision or rejection of the article.

Authors are notified of decisions by e-mail only. Selected papers are edited to improve accuracy and clarity and for length. Criteria for acceptance of manuscripts or review forms are available at the Journal web page. Names of reviewers of individual manuscripts or journal issues are not revealed; the list of reviewers cooperating with the Journal is announced once a year. In cases author(s) of manuscripts and reviewers are no more anonymous, reviewers are asked to confirm in writing no conflict of interests, i.e. no direct personal relationships (first- and second-degree kinship, legal ties, relationship by marriage), superior/subordinate professional relations or direct scientific cooperation within the two years preceding the review.

Reviewers’ criteria for manuscripts qualification

Title reflects the subject undertaken
Assumptions are proper
Work of practical nature
Work of educational nature
Aims are clearly defined
Appropriate methodology*
Ethical criteria fulfilled*
Research-based work*
Results are adequately presented*
Statistical analysis is reliable*
Discussion refers to results*
Conclusions based on study findings*
Conclusions refer to aims*
Suitably chosen, proper number and up to date references
Proper length
All figures and tables are required
Standard of written English acceptable

*criteria exclusively for research papers 

Manuscripts authored by Editors or members of Editorial Board are treated no differently to any other manuscript submitted to Folia Morphologica. All possible measures are undertaken to avoid any potential conflict of interest in handling of such manuscripts at all the stages including allocation of handling Editor, selection of reviewers, decision making and, if required, processing for publication.

Editors or Editorial Board members may submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in The Journal occasionally, but they are completely excluded from peer–review process and publication decisions when they are authors or co–authors of a manuscript. Manuscripts authored by a member of a journal’s editorial team (editors, Editorial Board members) are independently peer–reviewed and the peer review process is managed by the alternative members of the Editorial Board.

If manuscript is accepted for publication authors will be notified (via email) about the amount due and payment method, within 4 weeks time after the acceptance.

Articles published in opean acces are available under Creative Common Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) allowing to download articles and share them with others as long as they credit the authors and the publisher, but without permission to change them in any way or use them commercially.

Via Medica (Publisher) self-archiving policy establishes that authors can archive only accepted manuscripts including final PDF version and/or  'ahead of print' in any repository. In details, the author may only post their version provided acknowledgment is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Via Medica (Publisher) website. Apart from the link mentioned above, the acknowledgment should be provided with the full bibliographic record with DOI number.

To exclude, even unintentional, plagiarism <Folia Morphologia> has introduced Ithenticate software, widely known in the academic community. All papers accepted for publication are now automatically screened within the manuscript system. Additionally, Editors may decide to run a similarity report at any other point during the review process or post-publication. Our Editorial team is aware of recognized limitation of this tool and realize that a high similarity score does not necessarily indicate plagiarized text. Thus, every doubtful report will be delt with individually to determine whether there are any grounds for concern.

This publication is intended for doctors and students of medicine. Every effort has been made to provide actual information, especially on medicine dosage, however, it is advisable that doctors make final decisions on their usage. This publication is not meant to replace a proper medical diagnosis or therapy. Responsibility taken by authors is suitable for this kind of publication and is not tantamount to responsibility for an individual medical advice.

The publisher has made every effort concerning reliability of the publication and the included information on the assortment, medicines and their prices. Yet the only legal information valid in the Republic of Poland are legal acts and in terms of trade – price offers of drugstores. As far as the information on medicines is concerned, the only lawful information is an updated characteristic of a medicinal substance and its producer’s leaflet.

The authors, consultants and publishers of this publication do not take any responsibility for possible mistakes or harms resulted from the information usage. Any cases of legal claims connected with medicines and chemical substances being under clinical examination are not going to be taken into consideration.