Author Guidelines

1. Manuscript Template

All manuscripts must be prepared using the official TRMBE manuscript template.

Download the TRMBE Manuscript Template (.docx)

The template sets the page size, fonts, spacing, heading styles, line numbering, and section order required by the journal. It also contains guidance for authors (shown in blue italics) and bracketed placeholders for every element of the manuscript. Please replace all bracketed text with your own content, delete all guidance text and the pre-submission checklist, and save the file in .docx format before uploading. Manuscripts that do not use the template may be returned to the authors before peer review.

2. Scope and Article Types

Trends and Reviews in Medicine and Biomedical Engineering (TRMBE) is a review journal. It publishes review articles only. Original research articles, case reports, short communications, letters, and any manuscript whose primary contribution is new experimental or clinical data are not considered and will be returned without review.

The journal welcomes reviews across the full range of medicine and biomedical engineering, and particularly work at their intersection: biomaterials and regenerative medicine; medical imaging and computational diagnostics; medical devices, implants and biosensors; biomechanics and rehabilitation engineering; neural engineering; drug delivery and nanomedicine; artificial intelligence and digital health; clinical evidence syntheses across specialties; and translational and regulatory science.

TRMBE accepts the following article types:

Article type	Description	Main text length	Abstract	Methods section
Comprehensive Critical Review	In-depth, argument-driven assessment of a field or major question	Up to 10,000 words	Unstructured or structured	Strongly recommended
Systematic Review (with or without meta-analysis)	Protocol-driven synthesis following PRISMA 2020	Up to 10,000 words	Structured	Required
Scoping Review	Mapping of the extent and nature of evidence in an emerging area, following PRISMA-ScR	Up to 10,000 words	Structured	Required
Umbrella Review	Overview of existing systematic reviews	Up to 10,000 words	Structured	Required
Mini-Review	Focused synthesis on a narrowly defined question	3,000–5,000 words	Unstructured or structured	Recommended
Trends Article	Concise, forward-looking synthesis of a fast-moving area	3,000–4,000 words	Unstructured	Brief statement of approach

Word counts refer to the main text and exclude the abstract, tables, figure captions, declarations, and references. Authors who are unsure whether a proposed manuscript fits the journal's remit are welcome to send a presubmission inquiry (title, proposed article type, and a 200-word outline) to editorial@inatgi.net.

3. Before You Submit

Authorship. All listed authors must meet the four ICMJE criteria for authorship: substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work or to the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of the literature; drafting or critically revising the manuscript; approval of the final version; and agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. Contributors who do not meet these criteria should be named in the Acknowledgments. Changes to authorship after submission require written agreement from all authors.

ORCID. Every author must provide an ORCID iD in the submission system. The corresponding author's ORCID is also printed on the first page of the manuscript. Institutional e-mail addresses are preferred for all authors.

Originality. Submissions must not have been published previously, in whole or in substantial part, and must not be under consideration elsewhere. All manuscripts are screened for text similarity. Posting a manuscript on a recognized preprint server before submission is permitted and should be disclosed in the cover letter.

Language. Manuscripts must be written in clear English. Either British or American spelling is acceptable, provided it is used consistently. Authors whose first language is not English are encouraged to have the manuscript checked by a fluent speaker or a professional editing service before submission; this is not a requirement, and language editing does not affect editorial decisions.

Prior reviews. Authors should check for existing reviews on the same topic and explain in the Introduction what the new review adds.

4. Manuscript Preparation

4.1 Format

A4 page, 2.54 cm margins, Times New Roman 12 pt, 1.5 line spacing, continuous line numbers (all preset in the template).
Use the Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3 styles provided for numbered section headings.
Do not insert page breaks except before the reference list.
Save as .docx.

4.2 First page

The first page must include, in this order: the article type; the title (specific, informative, without abbreviations, maximum 20 words); the full names of all authors with superscript numbers linking them to their affiliations; affiliations (department, institution, city, postal code, country); the corresponding author's name, postal address, e-mail, and ORCID; a running title of no more than 50 characters including spaces; and the word count of the main text together with the numbers of figures, tables, and references.

4.3 Abstract and keywords

The abstract should be 250–300 words and self-contained: no citations, figures, or undefined abbreviations. Systematic, scoping, and umbrella reviews must use the structured format with the headings Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Other article types may use a single unstructured paragraph. Provide 3–6 keywords separated by semicolons, preferring MeSH terms where they exist and avoiding words already in the title.

4.4 Structure of the main text

Numbered sections should follow the order in the template:

Introduction. The clinical, scientific, or engineering problem; why a review is needed now; what previous reviews have covered and what remains open; the aims, scope, and boundaries of this review, including the review type.
Methods: Literature Search and Selection. Required for systematic, scoping, and umbrella reviews and strongly recommended for all other types. Describe the databases searched, date of the last search, full search strings (at least one in the text, all as supplementary material), eligibility criteria, screening and data-extraction procedures, quality or risk-of-bias assessment, and the method of synthesis. Systematic, scoping, and umbrella reviews must include a PRISMA flow diagram.
Thematic sections. The body of the review, organized by themes, mechanisms, technologies, or clinical questions rather than study by study. Sections should compare findings, explain why results agree or diverge, and state what can and cannot be concluded. Add as many numbered thematic sections as required.
Current Challenges and Controversies. Where the evidence conflicts and why; methodological limitations of the primary literature and of the review itself.
Future Directions and Emerging Trends. Required in every TRMBE article. Identify turning points, promising but unproven directions, and the specific studies or technical advances needed next. Where relevant, address the translational path from mechanism to prototype, clinical validation, and adoption, including regulatory, economic, and ethical conditions.
Conclusions. One or two paragraphs; no new information or citations.

4.5 Reporting standards

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses: PRISMA 2020. The completed checklist must be uploaded as supplementary material. Prospective registration (for example, in PROSPERO) is strongly encouraged, and the registration number should be given in the abstract and Methods.
Scoping reviews: PRISMA-ScR, with the completed checklist uploaded.
Umbrella reviews: PRISMA 2020 with methods adapted to overviews of reviews; quality of included reviews should be assessed with AMSTAR 2 or an equivalent tool.
Risk of bias and certainty of evidence should be assessed with established tools appropriate to the included study designs (for example, RoB 2, ROBINS-I, QUADAS-2, Newcastle–Ottawa Scale) and rated with GRADE where applicable.
Narrative and critical reviews should still describe how the literature was identified and selected so that readers can judge the scope and possible biases of the synthesis.

4.6 Figures

Place each figure in the text immediately after the paragraph in which it is first cited, with a numbered caption below. Captions must allow the figure to be understood without the text and must define all abbreviations. In addition, upload each figure as a separate file: TIFF, PNG, or EPS; at least 300 dpi for photographs and micrographs and 600 dpi for line art; minimum width 85 mm (single column) or 170 mm (double column). Multi-panel figures should label panels with capital letters (A, B, C). Figures reproduced or adapted from other sources must state the source and confirm permission in the caption; authors are responsible for obtaining permission.

4.7 Tables

Place tables in the text after first citation, with a numbered caption above. Create tables with the Word table tool; do not use tabs, spaces, or images. Keep tables to portrait width where possible; large evidence tables may be provided as supplementary material. Mark footnotes with superscript lowercase letters and define all abbreviations below the table. Summary tables of included studies are encouraged; the template provides the recommended layout.

4.8 References

References follow the Vancouver (numbered) style. Number references consecutively in the order of first citation and cite them in the text with numerals in square brackets, for example [1], [2–4], [5,8]. List all authors up to six; for seven or more, list the first six followed by “et al.” Abbreviate journal titles according to the NLM Catalog. Provide a DOI for every reference that has one. Preprints, reports, and web pages may be cited but must be identified as such, with an access date for web pages. Examples of each reference type are given in the template. Reference management software may be used with a Vancouver output style; please remove field codes before submission.

4.9 Units, abbreviations, and nomenclature

Use SI units. Define every abbreviation at first use in the abstract and again in the main text, and include an alphabetical list of abbreviations used three or more times. Use generic drug names and, for devices, the manufacturer's name and model at first mention. Gene symbols should be italicized; protein names should not.

4.10 Supplementary material

Supplementary material (full search strategies, data extraction forms, additional tables and figures, PRISMA checklists) should be uploaded as separate files and cited in the text as Table S1, Figure S1, and so on. Supplementary files are published as submitted and are not copyedited.

5. Declarations

The following statements must appear after the main text, in the order given in the template. Statements that do not apply should say so explicitly rather than being omitted.

Author Contributions. Use CRediT roles to describe the contribution of each author.
Funding. Name all funding sources and grant numbers, or state that the review received no external funding.
Conflicts of Interest. Declare all financial and non-financial interests of every author that could reasonably be perceived as relevant, including consultancies, patents, equity, speaker fees, and industry-sponsored research within the past 36 months. Where none exist, state “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”
Acknowledgments. Name individuals who contributed but do not qualify as authors, with their permission, and any technical, writing, or editing assistance.
Data Availability Statement. State where the extracted data supporting the review can be found, or that no new data were generated.
Declaration of Generative AI Use. Required. Generative AI tools may not be listed as authors or cited as references. If such tools were used for any part of the work, name the tool and version and describe the purpose. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy and integrity of the content. If no such tools were used, state so.
Ethics. Reviews of published literature do not normally require ethical approval. If the review includes any unpublished data, patient material, or images from which an individual could be identified, the relevant approval and consent must be stated.

6. Submission

Manuscripts are submitted through the journal's online submission system at https://inatgi.net/index.php/trmbe/about/submissions. The corresponding author must register for an account and will receive all correspondence about the manuscript.

Please prepare the following files:

Main manuscript (.docx), prepared from the template, including the title page, abstract, main text, declarations, references, tables, and figures with captions.
Figure files, one file per figure, in the formats and resolutions given in Section 4.6.
Supplementary material, if any.
PRISMA or PRISMA-ScR checklist, for systematic, scoping, and umbrella reviews.
Cover letter, stating the article type, why the review is suitable for TRMBE, what it adds to existing reviews on the topic, confirmation that the manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere, and disclosure of any preprint or prior presentation.

Suggested reviewers. Authors may suggest potential reviewers in the cover letter, giving each reviewer's name, affiliation, institutional e-mail address, and a brief statement of relevant expertise. Suggested reviewers must have no conflict of interest with the authors: they should not be at the same institution, should not have collaborated or co-authored with any of the authors within the past five years, and should not have a personal or financial relationship with them. Authors may also ask that specific individuals not be invited, with reasons. The editors are not bound by these suggestions and will normally include at least one reviewer not proposed by the authors.

Submissions are checked by the editorial office for completeness and compliance with these guidelines before being assigned to an editor. Incomplete submissions are returned to the authors.

7. Peer Review and Editorial Process

TRMBE operates single-blind peer review: reviewers know the identities of the authors, but the identities of the reviewers are not disclosed to the authors. Each round of review involves at least two independent expert reviewers. Reviewers assess the accuracy and completeness of the synthesis, the rigor and transparency of the methods, the originality of the argument, and the value of the review to the field. The handling editor makes a recommendation to the Editor-in-Chief, whose decision is final.

Submissions receive an initial editorial assessment within 7 days of submission, at which point the manuscript is either sent for external peer review or returned to the authors. Authors can normally expect a first decision within 4 weeks of submission. Authors are given 6 weeks to return a major revision and 4 weeks to return a minor revision; extensions may be requested from the editorial office. Revised manuscripts must be accompanied by a point-by-point response to the reviewers' comments and a copy of the manuscript with changes marked, and are normally returned to the original reviewers.

Manuscripts authored by members of the Editorial Board, including the Editor-in-Chief, are handled by another editor with no connection to the authors and are subject to the same review process as all other submissions.

Accepted manuscripts are copyedited and typeset. The corresponding author receives page proofs and is asked to return corrections within 7 days; only corrections of errors are accepted at proof stage. Accepted articles are published in the next scheduled issue of the journal.

8. Publication Fees

TRMBE charges an article processing charge (APC) of USD 500 per accepted manuscript, payable by the corresponding author after acceptance and before publication. There are no submission fees and no additional charges for color figures, tables, or supplementary material. Manuscripts that are rejected incur no charge.

Waivers and discounts. In line with international practice, TRMBE grants a full APC waiver to manuscripts whose corresponding author is based in a low-income economy, and a 50% discount to manuscripts whose corresponding author is based in a lower-middle-income economy, according to the current World Bank classification (corresponding to Research4Life Groups A and B). Reviews commissioned by the Editor-in-Chief are exempt from the APC. Authors who do not meet these criteria but face genuine financial hardship may apply for a discretionary waiver or discount at the time of submission by writing to editorial@inatgi.net with a brief explanation of their circumstances. Waiver requests must be made at or before submission; requests made after acceptance cannot be considered.

All waiver decisions are made by the editorial office independently of the editorial process. Editors and reviewers are not informed whether a waiver has been requested or granted, and the ability to pay has no influence on the assessment of a manuscript or on the editorial decision.

9. Open Access, Copyright, and Licensing

TRMBE is an open-access journal. All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Authors retain copyright of their work and grant the journal a license to publish. Authors may deposit the published version in institutional or subject repositories without embargo.

10. Publication Ethics

The journal follows the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Plagiarism, duplicate publication, citation manipulation, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and misrepresentation of the literature are treated as misconduct and handled according to COPE procedures, which may include rejection, retraction, and notification of the authors' institutions. Published articles are corrected or retracted where necessary, with a linked notice explaining the change.

Authors who believe an editorial decision was made in error may appeal in writing to editorial@inatgi.net, explaining the grounds for the appeal. Appeals are considered by an editor not involved in the original decision.

11. Contact

Editorial Office, Trends and Reviews in Medicine and Biomedical Engineering
E-mail: editorial@inatgi.net
Online ISSN: 3068-1863