Submissions

Author Guidelines

Guidelines for Authors

Giornale Italiano di Tossicologia (GIT) accepts for publication contributions that have not been published elsewhere, either in their entirety or for substantial parts, except in the case of green open access (or self-archiving).

Contributions are accepted in Italian and English.

1. Editorials: articles or invited commentaries representing the opinion of recognized Researchers and Experts in toxicology. The text must not exceed 2000 words.
2. Viewpoint: opinions of experts in a specific field that may stimulate debate. The text must not exceed 2000 words and 30 bibliographic references.
3. Open Questions: invited articles by recognized Experts on topics (grey areas) for which no definite guideline recommendations exist. Authors wishing to submit a manuscript for this section are asked to address a letter in advance to the Editorial Board, presenting the title and a summary of the content of max 400 words. The text must not exceed 3000 words and 25 bibliographic references.
4. Reviews: articles by recognized Experts, in-depth reviews and updates on topics of interest and/or current relevance in the various fields of toxicology, either invited or submitted spontaneously (those wishing to submit a review are asked to address a letter in advance to the Editorial Board, presenting the title and a summary of the content of max 400 words). The text must not exceed 6000 words (bibliography included) and must be accompanied by at least 3 tables and/or figures [the use of iconography (photos, figures, diagrams, flow-charts, etc.) is strongly encouraged].
5. Observational Studies: original experimental and clinical studies, brief articles on laboratory or clinical results produced using established methods, new working hypotheses suggested by recent data or by a critical review of the literature, new applications in clinical research reported in sufficient detail to be evaluated and used by other researchers. The text must not exceed 5000 words and 20 bibliographic references.
6. Clinical Cases: presentation of individual cases (max 3 patients) or of a single family. The text must not exceed 1500 words (bibliography included) and 20 bibliographic references, and must contain no more than 3 tables or figures. Limit the number of authors to no more than 8. The case must be structured as follows:
1. a brief introduction defining the area of interest of the case;
2. description of the case with: clinical history, signs and symptoms, laboratory and instrumental tests, results;
3. commentary highlighting the extent to which the case presented is or is not in line with the literature and current clinical practice, underlining any original aspects and open questions;
4. bibliography (max 20 references).
7. Correspondence: letters to the Editor must not exceed 800 words and 5 bibliographic references. Limit the number of authors to no more than 3. In the case of letters commenting on published articles, the cited authors will be invited to respond.

Manuscripts must be accompanied by a letter addressed to the Editor, which must contain the following information: a) an indication of the Section for which the manuscript is submitted; b) a statement that the content of the manuscript is original, has not been published, and is not under review at other journals, except as an abstract; c) a statement regarding any financial or other relationships that may generate conflicts of interest; d) confirmation that the manuscript has been read and approved by all authors. The author may indicate the names of possible Reviewers.

In order to maintain adequate stylistic consistency, the Editorial Office may, if necessary, make linguistic changes to the manuscript; these will be sent to the authors for approval during proof revision.

Artificial Intelligence

Authors are required to explicitly declare any use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as chatbots or text or image generators (e.g. ChatGPT, DALL·E, Copilot, etc.), in the process of preparing the manuscript.

The use of AI must be reported at the end of the manuscript in a dedicated section called AI Use Statement, specifying:

• which tool was used,
• for what purpose (e.g. content generation, language assistance, image creation, bibliography, etc.),
• at which stage of the work (initial drafting of the manuscript, revision, translation, etc.).

The use of AI does not exempt authors from full scientific, ethical, and legal responsibility for the published content.

Journal Sections

The article must be assigned to one of the following sections, according to the branch of study of the contribution, and must comply with the relevant guidelines:

• Bioethics;
• Addiction Medicine;
• Communication;
• Medical Devices;
• Toxicological Emergencies and Poison Control Centers;
• Clinical Pharmaco-toxicology;
• Endocrine Disruptors;
• Food Safety;
• Environmental Toxicology;
• Cellular Toxicology;
• Gender Toxicology;
• Occupational Toxicology;
• Regulatory Toxicology;
• Experimental Toxicology.

Title Page

The title page (first page) must include:

1. The title (in Italian and English), full first and last names of the authors, and a short title of 45 characters including spaces (without abbreviations).
2. The name of the Institution where the work was carried out, and, if applicable, the source and nature of financial support for the research.
3. The name, complete postal address including postal code, telephone number, and e-mail of the author to whom correspondence (communications, proofs, and requests for reprints) should be addressed.
4. The total word count, including the title page, abstract, text, bibliography, tables, and figure legends.

File Requirements

The text of the article must be uploaded as a text file (.doc, .docx, .odt, .rtf), anonymized.

It is recommended not to insert any images within the text, but to upload them as separate files (.jpg, .jpeg, .svg), possibly as an archive (.zip); captions should be inserted either as a list at the end of the article file or in a separate text file. Within the text of the article, it is sufficient to indicate the position of the image with a placeholder (e.g. [FIG. 1]).

Images must be at least 300 dpi and high resolution (e.g. over 1000 pixels). Image quality can be checked by going to Properties > Details, under the “Image” field.

Abstract

1. The original articles must be accompanied by an abstract in Italian and English containing essential data of no more than 300 words, structured into four paragraphs, each with its own heading, in the following order: Rationale, Materials and Methods, Results, Conclusions. All data in the abstract must also be presented in the text or tables. The use of abbreviations is not recommended.
2. Manuscripts of the Reviews and Clinical Cases type must be accompanied by an abstract in Italian and English of no more than 200 words.
3. At the end of the abstract, two to six keywords must be indicated.

Graphical Abstract

1. Reviews and Observational Studies must be accompanied by a Graphical Abstract with its legend, including the specification of the abbreviations used.
2. The Graphical Abstract must graphically express the main messages of the review or the main results of the observational study, using simple graphic elements and limiting the textual component.
3. The figures included in the manuscript may not be duplicated in full within the Graphical Abstract.
4. The Graphical Abstract must be cited in the text.

Formatting

The manuscript must be prepared in the following order: (1) title and authors on the first page, (2) abstract and keywords in Italian and English, (3) text, (4) acknowledgements, (5) bibliography, (6) tables, (7) figure legends, (8) figures. Pages must be numbered consecutively, starting with page 1 for the title.

Text

1. Standard units of measurement and chemical symbols must be abbreviated according to the rules set out in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, drawn up by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and published in Ann Intern Med 1982; 96: 766-71 and BMJ 1982; 284: 1766-70.
2. Bibliographic references, figures, and tables must be cited in the text in progressive order, using Arabic numerals.
3. The text must be structured into paragraphs with appropriate subheadings. The text of original articles must be structured into sections in the following order: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion.
4. Any acknowledgements must be reported at the end of the text, before the bibliography.

No limit is placed on the length of contributions or the number of figures/tables at the time of submission. Any changes in this regard will be requested during the evaluation of the article.

Equations

The use of equation editors (MathML, Word editor, etc.) is recommended only if necessary. Simple expressions or symbols (e.g. CO₂) should be written as free text using superscripts, subscripts, and symbols.

Bibliography

1. Bibliographic references must be indicated in the text with Arabic numerals and listed in a separate section, using double spacing, in progressive order according to their order of appearance in the text.
2. Cite all authors if there are 6 or fewer; otherwise cite only the first 3 and add et al.
3. Personal communications, unpublished data or observations, and articles submitted for publication may not be included in the bibliography, but must be cited only in the text.
4. Journal abbreviations must conform to those used by Index Medicus, National Library of Medicine. For the style and punctuation of bibliographic entries, follow the examples given:

• Journal articles

Li X, Lin L, Pang L, Pu K, Fu J, Shen Y, Zhang W, Xu H, Niu Y. Application and development trends of network toxicology in the safety assessment of traditional Chinese medicine. J Ethnopharmacol. 2025 Mar 13;343:119480. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2025.119480.

• Book chapters

Eaton, D. L., & Gilbert, S. G. (2010). Chapter 2. Principles of toxicology. In C. D. Klaassen & J. B. Watkins III (Eds.), Casarett & Doull's essentials of toxicology (2nd ed.). The McGraw-Hill Companies.

• Books
  Jaeschke, H. (Ed.). (2024). Acetaminophen Toxicity: Experimental and Clinical Advances. Academic Press.

• Abstract
  Doe. 2026. “The Study of Poisons.” The Toxicologist, a Supplement to Toxicological Sciences, Abstract 2023.

Tables

1. Tables must be typed with double spacing on separate pages, with the number and title centered above the table. Tables must be numbered with progressive Arabic numerals, following the order in which they are cited in the text.
2. All abbreviations used must be identified and explained in alphabetical order below the tables. Any symbols used (asterisks, circles, etc.) must also be explained.
3. Tables must be self-explanatory and data must not be duplicated in the text or figures.
4. For the reproduction of previously published tables, permission from the Publisher must be attached.

Figures

1. Figures must be in .ppt, .jpg, .tif, or .bmp format with a minimum resolution of 400 dpi. Figures may not be inserted within the text.
2. Lettering in figures must be large enough to allow for reduction.
3. All lines in graphs and drawings must be in black. Lines, decimals, etc. must be sufficiently bold to allow for reproduction.
4. Groups of symbols should be used in photographs to indicate only essential parts. Specific details in photographs must be indicated with arrows; symbols, arrows, or letters must contrast with the background.
5. The title and instructions for interpreting the figure must appear in the legend and not in the figure itself.
6. Limit the number of figures to those strictly necessary for greater clarity of the content reported in the text.

Figure Legends

1. Figure legends must be typed with double spacing on separate pages. Figures must be numbered with progressive Arabic numerals, following the order in which they are cited in the text.
2. All abbreviations used in the figures must be identified and explained in alphabetical order at the end of each legend. Any symbols used (arrows, solid and dashed lines, circles, etc.) must also be explained.
3. For the reproduction of previously published figures, permission from the Publisher must be attached.

Metadata

During the upload of the article to the journal website, you will be asked to complete a series of metadata, in particular:

• Title in Italian and English;
• Abstract in Italian and English;
• E-mail of each author (indicating the corresponding author);
• ORCID of each author;
• Affiliation;
• ROR of the institutions with which the authors are affiliated;
• Keywords in Italian and English;
• Funding;
• Data Availability Statement;
• Conflict of interest.

It is understood that if the author does not have an ORCID, if their affiliation does not have a ROR, or if the article has not been funded or no data supporting the research were used, it is not necessary to enter this metadata.

Affiliation

In the case of an author without an affiliation, indicate “Independent Researcher”.

Data Availability Statement

If there is data supporting the research, the author must insert, at the end of the article, before the bibliography, a Data Availability Statement, declaring where and how the data are available (in the body of the article, upon request, in a repository; see Research Data).

Conflict of Interest

The author is required to declare any conflicts of interest in the appropriate field during the submission process.

Research Data

Data supporting the research (Replication Data) and any Supplementary Materials should be freely accessible and organized according to the FAIR principles of research data management. The author may upload the data to a repository of their choice, or upload them together with the article during the submission stage.

Data will preferably be deposited on UNIMI Dataverse, a FAIR-compliant, CoreTrustSeal-certified repository, under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license, and will be assigned a DOI and direct access via the article page.

Tables, images, and similar materials must be provided as separate files (not inserted into a single Word document), preferably as a .zip archive.

Where necessary, the author will be asked to provide additional information to complete the required metadata.

Additional information is available here.

Statement for Human Subjects (Human Rights)

• Statement: All studies must declare compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
• Specific requirements: The name of the institutional ethics committee (IEC/IRB), the approved protocol number, and the date of approval must be mentioned.
• Sample text: “All procedures were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards established by the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of [Insert Name of Institute/Hospital] (Protocol No. [Insert Number], dated [Date]).

Informed Consent

• Statement: Authors must confirm that they obtained informed consent (written or verbal, depending on the ethics committee's directives) from all participants. [
• Privacy: Sensitive data must be anonymized. If faces or identifying details (e.g. photos, medical records) are used, specific consent for publication is required.
• Sample text: “Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to inclusion in the study.”