Instructions for authors

Before submitting a manuscript to Breathe, please read these guidelines carefully.

All submissions to Breathe are handled via the ScholarOne Manuscripts platform, which provides detailed instructions of how to follow the submission process. If you experience problems or require any assistance with the submission process, you can view the ScholarOne help page here, otherwise please contact the submission helpline direct on +44 114 2672868 or email Caroline Ashford-Bentley.

Overlapping publications

Although the remit of Breathe is not to publish original research articles, articles should not be substantially identical to or derivative of work published elsewhere. 

Authors submitting a paper to Breathe do so on the understanding that neither the work nor any part of its essential substance, tables or figures have been or will be published or submitted to another scientific journal or are being considered for publication elsewhere. This must be stated in the cover letter. This restriction does not apply to conference abstracts, articles deposited on non-peer-reviewed recognised community preprint servers such as bioRxiv or medRxiv, or material published under legal requirements for clinical trials reporting, but includes work published in another language. Preprint publication should be declared at the time of submission, and versions of a manuscript that have been altered as a result of the peer review process may not be deposited. After acceptance, authors are requested to update the preprint server record with a link to the final published version of the article on the journal website.

It is the authors' responsibility to ensure that submitted manuscripts are not duplicate publications; they must declare any simultaneous submissions of similar or related manuscripts at the point of submission and must include electronic copies of these manuscripts as a supplement to their submission. If there are any concerns following submission, the editors reserve the right to take appropriate action.

The exception to this rule is when an article is specifically and explicitly adapted from ERS educational material first presented in another format. This will be clearly indicated on the published article.

The ERS uses Crossref Similarity Check (powered by iThenticate) software. Submitted articles are screened and compared to previously published sources. Manuscripts revealing a high proportion of similarity to single or multiple published sources will be examined carefully, and the Chief Editor reserves the right to approach authors for an explanation (as per the Committee on Publication Ethics recommendations of procedures to follow in the event of suspected plagiarism in a submitted manuscript).

As a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics, the ERS follows the COPE codes of conduct and best practice guidelines.

The ERS journals and books Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement should be read in conjunction with these instructions for authors.

Preparation of articles

Breathe articles are divided into several categories. The specific requirements of each category are laid out below, but some aspects are common to all. Articles should be supplied in .doc or .docx format.

Writing style

Breathe uses a slightly less formal style than, for instance, that of the European Respiratory Journal. However, it is no less rigorous. Authors should remember that they are writing for an international audience: clarity is essential. Authors should be concise and, if possible, should avoid long passages of technical information (these should be presented as figures or tables, or references given).

Title page

  • Please provide a concise and informative title, limited to 90 characters, including spaces between words.
  • Include a list of all contributing authors names in full and their affiliations, with a clear indication of who is associated with each institution.
  • Supply the full correspondence details for the corresponding author, including e-mail address. Only one corresponding author per manuscript should be provided.
  • Provide a 256-character (including spaces) summary of the "take home" message of your paper, which can be used to publicise your study via social media.

Patient consent

If your manuscript contains personal information about an identifiable living patient(s), we require a signed copy of our patient consent form. 

The patient's consent to publication should be sought before submitting any article. Please save and print the form (including the information sheet), then show the patient the version of the article that you are submitting and, if they give permission for publication, please ask them (or, as appropriate, their parent/guardian/carer) to sign the form. If your patient’s first language is not English, you must ensure that they understand the form before they sign it. Your patient must understand that Breathe is an open access journal. The most important consequence of this is that if they consent for their personal information to appear in Breathe, it will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Licence 4.0. This means that anyone can re-use the image(s) for any legal purpose as long as they cite the article that it came from as the source.

The form should be uploaded to ScholarOne when submitting your manuscript. 

Figures and tables

Authors are encouraged to include figures, tables and text boxes to illustrate their articles. 

Tables

  • Tables should be inserted in the main text using your word processor's table functionality. Please do not insert them as image files, as we need to be able to put them into web or PDF format.

Figure file formats and metadata

  • Figures must be uploaded as separate files, not as part of the main manuscript text document. During the upload process, you should fill in the “Caption/legend” box including the figure number and legend, so that reviewers know which figure they are looking at. Alternatively, you may add the figure captions at the end of the main manuscript text.
  • Supply line-art figures in EPS, Adobe Illustrator (.ai) TIFF, JPEG or PNG format. Please ensure image files are not layered and that the image size does not exceed 180 x 230mm. Graphs or bar charts may be supplied in Excel or similar spreadsheet format. 
  • Supply halftone and photographic images in TIFF, PNG, JPEG or EPS format. Minimum resolution should be 300 dpi at the final typeset size (90 mm to 180 mm wide).
  • As an alternative to the above, you can supply figures as a single- or multi-page PDF. However, you must include figure legends within the PDF, as our submission software will not add them.
  • If your halftone or photographic image features text or arrows marking out particular features, you may wish to supply an additional copy as a layered Adobe Photoshop (.psd) file, labelled as “Supporting document (not for publication)”. This helps our production staff to ensure optimal reproduction of your figure.
  • If your figures were originally created in another format that contains extra information (e.g. embedded data in an Excel graph), consider supplying them as supplementary material.

Figure size and quantity

  • Avoid large figures comprising many individual parts: as a maximum, each individual figure must fit to a single PDF page of the journal, with sufficient space for its accompanying caption.

Figure presentation

  • All submitted figures must be clearly named and numbered.
  • Multipart figures should be labelled as a), b), c), d), etc.
  • In photographic and halftone images, show only the areas of interest with enough surrounding area for orientation purposes.
  • Ensure any identifying patient information is removed from images. 

Permissions

Where figures and tables are reproduced or adapted from non-ERS publications, it is the responsibility of the author to obtain permission from the original publisher and to pay any fees charged. Reproduced material must be correctly cited in the figure legend.

References and further reading

  • The number of references should be limited, to a maximum of 40 if possible for reviews.
  • Number references consecutively in the order in which they first appear in the text, using full-sized Arabic numerals in square brackets to cite references.
  • First three authors followed by et al.
  • References should contain at all the information shown in the following examples:

1. Bannerjee D, Khair OA, Honeybourne D. Impact of sputum bacteria on airway inflammation and health status in clinical stable COPD. Eur Respir J 2004; 23: 685-692.

2. Bourbon J, Henrion-Caude A, Gaultier C. Molecular basis of lung development. In: Gibson GJ, Geddes DM, Costable U, Sterk PJ, Corrin B, eds. Respiratory Medicine. 3rd Edn. Edinburgh/Philadelphia, Elsevier Science, 2002; pp. 64-81.

  • Documents published online, and individual web pages, should be listed in the reference list, not in the text, and only used when an original citation is unavailable; citations should contain at all the information shown in this example (include the author of the webpage, its title, the URL on which the cited material can be found, and the dates on which the webpage was last accessed by you, and on which it was last updated):

3. WHO. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). www.who.int/csr/sars/en/index.html. Date last updated: June 1 2004. Date last accessed: June 1 2004.

  • References to websites as a whole or sections of websites (rather than particular pages or documents on a website) should be included directly in the text:

...data were sourced from the WHO Global Health Observatory (http://www.who.int/gho/en/)...

  • Works that have not yet been accepted for publication and personal communications should not appear in the reference list. These should be mentioned directly in the text.
  • A selection of up to five "Further reading" articles or links to relevant noncommercial websites or online resources may also be provided, with a brief 2–3-sentence commentary on each.

Units

SI units should be used where sensible; otherwise, conversions to SI units should be given. The exception to this is blood pressures, which should be stated in mmHg.

Supplementary video and audio

Authors may wish to submit video and audio material (for instance, of breath sounds or to illustrate a technique) to accompany their article. This should be clearly referenced in the text.

Types of articles

Brief requirements for the different types of Breathe articles are summarised in the following table. The requirements are outlined in more detail below.

Article type Word limit Figures and tables* References Interactive tasks Online supplement Abstract Educational aims Key points Self-evaluation question
Editorials 1500 2 20 Not accepted Not accepted Not accepted Not accepted Not accepted  Not accepted
Viewpoint 1500 2 30 Not accepted Not accepted Yes, 200 words Not accepted Accepted Not accepted
Ask the Expert 1500 2 30 Not accepted Not accepted Yes, 200 words Not accepted Accepted Not accepted
Pro/con debate# 1800 2 20 Not accepted Accepted Yes, 200 words Not accepted Accepted Not accepted
Reviews 5000 5 40 Not accepted Accepted Yes, 200 words Yes, 2 or more Yes Yes
Interactive case reports 3000 8 20 Yes Accepted Not accepted Not accepted Accepted Not accepted
Lung function corner 1500 5 20 Not accepted Accepted Not accepted Not accepted Accepted Yes
Journal club 3000 4 20 Not accepted Not accepted Yes, 200 words Not accepted Not accepted Not accepted

*The number of figures and tables in the above summary refers to the total number of both figures and tables.

#Pro/Con debates are included as a pair of articles, the limits indicated in the above summary refer to each individual article.

Editorials

The purpose of editorials is to discuss current developments in the respiratory field, to give context to articles in the issue or discuss events of note. Editorials should ideally be 2 pages (~1,500 words; however, longer articles will be considered based on topic and merit) and should be written in a non-scientific style retaining the author's voice. Both descriptive figures and photographs are welcomed. We also welcome viewpoints that present opinions or controversial issues. These articles may address any important topic in respiratory medicine including clinical medicine, research, knowledge translation, public health, health policy and ethics. Typically, these articles should not exceed 1500 words.

Ask the Expert

These articles involve a senior expert answering and discussing a specific question from the field of respiratory medicine in a concise review format. These articles are by invitation only and should be about 1500 words.

Pro/con debate

Pro/con debates are pairs of commentary articles debating two sides of an issue or two different perspectives. Suggestions on topics are welcome and should be sent with a brief outline of the topic and the two perspectives to be presented to the ERS publications office before submitting the manuscripts. The word limit for each article (i.e. the pro or con side of the debate) is 1800 words and up to 20 references.

Reviews

Reviews should not exceed 5,000 words (excluding references, tables and figures).  As Breathe is an educational journal, each article should have two or more clearly stated educational aims. The article should include a short one- or two-paragraph summary, to appear before the text. This should refer to the educational aims. Authors should also supply 2–4 bulleted 'key points', of one sentence each, detailing the essential aspects of the article. To help readers evaluate their knowledge and understanding of the topic, 4–5 self-evaluation questions should be supplied with the article (see appendix), and this requirement should be borne in mind when preparing the review. Brief guidelines for the preparation of self-evaluation questions are appended to this document. Authors may submit, or the Chief Editor may commission, an editorial commentary to accompany the article. This may be particularly useful in areas of controversy, as it can be used to express a point of view that differs from that in the main article.

Interactive case reports

The primary purpose of Breathe is educational. Consequently, cases should be chosen for their clinical relevance and educational value, not for their rarity. Interactive case articles may be up to 3,000 words in length (excluding references, tables and figures) and should make full use of measurements, laboratory results and images from diagnostic tests.  The case should be presented in a chronological manner, interspersed with interactive questions and explanatory answers concerning the best way to proceed given the data so far, and possible diagnoses. Care should be taken to avoid revealing the answers to these interactive questions in the case report title or introductory text. The article should conclude with a discussion of the case in question and general topics related to it. 

Journal club

Journal club articles should provide an educational discussion of 3–5 recent (published in the past 12–18 months) important studies in a specific field of respiratory medicine. Articles should provide a brief introduction placing the studies in context, provide an overview of the methods used and key results from each study with an accompanying commentary on the strengths and limitations. The discussion should highlight any implications for clinical practice arising from the studies. The article should be structured with the following subheadings: commentary on (provide references for the studies discussed), context, methods, main results, commentary, implications for practice.

Journal club discussions can be up to 3000 words in length (excluding references, tables and figures) and should include an abstract. The use of figures and tables to compare studies is encouraged. These articles are generally commissioned, but suggestions of papers of interest for future editions can be addressed to the ERS publications office.

Lung function corner

These articles present the results of a lung function test (including graphs) and the authors then debate the interpretation including potential controversies and background from the literature. Lung function tests are considered in their broad term (classic and innovative) and also include methacholine challenge tests, cardiopulmonary exercise tests, lung clearance index, forced oscillometry and airway resistance evaluation, bronchodilator reversibility, lung hyperinflation, ultrasound of the diaphragm, respiratory muscle function, carbon dioxide rebreathing test, hyperoxic and hypoxic test, etc. Articles can be up to 1500 words in length (excluding figures, tables and references). Articles should include 3 self-evaluation questions, so that readers can assess their understanding. Inclusion of key points summarising the main take home messages of the article is encouraged.

Authorship

Although Breathe does not publish original research, authors should adhere to the ICMJE authorship criteria in so far as they apply. These can be found at www.icmje.org.

Copyright and open access

Submission of a manuscript to Breathe implies that if and when it is accepted for publication, the authors automatically agree to transfer copyright to the ERS

Articles published in Breathe are published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License 4.0 which permits redistribution for non-commercial reasons provided the source is cited. This excludes content for which permission has been granted to ERS for use.

There are no publication fees for articles in Breathe.

Self archiving

Authors of Breathe articles are entitled to deposit the final published version of their manuscripts in a non-commercial institutional (or other) repository for public archiving immediately upon publication.

Peer review

Articles to be published in Breathe will be subject to single-blind peer-review.

Conflict of interest

Any conflict of interest for a given manuscript and for all authors of a manuscript must be dealt with according to the statement of the ICMJE (the 'Vancouver Group') as published in Lancet 1993; 341: 742. Editors and reviewers must disclose to the Chief Editor any personal or financial relationship that could bias their opinion and decision in the peer-review process.

In the interests of transparency, all authors must provide a written statement that details any conflicts of interest they may have (even if they have none). The submitting author should collect these statements and include them in the main manuscript document.

Authors must acknowledge all financial support for the work (including, but not limited to, support from pharmaceutical companies and medical device companies) and other financial or personal conflicts of interest that are both connected and unconnected with the work. The author should consider: grants; honoraria; royalties; relevant current/past employment and other affiliations; patents (either pending, issued or licensed); expenses/travel costs paid for conference attendance; drugs/equipment supplied by a particular company; administrative support; and fees for consulting, lecturing, working on speakers' bureaus or advisory boards, and providing expert testimony. It is each author’s responsibility to provide their own written statement. If the author does not have any conflicts of interest they should clearly indicate this. ERS and the Chief Editor reserve the right to take appropriate action if the appropriate information has not been provided. A statement of interest will be included in the published manuscript..

The ERS publications and their editors are guided by the ERS conflicts of interests policy, and will not consider for publication contributions from authors who are or who have been, full or part-time employees of, or paid consultants to, or those with any real or perceived, direct or indirect links, to the tobacco industry, or who have received any financial or in-kind benefit from the tobacco industry, at any time after 1 January 2000. Contributions from authors who have conflicts of interest relating to alternative nicotine delivery products such as e-cigarette and heated tobacco products, at any time after 1 January 2020, will not be considered. If it is discovered during peer review that competing interests were not declared at submission, or when an article is commissioned, this will result in immediate rejection of the paper. If a competing interest comes to light after publication, the article will be retracted or corrected, as appropriate.

On manuscript submission, authors will be asked if they comply with this policy. If you have any queries regarding this, please contact the ERS publications office.

After acceptance

After your manuscript is accepted, the ERS publications office will copyedit and typeset the article for publication. You will be contacted regarding copyright assignment and be sent a proof of your article along with any queries that have arisen during editing.

Although Breathe is an open access journal, there are no article processing charges or other author fees.

Once published online, selected papers will be promoted by the ERS communications department, through press releases, ERS marketing channels or social media. If your own institution is carrying out press activity around your paper, please let us know. A guide to ERS author services, including resources for helping to promote articles, is available at the ERJ website.

Errata and correspondence

Errors in the journal should be brought to the attention of the Chief Editor by e-mail to breathe@ersnet.org. Any corrections deemed significant by the Chief Editor will be published in the journal at the earliest opportunity and will be posted online.

Correspondence regarding articles published in Breathe should be sent to the above email address. If it is for publication, it should be clearly marked as such.

CME accreditation

Some Breathe articles may be selected as continuing medical education (CME) content, approved by the European Board for Accreditation in Pneumology. Such articles will be worth 1 CME credit each, subject to candidates submitting correct answers to the questions associated with each article.

Appendix: Principles on how to write good multiple-choice questions

  1. Relevant content: The content should be relevant, important and generally applicable.
  2. Application of knowledge, not only theory: The question should test the application of knowledge rather than the recall of isolated theoretical facts.
  3. Focused questions and homogeneous answers: The question should focus on one aspect of the topic and all proposed answers should belong to the same aspect (e.g. diagnosis, causes, management decisions).
  4. Clear and unambiguous answer: The correct answer should stand out clearly. Try to avoid "technically correct" answers which are subject to existing controversial doctrines.
  5. Appropriate level of difficulty (50–90% correct answers): If the questions are too difficult then even the best candidates need to guess; however, if they are too easy, then they do not sufficiently stratify the different abilities of candidates.
  6. Unambiguous, concise and simple phrasing: Avoid trick questions and double negatives. Use only common abbreviations, short sentences, etc. Avoid imprecise qualifications (often, usually, etc.).
  7. Avoid cues: Cues can help candidates guess the correct answer. Examples include when one answer is much more detailed than the others, when only one answer follows grammatically from the stem, or a non-logical order of answers.

This page was updated on 1 April 2022