Aims and scope
RHEUMATOLOGY INTERNATIONAL is an independent journal reflecting world-wide progress in the research, diagnosis and treatment of the various rheumatic diseases. It is designed to serve researchers and clinicians in the field of rheumatology.
RHEUMATOLOGY INTERNATIONAL will cover all modern trends in clinical research as well as in the management of rheumatic diseases. Special emphasis will be given to public health issues related to rheumatic diseases, applying rheumatology research to clinical practice, epidemiology of rheumatic diseases, diagnostic tests for rheumatic diseases, patient reported outcomes (PROs) in rheumatology and evidence on education of rheumatology. Contributions to these topics will appear in the form of original publications, short communications, editorials, and reviews. "Letters to the editor" will be welcome as an enhancement to discussion. Basic science research, including in vitro or animal studies, is discouraged to submit, as we will only review studies on humans with an epidemological or clinical perspective. Case reports without a proper review of the literatura (Case-based Reviews) will not be published. Every effort will be made to ensure speed of publication while maintaining a high standard of contents and production.
Manuscripts submitted for publication must contain a statement to the effect that all human studies have been reviewed by the appropriate ethics committee and have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in an appropriate version of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. It should also be stated clearly in the text that all persons gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study. Details that might disclose the identity of the subjects under study should be omitted.
The editor reserves the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the above-mentioned requirements. The author will be held responsible for false statements or for failure to fulfil the above-mentioned requirements.
Rheumatology International aims to publish the latest research on:
- Public health issues related to rheumatic diseases
o Rheumatology in underserved populations
o Health indicators, standards of care, health care indicators and standards
o Strategies for improvement
- Health policies
- How to change practice
o How to change the vision of rheumatology worldwide
o Classification of diseases
- New diseases
- New definitions
- New criteria
o International efforts related to public health matters
o Patient empowerment - Applying research to clinical practice
o Methodology of research with registers and clinical databases
o Results of registers and clinical databases
o Audit studies on guidelines compliance
o Systematic reviews on effectiveness
o Recommendations, guidelines
o Appraisal of guidelines - Epidemiology of rheumatic diseases
o Prevalence and incidence studies
o Natural course of diseases
o Risk factors for rheumatic diseases
o Prognostic factors - Diagnostic tests in rheumatic diseases
o Validation studies
o Feasibility studies
o Systematic reviews of diagnostic tests
o Biomarkers
o Screening tests - Patient reported outcomes (PROs) in rheumatology
o Generation studies
o Validation studies, with special emphasis on transcultural validation
o Behavior of PROs in different populations
o Issues with general PROs in rheumatic patients - Evidence on Education of rheumatology
o Improving methodology to train the best students
o Recruitment of new rheumatologists
o Improving methodology to train the best residents
o Training the less young rheumatologists