The Editors and Publisher of The American Journal of Surgery® invite
concise original articles in the following categories:
(1) clinical and experimental surgery, (2)
descriptions of modern operative techniques ("How I Do It"), (3) review articles, (4) surgical
pharmacology articles, and (5) brief reports. Please refer to the SUBMISSION
CHECKLIST before submitting any manuscript.
NO
CASE REPORTS WILL BE ACCEPTED IN ANY OF THESE
CATEGORIES. Clinical Images will no longer be accepted as an article type submission.
MANUSCRIPTS should be typed, doubled-spaced, on 8½ × 11-inch
paper with 1-inch margins and should not exceed
a total of 15 pages, excluding
simple tables and figures. Limit references to no more than 40. Number all pages, beginning
with the
title page. The style of writing should conform to acceptable English usage.
Readability is a factor in the acceptance of all papers.
Strive to enlighten, not to impress. Avoid
medical jargon, unnecessary wordiness, and overlong sentences. Authors are encouraged to
view
Strunk and White's Elements of Style.
ABSTRACTS for clinical, experimental, and brief reports should consist
of four
paragraphs labeled: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions. Review article abstracts should
be labeled: Background, Data Sources,
Conclusions. "How I Do It" and surgical pharmacology
articles require unstructured abstracts. No abstract should exceed 150 words.
A short 2- to 4- sentence summary for the table of contents and list of key
words should be included on separate pages.
Review articles
and surgical pharmacology articles must not exceed 25 pages or contain
more than 100 references.
GENERAL GUIDELINES: Round
off tenths of percents to whole numbers. Never
reference individual patients (eg, patient 1, 2, 3, etc., or 45-year-old man, etc.) in
the text or
tables. Subtitles and abbreviations detract from the title of the manuscript and will not be
permitted. Do not use acronyms
and abbreviations within the text, except for units of measure.
Use generic names of drugs; the brand name may be included in parentheses
at first mention.
BRIEF REPORTS must be limited to 7 double-spaced typed pages, including the
title page, structured abstract,
and reference pages. Use no more than 3 tables, illustrations, or
combination thereof. Limit references to
10. Do not use subheadings
within the text, such as Materials and Methods, Results, and
Comments.
FINANCIAL
SUPPORT or potential conflicts of interest should be acknowledged
by all authors and editorial reviewers. If such a
conflict is recognized, the reviewer will be
excused from the review process and another assigned.
INFORMED CONSENT: Papers
describing research involving human subjects
should state in the Methods section that informed consent was obtained from the patients
and
approval was obtained from the designated review board of the institution involved.
COVER LETTER: Manuscripts must be accompanied
by a cover letter from the
author who is responsible for correspondence regarding the manuscript. The letter should contain
a statement
that the manuscript has been seen and approved by all authors and the material is
previously unpublished.
AFFILIATED SOCIETIES
must limit the text and references for any and all
papers to a maximum of 12 pages, excluding simple tables and figures, to avoid page
charges.
No more than 5 tables, figures, or combination thereof, will be considered. There should be no
more than 40 references. Authors
of accepted society manuscripts should refer to the
SUBMISSION CHECKLIST below before submitting a manuscript to their society/association
recorder. Recorders of each society are encouraged to delete irrelevant comments, needless
repetition, polite fillers, and condense
rambling statements when editing the discussion.
FIGURES: Only illustrations that increase the understanding of the text should
be
submitted. The best form of reproduction for pen and ink drawings or black and white line art with no gray
tones is photomechanical
transfer (PMT). Decimals, broken lines, and lettering must be clear
enough for reproduction. Only high-quality computer-generated figures
will be considered.
Radiographs must be of extremely high quality to reproduce adequately and generally should be
enhanced with arrows,
etc. Color reproduction costs must be separately paid by the author if color illustrations are accepted ($650 for the first page
of color figure; $100 for each additional color figure).
All figures must be
mentioned in the text in consecutive order.
The Editor reserves the right to limit the number of illustrations.
LEGENDS must be typed, double-spaced, on a separate page.
Legends for photomicrographs should indicate the magnification and the method
of straining.
PERMISSION to reproduce photographs
of patients whose identity is not disguised
must be sent with the manuscript. If an illustration has been published previously, the
author
must obtain the written permission of the author and publisher and send a copy of the permission
with the manuscript.
TABLES
should supplement rather than duplicate the text. Tables that repeat
information in the text will be omitted. Each table should have
a title and be typed,
double-spaced, without horizontal or vertical lines on 8½ x 11-inch paper. Tables should
be
numbered consecutively
with Arabic numerals in the order of first mention in the text. Define all
abbreviations in a footnote.
STATISTICAL evaluation
of data is encouraged, and the specific method should
be referenced. Authors may wish to review Yancey JM. Ten rules for reading clinical
research
papers. AM J Surg. 1990; 159:533-539.
REFERENCES must follow the general arrangement and punctuation outlined
in:
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors Uniform requirements for manuscripts
submitted to biomedical journals. Ann
Intern Med, 1988;108:258-265 or Br Med
J. 1988;296:401-405. They should be typed, double-spaced, on a separate page. Number
the references in the order that they are first mentioned. Only references that are mentioned in the
text should be listed. Use the Index
Medicus style for abbreviations of journal titles. List all
authors if there are four or fewer; for five or more authors, list the first
three and add "et al." All
authors are responsible for the accuracy of their references.
Journal article: Cullen JJ, Eagon
JC, Dozois EJ, Kelly KA. Treatment of acute
postoperative ileus with octreotide. AM J Surg, 1993;165:113-120.
Book:
Fry DE. Multiple System Organ Failure. St. Louis: Mosby-Year
Book, Inc., 1992.
Chapter in book: Zucker KA, Bailey
RW. Diagnostic and therapeutic laparoscopy
for the general surgeon. In: Polk HC Jr, Gardner B, Stone HH, eds. Basic Surgery.
4th
ed. St. Louis: Quality Medical Publishing, 1993. p 95-121.
For references to articles in press, please supply the name of the
journal and, if available, the
volume number and year. References to unpublished material, including written (not verbal)
personal communications,
should be included parenthetically in the text.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Footnotes of acknowledgment to individuals for help
received
are not published. Such acknowledgment should be made directly to the individual
involved or, if the contribution warrants, the person
should be made a co-author.
REPRINTS: Price schedules and order cards for reprints are mailed to each reprint
author at the
time an article is published.
SUBMISSION: Manuscripts must be submitted electronically through the Elsevier Editorial System
at http://ees.elsevier.com/ajs. Books for possible review should be sent to
Kirby I. Bland, MD, Department of Surgery, University
of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294.
1. Three to six key words for indexing are listed on a separate page.
2. Manuscript contains a
150-word abstract on a separate page and complies with the
aforementioned guidelines.
3. Manuscript contains a 2- to 3-sentence summary
to appear in the table of contents.
4. References are listed in order of appearance in the text, and the appropriate numbers are
inserted
in the text in superscript at the proper places.
5. Tables are numbered consecutively with roman numerals.
6. Figures are mentioned
in the text in consecutive order. The corresponding legends should
be typed on a separate page.
7. The title page includes the first
and last names of all authors, highest academic degrees,
the name of the department and institution from which the work originated, and
the name and
address of the author to whom reprint requests should be addressed. A telephone number and fax
number for the corresponding
author must be listed.
