Author Guidelines
International Journal of Orthopaedics (ISSN 2311-5106) is a bimonthly, open accessed, peer reviewed journal. The journal seeks to publish original clinical practice and research in the extensive field of orthopaedics, traumatology and arthroscopy.
Scope of the journal covers: The journal publishes research papers in areas of research include, but are not limited to, the following: arthroscopy, evidence-based medicine, epidemiology, nursing, sports medicine, therapy of bone and spinal diseases, bone trauma, osteoarthropathy, bone tumors and osteoporosis, minimally invasive therapy, diagnostic imaging. Clinical diagnosis, laboratory diagnosis, differential diagnosis, imaging tests, pathological diagnosis, molecular biological diagnosis, immunological diagnosis, genetic diagnosis, functional diagnostics, and physical diagnosis; and comprehensive therapy, drug therapy, surgical therapy, interventional treatment, minimally invasive therapy, and robot-assisted therapy.
The columns in the issues of IJO will include:
(1) Editorial: To introduce and comment on major advances and developments in the field; (2) Topic Highlight: which summarize current knowledge and newly presented information in a particular article - a useful tool for the busy clinician; (3) Review: In depth Clinical Reviews on hot topics in Orthopaedics; (4) Original Article: Original Research at the highest level covering the spectrum of clinical Orthopaedics including the latest clinical studies on emerging developments; (5) Case Report: To report a rare or typical case; (6) Letters to the Editor: To discuss and make reply to the contributions published in IJO, or to introduce and comment on a controversial issue of general interest.
Online submissions
Manuscripts should be submitted through the Online Submission System at: http://www.ghrnet.org/index.php/ijo/index. For assistance, authors encountering problems with the Online Submission System may send an email describing the problem to ijo@ghrnet.org
MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
All contributions should be written in English. Spelling should be US English or British English, but not a mixture. All articles must be submitted using word-processing software. There is no explicit limit on the length of articles submitted, but authors are encouraged to be concise. There is no restriction on the number of figures or tables. Figures and tables should be sequentially referenced. Authors should include all relevant supporting data with each article. The editing is only to correct such things as misused words, spelling errors, missing references or incomplete citation information. Authors are advised to write clearly and simply, and to have their article checked by colleagues before submission. Non-native speakers of English may choose to make use of a copyediting service. Required information for each of the manuscript sections is as follows:
Title page
The title should be short, informative and contain the major key words. Articles with a title longer than the 120 character limitation may not be sent out for review. A short running title (less than 40 characters, including spaces) should also be provided.
Authorship: (1) The full names of the authors and the addresses of the institutions at which the work was carried out together with the full postal address and email address, plus facsimile and telephone number of the author to whom correspondence about the manuscript, proofs and requests for off prints should be sent. Authorship credit should be in accordance with the standard proposed by ICMJE, based on (1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and (3) final approval of the version to be published. Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, and 3.
Abstract and Key words
Original articles must have a structured abstract that states in 250 words or less the purpose, basic procedures, main findings and principal conclusions of the study. Divide the abstract with the headings:
AIM, MATERIALS AND METHODS, RESULTS and CONCLUSION. The abstracts of reviews need not be structured. The abstract should not contain abbreviations or references. Three to five keywords should be supplied below the abstract and should be taken from those recommended by the US National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) browser - (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html).
Text
Authors should use subheadings to divide the sections of their manuscript: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments and References.
Figures
Figures should be numbered as 1, 2, 3, etc., and mentioned clearly in the main text. Provide a brief title for each figure on a separate page. Detailed legends should not be provided under the figures. This part should be added into the text where the figures are applicable. Low resolution images will be sufficient for the review process, but upon acceptance authors will be asked to supply high-resolution images or original figures for publication. Please note that it is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce figures or tables that have previously been published elsewhere. The following file formats can be accepted: Microsoft Word (version 5 and above; figures must be a single page); PowerPoint (figures must be a single page); TIFF and JPEG.
Tables
Three-line tables should be numbered in sequence using Arabic numerals (i.e. Table 1, 2, 3 etc.), and mentioned clearly in the main text. Provide a brief title that summarizes the whole table, maximum 15 words for each table. Detailed legends should not be included under tables, but rather added into the text where applicable. The information should complement, but not duplicate the text. All abbreviations should be defined in footnotes. Footnote symbols: †, ‡, §, ¶, should be used (in that order) and *, **, *** should be reserved for P-values. The table and its legend/footnotes should be understandable without reference to the text.
Acknowledgments
The source of financial grants and other funding should be acknowledged, including a frank declaration of the authors' industrial links and affiliations. In the case of clinical trials or any article describing use of a commercial device, therapeutic substance or food must state whether there are any potential conflicts of interest for each of the authors: failure to make such a statement may jeopardize the article being sent out for peer-review. The contribution of colleagues or institutions should also be acknowledged. Thanks to anonymous reviewers are not allowed.
List of abbreviations
If abbreviations are used in the text either they should be defined in the text where first used, or a list of abbreviations can be provided, which should precede the competing interests.
REFERENCES
Coding system
We recommend the use of a tool such as EndNote or Reference Manager for reference management and formatting. The author should number the references in Arabic numerals according to the citation order in the text. Put reference numbers in square brackets in superscript at the end of citation content or after the cited author’s name. When the authors write the references, please ensure that the order in text is the same as in the references section, and also ensure the spelling accuracy of the first author’s name. Do not list the same citation twice.
Style for journal references
Jung EM, Clevert DA, Schreyer AG, Schmitt S, Rennert J, Kubale R, Feuerbach S, Jung F. Evaluation of quantitative contrast harmonic imaging to assess malignancy of liver tumors: A prospective controlled two-center study. World J Gastroenterol 2007; 13: 6356-6364
Style for Electronic journal
Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis serial online, 1995-01-03, cited 1996-06-05; 1(1): 24 screens. Available from: URL: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/index.htm
Style for book references
Sherlock S, Dooley J. Diseases of the liver and billiary system. 9th ed. Oxford: Blackwell Sci Pub, 1993: 258-296
PUBLICATION AND PEER REVIEW PROCESSES
Submitted manuscripts will be sent to peer reviewers, unless they are either out of scope or below threshold for the journal, or the presentation or written English is of an unacceptably low standard. They will generally be reviewed by two experts with the aim of reaching a first decision as soon as possible. Editors send four reviewers the request to review with the submission attached to the email. Reviewers email editors their assent (or regrets), as well as the review and recommendation. In order to facilitate the editing process and to improve the efficiency of JGHR, all peer reviewers are requested to return their comments within two weeks. All reviewers must keep the manuscripts confidential. They must not give the manuscript to any third party, or discuss the contents of the articles with the authors of the manuscript or other persons. If the reviewers feel that there is an interest conflict with the authors, personally, academically or economically, then the reviewer must inform the Editorial Office immediately.
PUBLISHED STATEMENT OF INFORMED CONSENT
Manuscripts should contain a statement to the effect that all human studies have been reviewed by the appropriate ethics committee or it should 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. Authors should also draw attention to the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki, 1964, as revised in 2004).
PUBLISHED STATEMENT OF HUMAN AND ANIMAL RIGHTS
When reporting the results from experiments, authors should follow the highest standards and the trial should comform to Good Clinical Practice (for example, US Food and Drug Administration Good Clinical Practice in FDA-Regulated Clinical Trials; UK Medicines Research Council Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice in Clinical Trials) and/or the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. Generally, we suggest authors follow the lead investigator’s national standard. If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the above standards, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study.
Before submitting, authors should make their study approved by the relevant research ethics committee or institutional review board. If human participants were involved, manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the experiments were undertaken with the understanding and appropriate informed consent of each. Any personal item or information will not be published without explicit consents from the involved patients. If experimental animals were used, the materials and methods (experimental procedures) section must clearly indicate that appropriate measures were taken to minimize pain or discomfort, and details of animal care should be provided.
GUIDELINES FOR FILING A COMPETING INTEREST STATEMENT
In the interests of transparency and to help reviewers assess any potential bias, International Journal of Orthopaedics requires authors of all papers to declare any competing commercial, personal, political, intellectual, or religious interests in relation to the submitted work. Referees are also asked to indicate any potential conflict they might have reviewing a particular paper. Before submitting, authors are suggested to read “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Ethical Considerations in the Conduct and Reporting of Research: Conflicts of Interest” from International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which is available at:http://www.icmje.org/ethical_4conflicts.html.
