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.
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.
