International Journal of the Care of the Injured
The Official Journal of the British Trauma Society, the Australasian Trauma Society, the Saudi Orthopaedic Association in Trauma, and affiliated with the Hellenic Association of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, the Societa' Italiana Di Ortopedia e Traumatologia and the The Gerhard Kuentscher Society

These instructions for authors can also be found on http://intl.elsevierhealth.com/journals/inju

Injury was founded in 1969 and is an International Journal dealing with all aspects of trauma care. Our primary aim is to facilitate the exchange of ideas, techniques and information between all members of the trauma team.

Topics covered include: trauma systems and management; surgical procedures, epidemiological studies, surgery (of all tissues) resuscitation; biomechanics, rehabilitation, anaesthesia; radiology, basic science of local and systemic response to trauma and tissue healing.

The Journal also publishes a series of scientific supplements, all of which undergo peer-review prior to publication.

The language of the journal is English (UK), for example, stabilisation, haematology, anaesthetic, centre, paediatric, mobilise.

Preparation of Manuscripts

Title page: The first page must include the title of the article, names, initials and appointment of each author, name of the department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed and name, address, phone/fax and e-mail details of the author for correspondence and to whom reprints should be sent. Please note that it is essential to include the email address of the corresponding author, as proofs will be sent by email as attached PDF files.

Keywords: up to 10 keywords must be included.

Abstract: This should start on the second page of the manuscript and be not more than 350 words in length. It should be easy to read and where appropriate should be structured. The structure may follow the same format as the structure of the paper itself.

Text: This should start on the third page, and will normally be divided into the following sections: Introduction, Materials (or Patients) and Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions, but other descriptive headings and subheadings may be used if they are felt to be more appropriate.

Introduction should explain the purpose of the study or investigation, the clinical relevance and the background provided by previous research, or publications, in this area and, where appropriate, a statement of approval by an Ethical Committee.

Materials (or Patients) and Methods should give details of inclusion and exclusion criteria for patients in clinical trials, research methodology, systems of assessment, or measurement, with appropriate references and the statistical analyses used. Any proprietary equipment or apparatus used should be named, along with the manufacturer's name and address. Sufficient detail should be given to allow other investigators to repeat the study. Where relevant, tables or figures may be included to provide information more clearly. No data should normally be presented in this section.

Unnecessary experimental detail should be avoided, but appropriate references should be cited.

Results should give all the relevant data, presented in a concise and meaningful way, with tables or figures to present data more clearly or concisely, where appropriate. In studies with well under 100 subjects, percentages are not accepted.

Discussion should consider the results and possible confounding factors, sources of bias, weaknesses in the study and a review of the relevant literature, putting the results of the study in the context of previous work in this area.

Conclusions must be based on the results presented.

References: The references should be listed in the reference section in alphabetical order and numbered in alphabetical sequence, e.g. [1] Abbott C, [2] Bader, G, [3] Brown, T, etc

All references listed at the end of the article must be cited in the text. References should be indicated in the text by superscript e.g. 1 or 3, 8. Where a reference is cited more than once in the text, the same number should be used each time. References should take the following form:
[1] Mackay D, Wood L, Rangan A. The treatment of isolated ulnar fractures in adults: a systematic review. Injury 2000; 31 565 - 73
[2] Richards RR, Corley FG. Fractures of the Shafts of the Radius and Ulna. In: Rockwood CA Jr, Green DP, Bucholz RW, Heckman JD. Fractures in Adults. 4th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott 1996 869 - 928
[3] Rockwood CA Jr, Green DP, Bucholz RW, Heckman JD. Fractures in Adults. 4th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott 1996

The titles of journals should be abbreviated as in Index Medicus. If there are four or fewer authors, they should all be listed; if there are five or more, the first three authors should be listed, followed by et al.

Authors are strongly encouraged to check the accuracy of each reference against its original source.

Abbreviations: In general abbreviations should be spelt out in full the first time they are used, but this does not apply to the very common abbreviations listed below: A&E: accident and emergency; CT: computed tomography; DVT: deep vein thrombosis; EUA: examination under anaesthetic; GA: general anaesthetic; ICU: intensive care unit; IM: intramedullary; ISS: injury severity score; ITU: intensive therapy unit; IV: intravenous; LA: local anaesthetic; MRI: magnetic resonance imaging; MUA: manipulation under anaesthetic; OR: operating room; ORIF: open reduction and internal fixation; XR: X-ray (examination).

Units of measurement should all be in SI units, except for measurements of blood pressure, where mm Hg is preferred. For more detailed recommendations authors should consult Baron D.N. (ed.) (1977) Units Symbols and Abbreviations: A Guide for Biological and Medical Editors and Authors, 3rd Ed. London, Royal Society of Medicine.

For drugs and chemicals, the generic name should be used, but trade names may follow in brackets.

Tables: Each Table, with an appropriately brief title, should be numbered and printed on a separate page. No vertical lines should be used. All tables should be referred to by number in the text.

Figures: Figures should be limited to those considered essential. Colour illustrations incur an additional cost to the author and should only be used if they illustrate important points not demonstrable in black and white. Line drawings should be professionally drawn, with lettering large enough to remain legible after reduction. A list of figure legends must be supplied on a separate sheet of the manuscript. All illustrations should be referred to in the text.

Accepted Manuscripts Copyright Information

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail (or letter) will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.

Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations (please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions).

If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.

Preparation of electronic illustrations

When submitting via the online system, authors are required to provide electronic versions of their illustrations. When an article has been accepted, authors must be prepared to provide all illustrations in electronic and camera-ready format. Information relating to the preferred formats for artwork may be found at http://www.elsevier.com/authors and also on the online submission homepage http://ees.elsevier.com/jinj/.

Submitting your artwork in an electronic format helps us to produce your work to the best possible standards, ensuring accuracy, clarity and a high level of detail.
* Make sure that you use uniform lettering and sizing in the original artwork.
* Save text in illustrations as "graphics", or enclose the font.
* Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Times, Symbol.
* Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
* Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files, supplying a separate listing of the files.
* Provide all illustrations as separate files and as hardcopy printouts on separate sheets.
* Provide captions to illustrations separately.
* Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version. * ZIP-disk or CDs may be used.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website: http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions

Author enquiries

For enquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit this journal's homepage at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/injury. You can track accepted articles at http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed. Also accessible from here is information on copyright, frequently asked questions and more.

Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, will be provided by the publisher.

Colour Reproduction

Submit colour illustrations via the online submission system. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures, then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites), regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information from Elsevier regarding the costs, after receipt of your accepted article.

Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting colour figures to 'grey scale' (for the printed version, should you not opt for colour in print) please submit additionally usable black and white prints corresponding to all the colour illustrations.

Supplementary data

We accept supplementary electronic material to support and enhance the paper. Supplementary files offer additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. These will be published online, alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier web products, including ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com/. Please ensure that data is provided in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format, together with the article, and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please go to http://www.elsevier.com/authors.

Use of the Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

The digital object identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly 'Articles in press' because they have not yet received their full bibliographic information.

The correct format for citing a DOI is shown as follows (example taken from a document in the journal Physics Letters B):

doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2003.10.071

When you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, they are guaranteed never to change.

Types of submission
1. Regular papers.
Original, full-length, research papers, which have not been published previously, except in a preliminary form, may be submitted as regular papers.

2. Case Reports.
Case reports will be reviewed by an Editor and, if accepted, will normally be published in Injury Extra and not in Injury. Only very occasionally will a case report be published in the printed journal. Only case reports with a particular educational message are usually accepted; rarity alone is not a reason for acceptance. The rejection rate for case reports is much higher than for original articles. If an author does not wish to proceed to publish in Injury Extra, they are entitled to withdraw their submission.

3. Letters to the Editor.
Letters to the Editor are encouraged, particularly those that comment on an article previously published in the journal. These should be submitted via the online submission system.

Submissions
Authors are requested to submit their original manuscript and figures online, via http://ees.elsevier.com/jinj/ Full instructions are located on this site.

If you have any problems submitting your paper through this system, please contact the Editorial Office on: e-mail: editor@injuryjournal.com; tel: +44 (0)1865 843282; fax: +44 (0)1865 843992.

A PDF proof is generated from the uploaded files and this is then sent to at least two reviewers. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revisions, will be managed via this system.

If you do not receive any response within 8 weeks after the acknowledgement that your paper has been successfully uploaded, you may contact the Editorial Office, preferably by e-mail (editor@injuryjournal.com). Authors may also track the progress of their paper using this system to final decision.

Your manuscript should be submitted together with a covering letter which should be signed by the corresponding author on behalf of all authors and should include:
* A statement that all authors have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted. All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship as defined above should be listed in an acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or is the chair of the department who provided only general support. Authors should disclose whether they had any writing assistance and identify the source of payment for this assistance.

* A statement that the manuscript, including related data, figures and tables has not been previously published and is not under consideration elsewhere.

* The names and contact addresses (including e-mail) of 2 potential reviewers that have not been involved in the design, performance and discussion of the data and are not a co-worker. These may or may not be used at the Editor's discretion. You may also mention persons who you would prefer not to review your paper.

Conflict of Interest At the end of the text, under a subheading "Conflict of interest statement" all authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding.

Role of the funding source All sources of funding should be acknowledged at the end of the text. Authors should declare any involvement of study sponsors in the study design; collection, analysis and interpretation of data; the writing of the manuscript; the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. If the study sponsors had no such involvement, this should be stated. Please see http://www.elsevier.com/funding

Randomised controlled trials All randomised controlled trials submitted for publication in Injury should include a completed Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) flow chart. Please refer to the CONSORT statement website at http://www.consort-statement.org for more information.

Ethics Work on human beings that is submitted to Injury should comply with the principles laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki; Recommendations guiding physicians in biomedical research involving human subjects. Adopted by the 18th World Medical Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, June 1964, amended by the 29th World Medical Assembly, Tokyo, Japan, October 1975, the 35th World Medical Assembly, Venice, Italy, October 1983, and the 41st World Medical Assembly, Hong Kong, September 1989. The manuscript should contain a statement that the work has been approved by the appropriate ethical committees related to the institution(s) in which it was performed and that subjects gave informed consent to the work. Studies involving experiments with animals must state that their care was in accordance with institution guidelines. Patients' and volunteers' names, initials, and hospital numbers should not be used.

Funding body agreements and policies

Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors who publish in Elsevier journals to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.

Authors' rights

As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details you are referred to: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorshome.authors/authorsrights.

Revisions should be completed and resubmitted within 3 months, and the changes made should be highlighted or listed in the resubmitted article.

Upon acceptance of an article, an e-mail (or letter) will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form which the authors will be asked to sign (for more information see http://www.elsevier.com/authors).

The Editor reserves the right to make editorial and literary corrections. No major alterations, or corrections, will be made without the knowledge and consent of the authors.

Proofs.

After final acceptance, one set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post). Elsevier now sends PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 available free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs. System requirements are given at the Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win.

If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scan the pages and e-mail, or by post.

Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received.

Offprints

The corresponding author will be provided with a free PDF file of the article via e-mail. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use. Paper offprints can be ordered by the authors. An order form with prices will be sent to the corresponding author.

Injury Extra ( www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/15723461) is our online open access journal which publishes abstracts and case reports. If a paper is recommended for publication in Injury Extra, corresponding author will be contacted and given the option of whether or not to proceed.

The main advantages of publishing in Injury Extra are:
* Publication online will be in approximately 8 weeks from submission, which is significantly faster than Injury.
* Injury Extra is an open access online journal, published only on ScienceDirect ( www.sciencedirect.com). This means that the full text of your article is freely accessible to anyone, which will attract more citations, usage and visibility of your work.