Guide for Authors

The American Journal of Surgery^® has a new look and a new Website! Personal subscribers can access searchable full text articles online at http://americanjournalofsurgery.com. Register for your free access today!






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.

PRODUCTION STATUS of accepted manuscripts can be accessed at: Authorsupport@elsevier.ie

SUBMISSION CHECKLIST:

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.