European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery

The European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery publishes original articles, editorials, reviews and short reports. All manuscripts are peer-reviewed. We urge authors to submit their manuscript in the correct format if they wish to avoid rejection.

An article is reviewed on the understanding it has not been submitted for publication elsewhere. If you have published similar work before, then please tell us and send us copies of previous publications so that we may assess the degree of overlap.

We subscribe to the `Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, available from http://www.icmje.org.

Online Submission
All material should be submitted through the online submission and review system, Elsevier Editorial System (EES). Authors should refer to http://www.ees.elsevier.com/ejves for further instructions.

NEW: What this paper adds (original research articles and reviews only)
Please provide a brief statement (maximum 100 words) to answer the question "What does this study/review add to the existing literature and how will it influence future clinical practice?". At the discretion of the editors, this statement may be placed at the beginning of the published article.

Authorship
All authors should 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.

A Manuscript Front Sheet signed by all authors must accompany all submissions. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all authors have seen and approved the manuscript. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. A copy of the manuscript front sheet can be downloaded here.

Acknowledgements
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 a department chair who provided only general support. Authors should disclose whether they had any writing assistance and identify the entity that paid for this assistance.

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 declared as an acknowledgement at the end of the text. Authors should declare the role of study sponsors, if any, in the study design, in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. If the study sponsors had no such involvement, the authors should so state.

Randomised Controlled Trials
All randomised controlled trials submitted for publication in the European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery 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. European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery has adopted the proposal from the ICMJE which require, as a condition of consideration for publication of clinical trials, registration in a public trials registry. Trials must register at or before the onset of patient enrolment. The clinical trial registration number (ISRCTN) should be included at the end of the abstract of the article. For this purpose, a clinical trial is defined as any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. Studies designed for other purposes, such as to study pharmacokinetics or major toxicity (e.g. phase I trials) would be exempt. Further information can be found at http://www.icmje.org.

Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses submitted for publication in the European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery should follow the recommendations of the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) group. See http://www.consort-statement.org, or JAMA 2000; 283:2008,2012, for the MOOSE guidelines and checklist.

In addition, reports of reviews of randomized controlled trials should also follow the recommendations of the Quality of Reporting of Meta-analyses (QUOROM) group. See http://www.consort-statement.org, or Lancet 1999; 354:1896-1900, for the QUOROM checklist. Reports should include a flow diagram of study inclusion and exclusion and the abstract headings (Objectives, Data Sources, Review Methods, Results, Conclusions) as described in the QUORUM guidelines.

Ethics
Work on human beings that is submitted to European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery 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.

Preparation of manuscripts

Please indicate the word count on the front page of your manuscript.

• Use automatic page numbering but avoid other kinds of automatic formatting such as footnotes, endnotes, headers and footers.
• Put the text, references, tables and legends for figures in one file, and each figure in a separate file.

Manuscript Requirements
Title
The title page should give:
•The title of the article
•The authors' names and affiliations
•The name, address, telephone, fax and email of the corresponding author.
•The category for which the manuscript is being submitted (original article, leading article, review, case report, technique, or lesson of the month).
•A short title of not more than 50 characters (running head).

Abstract The abstract should not exceed 200 words and should conform to the following format:
•Objectives
•Design
•Materials
•Methods
•Results
•Conclusions

Length
Articles should be as brief as possible, a maximum of 4000 words including references, and we will shorten lengthy manuscripts. The discussion should be clear, concise, and limited to matters arising directly from the results.

Each of the following sections should begin on a new page, with all pages numbered serially:
•Title page
•Abstract and 3-6 key words
•Main text in the format of Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion
•Acknowledgements
•References
•Tables
•Legends for illustrations

Keywords
Three to six keywords or short phrases that will assist indexers in cross-referencing the article should be included. Terms from the medical subject headings (MeSH) list of Index Medicus should be used (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov).

References
Please ensure that you include all relevant references to previous articles in the European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery. References should be typed with double spacing and cited in the Vancouver style. Unpublished communications should be cited in the text, in parentheses.

In the text, references should be numbered consecutively by superscript: ^1,2 or ^1-3. References should be listed in numerical order at the end of the article. The sequence for a journal article is: author(s), title of paper, journal name (abbreviated as in Index Medicus or written in full if no abbreviation quoted), year of publication, volume number, first and last pages. The sequence for a book is: author(s), editor(s) or compiler(s), title and edition number, place of publication and publisher's name, year of publication, first and last pages (if relevant).

Examples:
1. Bunt TJ. Synthetic vascular graft infection. J Vasc Surg 1983; 94:1¿9.
2. Roos DB. Transaxillary first rib resection for thoracic outlet syndrome. In: Bergan JJ, Yao JST eds. Operative Techniques in Vascular Surgery. New York: Grune and Stratton, 1980: 125¿129.

Figures Figures of good quality should be submitted online as separate files. For detailed instructions on the preparation of electronic artwork, consult the Artwork Instructions to Authors: http:// www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Permission to reproduce illustrations should always be obtained before submission and details included with the captions.

To help authors submit high-quality artwork early in the process, the Artwork Quality Control Tool automatically checks the submitted artwork and other file types when they are first uploaded against the artwork requirements outlined in the Artwork Instructions to Authors. Each figure/file is checked only once, so further along in the process only new uploaded files will be checked.

Figures appear in colour online, free of charge. Colour reproduction in the printed journal is possible if considered essential by the editors; however, authors may be expected to contribute towards the cost of this service.

The legends for illustrations should be listed on a separate page, at the end of the manuscript, in numerical order and should contain brief but comprehensive explanations. Keys to symbols and shading used should appear in the legend, not on the illustration.

All authors wishing to use illustrations already published must first obtain the permission of the author and publisher and/or copyright holders and give precise reference to the original work (see `Copyright¿ below).

Tables
Tables should be numbered in series and must be cited in the text in sequence. Each table with an appropriate brief legend should be typed on a separate page and the end of the manuscript. Tables should be kept as simple as possible and wherever possible a graphical presentation used instead.

Acknowledgements
The acknowledgements page should specify:
•Contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, e.g. technical help
•Sources of financial and material support
•Possible conflicts of interest

Units and Abbreviations
The decimal point and not a comma should be used, e.g. 6.89 not 6,89. A space rather than a comma should follow thousands and multiples thereof, e.g. 10 000 not 10,000.

Measurements of length, height, weight and volume should be reported in metric units (metre, kilogram, litre) or their decimal multiples. Temperatures should be given in degrees Celsius and blood pressure in millimetres of mercury. All other measurements, including laboratory measurements, should be reported in the metric system in terms of the International System of Units (SI).

Authors should limit the use of abbreviations. Terms which are mentioned frequently may be abbreviated but only if this does not detract from reader comprehension. Abbreviations for SI units and statistical terms are those in Baron DN (ed): Units, Symbols and Abbreviations: A Guide for Biological and Medical Editors and Authors 4th ed. London, Royal Society of Medicine, 1994.

When quoting specific materials or proprietary drugs, authors must state in parentheses the name and address of the manufacturer. Generic names should be used whenever possible.

Statistics
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of all statistical calculations. Detailed guidance on the handling of statistical material can be found at http://www.elsevier.com/framework_products/promis_misc/ejvesstat.pdf.

Design
Authors should set out clearly the objectives of the study and state whether the study was retrospective or prospective. Randomised trials must include the items included in the CONSORT statement (see `Randomised Controlled Trials¿ above).

Presentation
Wherever possible a graphical presentation should be used to illustrate the main findings of a study. Base the graph on data points unless the sample sizes are very large. When plotting life tables always indicate the numbers of individuals at risk at the various times of follow-up. Avoid the use of `error bars¿ showing 1 standard deviation or standard error.

The use of a mean and standard deviation (SD) to describe a distribution is only appropriate when the distribution is known to be normal. For non-parametric data, the median is a better measure of the centre of the distribution and the range or interquartile range (IQR), a better measure of spread. Avoid spurious precision; percentages should generally be given as integers.

Analysis
There should be a clear description of which methods were used, and any analyses not in common usage should be supported by references. In general, `non-parametric¿ analyses should be used, e.g. the Mann-Whitney test for comparing two groups and the Wilcoxon test for comparing the changes to a group.

Strive to limit the number of statistical tests performed, especially on subgroups. If you cannot avoid multiple comparisons, then use an appropriate adjustment to avoid a `type 1¿ (false-positive) error. Results of statistical tests should be reported by stating the value of the test statistic (t), the number of degrees of freedom (df) and the P value to two decimal places, e.g. t = 1.34, 16 df, P = 0.20.

Where possible, the results of the primary analysis should be reported using confidence intervals instead of, or in addition to, P values. Do not use statistical tests to compare the baseline characteristics of study groups, but rather use adjusted analyses to investigate the effect of such imbalances.

Interpretation
Statistical significance should not be confused with clinical relevance. Use confidence intervals to assess clinical relevance, especially when interpreting a 'negative' finding. Do not place undue emphasis on secondary analyses, especially when they were suggested by an inspection of the data.

Short Reports
We give priority to reports describing novel conditions or complications, those with a valuable message, and technical innovations or modifications. Short reports should not normally exceed 750 words, laid out in the following format:• Title page (as for original articles)
• Abstract (introduction, report, discussion), maximum 100 words and 3-6 keywords
• Main text (introduction, report, discussion)
• References (maximum 5)
• Legends for illustrations (maximum 2)

The rejection rate for short reports in the journal remains high and most are published online only in EJVES Extra, with the abstract being published in EJVES. The editors' decision on whether to accept a paper for EJVES Extra or EJVES is final.

EJVES Extra is the online-only companion journal to EJVES, available to all without subscription, and can be found at www.ejvesextra.com. Please note that articles appearing in EJVES Extra are fully citable. However EJVES Extra is not indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE or Thomson Reuters (ISI), although it is covered by SCOPUS.

Reviews and Editorials
We encourage the submission of reviews and editorials. The maximum word count for reviews is 5,000 words including references and for editorials 1,000 words including references. Priority will be given to editorials addressing a current problem, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. We advise potential authors seeking advice on the suitability of topics to email the editorial office at ejves@elsevier.com

Letters, Book Reviews and Forthcoming Events
We welcome letters commenting on articles in the Journal and notification of forthcoming events, maximum 300 words including references. Email your letter or details of forthcoming events as an attached Word file to the editorial office at ejves@elsevier.com.

Copyright
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/authors). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a Journal Publishing Agreement form.
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; contact Elsevier¿s Rights Department, Philadelphia, PA, USA: Tel. (+1) 215 238 7869; Fax (+1) 215 238 2239; e-mail healthpermissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).

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.

Proofs
One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author, which they are requested to correct and return within 48 hours. Elsevier now sends PDF proofs that 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. The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe website: 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) in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, 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, at no cost, will be provided with a 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. Additional paper offprints can be ordered by the authors. An order form with prices will be sent to the corresponding author.