The ASIAN JOURNAL OF SURGERY is published every three months and invites original scientific contributions in the broad field of clinical and experimental surgery. These may fall within the categories of an original paper, collective review, case report or invited panel symposium.

Four typed copies and one soft copy of the manuscript should be submitted together with four sets of the original illustrations. A covering letter stating that the submitted material has not been previously published nor is under consideration for publication elsewhere should be mailed along with the manuscript in a full-size heavy envelope to:

The Editor-in-Chief
Asian Journal of Surgery
c/o Department of Surgery
University of Hong Kong Medical Centre
Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam
Hong Kong SAR,China

Authors are requested to ensure that submissions adhere exactly to the stated instructions and format. Recent issues of the journal should be consulted for specific examples. Manuscripts that do not conform to the approved format will be returned without editorial review. Once a manuscript is accepted for publication, a disk containing the revised manuscript should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief.

Disclosure of conflicts of interest All authors are required to sign and submit the following financial disclosure statement at the time of manuscript submission:

I certify that all my affiliations with or financial involvement in, within the past 5 years and foreseeable future, any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript are completely disclosed (e.g. employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, royalties).

Authors who have no relevant financial interests should provide a statement indicating that they have no financial interests related to the material in the manuscript.

Manuscript preparation

Manuscripts should be typed double-spaced with 3-cm margins on A4 (210 x 297 mm) paper. Pages should be numbered consecutively with a short running title on the upper right-hand corner of each page. Spelling should comply with the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Abbreviations must be specifically defined before their use in the text. Other than sentences that begin with a numeral, all numbers except one to nine in texts and all in tables should be typed in Arabic form (10, 11, 12 etc.).

The paper should be divided into the following sections, each beginning on a new page.

Title page

The title page should contain: 1) the title of the article, which should be concise but informative; 2) a short running title of less than 40 characters (counting letters and spaces) placed at the foot of the title page and identified; 3) first name, middle initial, and last name of each author, with highest academic degree(s); 4) name of department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed; 5) disclaimers, if any; 6) name, e-mail, telephone, fax and address of author responsible for correspondence about the manuscript; 7) the source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, etc.

Abstract

The abstract should be less than 200 words in length. It should mention the purpose of the study, basic details, methodology, important findings and conclusions.

Text

Full papers should be written with separate headings for the Introduction, Patients and Methods, Results, and Discussion sections.

The Introduction should clearly state the purpose of and aims for the study. The Patients and Methods should specify the selection of the study groups, their pertinent features and the nature of the analyses performed. The International System of Units (SI) should be used or a conversion formula supplied. Appropriate statistical and biochemical methods must be described and properly referenced. The Results should present the important findings in an organized fashion. Material detailed in tables must not be duplicated in the text but may be summarized to emphasize significant observations. The Discussion should focus on the major findings and implications of the study. Details of data described in the Results section should not be repeated. Authors should focus on the goals of their study and current information and how it contributes to existing knowledge. All conclusions must be fully substantiated by the data presented. Hypotheses and impressions should be stated as such and only if supported by available facts. Patient groups and applicable conditions must be carefully defined whenever recommendations for treatment are made.

Ethical approval of studies and informed consent
For human or animal experimental investigations, appropriate institutional review board or ethics committee approval is required, and such approval should be stated in the methods section of the manuscript. For those investigators who do not have formal ethics review committees, the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki should be followed (World Medical Association.Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. Available at: http://www.wma.net/e/policy/pdf/17c.pdf ).

For investigations of human subjects, state explicitly in the methods section of the manuscript that informed consent was obtained from all participating adult subjects and from parents or legal guardians for minors or incapacitated adults, together with the manner in which informed consent was obtained (i.e. oral or written).

Identification of patients in descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees
A signed statement of informed consent to publish (in print and online) patient descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees should be obtained from all persons (parents or legal guardians for minors) who can be identified (including by the patients themselves) in such written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees, and should be Instructions to Authors submitted with the manuscript. Such persons should be shown the manuscript before its submission. Omitting data or making data less specific to deidentify patients is acceptable, but changing any such data is not acceptable.

Funding/support and conflicts of interest
All financial and material support for the research and the work should be clearly and completely identified in an Acknowledgements in the manuscript. Ensure that any conflicts of interest are explicitly declared.

Personal communications and unpublished data
A signed statement of permission should be included from each individual identified as a source of information in a personal communication or as a source for unpublished data; the date of communication and whether the communication was written or oral should be specified.

References

These should be cited sequentially in the order mentioned in the text (not alphabetically) by numbers in superscript. They should conform to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals, 1979, listing the authors (surname, initials), title of the article, name of the journal or book abbreviated according to Index Medicus, year, volume and first and last pages. Names of all authors should be listed.

Standard Journal Article

Hebever G, Teichmann RK. Recurrence after proximal gastric vagotomy for gastric, pyloric and prepyloric ulcers. World J Surg 1987;11:283?9.

Book Chapter

Ong GB. Carcinoma of the hypopharynx and cervical oesophagus. In: Smith R, ed. Progress in Clinical Surgery. London: J & A Churchill Ltd, 1969:155?78.

Tables

Tables should be numbered (in Arabic numerals) consecutively and typed double-spaced on separate pages with a brief descriptive title for each table. Photographic prints of tables are not acceptable. Short columns and row headings help to clarify material presented. Vertical and horizontal line divisions should not be used. Abbreviations must be defined as footnotes. Tables should only contain relevant information that is not repeated in the text. Redundant or overly simple tables should be deleted with the information incorporated into the text.

Legends

Legends for all illustrations should be listed in order and typed together beginning on a separate sheet. Identifying marks and abbreviations must be explained.

Illustrations

Four original sets of black-and-white glossy prints (12.7 x 17.3 cm in size preferred but not larger than 20.3 x 25.4 cm) of good reproducible quality are required.

Photocopies cannot be published and will not be accepted. Drawings must be of an acceptably high standard, and only letter-set printed material (not freehand or typewritten) should be employed. The figure number, first author?s name and top of the diagram should be clearly marked on the back of each print to avoid errors. The cost of all colour illustrations will be charged to the author.

Collective reviews

Collective reviews of contemporary topics of regional interest may be submitted. These should be less than 3,000 words and contain current, generally available references. Personal views not based on documented evidence are discouraged.

Case reports

Only short case reports of special interest will be considered. They should be less than 800 words in length and include a brief introduction and concise discussion describing the value of the report. A maximum of 10 references are permitted.

Reprints

Reprints can be ordered by returning the form which will accompany page proofs sent to authors.

Journal communications

All correspondence pertaining to the journal should be sent to:

Asian Journal of Surgery, c/o Department of Surgery
University of Hong Kong Medical Centre
Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam
Hong Kong SAR, China

Editorial communications should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief.

Business correspondence (regarding advertisements, etc.) should be sent to:

Prof. William Wei, Treasurer, Asian Surgical Association
c/o Department of Surgery
Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam
Hong Kong SAR, P.R. China.

Notices

Announcements of forthcoming regional conferences and meetings will be published free of charge. Please specify the title of the meeting, the dates and venue, organizers and correspondence or secretariat address. Notices should be sent to:

The Editor-in-Chief
Asian Journal of Surgery
c/o Department of Surgery
University of Hong Kong Medical Centre
Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam
Hong Kong SAR, China