Instructions to the authors

Submission of article material:

An electronic script should be submitted for initial review by a referee of the journal. For accepted articles, a script is returned with the correction recommendations made by the referee and the final acceptance is given only after making all of the corrections.

The subscriber should return the corrected article in the form of one final typed-script and as Word format file at least 4 weeks before the date of the coming issue (the journal is issued three times by year) else publication will be delayed to the following issue.

Publication fees are due with submission of the final copy. Authors should retain a further back-up copy of the script in case the submitted file is damaged during processing. The editors will make every effort to publish an accepted article, when submitted in time, in the first coming issue; however this might not be possible in all cases because of editing topic arrangements or expanded volume of publication material.

Format specifications of the typed-script and Word file:

Text should be written as Word document on A4 paper Format. Font style should be ‘Time new Roman in a regular 14pt size. Paragraph should be of ‘1.5 line spacing’ and as one column. No page borders or shadings for paragraphs or pages. All pages should be numbered. Tables and graphs are included in the text in place where they supposed to be and their format will be retained as submitted in most cases.

To ensure high quality printing, colour photos should be in JPEG format. Arrows or markings placed on photos should be imbedded to prevent displacement with re-sizing. Each photo should be named after the ‘figure number’ of this photo in the text. Places of tables and figures in the text are subject to alterations when necessary to conform to the journal format and page design.

Articles submitted with major differences from the fore mentioned specifications will be returned to the authors for re-formatting and publication date might be delayed. Articles with extensive language, spelling or grammar mistakes are liable to rejection.

Contents of an article:

Title: This should contain (1) a concise, informative title; (2) the names and initials of the authors, their qualifications (maximum two per author) (3) the department(s) and institution(s) they belong to and (4) the name and address of the author responsible for correspondence.

Abstract: Should contain a summary. Details of surgical techniques should not be included in the summary. At least three key words should be included at its end.

Tables and illustrations: They should be numbered in the order in which they are mentioned in the text, and each should have a short explanatory caption. Tables should show lines between columns and rows with no shadings and should be in a format that allows editing and not in a picture or pdf format.

Text: A short introduction, patients and methods, results and discussion are the usual sections. The aim of the study is mentioned at the end of the introduction. The department(s) and institution(s) where the work was carried out, the time period and the statistical methods should be mentioned in the patients and methods. The conclusion, in max. 2 short paragraphs, is written at the end of the discussion. Conflict of interest, if any, should be stated. Patients and methods including the surgical techniques as well as the results should be written in the past tense.

Measurements and abbreviations: Measurements should be given in the units in which they were made, but non-metric units must be accompanied by metric (SI) equivalents. Generic drug names should be used (proprietary/other names may follow in parentheses). If an abbreviation is used, the term for which it stands should be given in full at its first mention in the text. F) Acknowledgements: These should be limited to those who made substantial contributions to the study. Grant support may be mentioned.

References: The Vancouver numerical style is used, in which references are identified in the text by superior (superscript) Arabic numbers (after the punctuation mark and not in-between brackets), for example: The J-pouch was shown to be superior to straight coloanal anastomosis and to other pouches andcoloplasties.3,7-9 Under the heading of “References” at the end of the text, references should be numbered and listed consecutively in the order they are first cited in the text. They should include names and initials of all authors unless more than six (in this case the sixth author is followed by et al); the title of the paper; the journal title abbreviated according to the style found in the Index Medicus; the year of publication; the volume number (and issue/supplement number if appropriate) and the first and last page numbers in full. References to books should give the book title, the volume or edition number, if applicable; the publisher, the year of publication and relevant page numbers; those of multiple authorship should also include the chapter or article title, the first and last page numbers, and the name and initials of editors. References should be written exactly as the following examples including names of authors, letter characters, font style, spacing and punctuations:

  1. Mittal V, Salem M, Tyburski J, Brocato J, Lloyd L, Silva Y, et al: Residents’ working hours in a consortium-wide surgical education program. Am Surg. 2004; 70(2): 127-131.
  2. Kirk RM: Teaching the craft of operative surgery. Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 1996; 78(1 Suppl): 25-28.
  3. Clain A: Hamilton Baily’s demonstrations of physical signs in clinical surgery. Bristol: John Wright & Sons LTD and the English Language Book Society (Publishers). 16th edn. 1980.
  4. Shelton AA, Schrock TR, Welton ML: Small intestine. In: Current surgical diagnosis and treatment. Way LW, Doherty GM, (Editors); USA: Lange Medical Books/Mc Graw-Hill (Publishers); 11 th edn. 2003: 674-704.