| |
1. The Submission Process
2. Formatting the Manuscript
3. Instructions for formatting references
4. Method
of literature search
5.
Author's disclosure form
6. Editorial: Retaining the Past
1.
THE SUBMISSION PROCESS
Survey of Ophthalmology is a teaching and review journal. It does not
publish original research or case reports, although a limited amount of original material can sometimes be integrated into a review article.
Articles should not duplicate material already available in textbooks or other reviews. Articles should be submitted only by individuals
with experience and expertise in the topic that they are reviewing. The type of in-depth, critical reviews that characterize Survey
simply require such experience. At least one author should have an academic affiliation.
Step 1: Submitting an Outline
Before preparing a manuscript, the author should submit a detailed outline of the proposed article to the Editor-in-Chief to assure
that the material is appropriate and that no similar article is in preparation. The outline should include a preliminary reference list.
The outline should be submitted to the journal's Editor-in-Chief: John Gittinger Jr, MD, Stellar Medical Publications, 20 North Street-
Unit 1, Plymouth, MA 02360 (jgittinger@stellarmed.com). Outlines are sent to referees; please allow 4 to 6 weeks for a
response.
Step 2: Submitting a Manuscript
Once the outline is approved, the manuscript can be submitted to the journal.
Manuscripts should be submitted electronically via the EES platform. The website is  http://ees.elsevier.com/survoph/default.asp
and there are step by step instructions for submitting.
a. Exclusivity Requirements
Manuscripts are considered with
the understanding that they are being submitted only to this journal. If any portion of the text, figures or tables has been published
or is being considered for publication elsewhere, the author must submit copies of the other manuscripts to the Editor-in-Chief.
b. Conflict of Interest Policy
Authors are required to disclose commercial or similar relationships to products or companies
mentioned in or related to the subject matter of the article being submitted. Sources of funding for the article should be acknowledged
in a footnote on the title page. Affiliations of authors should include corporate appointments relating to or in connection with products
or companies mentioned in the article, or otherwise bearing on the subject matter thereof. Other pertinent financial relationships,
such as consultancies, stock ownership or other equity interests or patent-licensing arrangements, should be disclosed to the Editor-in-Chief
in the cover letter at the time of submission. Such relationships may be disclosed in the Journal at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.
Questions about this policy should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief.
c. The Peer Review Process
The Editor-in-Chief
will conduct a preliminary evaluation of all submitted manuscripts. If the paper is deemed to be appropriate for the journal, it will
be assigned to the correct section editor and sent for peer review. The manuscript will undergo peer review in accordance with the journal's
policies, and once the review is complete, the author will receive a summary of the reviewers' comments with a request for revision or
a final decision.
After the author has appropriately addressed the comments of the reviewers, the editor-in-chief may provide additional
editorial suggestions that will attempt to bring the paper in line with Survey's editorial style.
2. FORMATTING THE MANUSCRIPT
Survey's objective is to publish critically integrated, literature-based
reviews that are readable. The primary responsibility for the text is the author's. Authors whose native language is not English may
need to enlist the assistance of English language medical editors before submitting their manuscripts.
Manuscripts must contain
the following: a title page, a narrative abstract, key words, organized text, a conclusion, formatted references, a literature review
statement, and tables and figures (if appropriate).
Title Page
Title page should include title, authors' names, highest
degrees and institutional affiliations, and address for mailing proofs.
Abstract
The paper should contain a 100-200 word
narrative abstract.
Key words
The paper should contain 5-10 key words.
Organized Text
The text should
contain concise internal headings in outline format (I, A, 1, a, etc.). Tables and figures should be cited by number Please avoid abbreviations.
While a few well known abbreviations are acceptable, most are not. When abbreviations are used, they should be spelled out at first
mention, and used at least three times in the text.
Conclusion
The manuscript should include a concluding paragraph
that focuses on the unresolved issues of the current knowledge and suggests potential areas of future study.
Literature Search
Methods of literature search and criteria for including/ excluding articles must be stated in the manuscript. Searches must be comprehensive
and international.
References
References must be arranged alphabetically, by author(s) last name(s) first, then chronologically,
starting with the latest publication year, and cited by superior numbers in the text. Every reference listed in the reference section
MUST be cited in the text. Only peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters should be listed in the reference section of your review.
References must be to primary publications, not to citations of the articles in other publications.
Please use the Vancouver
format when formatting your references. "In press" articles may be included; the journal must be specified. Use Index Medicus
style of abbreviation, and punctuation. Some typical examples follow; note the absence of periods after initials and abbreviations.
When there are 4 or more authors, name the first three, and use "et al" to indicate additional authors.
Journal Articles
Standard format:
1. Drummond PD. Triggers of motion sickness in migraine sufferers. Headache. 2005;45(6):653-6
2. Halpern
SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347(7):284-7
Volume with supplement
1. Geraud G, Spierings EL, Keywood C. Tolerability and safety of frovatriptan with short- and long-term use for treatment of migraine
and in comparison with sumatriptan. Headache. 2002;42 Suppl 2:S93-9
Issue with supplement
1. Glauser TA. Integrating clinical
trial data into clinical practice. Neurology. 2002;58(12 Suppl 7):S6-12
Book Chapters
1. Stevens JT. A transcendentalist's view
of optics, in Smith JD (ed). Ophthalmology and the Universe, Vol. 6, Part 3. Boston, Bayside Press, 2001, ed 2, pp 230-245
Other
Cited Material
References to websites, abstracts, and meeting presentations, and other similar sources should be listed in a
separate section below the references entitled "Other Cited Material." This information should be arranged in the order in which it
appears in the text and it should be cited with use of superscript capital letters. For instance the first citation should be "A"
and the next "B"
Figures
Figures must be submitted electronically in either TIFF or JPEG format, and
they must be submitted as separate files and not embedded in the WORD document file. Legends or titles should be supplied for all figures.
Magnification and stain should be specified. Legends for previously published figures must acknowledge original source (author's and
publisher's written permission to reprint must be enclosed).
Color figures: The cost for color printing is the responsibility
of the author. The charge is $325 the first color figure on a page, and $125 for each additional color figure on the same
page.
Tables
Tables must be submitted as separate files and not embedded in the WORD document file. Tables should be
used to organize key information in the manuscript. Tables should be used to make the presentation more concise and not used to duplicate
what is already contained in the text.
Permission Requirements
The author must submit written permission of the author and
publisher to publish:
a) Previously published figures and tables, even if they have been redrawn. Material "adapted from" other
articles must be accompanied by the original material, so that the Editor-in-Chief can determine whether permission to reprint is required.
b) Previously published text of more than 100 words.
c) Personal communications and acknowledgments: Written permission of
the communicator or acknowledgee is required.
d) Recognizable patient photographs: Written permission of the patient or his/her
parent or guardian is required.
3. INSTRUCTIONS FOR FORMATTING REFERENCES
Ordering and Numbering the References
Arrange the references alphabetically. Do NOT use the autonumbering
function that is probably available in your word processing processor. Type reference numbers manually so our reference checking
program will recognize them as part of the text that is being searched. If you autonumber, the whole reference section will have to be
manually renumbered before we can check references.
Formatting the Journal Article Reference
Here
is a sample of a typical journal article reference that our program would have no trouble reading.
2. Halpern SD, Ubel PA,
Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347(7):284-7
Please note:
a. The
reference number is followed by a period.
b. There is no comma between last name and initial of authors.
c. Authors are separated
by commas (not semi-colons).
d. There is no "and" before the last author.
e. There is a period after the last author.
f.
There is a period after the article title.
g. There is a period between the journal abbreviation and the year of publication.
h.
There is a semicolon between the year of publication and the volume number.
i. The issue number (if there is one) appears directly
after the volume number and it appears within parentheses.
j. There is a colon between the volume (issue) number and the page numbers
k. Page numbers do not repeat nonchanged numerals in the concluding page number (i.e., 182-3 or 182-93 or 182-203).
j. There
is no period at the end of the reference.
k. Article titles begin with a capital letter, but subsequent words are lower case. Do
not use ALL- CAPS, ital, boldface, etc., unless these are used in the cited reference (ERG, ELIZA test may be capitalized; genus-species
names may use caps and italics (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus). Each word in the journal name begins with a capital letter (Invest
Ophthalmol Vis Sci).
Abbreviating Journal Names
Abbreviate journal titles in MEDLINE style as nearly
as possible, although minor errors will be picked up by the program. E.g., "Surv Ophthalmol" NOT "Surv Oph". The program will recognize
the completely spelled out title of the journal, so if you don't know the correct abbreviation (as is often the case especially with
foreign journals) it is better to spell it out.
Citing References in the Text
Cite the references in
the text by superscript numbers (NOT by numbers in parentheses, author name, etc.)
Referencing Chapters in Books
We will gradually build our own database of chapters and books. Below is a sample of correct formatting of such a reference.
Smith J, Brown M, Connor JG. Management of chemical burns of the cornea, in Tucker S, Aron D. Ocular surface disorders. Boston, MA,
Stellar Medical Publications, 1999, ed 2, pp 24-32
4. METHOD OF LITERATURE SEARCH
The Literature Search Statement
In accordance with editorial policy, please prepare a section at the end of the review
entitled, "Method of Literature Search." This paragraph should state the databases and search words used, years covered, and additional
sources (e.g., articles cited in the reference lists of other articles), and should indicate criteria for inclusion or exclusion of articles
from this review. It should also indicate how the foreign literature was treated. Were non-English articles translated, or were English
abstracts used? Were some languages included and others omitted? Although not all SURVEY articles require extensive literature coverage,
it is important to indicate how the articles that are referenced were selected.
Guidelines for Literature Searching
1)
The methods of literature search should be clearly formulated and should specify how search words were combined. E.g., "laser" is not
a useful search term, but "'laser injury' and 'eye'" or "'laser' and 'posterior capsular opacification'" would be useful search terms.
2) MEDLINE is usually the main resource for locating relevant articles. However, authors should be aware there are many peer-reviewed
medical journals worldwide that are not included in MEDLINE. We encourage authors to utilize additional sources, e.g., EMBASE, ISI,
etc., if they are available. Authors should also obtain additional references that are cited in the articles they read. It is especially
important that all articles reporting results of clinical trials are included.
3) Authors should make every effort to include the
non-English language literature. They should obtain translations of important articles. The published English abstracts may provide
adequate information in some cases. If abstracts are used, this limitation should be acknowledged in the statement of "Methods of Literature
Search." If articles in some languages are excluded, this should be acknowledged.
4) The authors should attempt to establish
objective criteria for including/excluding retrieved articles. As examples, they might wish to state:
"We included case reports
only if they contributed new information about characteristics, diagnosis or
treatment of the disease."
"We included reports
of orbital cellulitis only if the condition was secondary to a surgical procedure."
"We included articles related to techniques
in widespread clinical use and excluded those related to
techniques that are considered experimental."
"We excluded studies
with follow-up of less than 18 months."
"A few select articles published before 1990 are included for historical purposes, but the
review is based mainly on articles published in the past decade."
5) Articles that meet the criteria for inclusion should be included.
If the authors of the review feel that the study has important shortcomings, the study should still be cited and the shortcomings stated.
EDITORIAL
Retaining the Past
We are living in an age of an
accelerating information explosion. In MEDLINE alone, there will be about 500,000 citations added to the database in 2004. In ophthalmology
and visual sciences we have seen an increase in the number of articles published in many of our standard journals, and a review of the
number of pages published per year from 1993 to 2003 indicates an increase as much a 50% per journal.
The question now arises as
to what is an author's responsibility for reviewing the literature when preparing an article for publication. Survey of Ophthalmology
has for a number of years required its authors to state how they reviewed the literature, including what databases were searched, what
key words were used, and what languages were reviewed. The statement of literature search is published at the end of each article.
When conducting a search of the literature, most authors rely only on the MEDLINE database, which goes back to 1996. However, prior
to 1966 much significant research was published, and it is available in such abstract journals as Excerpta Medica/EMBASE (1947
to present), Ophthalmic Literature (1947-1998), Zentralblatt fur die Geseamte Ophtalmologe und ihre Grenzebiete (1914-1981),
and Zentralblatt fur Praktische Augenheilkunde (1877-1919). In addition, the Index Catalog of the Library of the Surgeon General
(1880-1961) and the cumulative Index Medicus (1879-1956) are excellent sources of previously published literature. Furthermore,
MEDLINE has now embarked on citing the literature in its database going back to 1950; this database is called OLDMEDLINE.
It is
apparent that any editor or reviewer, let alone an author, will have great difficulty in keeping track of not only the current literature
in relation to their subject but also the past literature. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the individual to undertake a comprehensive
and adequate review of the literature, not only when preparing a review article but also when preparing a research article or research
grant. It would be pertinent for authors to state in the methods section of their articles and grants how they reviewed the literature.
This statement should specifically indicate the rationale for including and excluding articles. For some articles that describe studies
done on a new drug or new procedure, a limited review of the literature will probably be adequate, but this limited review may not apply
for descriptions of diseases, concepts of disease, or the pathophysiology of the disease.
Considering the tremendous effort that
is made in pursuing research as well as preparing it for publication, it is only appropriate for that process to include reviewing what
has been done in the past. Survey of Ophthalmology will continue to emphasize the importance of an adequate review of the literature,
and it will encourage the use of MEDLINE as well as additional sources for this purpose.
Bernard Schwartz, MD, PhD
Founding Editor
• Author
information package
Updated March 2009
|
| |
|
