Editors in Chief

Andrew L. Warshaw, M.D.
W. Gerald Austen Distinguished Professor Surgery
Harvard Medical School
Surgeon-in-Chief Emeritus
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA 02114 USA

Michael G. Sarr, M.D.
Department of Surgery
Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation
Rochester, MN 55902 USA



Managing Editor
Jamie Wielgus
20 North Street-Unit 1
Plymouth, MA 02360
Tel: 508-732-6767
Fax: 508-732-6766
e-mail: surgery@stellarmed.com

Information for Authors

All manuscripts should be submitted online at http://ees.elsevier.com/surg/. Please note: Submitted manuscripts may be screened by one of several electronic programs for overlap in content or writing with published articles.

The policies and procedures for SURGERY generally follow those of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, as published in the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication" (updated October 2008; www.jcmjc.org).

Manuscripts are considered for publication if and only if the article and its key features (1) are not under consideration elsewhere, (2) have not been published, and (3) will not appear in print or online prior to appearing in SURGERY. This restriction does not apply to abstracts or posters published in connection with scientific meetings; in addition, press reports arising from a conference will not be considered prior publication, provided that authors who discuss their conference presentation or poster with reporters are careful not to offer more detail about their work than was contained in the oral or poster presentation.

Submission of a manuscript is understood to indicate that the authors have complied with all policies as delineated in this document. Individuals who violate these policies are subject to editorial action including but not limited to (1) disclosure of violations to employers, funding agencies, or other journal offices and/or (2) publication of a retraction, correction, editorial expression of concern, or editorial.

When a manuscript is received by SURGERY that has at least on author who is also one of the Editors-in-Chief of the Journal, or is from one of the Editors-in-Chief's institutions, that Editor will recuse himself from any editorial responsibilities for the manuscript. In addition, individuals who have potential conflicts of interest with any manuscript sent to them for review are asked to recuse themselves from serving as peer reviewers.

The Journal invites concise, original articles of new matter in the broad field of clinical and experimental surgery as well as surgical organization, and history. We are especially interested in articles on surgical education. Emphasis for acceptance includes conciseness and clarity of presentation as well as appropriateness of English usage.

All authors must observe most strictly the rules against dual publication.

Original Communications. These manuscripts should represent original research, either clinical or basic science. Consideration for publication is based on originality, scientific content, and appropriate analysis. Emphasis should be placed on novel and new information.

Brief Clinical Reports, Case Reports, and Images in Surgery. Manuscripts for these sections should be limited strictly to no more than four double-spaced manuscript pages with up to five references. The articles could include one or two pertinent illustrations but no abstract. Follow the guidelines for original communications. Please note, SURGERY rarely publishes case reports and the ones published should be either of timely relevance or of significant educational value. The Journal is very selective in choosing a case report for publication.

Editorials. Editorials should be concise and brief (not to exceed 1000 words, except under unusual circumstances) and should express the personal opinion of the author. An editorial should contain a minimum of references, if any. Editorial material to be considered by the Editors may include not only timely subjects of clinical interest, but also material of general interest to the surgical community, including topics of social significance. Follow the guidelines for original communications. Most editorials are "invited" or "solicited" by the Editors; i.e., the Editors have asked a specific person to write an editorial. Unsolicited editorials will be considered, but will be screened highly by the Editors.

Letters to the Editors. The Editors invite comments in the form of letters that express differences of opinion or supporting views of previously published editorials or recently published papers in SURGERY. Each letter must not exceed 500 words, should be typed with double spacing, and must include complete references. The editorial board reserves the rights to accept, reject, or excerpt letters without changing the views expressed by the writer. No anonymous correspondence will be published; therefore each author should include his or her complete address.

Clinical Reviews: SURGERY does not often publish simple review papers based solely on a literature review. On occasion, the Editors will solicit a clinical review on a specific topic. Exceptions include formal true systematic reviews (not just review articles) which are well-executed and either relevant or timely; however, these will be reviewed critically.

Societal Papers. Manuscripts submitted as part of the annual meetings of the Society of University Surgeons (SUS), Central Surgical Association (CSA), or American Association of Endocrine Surgeons (AAES) have other, somewhat different guidelines because of space limitations. Societal manuscripts should have an abstract of no more than 200 words, no more than 10 double-spaced text pages, no more than 25 references, and no more than a total of 10 tables and figures combined. The option does exist for additional tables, figures, or text when deemed necessary and appropriate by the Editors, to be included in the electronically published version that, however, would not appear in the printed version. Such additional material must be designated clearly as "For the online version of the article, not to be included in the print version."

Hypothesis Section. This section hopes to challenge "established" concepts and postulate novel ways of thinking about problems in the hopes of changing surgical tradition when appropriate. We will review and critique these submissions carefully. We anticipate few acceptances and irregular appearance, if and only when a good idea surfaces. Working with Alden Harken, who will serve as the managing editor of this section, we have established the following criteria for submission. Please note: all submitted manuscripts in this Hypothesis section must follow the outline described; those manuscripts that do not follow this outline will be returned. (1) The Hypothesis (typically also the title of the manuscript) must lead off the introduction of the manuscript and will be typed IN BOLD, and (2) the idea should be presented succinctly, with the upper limit of 10 double-spaced typed pages with no more than 12 references.

Reprints. Individual reprints of an article may be obtained directly from the author. Surgery does not publish book reviews.

Book reviews. Books shall be reviewed only at the discretion of the Editors.

Review: Usually at least three (and often more) referees are asked to review each article. Acceptance for publication is based on originality, significance, and scientific merit; these manuscripts should further the knowledge and practice of surgery. Revisions may be made to add clarity and understanding without altering the meaning and to follow an overall editorial approach by SURGERY.

Manuscripts describing research involving human subjects must document both IRB approval/exemption and that informed consent was obtained from patients who served as subjects of the investigation. A statement about HIPAA compliance is also necessary for human studies from the United States and other countries in which the protection of patient information by obtaining patient consent is required by law. In the event that either the Editors or referees question the propriety of the human investigation with respect to the risk to the subjects or to the means of obtaining informed consent, SURGERY may request more detailed information about the safeguards employed and the procedures used to obtain consent. Minutes of the local human experimentation committees that reviewed and approved the research may also be requested.

Online manuscript submission. All manuscripts should be submitted online. Please go to http://ees.elsevier.com/surg/ and, register, log in, and follow the instructions. When uploading your manuscript on the site, please be aware of the following:
• MS Word is the preferred word-processing program. Please do not upload anything as a PDF file; the system will build a PDF for you.
• All text elements (title page, abstract, main text, references, appendices, figure legends, and tables) should be in a single file.

Bullet item-Number pages consecutively and double-space text.

• Each figure file should be created at the proper resolution (see guidelines below) and uploaded as a separate file (TIFF or EPS are the preferred formats).
• The comments section should include the names, affiliations, and email addresses of three potential reviewers. The Editors will make every effort to have one or more of these suggested reviewers serve as a formal reviewer of your manuscript.

The following format must be used for all submitted manuscripts:

-- The cover letter should provide (1) the category of manuscript (i.e., original report, brief clinical report, etc); (2) statement that the material has not been previously published or submitted elsewhere for publication and will not be sent to another journal until a decision is made concerning publication by SURGERY; (3) information about any personal conflicts of interest of any of the authors; and (4) names of sources of outside support for research, including funding, equipment, and drugs. The cover letter should be submitted as a separate file. Any financial support whatsoever from industry must be acknowledged as a financial disclosure of all the authors in the cover letter and on the title page of the manuscript. For instance, if a study is funded partially or totally by Industry, this needs to be stated clearly followed by a statement disclosing whether or not each author has any financial interest in the company (etc) funding the study. It will be the Editors' discretion whether or not this represents too much of a conflict of interest to warrant publication.

-- The title page should include the full name and highest achieved degree of each author, the institution from which the work originated, sources of financial support, and the exact and complete address, business and home telephone numbers, e-mail address, and fax number of the one author who will be responsible for correspondence, galley proofs, and reprint requests.

-- A structured abstract of no more than 250 words must accompany the manuscript and consist of four paragraphs, each with its introductory label: Background (stating the purpose of the study), Methods, Results, and Conclusions. This abstract should be numbered page two of the manuscript. Abstracts are only necessary for Original Communications and Societal papers.

-- Standard abbreviations should be used consistently throughout the manuscript. The use of unusual abbreviations is discouraged but, if necessary, the term should be spelled out in full the first time it appears, followed immediately by the abbreviation in parentheses. The abbreviation only should be used from that point on. A separate page of all abbreviations used is suggested to aid the manuscript reviewers. For currently accepted usage, consult the Manual of Style of the American Medical Association; Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers; and the Chicago Manual of Style by The University of Chicago Press.

-- Illustrations should be submitted electronically. When submitting the illustrations electronically, please use either an EPS or TIFF file format. Graphics software such as Photoshop and Illustrator should be used to create art. Figures submitted using presentation software such as PowerPoint, CorelDraw, or Harvard Graphics are not acceptable. Color images need to be saved as CMYK, at least 300 dots per inch (dpi). Grayscale images should be at least 300 dpi. Line art (black and white or color) and combinations of grayscale and line art should be at least 300 dpi. Make sure that the figure number is marked clearly on the figure or part of the electronic file name (i.e., Figure1.tif). Please note that once you create digital art at low resolution, you cannot adjust it. You must create your art at the proper resolution (300 dpi) to begin with. For step-by-step instruction and screenshots on how to create your art correctly the first time, go to Elsevier's Author Gateway ( http://www.elsevier.com/artwork ) and click on "Artwork Instructions."

Figures must be cited in the text and numbered in order of first mention. A reasonable number of black-and-white illustrations will be produced free of charge; however, please note that special arrangements must be made with the Editors and publisher for color plates or extra illustrations. The cost of color illustrations is usually borne by the authors. Please note that the figures in the online version of the Journal will be reproduced in color, free of charge.

-- Legends must be provided for all illustrations. The legend should not appear anywhere on the figure. If a figure has been previously published, the legend must give full credit to the original source. Permission from the copyright holder for reproduction in your article must be submitted with your manuscript.

-- Tables should be numbered in the order in which they are mentioned in the text, and given a brief, descriptive title. Omit all horizontal or vertical rules from the body of the table. Glossy prints and reduced versions of typewritten tables are unacceptable. All acronyms, abbreviations, and unusual units of measurement used in the title, headings, or body of the table should be fully explained in a footnote. For footnotes, use these symbols in sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, #, **,††, superscript lowercase letters. If a table or any data therein have been previously published, a footnote to the table must give full credit to the original source.

-- Additional material only for electronic version: Under exceptional or special circumstances, SURGERY will allow publication of additional tables, figures, or text (e.g. methodology, explanations of analysis, etc) in the electronic version of the published manuscript only. This material will not be included in the print version, but a reference to it being available online will be present in the print version. The Editors would like to emphasize that such additional material will have to meet strict criteria to be included in the electronic version; such material may be used to complement the data in the printed version. If deemed by the authors or editors as crucial to the interpretation of the manuscript, this material should be included as part of the printed version of the manuscript. Please mark clearly in the submitted manuscript that this is additional information to be published electronically. The electronic version should not be used as a repository for redundant or unnecessary data.

-- Video Clips for electronic version. We will accept relevant video clips with accepted manuscripts for viewing in our online version of the Journal. For more information on the specific file requirements, please go to Author's Gateway for Elsevier's Artwork Instructions: http://www.elsevier.com/artwork . Once there, click on "Movies/animations" under "Multimedia files" from the menu on the left-hand side.

-- Only references cited in the text should be included in the reference list; cite references in the text by superscript numbers. The reference list must be numbered according to the order of mention of references in the text. The list format should conform to that set forth in "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" (Vancouver style) ( http://www.icmje.org ). Do not cite as a reference any work that has not been published or accepted for publication. Manuscripts in preparation or submitted (but not yet accepted for publication) are not acceptable as a reference nor are oral presentations. Manuscripts fully accepted for publication but not yet published should be cited as "in press." Note that journal abbreviations must follow the style used in the Cumulated Index Medicus. For periodical references, give the surnames of authors and their initials, title of article, publication name, year, volume, and inclusive page numbers. For books, give the surnames of authors and their initials, chapter title (if applicable), editors' surnames and initials, book title, volume number (if applicable), edition number (if applicable), city of publisher, full name of publisher, year of publication, and inclusive page numbers of citation.

Examples (if six or fewer authors, list all; if seven or more, list first six and add "et al."):

For journals:
Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B. Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Ann Intern Med 1996;124:980-3.

For books:
Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996.

For chapters:
Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: patho-physiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. p 465-78.

-- Copyright ownership is to be transferred by the following statement, which must accompany all manuscripts and be signed by all authors. "The undersigned author(s) transfer all copyright ownership of the manuscript [title of article] to Elsevier Inc., in the event the work is published. The undersigned warrant(s) that the article is original, does not infringe upon any copyright or other proprietary right of any third party, is not under consideration by another journal, and has not been published previously." Authors will be consulted, when possible, regarding republication of their material.

-- Direct quotations, tables, or illustrations that have appeared in copyrighted material must be accompanied by written permission for their use from the copyright owner and original author along with complete information as to source. Photographs of identifiable persons must be accompanied by signed releases showing informed consent. Articles appear in both the printed and online versions of the journal, and wording of the release should specify permission in all forms and media. Failure to get electronic permission rights may result in the images not appearing in the online version.



Disclosure of Financial Interests and Potential Conflicts of Interest. SURGERY requires all authors to provide full disclosure of any and all biomedical financial interests. Further, we require all authors on all types of articles (including letters) to specify the nature of potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise. This disclosure includes direct or indirect financial or personal relationships, interests, and affiliations relevant to the subject matter of the manuscript that have occurred over the last two years, or that are expected in the foreseeable future. This disclosure includes, but is not limited to, grants or funding, employment, affiliations, patents (in preparation, filed, or granted), inventions, honoraria, consultancies, royalties, stock options/ownership, or expert testimony. This policy of full disclosure is similar to the policies of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and other such organizations. The conflict of interest statements should be included in the Financial Disclosures section of the manuscript at the time of submission for all article types. If an author has no conflicts of interest to declare, this must be explicitly stated. Authors should contact the Editorial Office with questions or concerns, but should err on the side of inclusion when in doubt. The following is a sample text:

Dr. Einstein reports having received lecture fees from EMC Laboratories, and research funding from Quantum Enterprises. Dr. Curie disclosed consulting fees from RA Inc. Dr. Newton reported his patent on "Newtonian physics". Dr. Archimedes reported no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.

The submitting author will be required to indicate that this information has been fully included in the manuscript at the time of submission. In addition, all authors are required to acknowledge that the conflict of interest disclosures are complete for both themselves and their co-authors, to the best of their knowledge, when completing the Manuscript Submission Form. Manuscripts that fail to include the complete statements of all authors upon submission will be returned to the corresponding author and will delay the processing and evaluation of the manuscript.

Updated December 2011