Author Instructions

 

 

The International Journal of Spine Surgery (IJSS) complies with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE; http://www.icmje.org). Potential authors should pay close attention to the requirements concerning human rights and disclosure of financial and other conflicts of interest.

All manuscript pages, blinded and unblinded, should be provided as Microsoft Word files or rich text files. Total manuscript submission file size must be no more than 20 MB. Manuscripts should use 12-point Times New Roman font. Text should be double spaced with 1-inch margins. Any manuscript that is unblinded or uses alphabetically listed references will be promptly returned. Your manuscript should not have line numbering enabled; the IJSS tracking system will automatically add line numbers during the submission process.

IJSS MANUSCRIPT SECTIONS

The IJSS primarily publishes original research and systematic reviews and meta-analyses. 

A new section titled "Novel Techniques & Technology," will be launching June 2023. This section will consist of articles that highlight innovations in spine surgery that do not yet meet the scientific rigor or experience to be accepted as regular research articles. These submissions may be early-phase investigations, case series, and other technical pearls. Manuscripts should be less than 2500 words and should include a structured abstract and no more than 25 references.

The IJSS is also launching a new video section in summer/fall 2023. Submissions for this new section consist of a video (no longer than 5 minutes) accompanied by 1 to 2 paragraphs describing the video and learning objectives. Authors should note any unique features of the techniques or distinct characteristics of the patient in the text. If a patient is identifiable in the video, the authors must also provide proof of patient consent.

Case reports are also considered for publication. However, the IJSS limits the publication of case reports to those that are highly unusual and/or deemed to be of high value for IJSS readership. Authors of case reports must clearly articulate why the case is important and must structure their manuscript according to the CARE guidelines. Case reports are of a lower publication priority and will be published when space allows.

For all IJSS submissions, authors must include a blinded title page with the authors' full names, degrees, and affiliations along with financial and other conflict statements. 

Authors are advised to review the Journal's Criteria for Publication.

OPEN ACCESS AND AUTHOR FEES

The IJSS remains committed to the open access publishing model, as we believe it increases the accessibility of articles and promotes learning and further innovations to improve patient outcomes. Although in the past we have not charged authors for publication, to optimize the economic foundation of the IJSS, the ISASS Board has approved a change to the IJSS model. Beginning October 15, 2021, any newly submitted manuscript that is accepted for publication will be subject to a publication fee, commonly referred to as an article processing charge (APC). Manuscripts submitted prior to this date but not accepted before October 15, 2022, will also be subject to an APC. Members of ISASS will receive a reduced rate, as follows:

Authors will be expected to pay the APC once the manuscript has been accepted. Solicited content and letters to the editor will be exempt from the APC. In addition, the IJSS has a limited number of APC waivers for authors from low and lower middle income countries. To have your research considered for the waiver, please check the waiver box in the tracking system as you submit your manuscript. Decisions regarding waivers will be made at the time of manuscript acceptance.

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Each author must complete and submit a copy of the conflict of interest form from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which can be downloaded at https://www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/​. Any affiliations with or involvement (either competitive or amiable) in any organization or entity with a direct financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript must be noted. Possible conflicts of interest include financial, consultant, institutional, and other relationships that could lead to or be interpreted as potentially leading to bias. If there is no conflict of interest, this must be explicitly stated.  

In addition, authors should include a summary statement on the title page. An example follows:

[Author 1] discloses that he is on the speakers' bureau for [company1] and [company2] and receives royalties from [company3]. [Author 2 and Author 3] have nothing to disclose. [Author 4] discloses that he has received honoraria from [company2].

TITLE PAGE

List the title of the manuscript and the authors' full names and degrees in the order in which they should appear. Provide affiliations and a complete mailing address for each author. Clearly designate the corresponding author and provide his or her mailing address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address. 

As stated previously, authors must also include a list of conflicts of interest and financial dislosures relevant to the manuscript topic. Instiutional Review Board (IRB), Research Ethics Committee, or local equivalent approval must also be stated on the title page.

ABSTRACT COMPONENTS

A structured abstract of 300 words or less is required. The abstract for original research should contain the following subheads:

  • Background (with clear statement of primary research question)
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Clinical relevance (when applicable)
  • Conclusions / Level of Evidence

The abstract for systematic reviews and meta-analyses should follow the PRISMA 2020 abstract guidelines. 

At least 3 key words should be included following the abstract so visitors can easily locate articles by topic. If the abstract is not formatted correctly, the article will be returned to the author for the necessary revisions.

MANUSCRIPT COMPONENTS

The primary manuscript must be blinded (acknowledgements and conflicts of interest that name the authors or their institution must be included in the Unblinded Title Page). A complete research manuscript must include the following sections with each section clearly labeled by the following section headers:

Introduction 

State the problem that led to the study, including a concise review of the literature. State the purpose of the study and the hypothesis.

Methods

Describe the study design (prospective, retrospective, controlled, single-blinded), inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the study population (demographics and length of follow-up). 

NOTE: If the authors have a direct conflict of interest regarding the manuscript (that is, Author A is an employee of Device Company B whose technology is examined in the paper), please confirm that there is a blinded conflict of interest statement on the Blinded Manuscript file (this statement would read, "All authors are employees of a company involved in the manufacture of a device examined in this study," "Author 1 receives royalties from a company involved in the manufacture of a device examined in this study," etc.).

Statistical Methods

Discuss the statistical framework of the study that supports your hypothesis and conclusions. Statistical data should include n and p values.

Results

Include findings of the study as exemplified by the statistical results. Relevant tables, charts, and graphs should be explained.

Discussion

Provide an overview of the study. Compare and contrast results with relevant published literature. Discuss inconsistencies in data or results, unexpected findings, and limitations of the study.

Conclusion

Highlight the main takeaway from the study and identify areas for further research.

NOTE: For systematic reviews and meta-analyses, submissions must follow the PRISMA guidelines. 

ILLUSTRATIONS

High-resolution electronic pictures, illustrations, charts, and graphs should be submitted as separate files in TIFF or EPS format.

Electronic image files may be embedded into a Microsoft Word or PDF document TO SHOW PLACEMENT ONLY. The files should be uploaded separately from the manuscript. Electronic image files must have a resolution of 300 dots-per-inch (dpi). Please be conscious of file size--total manuscript submission size should be no more than 20 MB

PDFs, Microsoft Excel, and PowerPoint files are not acceptable submission formats.

REFERENCE GUIDELINES

All references must be properly cited according to the AMA Style standards. If claims are not supported by clinical study results and/or the standard cross-referencing of other publications, the manuscript will not be eligible for submission.

The IJSS also requires that:​

  • References are numbered sequentially. If references are not numbered sequentially, your paper will be returned to you for correction.
  • Citations should be superscripted rather than in brackets. If you are using a Reference Manager (Mendeley, Colwiz, and Zotero are free alternatives to EndNote and other reference managers), your references will be automatically formatted if you've selected AMA style or one based on AMA style.

AMA style example for references is as follows:

Introduction

AMA style1 has references cited and numbered in the order in which they appear in the article,2 rather than having a list of references in alphabetical order...

References

1. Lastname AB. Article title. Journal. Year;Vol(Issue):Pages. DOI.

2. Firstauthor CD, Secondauthor EF. Article title. Journal. Year;Vol(Issue):Pages. DOI.

COPYRIGHT TRANSFER

Authors are required to transfer copyright to the IJSS before publication. However, the IJSS follows the Creative Commons Licensing Agreement CC BY-NC-ND. This license allows authors, researchers, members of the public, and other non-commercial entities to freely use our content. As outlined in the CC BY-NC-ND agreement, users are not allowed to alter IJSS content and must provide appropriate attribution to the IJSS. See also "Reprints & Permissions" for more information about IJSS copyright and licensing. 

Copyright forms are handled by the production department of the publisher once the manuscript is accepted and scheduled for publication. The form must reference the assigned IJSS manuscript number and the corresponding author. It must be submitted electronically in PDF or image format.

OPTIONAL ITEMS

Authors may submit additional materials with each manuscript, including:

  • Cover letter. Authors requesting rapid review must submit a letter addressed to Charles Branch, MD, IJSS Editor-in-Chief, outlining the reasons the submitted manuscript warrants rapid review. 
  • Figures and/or tables: figures must be submitted electronically. Each figure and/or table must be labeled separately and attached as a separate file.
  • Acknowledgements (these typically unblind the paper; please see our notes on blinding above)

EDITING AND PUBLICATION

All manuscripts are edited for clarity and consistency with AMA style. Any necessary minor changes will be addressed during copyediting, and authors will be provided an opportunity to review their manuscripts after they are copyedited and prior to pagination. Author corrections can be made to the copyedited manuscript at no cost; however, ISASS is charged for corrections made to page proofs. Edits made during the page proofs stage are subject to approval by the IJSS managing editor. 

Additionally, submissions that require substantial changes will be returned to the author for revision, or the author may choose instead to cover the costs of comprehensive editing to ensure the manuscript is suitable for publication.

Articles are generously published free of charge, and there is no charge for color figures. All articles are available free to the public immediately upon publication. All articles appear online, and articles for sponsored special issues may also be published and distributed to ISASS members, at the annual ISASS conference, and other events, as appropriate. 

AUTHOR RIGHTS

As an author, you (or your employer or institution) may do the following:

  • Reproduce (print or electronic) the article for your own personal use, including for educational purposes
  • Reproduce and distribute such copies (including through e-mail) of the article to research colleagues for their personal use. Reproductions must not be used commercially
  • Post a pre-print version of the article on online pre-print servers and retain indefinitely such version on such sites
  • Post a revised personal version of the final text of the article (to reflect changes made in the peer review and editing process) on your personal or institutional website or server
  • Present the article at a meeting or conference and distribute reproductions to the delegates attending such a meeting
  • For your employer, if the article is a 'work for hire' created within the scope of your employment agreement. Your employer may use all or part of the information in the article for other intracompany use (e.g., training)
  • Retain patent and trademark rights, and rights to any processes or procedure described in the article
  • Include the article in full or in part in a thesis or dissertation (provided that this is not to be published commercially)
  • Use the article or any part thereof in a printed compilation of your works, such as collected writings or lecture notes (subsequent to publication of your article in the journal)
  • Prepare other derivative works, to extend the article into book-length form, or to otherwise reuse portions or excerpts in other works, with full acknowledgement of its original publication in the International Journal of Spine Surgery

POLICY STATEMENTS

Ethical Standards

When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors must indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. For all prospective studies involving human subjects, authors must seek approval to conduct the research from an independent local, regional, or national review body (e.g., ethics committee, institutional review board). If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed. Institutional approval or exemption from review will be noted in the published article.

Patient Anonymity and Informed Consent

It is the author's responsibility to ensure that a patient's anonymity be carefully protected and to verify that any experimental investigation with human subjects reported in the manuscript was performed with informed consent and followed all the guidelines for experimental investigation with human subjects required by the institution(s) with which all the authors are affiliated. Authors should mask patients' eyes and private parts and remove patients' names from all figures. In addition, permission from the patient is required and must be submitted with the manuscript.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors must state all possible conflicts of interest in the manuscript, including financial, consultant, institutional, and other relationships that might lead to bias or a conflict of interest. If there is no conflict of interest, this should also be explicitly stated as "none declared." All sources of funding should be acknowledged in the manuscript. All relevant conflicts of interest and sources of funding should be included on the title page of the manuscript with the heading “Conflicts of Interest and Source of Funding.” As stated at the beginning of these instructions, authors must submit the ICMJE conflict of interest form (http://www.icmje.org/downloads/coi_disclosure.docx). These COI statements will be published with the manuscript.

Copyright Release

Once the manuscript is accepted for publication, each author must complete and submit the journal's copyright transfer agreement. The IJSS follows the Creative Commons Licensing Agreement CC BY-NC-ND. This license allows authors, researchers, members of the public, and other non-commercial entities to freely use our content. As outlined in the CC BY-NC-ND agreement, users are not allowed to alter IJSS content and must provide appropriate attribution to the IJSS. Commercial entities are not covered in this agreement and must request permission from the IJSS (see https://www.ijssurgery.com/content/copyright-reprints-permissions for more information).