Following files will be essential for submission of any kind of article

1-  Cover letter
2-  Title page
3-  Blinded manuscript
4-  Tables (max. 10, Separately in word file)
5-  Figures (max. 10, Separately in word file)
6-  Copyright form
7-  Conflict of Interest form 

(Conflict of Interest form– Please download COI form separately on your PC and then open it on desktop as this is a special Pdf which can not be opened in browser)

The details of formatting these files are provided below.

Manuscripts submitted to Acta of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery must be submitted in the format described below. Articles that do not meet the journal’s style will not be peer reviewed or considered for publication. All articles should be no more than 3500 words long with a maximum of 50 references and 10 figures. Manuscripts should also contain an abstract of up to 350 words. Article will only be accepted for peer review in the following format;

1 2
  • Cover Page
  • Clinical Relevance
  • Title page
  • References
  • Abstract
  • Illustrations and figures with legends.
    ( If any )
  • Keywords
  • Additional data files (if any)
  • Introduction
  • List of abbreviations used (if any)
  • Material and Methods
  • Conflict of interest form
  • Results
  • Authors’ contributions
  • Discussion
  • Acknowledgements and Funding
  • Conclusions
  • Copyright Form

 

Manuscripts should be submitted in Microsoft Word Document format.


Formats of various Documents that are to be submitted are detailed below

Cover Letter :
This is the official letter written to editors by the author, where they can inform the editorial board about significance of their study. They can also inform regarding special situations like shared data with another study or long term follow up of already published article. This also provides the chance to authors to interact directly with editorial board and put up any specific point for considerations like more number of authors, manuscript exceeding word count or figure count.


Title Page :
The title should be concise and informative to make electronic retrieval of the manuscript both effective and specific. Include important information such as the study design, i.e., clinical or basic, and in particular indicate if the study is a randomized control trial. A running title not exceeding 35 letters and spaces should be provided. Add names of all authors in order you wish them to appear in final version. Provide first name, middle name and last name of all authors and emails of all authors. Provide postal address of the corresponding author.
Example of Title Page – The first page of the manuscript should be a dedicated title page, including the title of the article. The title should include the study design, i.e. Case report. For example

Authors Names should appear in sequence that will be final, with superscript numbers mentioning authors affiliations
Author Name A1, Author Name B2, Author Name C3*

Address: 1 Full designation, degree and postal address of author A; 2 Full designation, degree and postal address of author B; 3 Full designation, degree and postal address of author C

* Corresponding author should be indicated with an asterisk. [*]

The full names, institutional addresses and email addresses for all authors must be included on the title page. No other information should be included on this page.  The page should contain the article title, the full names of the authors including only major qualification such as M.D. or Ph.D., and the complete postal address of the department and institution where the work was done. Designate one author as a correspondent and supply his or her complete postal address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address. If the name or address for offprint requests is different, this should be stated. Every person listed as an author should have materially participated in the design, execution, and analysis of the study and should verify the accuracy of the entire manuscript before its submission. No more than 6 authors can be included in the title page. Lesser contributors may be noted in an acknowledgement section at the end of the manuscript.

Authorship criteria are as per the ICMJE Guidelines and include Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions:

  • To conception and design or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data.
  • Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
  • Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship.
  • General supervision of the research group is not sufficient for authorship.
  • Order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor. Once submitted the order cannot be changed without written consent of all the contributors.
  • For an original article the number of contributors should not exceed six; for case reports, letter to the Editor and review articles, the number of contributors should not exceed four. A justification should be included, if the number of contributors exceeds these limits.

Only those who have done substantial work in a particular field can write a review article. A short summary of the work done in the field of review should accompany the manuscript.

Example to state Author’s Contributions

We suggest the following kind of format (please use initials to refer to each author’s contribution):

“FC analyzed and interpreted the patient data regarding the fracture disease and the stiffness.  RH performed the histological examination of the callus, and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.”

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance or a department chair who provided only general support.

Blinded Submission :

Author information should not be included in the main document. Authors should submit the title page, the main document, and the Pictures separately. To ensure blinding, authors should not include in the abstract or text the name or initials of the authors or the institution at which the study was performed. Refer to your own published work in the third person. Use “In the previous work of Author name et al.”, not “In our previous work.” The blinded manuscript should contain title, abstract, keywords, main article with references, tables and figure legends

Abstract :
This should start on page 2 of the manuscript. The abstract must not exceed 350 words. Do not use abbreviations or references in the abstract. The structured abstract should consist of four paragraphs: Background (including the context and purpose of the research), Methods, Results, and Conclusions. The abstract should be typed on a separate page, and should not include abbreviations, footnotes, or references. Abstract should make clear how the paper adds to the Orthopaedic literature:

Keywords :
Add 3 to 5 keywords at the end of abstract. MESH terms will be preferable

Blinded Manuscript :
The length of the text and references should not exceed 15 pages of double-spaced type. The number of figures and tables together should not exceed 20. Do not repeat in the text all data that appear in the tables or illustrations; emphasize or summarize only important observations. A conclusion may be included in the summary paragraph of the Discussion only if it is not redundant.
The blinded manuscript should not contain names of author or their institute. References should be numbered in order of appearance and should be placed in square brackets [1]. Manuscript is usually, but not necessarily, divided into sections with the headings Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and Clinical Relevance. Long articles may need section subheadings to clarify their content.

Introduction :
Should explain the background of the case, including the disorder, usual presentation and progression and an explanation of the presentation if it is a new disease. If it is a case discussing an adverse drug interaction the introduction should give details of the drug’s common use and any previously reported side effects. It should also include a brief literature review.

Material & Methods :
Should be sufficiently detailed to allow easy understanding and reproduction of the study. Details of study design, outcome measures, outcome assessors and statistical methods have to be provided here. Surgical technique should be described in details with photographs and videos [videos should be uploaded on you tube and link to be submitted to us].

Results :
Keep results very succinct and to the point. Write all data in mean ± SD [Range] with appropriate standard units. Mention p values till third decimal points. Use tables to display the numerical data. Do not interpret the results in this section. Provide details of complication events and their individual follow ups.

Discussion :
Should be elaborate and should focus on the main results of your study. Individual complications should be addressed separately and put in context with the current literature.

Clinical relevance :
Of the study should be mentioned in three or four sentences.