Acta Neurochirurgica
*New Category from April 2011in Acta*
How I do It :
Instructions to authors
This new section in the journal is for showing how surgical procedures are carried out.
Editor of this section is Prof. Pierre-Hugues Roche
Papers should be submitted as follows:
Title Page
Abstract (no more than 100 words) including: Background – Method - Conclusion
Authors – Limit of 3 named authors
There is a limit of 1200 words for the rest of the paper.
There is a limit of 6 figures
Following paragraphs should appear in the manuscript:
- Relevant surgical anatomy
- Description of the technique
- Indications
- Limitations
- How to avoid complications
- Specific perioperative considerations (pre & postop workup, instructions for the postop care, ..)
- Specific information to give to the patient about surgery & potential risks
- A summary of 10 key points is required at the end of the manuscript
- References: Limit of 10 key references
- Disclosure - Conflict of interest should be noted on the title page and form must be filled in and uploaded
Videos of the procedure should be uploaded – there is no limit to the size of the video files. They should be uploaded on the EM system within 15 minutes. Please note a fast broadband/fiber optic connection is required. The videos should not be more than 2-3 mins in length.
For example, if you upload a 20MB file on an ADSL connection, it will take about 7 minutes to upload. This should give submitting authors a sense about the size file they can realistically upload based on their Internet connection speed.
Visit this website to check your connection speed prior to uploading:
http://www.onlineconversion.com/downloadspeed.htm
* ALL SUMISSIONS UPLOADED MUST HAVE A SIGNED CONFLICT OF INTEREST FORM*
Page 1: Title Page
The title page should include:
Title of Paper
Names(s) of all authors
Affiliation
Details of corresponding author-Full name, Affiliation, Full postal address, E-Mail/Fax details
Conflict of Interest
Presentation at a conference
Clinical Trial Registration number if required
Number the page-Title page will be page#1
Page 2: Abstract
Case reports should have an abstract in a single paragraph maximum of 100 words. All other original articles should be as mentioned below.
A structured abstract is required between 150-250 words to be divided into the following headings:
Background
Methods
Results
Conclusions
Keywords
Please provide 4 to 6 keywords which can be used for indexing purposes
Page 3: Introduction.
The Introduction should state the purpose of the investigation and give a short review
of the pertinent literature (max. one printed page).
Followed by:
Materials and methods
The Materials and methods section should follow the Introduction and should
provide enough information to permit repetition of the experimental work.
For particular chemicals or equipment, the name and location of the supplier should be given in parentheses.
Results.
The Results section should describe the outcome of the study. Data should be presented asconcisely as possible, if appropriate in the form of tables or figures, although very large tables should be avoided.
Discussion.
The Discussion should be an interpretation of the results and their significance with reference to
work by other authors.
Acknowledgements.
These should be as brief as possible. Any grant that requires acknowledgement should be mentioned. The names of funding organizations should be written in full.
Appendices.
If there is more than one appendix, they should be numbered consecutively. Equations in
appendices should be designated differently from those in the main body of the paper, e.g. (A1), (A2) etc. In each appendix equations should be numbered separately.
| Use a normal, plain font (e.g., 10-point Times Roman) for text. |
| Use italics for emphasis. |
| Use the automatic page numbering function to number the pages. |
| Do not use field functions. |
| Use tab stops or other commands for indents, not the space bar. |
| Use the table function, not spreadsheets, to make tables. |
| Use the equation editor or MathType for equations.
Note: If you use Word 2007, do not create the equations with the default equation editor but use the Microsoft equation editor or MathType instead. |
| Save your file in doc format. Do not submit docx files. |
Word template
Manuscripts with mathematical content can also be submitted in LaTeX.
LaTeX macro package
Headings
Please use no more than three levels of displayed headings.
Abbreviations
Abbreviations should be defined at first mention and used consistently thereafter.
Footnotes
Footnotes can be used to give additional information, which may include the citation of a reference included in the reference list. They should not consist solely of a reference citation, and they should never include the bibliographic details of a reference. They should also not contain any figures or tables.
Footnotes to the text are numbered consecutively; those to tables should be indicated by superscript lower-case letters (or asterisks for significance values and other statistical data). Footnotes to the title or the authors of the article are not given reference symbols.
Always use footnotes instead of endnotes.
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc. should be placed in a separate section before the reference list. The names of funding organizations should be written in full.
References
The list of references should only include works that are cited in the text and have been previously published or accepted for publication.
Personal communications should only be mentioned in the text.
In the text, references should be noted in square brackets eg: [1] and listed in alphabetical order in the reference list.
Papers which have been accepted for publication but not yet published should be included in the list of references with the name of the journal and the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) code of the cited literature. The author is responsible for the accuracy of the references.
Following some examples for the style of references:
Journal articles
(1)Franzini A, Messina G, Leone M, Broggi G (2009) Occipital nerve stimulation (ONS). Surgical technique and prevention of late electrode migration. Acta Neurochir 151:861-865
(2)Pinsker MO, Volkmann J, Falk D, Herzog F, Steigerwald F, Deuschl G, Mehdorn HM (2009) Deep brain stimulation of the internal globus pallidus in dystonia:target localisation under general anaesthesia. Acta Neurochir 151:751-758
(3)Powell M (2009) Microscope and endoscopic pituitary surgery. Acta Neurochir 151:723-728
Article published on-line with DOI
Helmy A, Timofeev I, Palmer C, Gore A, Menon DK, Hutchinson PJ (2010) Hierarchial log linear analysis of admission blood parameters and clinical outcome following traumatic brain injury Acta Neurochir DOI: 10.1007/S00701-009-0584-y
Books
Frontera J (2009) Decision making in neurocritical care Thieme, Stuttgart
Book Chapter
Hovind HJ (1986) Traumatic birth injuries. In: Raimondi AJ, Choux M, Di Rocco C (eds) Head injuries in the newborn and infant. (Principles of pediatric neurosurgery) Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 87–109
Online Document
Human D, Fluss SS (2001) The world medical association’s declaration of Helsinki: Historical and contemporary perspectives http://www.wma.net/e/ethicsunit/pdf/draft_historical_contemporary_perspectives.pdf. Accessed 8 Aug 2009
There are software programmes available which help with preparing the references-see "guidelines" section.
EndNote link:
ftp://support.isiresearchsoft.com/pub/pc/styles/endnote4/Acta%20Neurochirurgica.ens
Always use the standard abbreviation of a journal’s name according to the ISSN List of Title Word Abbreviations, see
www.issn.org/2-22661-LTWA-online.php
