(For your convenience, you can also download this document as PDF file.)

Manuscripts submitted to SNI are subjected to an unbiased double-blinded peer-review process, wherein the reviewers and authors are unaware of each other’s identity. The manuscript is sent to at least two external reviewers, and if required, it is sent to a third reviewer to act as a tie-breaker. The comments and suggestions (acceptance/rejection/amendments to the manuscript) received from reviewers are conveyed to the author. The author is requested to provide a point-by-point response to reviewers’ comments and submit a revised manuscript. This process is repeated until reviewers and editors are either satisfied with the manuscript, or the manuscript is rejected. For acceptance, a completed review by two reviewers recommending the acceptance of the manuscript for publication is preferred. Decisions on accepting or rejecting manuscripts for publication are solely based on the peer-review process and the Editor’s discretion, and the decisions are final. The only exception to this peer-review process are articles submitted to the SNI supplement Revista Argentina de Neurocirugía (RANC); these articles are first peer-reviewed by the RANC Editorial Board, then submitted to SNI for further review, after which a decision of acceptance or rejection is made.

Manuscripts accepted for publication are copy-edited for grammar, punctuation, print style, and format. Galley proofs are sent to the author. The author is expected to return the corrected proofs within three days. It may not be possible to incorporate corrections received after that period. The process of submitting the manuscript to the final decision and sending and receiving proofs is completed online. To achieve faster and greater dissemination of knowledge and information, the journal publishes articles online immediately on final acceptance.

Manuscripts that do not conform to the Author Guidelines or exceed the Maximums set for Articles may be returned to the author without review. Authors can resubmit after complying with the requirements.

Submission

Submission to Surgical Neurology International is completely online, and you will be guided step-wise through the creation and uploading of your files. During the metadata entry step, please be sure to add details of all authors and co-authors correctly by clicking on the “add author” button. Details, once entered, cannot be changed after submission. Once submitted, the Word file will be used in the peer-review process. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor’s decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail, removing the need for a paper trail.

Use of word processing software

It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the word processor’s options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. Do not embed “graphically designed” equations or tables, but prepare these using the word processor’s facility. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the “spell-check” and “grammar-check” functions of your word processor.

Page layout & styles

• Page size Letter Portrait 8 1⁄2 X 11

• Margins All Margins, 1cm

• Page number Numbered at bottom centre

• Footer / Headers None

Title

• 18 pt Times New Roman, bold, centered

Author and co-authors

• 14 pt Times New Roman centered, bold – author and all co-authors names in one line.

• The corresponding author should include an asterisk*.

Authors address

• 12 pt Times New roman centered – giving each authors’ affiliation (i.e. Department, Organization, Address, Place, Country, Email).

• Followed by single line spacing below the names: Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author’s name and in front of the appropriate address.

• Add separately email id`s of all coauthors in front of their name on the title page.

Author for Correspondence

• 10pt Times New roman centered – giving a valid e-mail of the corresponding (main) author is a must. It should be indicated as* followed by two line spacing.

• Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication.

• Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address.

Abstract

• 12 pt Times New roman, full justification Normal – maximum 250 words. It should be concise and factual.

The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, references, acronyms, and footnotes should be avoided. Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself. The abstract should consist of four categories labeled “Background,” “Methods,” “Results,” and “Conclusion.” Respectively, they should briefly describe the problem being addressed, how the study was performed, the salient results, and what the authors conclude from the results. For case reports, “Methods” and “Results” sections should be replaced with “Case Description.”

Video Abstract

A video abstract should include the same categories as a case report -- Background, Case Description, and Conclusion. The video should be in .mp4 format, preferably with audio narration. Additionally, following the abstract should be written, timed annotations identifying key moments in the video.

Keywords

• Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, “the”, “or”, “and”).

• Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible.

• These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

Acknowledgement

• Collate acknowledgements and include them in the First Page file; do not include them within the manuscript.

• List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).

Text

• 12 pt Times New roman, full justification – double line spacing between paragraphs. No indentation

• All text should be fully justified.

• Do not number your titles (for example, 1.0 Introduction; 2.0 Background).

• Do not use the tab key to indent blocks of text such as paragraphs of quotes or lists because the page layout program overrides your left margin with its own, and the tabs end up in mid-sentence.

Heading

• Major headings (Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and methods, Results and discussion, Acknowledgment, References) left-justified, 12 pt bold

• Intermediate headings should be in italics, sentence case, left justified, 12 pt

Tables

• To be incorporated at the end of Manuscript. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text.

• Correct: “Table 1: Age distribution of consumers………”

• Incorrect: “Table No. 1: Age distribution of consumers………”

Figures /Graphs

• Figures may be embedded in your word document but they should be created with a program that allows you to save them as gif, or jpg format.

• For any figures or other materials directly extracted from previously published materials, you must have written permission from the publisher of that material for reprint use.

• A copy of that permission release must be submitted with your article. It is the individual author’s responsibility to attain this permission.

Figure legend

• To be incorporated at the end of the manuscript with proper labeling

• Correct: “Figure 1 : Schematic diagram………”

• Incorrect: “Figure No. 1 : Schematic diagram………”

Graphs

• To be included from excel, it should be editable. Non – editable graphs will not be accepted.

References

• Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa).

• Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either “Unpublished results” or “Personal communication” Citation of a reference as “in press” implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

• Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in superscript with square bracket after the punctuation marks.

• References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure.

• References should be listed in alphabetical order, from A to Z.

• If you use software to format references automatically, you may like to download and use our EndNote style (unzip and copy into the folder “EndNote > Styles”). If you use Papers or Mendeley, formatting for SNI will be available directly from the software without the need for separate downloads. Installation for EndNote style: unzip and copy into the folder "EndNote > Styles."

• Articles should be submitted without automatic formatting, used by EndNote or Papers. In EndNote, you can use the “remove field codes” option. For Papers, you can follow these steps.

• Use the style of the examples below, which are based on the formats used by the NLM in Index Medicus.

The commonly cited types of references are shown here, for other types of references such as newspaper items please refer to the ICMJE Guidelines (see examples). Correct / Acceptable Citation This sentence needs a reference.^[12] And then we continue with the next sentence. Example references 1. Single/Multiple Authors Cagin T, Wang G,Martin R, Breen N, Goddard WA. Molecular modelling of dendrimers for nanoscale applications, Nanotechnology, 2000; 11(2), 77-84. 2.More than six authors Cagin T, Wang G, Martin R, Zamanakos G, Vaidehi N, Mainz DT, et al. Multiscale modeling and simulation methods with applications to dendritic polymers. Computational and Theoretical Polymer Science. February 2001; 11: 345-356. 3. Organization as Author Hypertension Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002; 40(5): 679-86. 4. Unknown Author 21st century heart solution may have a sting in the tail. BMJ. 2002; 325(7357): 184-5. 5. Journal article on the Internet Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [serial on the Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12]; 102(6): [about 3 p.]. Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htm 6. Personal author(s) Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002. 7. Editor(s), compiler(s) as author Gilstrap LC 3rd, Cunningham FG, VanDorsten JP, editors. Operative obstetrics. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. 8. Author(s) and editor(s) Breedlove GK, Schorfheide AM. Adolescent pregnancy. 2nd ed. Wieczorek RR, editor. White Plains (NY): March of Dimes Education Services; 2001. 9. Organization(s) as author Royal Adelaide Hospital; University of Adelaide, Department of Clinical Nursing. Compendium of nursing research and practice development, 1999-2000. Adelaide (Australia): Adelaide University; 2001. 10. Chapter in a book Marshall GR, St. Louis, Beusen DD, Abraham DJ ed., Molecular Modelling in drug design In: Burger’s Medicinal Chemistry and Drug discovery. Volume I, 6th edition.Virginia, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2003; p. 77-168. 11. Conference proceedings Mulla JS, Jamakandi VG, editors. Formulation And Evaluation of Ketorolac Tromethamine Loaded Bovine Serum Albumin Microspheres, Second International Conference and Indo-Canadian Satellite Symposium on Pharmaceutial Sciences, Technology, Practice and natural Products; 2007 Feb 24-26; Ooty, India. 12. Thesis N. Khoshakhlagh. The compositions of volatile fractions of Peganum harmala seeds and its smoke. Pharm. D. Thesis, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. (2002). 13. Web references As a minimum, the full URL should be given. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. 14. Website information Cancer-Pain.org [homepage on the Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2000-01 [updated 2002 May 16; cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.cancer-pain.org/.

Submission of Manuscript

Manuscripts should be submitted using the online submission system.

Confirmation

All messages and reviews sent electronically will be confirmed electronically upon receipt.

Ethics

Studies conducted must be in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for the experiments involving humans. According to the Federal Research Misconduct Policy scientific misconduct includes:

• Data falsification: Fabrication, deceptive and selective reporting of findings, suppression of data and/or distortion of data
• Plagiarism: Use without permission the language, ideas, or thoughts of another and representation of them as one’s own original work

Direct copying of sentences, whether from their previously published paper or from someone else’s paper, is considered plagiarism. Authors need to check that they have not inadvertently ‘cut and paste’ verbatim from published works. 

According to the World Association of Medical Editors

Plagiarism is the use of others published and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property) without attribution or permission, and presenting them as new and original rather than derived from an existing source. The intent and effect of plagiarism are to mislead the reader as to the contributions of the plagiarizer. This applies to whether the ideas or words are taken from abstracts, research grant applications, Institutional Review Board applications, or unpublished or published manuscripts in any publication format (print or electronic).

Self-plagiarism refers to the practice of an author using portions of their previous writings on the same topic in another of their publications, without specifically citing it formally in quotes. This practice is widespread and sometimes unintentional. The journal requires authors to disclose information and cite references about reused content from previously published work of their own or of others.

Incorrect authorship: Excluding authors, wrongly presenting the same material as original in more than one publication, the inclusion of authors who have not made a definite contribution to the work published; or submission of articles without the concurrence of all authors.

Misappropriation of the ideas of others: an important aspect of scholarly activity is the exchange of ideas among colleagues. Scholars can acquire novel ideas from others during the process of reviewing grant applications and manuscripts. However, improper use of such information can constitute fraud. Wholesale appropriation of such material constitutes misconduct.

Violation of generally accepted research practices: Improper manipulation of experiments to obtain biased results, deceptive statistical or analytical manipulations, or improper reporting of results.

Material failure to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements affecting research: Violations of regulations and laws involving the use of funds, care of animals, human subjects, investigational drugs, recombinant products, new devices, or radioactive, biologic, or chemical materials.

Any form of unethical behavior is strictly discouraged and will result in the submitting author and his group being banned from submitting material to the journal for a time frame depending on the severity of malpractice.

Digital Image Editing Ethics

No particular feature within an image shall be introduced, moved, enhanced, obscured, or removed. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are allowed if they are applied to the whole image and do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original image. Adjustments such as changes to settings must be disclosed in the figure legend.

Protection of Patients’ Rights to Privacy

Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, sonograms, CT scans, etc., and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian, wherever applicable) gives informed consent for publication. Authors should remove patients' names from figures unless they have obtained informed consent from the patients. The journal abides by ICMJE guidelines:

1. Authors, not the journals nor the publisher, need to obtain the patient consent form before the publication and have the form properly archived. The consent forms are not to be uploaded with the cover letter or sent through email to editorial or publisher offices.
2. If the manuscript contains patient images that preclude anonymity, or a description that has obvious indication to the identity of the patient, a statement about obtaining informed patient consent should be indicated in the manuscript.

Human and Animal Rights

When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should 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. 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 are asked to indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

Conflicts of Interest / Competing Interests

All authors of must disclose any and all conflicts of interest they may have with publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or is important to the outcome of the study presented. Authors should also disclose conflict of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript.

Publication Fees

Surgical Neurology International charges authors of accepted manuscripts the following fees to cover the costs associated with publication (all fees are in U.S. dollars):

• Original Articles, Technical Notes, and Review Articles: $400
• Case Reports and Short Communications: $280
• Image Reports and Letters to the Editor: $80

There are no additional fees for images or figures, regardless of the number of colors. If an author is not in a position to pay the established publication fee, he/she may petition to have the fee waived by e-mailing the journal at editor@surgicalneurologyint.com.

Downloads

• Author Instructions as PDF

• Author Instructions Checklist

• Copyright Form

• EndNote style

• Papers style