Author Guidelines

The Archives of Pediatric Neurosurgery is a quarterly peer-reviewed medical online journal established in 2019 as the official publication of the Brazilian Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery. Before submitting your paper, please read the section “About the Journal” to ensure your contribution is suitable for publication in Archives of Pediatric Neurosurgery.

SUBMISSION AND PEER REVIEW PROCEDURE

ETHICS

TYPES OF PUBLICATION ACCEPTED AND FORMATTING GUIDELINES

DIGITAL ARTWORK PREPARATION

EDITORIAL CONTACTS

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSING

SUBMISSION AND PEER REVIEW PROCEDURE

Submission Procedure

• Consult the checklist at the beginning of this page to ensure that you are ready to submit your manuscript.

Please note: After acceptance of the article, a contribution of US$7.00 is required to generate a permanent Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• Always review your manuscript before submitting it. You may stop a submission at any phase and save it to submit later. After submission, you will receive a confirmation e-mail. You can also check the status of your manuscript by logging in to the submission system. The Editor-in-Chief will inform you via e-mail once a decision has been made.

Revision Procedure

• The Desk Review process comprises three stages. The first is to check if the submission was made correctly: to verify if the authors have sent all the documents needed, according to our journal's rules listed in the guide for authors and verify if all authors provided their ORCID register. APN also checks the presence of plagiarism (the journal uses the software "Turnitin TM" to screen for plagiarism), which will result in the immediate rejection of the paper at the Desk Review phase. The second stage is an overview evaluation performed by the Journal Editors and Management Editors. In the third stage, the article is sent to the Associate Editors, according to the area of knowledge and expertise. After approval by the Associate Editors, the paper will be sent to the reviewers, who will perform an in-depth evaluation.

Peer Reviewing Process

• The journal follows double-blind peer-review process where neither the author nor the reviewer gets to know each other's identity. This process is ensured by masking the separate front-page file to the reviewers having author details.
• At least three random reviewers based on their technical and clinical expertise are assigned by the Chief Editor on each manuscript, and the decision is taken based on the comparative reviews which the manuscript receives during the review process.
• The reviewer team is appointed based on individual expertise and experience in publishing in the subject category. Individual publishing history as the first and last authors is being considered before sending the invite to the individual. A mix of experienced and young researchers are being chosen to construct the reviewer panel.
• All manuscripts will be screened for similarity and/or plagiarism by a professional Software, TurnitIn. The authors who submit manuscripts with more than 30% of duplicated or similar content, excluding the reference text, will be notified asking for text revision by the Archives of Pediatric Neurosurgery’s Editorial Board.

 Possible Results and Further Steps

After the reviewers submit their evaluation of the paper, the Editors of APN will review the comments made by each reviewer and provide the authors with an editorial decision, which can be the following: (i) accepted; (ii) minor revisions; (iii) major revisions; (iv) rejected.

Should the editors decide that your article requires a revision (minor or major), you will need to make the changes via a word-processing program and resubmit it electronically. Log In to the submission system and find your article, which will be marked for revision.

The best way to make revisions to your manuscript is by enabling the Track Changes mode in Microsoft Word, which will automatically highlight and mark up the revised text. Please submit both a marked-up copy and a clean copy of your revised manuscript to the submission system.

Your original files will still be available after you upload your revised manuscript, so you should delete any redundant files before completing the submission. You will also be provided space in which to respond to the reviewers’ and editors’ comments. Please be as specific as possible in your response.

After you resubmit your revised paper, the Editors will decide whether or not it is necessary to send it back to the reviewers (second review round) or if the paper has complied with all the requirements and is ready to be accepted for publication.

ETHICS

Statement of Ethics

Archives of Pediatric Neurosurgery adheres to the ethical standards described by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Archives of Pediatric Neurosurgery is also listed in the ICMJE list of journals following their recommendations. Editors, Authors, and Reviewers are expected to adhere to these standards.

The editors of APN are committed to using COPE’s flowcharts (https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Flowcharts) in case of suspected ethical violations related to the following cases of suspected misconduct: duplicate publication; plagiarism; data fabrication; undisclosed conflict of interest; as well as any other suspicious ethical problems of submitted papers.

The editors are committed to ensuring fair play and confidentiality principles while handling papers submitted to APN. They are also responsible for advising reviewers on using those same principles for evaluating contributions assigned to them. Reviewers should promptly send their reviews using relevant and well-structured arguments to help the authors improve their paper.

Authors should ensure their paper follows ethical principles, especially regarding:

• Originality and Plagiarism: The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the words of others, this has been appropriately cited or quoted.
• Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication: An author should not publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal.
• Authorship of the Paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study.
• Errors in published works: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, the author must promptly notify Archives of Pediatric Neurosurgery and cooperate with the Editor to retract or correct the paper.

Human Subjects

Manuscripts that involve research conducted on human subjects must follow the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki and include a statement in the Methods section stating that the experimental protocol and informed consent were approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB), and that all subjects gave informed consent. If IRB approval or patient consent was not sought or obtained, authors should include an explanation in the Methods section. Authors should indicate the mechanism used for reviewing the ethics of the research conducted in their cover letter.

Animal Subjects

Manuscripts that report animal experiments must include a statement in the Methods section stating that the study was approved by the Institutional Review Board and that the animal care complied with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources, Commission on Life Sciences, National Research Council. Washington: National Academy Press, 1996). Authors should indicate the mechanism used for reviewing the ethics of the research conducted in their cover letter.

Note: Though not required at the time of submission, authors should be prepared to provide evidence of IRB/Ethics Committee adherence if requested by the Editor.

Patient Consent

It is the policy of the Journal that no identifiable protected health information (PHI) of any person may be included in any manuscript submitted to or published by Archives of Pediatric Neurosurgery publications unless the information is essential for the scientific integrity or purpose of the manuscript or published work and the patient has given written informed consent. This policy includes, but is not limited to, any identifiable protected health information subject to applicable laws and regulations concerning the privacy and/or security of personal information.

Authors should pay close attention to images that contain identifiable individual patient characteristics or data such as eyes, date of birth, case number, initials, birthmarks, scars, tattoos, piercings, etc. Care should be taken where an individual’s head or face appears, or where reference is made to an individual’s name or other personal details. Particular care should be taken where children are concerned.

Author(s) shall take all steps necessary to ensure that (1) there is no PHI contained in any text, data, or images in the manuscript unless that PHI is necessary to the scientific integrity of the publication and the patient has provided consent to the publication of their PHI; and (2) all other pre-existing PHI, if any, has been fully anonymized and de-identified (see below for how to properly anonymize and de-identify data).

As a condition of submission to the Archives of Pediatric Neurosurgery Publications, all authors warrant that he or she has obtained, prior to submission, written releases from patients whose names or likenesses are submitted as part of the Work. Should the Journal or Publisher request copies of such written releases, authors shall provide them in a timely manner. In addition to the foregoing requirements, each author must ensure that each authorizing individual, or the individual's legal guardian or other person with legal authority to act on the individual's behalf, who may be identified in any video, recording, photograph, image, illustration or case report (or in any other identifiable form) relating to a proposed manuscript is made aware in advance of the fact that such photographs are being taken or such video, recording, photograph, image, illustration or report is being made, and of all the purposes for which they might be used, including disclosure to Archives of Pediatric Neurosurgery  Publications and use by Archives of Pediatric Neurosurgery Publications and any affiliated publication. Such individual, legal guardian, or person with legal authority must give his/her explicit written authorization in writing. If authorization has been obtained, care must be taken to ensure that the portrayals and captioning of any individual are respectful and could not be seen as denigrating that individual. In the case of images of a child, it is important to ensure that images show only children in a suitable dress in order to reduce the risk of images being used inappropriately. If such authorization is made subject to any conditions (for example, adopting measures to prevent personal identification of the person concerned), APN Publications must be made aware in writing of all such conditions. If an author does not obtain the written authorization of the individual or the individual’s legal guardian, the video, etc. cannot be used in the Work.  

Patient Consent form - English

Patient Consent form - Portuguese

TYPES OF PUBLICATION ACCEPTED AND FORMATTING GUIDELINES

Authors and reviewers can download the step by step guide below:

Author instructions

Reviewer instructions

Manuscript format

Article Types

The following paragraphs show what types of articles are accepted for publication, and their requirements.

• Original Article may include randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic test, outcome studies, cost-effectiveness analyses, case-control series, and surveys with high response rate. For the specific type of articles such as randomized controlled trials, observational studies, systematic reviews, etc., please properly follow the guidelines as described in CONSRORT, STROBE, PRISMA. Find guidelines at: https://www.equator-network.org/
• Clinical Case Report contains single cases or series of cases or more condensed information on clinical or experimental studies. Please follow the CARE guideline (https://www.equator-network.org/). The key elements are:

1. The title accurately reflects the case.
2. The case involves an important area of health / pediatric neurosurgery.
3. Where possible, the case illustrates the use of an important clinical guideline or systematic review, and if so, the report is clear about exactly which part of the review or guideline the case relates to.
4. The report presents a clear and clinically useful message.
5. The report is well written in terms of clarity, style, and use of English.
6. The report has a logical construction (provided below).
7. The patient’s history, clinical examination plus findings, and investigations plus results are sufficiently detailed to explain the case but without including extraneous information (if it’s not relevant to the main message, don’t include it).
8. The relevant details of differential diagnosis, treatment plan, and follow-up are included.
9. There is a clear and definite outcome for the case, so readers are not left thinking, “But what happened in the end?”.
10. The discussion section explains the case in the context of published information.
11. The conclusions accurately and clearly explain the main clinical message.
12. The report is a reasonable length (1,000-2,500 words).
13. There are no omissions of important content.
14. The references are appropriate and current.
15. Correct use of the international standard of units (SI units) throughout the report.

• How I do it
  • This section of the journal is for showing how surgical procedures are carried out by no more than 4 authors. The abstract should be brief (less than 100 words), including Background/Method/Conclusion, whereas the residual manuscript should comprise less than 1200 words, 15 key references and at most `10 figures. Headings in the following order: relevant surgical anatomy, description of the technique, indications, limitations, how to avoid complications, specific information for the patient. Limit to 15 key references. Conflicts of interest should be placed on the title page. A video clearly illustrating the procedure is highly recommended, presented with voice recording. When uploading video files please make sure to keep the running time below 3 minutes.
• Letter to the Editor will usually address articles published in the journal or comment upon recent scientific advances of general interest.
• Clinical Images
  • Clinical images are pictures that illustrate a key clinical finding that can be presented in the form of a question. Once again, the images do not have to be unusual, but have to convey an important message.
  • The accompanying text should be no longer than 200 words in length and have no more than 5 references. The text should describe a clinical question relating to the image, along with a carefully validated answer. The aim of the questions and answers should be to educate or remind readers about an important clinical situation or event.
  • We recommend that you save photographic images in .tiff format and the resolution should be greater than 300 dpi.

• Clinical videos
• Videos are a very good way to describe clinical procedures that are crucial in all aspects of healthcare. Our view again is that these procedures do not have to be novel or unusual, but they need to reflect best practice and must be accompanied by an illustrative video segment.
• The accompanying text should be no longer than 200 words in length and have no more than 5 references. The text should describe a clinical question relating to the procedure in the video, along with a carefully validated answer. The aim of the question and answer should be to educate or remind readers about an important clinical situation or event.
• Video segments will be published as supporting information to the clinical question text. We recommend that video files are submitted in Quicktime, MPEG, AVI file formats as these are the most commonly used and accessible by readers. Please try to restrict individual file sizes to 10Mb maximum (zipped or unzipped). Larger files may be hosted, but these can lead to download issues for users.
• Do not include the author's name or institution's name in any part of the video. Insert the author's and institutions' names just in the title page provided within the submission.
• Voice-over audio is required. Please avoid background noise when recording your video.
• The written transcript should match the oral narrative in the video.
• Include time points that are highlighted in your video (e.g., 1:08 - cortical dissection)
• Cite references in parentheses within text in the order used in the video — see Referencessection below for format instructions.
• If you have included figures and/or tables, cite them in parentheses within the text.

• Technical Notes
• Technical Notes introduce new surgical modalities or variants of existing techniques. Follow-up and outcome need to be clearly stated. Abstracts do not need to be structured and they should not exceed 1,000 words; 5 illustrations or tables and up to 25 references are permitted.
• Historical Vignettes, Obituaries, Etc.
• We consider papers that describe the key contributions of individuals or trace the development of disease concepts. Historical vignettes or obituaries that are likely to be longer than 1200 words exclusive of references should be discussed with the editors prior to submission. Manuscripts in this category should be submitted as opinion papers. An abstract is required but need not be structured.

General Guidelines

• You must submit a digital copy of your manuscript. Hard copy submissions are not accepted.
• Keep the format of your manuscript simple and clear. We will set your manuscript according to our style—do not try to “design” the document.
• The manuscript, including the title page, abstract and keywords, text, references, figure captions, and tables, should be typewritten, double-spaced in 12-point font with 2.5cm margins all around, and saved as one file.
• Each figure should be saved as its own separate file. Do not embed figures within the manuscript file.
• Keep abbreviations to a minimum and be sure to explain all of them the first time they are used in the text.
• The manuscripts should be written in English.
• The authors should use the International System of Units (SI) measurements. For clarity, nonmetric equivalents may be included in parentheses following the SI measurements.
• Use generic names for drugs. You may cite proprietary names in parentheses along with the name and location of the manufacturer.
• Credit suppliers and manufacturers of equipment, drugs, and other brand-name material mentioned in the manuscript within parentheses, giving the company name and primary location.

Article structure

Title Page

• This journal adheres to a double-blinded peer-review policy. The title page should NOT be included in the main document.
• The title page should list the article title and the corresponding author’s full name, degree, title, department, affiliation, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone and fax numbers. It should also list the full name, degree, title, department, and affiliation of every co-author.

An example of “Title page” can be downloaded here

Manuscript - Main Document

• Abstract and Keywords - The abstract should briefly outline the article's content and any conclusions it may reach. The keywords should be words a reader would be likely to use to search for the article's content.
• Please clearly distinguish the hierarchy of headings within the manuscript by using capital letters, underline, italic, and bold styles as necessary.
• As needed, use italic, superscripts, subscripts, and boldface, but otherwise, do not use multiple fonts and font sizes.
• Do not insert page or section breaks except where noted in the Author Instructions.
• Use hard returns (the Enter key) only at the end of a paragraph, not at the end of a line. Allow lines of text to break automatically in your word-processing software. Do not justify your text.
• Use only one space, not two, after periods.
• Create tables using the Table function in Microsoft Word.
• Divide your article into clearly defined sections. Each subsection is given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line. Subsections should be used as much as possible when cross-referencing text: refer to the subsection by heading as opposed to simply 'the text'.
• Introduction: State the work's objectives and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results; such a review belongs in the Discussion section.
• Material and Methods: Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Methods that are already published should be summarized, and indicated by a reference. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and also cite the source. Any modifications to existing methods should also be described.
• Results: Results should be clear, objective and concise.
• Discussion: This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.
• Conclusions: In the Conclusions section restate the major findings of the study and address these findings potential clinical implications and/or applications
•  Acknowledgments: This section provides a place to acknowledge people who have contributed to the study but do not fulfill all the criteria for authorship. Examples include lab technicians, data collectors, illustrator, and medical editors. It is particularly important to include any employees from sponsoring agencies or industries which have contributed to the work. Specify what type of contribution each person made to the study.
• Disclosures: Include a section in the paper in which you state whether a potential conflict of interest–– financial, personal, or professional––exists or could be construed as existing. If no conflict of interest exists or is specified, a Disclosure section will be added to the manuscript with the following statement: “The authors report no conflict of interest concerning the materials or methods used in this study or the findings specified in this paper.”
• References: Reference information is provided in a session below.
• Figure Legends: Legend information is provided in a session below.
• Case reports: The following sections are common to many published case reports and are useful as general guidance to the article structure:
• Introduction
• Case Report
• Literature review (if applicable)
• Discussion
• Acknowledgments
• Disclosures
• References
• Figure Legends

Acknowledgments

The source of any financial support received and recognition of personal assistance for the work being published should be indicated at the end of the article, just before the Reference section, under the heading
“ Acknowledgments”.

Conflict of Interest

It is required that a list of disclosures from every named author is submitted alongside the manuscript. In it, each author should identify any financial or non-financial conflicts relevant to the article. If no conflicts exist, please state so in this section.

Types of conflicts include: Consulting, Royalties, Research Support, Institutional Support, Ownership, Stock/Options, Speakers Bureau, and Fellowship Support. Any commercial entity whose products are described, reviewed, evaluated, or compared in the manuscript, except for those disclosed in the Acknowledgments section, are potential conflicts.

An example of a Manuscript can be downloaded here

References

References should be the most recent and pertinent literature available. It is essential that they are complete and thoroughly checked. If the reference information is incomplete, good online sites to search for full details are the National Library of Medicine: www.nlm.nih.gov; Books in Print: www.booksinprint.com; PubMed: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/; or individual publisher Web sites.

Endnote: https://endnote.com/wp-content/uploads/plugins/styles/Vancouver.ens

• References must be listed in Vancouver style (used by MEDLINE and PubMed);

• References follow the article text. Insert a page break between the end of text and the start of references.

• References must be cited sequentially (NOT alphabetically) in n square brackets (i.e. [1]);

• List all author names, up to and including six names. For more than six authors, list the first three, followed by et al.

References should be styled per the following examples:

• Citing a journal article:

de Oliveira RS, Cinalli G, Roujeau T, Sainte-Rose C, Pierre-Kahn A, Zerah M. Neurenteric cysts in children: 16 consecutive cases and review of the literature. Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics. 2005 Dec 1;103(6):512- 23.

• Citing a chapter in a book:

Toma H. Takayasu’s arteritis. In: Novick A, Scoble J, Hamilton G, eds. Renal Vascular Disease. Philadelphia: WB Saunders; 1995:47–62

• Citing a book:

Stryer L. Biochemistry. 2nd ed. San Francisco: WH Freeman; 1981:559–596

• Citing a thesis:

Stern I. Hemorrhagic Complications of Anticoagulant Therapy [Ph.D. dissertation]. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University; 1994

• Citing a government publication:

Food and Drug Administration. Jin Bu Huan Herbal Tablets. Rockville, MD: National Press Office; April 15, 1994. Talk Paper T94-22

• Citing an online article:

Rosenthal S, Chen R, Hadler S. The safety of acelluler pertussis vaccine vs whole-cell pertussis vaccine [abstract]. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med [serial online]. 1996;150:457–460. Available at: http://www.ama-assn.org/sci-pubs/journals/archive/ajdc/vol_150/no_5/abstract/htm. Accessed November 10, 1996

• Citing a symposium article:

Eisenberg J. Market forces and physician workforce reform: why they may not work. Paper presented at: Annual Meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges; October 28, 1995; Washington, DC

Figure Captions

• Figures include photographs or radiographs, drawings, graphs, bar charts, flow charts, and pathways, but NOT lists or tables.
• Figures must be cited sequentially in the text. Number all figures (and corresponding figure captions) sequentially in the order they are cited in the text.
• Figure captions should be written after the reference list. Insert a page break between the end of references and the start of figure captions.
• Figure captions should include a description of the figure and/or each lettered part (A, B, etc.) and of any portions of the figure highlighted by arrows, arrowheads, asterisks, etc.
• For a figure borrowed or adapted from another publication (used with permission), add a credit line in parentheses at the end of each figure legend. This credit line should be a complete bibliographic listing of the source publication (as a reference), or other credit line as supplied by the copyright holder. For example (Reprinted with permission from Ballestero MFM, Santos MV. Hydrocephalus. Child’s Nervous System 2015;20:356.)

Tables

• Data given in tables should be commented on but not repeated in the text. Be sure that lists or columns of related data are composed in a word-processing program like the rest of the text.
• Do not intersperse tables in the text. Tables should appear after the figure captions. Insert a page break between the end of the figure captions and the start of the tables.
• Tables must be double-spaced and numbered in the same sequence they are cited in the text. A short descriptive title should be provided for each table.
• If a table contains artwork, supply the artwork separately as a digital file.
• For tables borrowed or adapted from another publication (used with permission), add a credit line as the first footnote beneath each table. This credit line should be a complete bibliographical listing of the source publication (as a reference), or other credit line as supplied by the copyright holder. For example, “Reprinted with permission from Ballestero MFM, Santos MV. Hydrocephalus. Child’s Nervous System 2015;20:356 (“Data from . . .” or “Adapted from . . .” may also be used, as appropriate.)
• Other footnotes for tables should be indicated in the table using superscript letters in alphabetical order.
• Any abbreviations used in the table should be explained at the end of the table in a footnote.

DIGITAL ARTWORK PREPARATION

General Guidelines

• It is best to use Adobe Photoshop to create and save images, and Adobe Illustrator for line art and labels.
• Save each figure in a separate file.
• Do not compress files.
• All black-and-white and color artwork should be at a resolution of 300 dpi (dots per inch) in TIFF format.
• Line art should be 1,200 dpi in EPS or TIFF format. Contact the Production Editor at Thieme if you are unsure of the final size.
• It is preferable for figures to be cropped to their final size or larger, and in the correct orientation. If art is submitted smaller and then has to be enlarged, its resolution (dpi) and clarity will decrease.

Note: Lower resolutions (less than 300 dpi) and JPEG format (.jpg extension) for grayscale and color artwork are strongly discouraged due to the poor quality they yield in printing, which requires 300 dpi resolution for sharp, clear, detailed images. JPEG format, by definition, is a lower resolution (compressed) format designed for quick upload on computer screens.

Black-and-White Art

• Black-and-white artwork can be halftone (or grayscale) photographs, radiographs, drawings, line art, graphs, and flowcharts.
• If possible, do not send color art for conversion to black-and-white. Do the conversion yourself so that you can check the results and confirm in advance that no critical details are lost or obscured by the change to black-and-white.
• For best results, line art should be black on a white background. Lines and type should be clean and evenly dark. Avoid screens or cross-hatching, as they can darken or be uneven in printing and lead to unacceptable printing quality.

Art Labels

• Arrows, asterisks, and arrowheads (or other markers) should be lighter in dark or black areas and darker in light or white areas, and large in size. If not, these highlighting marks may become difficult to see when figures are reduced in size during the typesetting process.
• Use 1-point (or thicker) rules and leader lines.
• Capitalize the first word of each label and all proper nouns. Consider using all capitals if you need a higher level of labels.
• Where there are alternate terms or spellings for a named structure, use the most common one and make sure it is consistent with what is used in the text.
• Avoid using multiple fonts and font sizes for the labels; use only one or two sizes of a serif font.

EDITORIAL CONTACTS

Please contact the Editorial Office Archives of Pediatric Neurosurgery with any questions.

Editorial Office Archives of Pediatric Neurosurgery Phone: +55 51 33882424 / + 55 51 999637811 Email: secretaria@sbnped.com.br