Submission Preparation Checklist
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.-
Submission of manuscripts
o Manuscripts, or the essence of their content must be previously unpublished
o Manuscripts must NOT be under simultaneous consideration by another journal
o Declaration of similar work published or submitted to another journal
o Comply with the guidelines of the STARD checklist for the reporting of diagnostic accuracy studies o All authors must approve the final version of the submitted manuscript -
Electronic submission
o Manuscript in MS Word format
o Figures and illustrations provided in jpeg format at 300 DPI, and originals submitted on glossy paper if necessary -
Manuscript preparation
o Typewritten, 1.5 apacing on A4 paper, margins of 1”, paragraph of 0.5cm, pages numbered consecutively
o Manuscripts must be accompanied by covering letter signed by all authors
The first page of the manuscript must contain the title, author names and affiliations, Information about corresponding author, highest academic degrees for all authors departmental and institutional affiliations for all authors. - A concise and factual abstract is required. 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 should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself. Abstracts should be 250 words, maximum.
- 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'.
-
References: APN uses Vancouver reference system. References are listed in numerical order, and in the same order in which they are cited in text. The reference list appears at the end of the paper. Use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) in parentheses.
Letter to the Editor
ANP invite author to write letters to the Editor on matters of general pediatric neurosurgery concern or about articles recently published in our journal. When appropriate, the authors of the original article will be invited to reply.
Letters to the Editor can also be published if they describe original case reports or facts of unusual or rare clinical experience. Case reports in the format of Letters to the editor should comprise a short statement explaining the interest of the case or fact, a concise clinical description and a brief discussion focused on the peculiar features compared to available knowledge.
Letters to the Editor must not include an Abstract, not exceed 800 words, not be signed by more than 5 authors, not include more than 2 illustrations or tables and 5 references. They should be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief and may be subject to shortening and editorial revision.
Clinical Case Reports
The key elements are:
- The title accurately reflects the case.
- The case involves an important area of health / pediatric neurosurgery.
- 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.
- The report presents a clear and clinically useful message.
- The report is well written in terms of clarity, style and use of English.
- The report has a logical construction (provided below).
- 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).
- 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 (1,000-3,000 words).
13.There are no omissions of important content.
14.The references are appropriate and current.
15Correct use of international standard of units (SI units) throughout the report.
The following sections are common to many published case reports and are useful as general guidance to the article structure:
- Introduction
- Case report
Case history / examination
Differential diagnosis, investigations and treatment
Outcome and follow-up
- Discussion
- References (see below for tips)
- Images, tables, graphs or videos
Original Papers
The following section contain formatting rules for clinical articles and laboratory investigations; many of these rules are applicable to other types of articles as well. Exceptions to these rules that are specific to other types of articles.
- Title page
The first page of the manuscript must contain the title, author names and affiliations, Information about corresponding author, highest academic degrees for all authors departmental and institutional affiliations for all authors.
- Title.Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
Author names and affiliations.Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. You can add your name between parentheses in your own script behind the English transliteration. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) 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. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.- Corresponding author.Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author. Provide Corresponding author ORCID number.
Present/permanent address.If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.
Highest academic degrees for all authors.Degrees are not listed in the author line but are necessary for other purposes.
Departmental and institutional affiliations for all authors.When providing author names and affiliations, be sure to include department/division information and not only the institution.
2-Abstract page
A concise and factual abstract is required. 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 should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.Abstracts should be 250 words, maximum.
- Key words (3 to 7).Provide an alphabetized list of 3 to 7 key words which will appear in print and used for indexing purposes.
3- Article structure
Subdivision - unnumbered sections
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 objectives of the work 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 (Optional)
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 who 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
Authors must include figure legends to accompany their figures (attached electronically). These legends should not repeat information found within the text. Legends should state what type of figure is shown (for example, magnetic resonance image, Northern blot, photomicro graph, or bar graph). Legends should be concise but comprehensive – the figure and its legend must be understandable without reference to the text. Include definitions of any symbols used and define/explain all abbreviations and units of measurement.
Review articles
Review papers may be narrative or systematic and are subject to the peer review process. They should offer exhaustive information on a given subject. The Editor will invite experts in the various fields of the neurosciences to publish Invited papers, although unsolicited reviews may also be considered. The Abstract must not be structured and the text may be arranged freely. The contribution should not be signed by more than 7 authors, while the text should not exceed 4000 words. Up to 15 figures or tables and 70 references are allowed. Exceptions at the discretion of the Editor in Chief.
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 do have to convey an important message.
The accompanying text should be no longer than 200 words in length and have no more than 2 references. The text should describe a clinical question relating to the image, along with a carefully validated answer. The aim of the questions and answer 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 do need to reflect best practice and must be accompanied by an illustrative video segment.
The accompanying text should be no longer than 100 words in length and have no more than 2 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.
Technical Notes, Literature Reviews, Historical Vignettes, Obituaries, Etc.
Authors should supply an Abstract, Introduction, Methods section (if appropriate), and additional sections as needed.
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; 4 illustrations or tables and up to 20 references are permitted.
Letters to the Editor must not include an Abstract,not exceed 800 words, not be signed by more than 5 authors, not include more than 2 illustrations or tables and 5 references. They should be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief and may be subject to shortening and editorial revision. Please, cite the specific article in the main body of your letter and add it to the Reference List at the end of your manuscript.We request that you use a unique title for your Letter to the Editor:
• Letter is in response to a published manuscript, please begin your title as follows:
“Letter to the Editor Regarding (insert particular article title here)”
• If you have been invited to respond to a Letter to the Editor, please start your title with: “In Reply to the Letter to the Editor Regarding (insert particular article title here)”
Privacy Statement
The publication of an article in a peer-reviewed journal is an essential building block in the development of a coherent and respected network of knowledge. It is a direct reflection of the quality of work of the author and the institutions that support them. Peer-reviewed articles support and embody the scientific method. It is therefore important to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior.
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.
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.
E-MAIL PRIVACY POLICY
The Author endeavors to protect your e-mail address from inappropriate use.
SECURITY
The Site maintains security measures designed to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control.
