Instruction to Author

Introduction

Hong Kong Journal of Orthopaedic Research publishes original articles, case reports, review articles, editorials, short communications, contemporary issues, letters to editor, book reviews and other scientific informsssation in all disciplines of Oncology and Medical Research. All submissions are subject to peer review by the Editorial Board and by referees in appropriate specialties. We will consider for publication manuscripts from any part of the world.

Hong Kong Journal of Orthopaedic Research welcomes original research papers, reviews and evaluation, expert opinions, case studies and other evidence-based articles in clinical orthopaedic research, particularly in the areas of traumatology, spinal surgery, joint replacement, sports medicine, musculoskeletal tumour management, hand microsurgery, foot and ankle surgery, paediatric orthopaedic, and orthopaedic rehabilitation from around the world.

Plagiarism Policy

Hong Kong Journal of Orthopaedic Research is strictly against Plagiarism. Journal uses the standard Plagiarism Detection Software to avoid the Plagiarism. By submission to journal entails that authors automatically attest that, none of the parts of manuscripts is plagiarized from any other source. Proper reference should be provided whenever anything is extracted from a source. Technical editors use Plagiarism detection tools/ softwares to ensure the originality of the article. If any article is proved to be plagiarized, journal committee would take immediate and strict actions against the authors ranging from rejection of the manuscript to preclusion of the authors from any future publication in the journal. For serious fraud or plagiarism the journal may also report to the authors/s affiliating institution.

Ethical Considerations

In all experimental and studies on human or animals, authors must state whether formal approval from an Institutional Review Board or Ethics Committee was obtained. In the absence of such committee, the Declaration of Helsinki guidelines must be followed and be clearly stated in the Methods section of the manuscript. All studies on human subjects must include a statement that the subjects gave informed consent. Patient anonymity should be preserved. Photographs need to be cropped to prevent human subjects being recognized. Experiments involving animals must be demonstrated to be ethically acceptable and should conform to national guidelines for animal usage in research. For more details, check the Journal Ethics page.

Open access policy

Hong Kong Journal of Orthopaedic Research publishes peer-reviewed scholarly journals indexed with most international A&I databases. The journal provides immediate free access to the full text of articles in PDF format. The open access policy of the journal aims at increasing the visibility and accessibility of the published content and thus providing the desirable research impact.

Covering Letter

Each submitted article must be accompanied by a Covering letter stating:
The section under which the manuscript is submitted (original research, review, case reports, short communication, letter to the editor, etc),
The undertaking that the article is neither under consideration in any other journal nor has been published/accepted for publication in any other journal.
The authors should state that the article represents original work and that they take full responsibility for the information provided.
All the details of the authors and the institute of work should be present in the covering letter. The authors need to assign the copyright of the article to journal upon acceptance.

Authorship Criteria

Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to each of the three components mentioned below:
Concept and design of study or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data;
Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
Final approval of the version to be published.
Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content of the manuscript. The order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor towards the study and writing the manuscript.

Categories of manuscripts

Preparation of Manuscript

All manuscripts should be prepared according to the guidelines given of “Uniform requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals” given by “International Committee of Medical Journals Editors”. Read this article carefully before preparing the manuscript.

ICMJE International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals: writing and editing for biomedical publications [Internet]. [place unknown]: International Committee of Medical Journal Editors; 2009  Available from: http://www.icmje.org/

Various guidelines are given for reporting of research. Authors can take the help of these guidelines during writing the manuscript.

Original Article

This may include intervention studies, outcome studies, experimental designs, clinical trials, clinical studies, case control studies, cohort studies, cross sectional surveys etc. Original article should be subdivided into –

1. Abstract, 2. Key Words, 3. Introduction, 4. Materials and Methods/Methodology, 5. Statistical Analysis, 6. Result, 7. Discussion, 8. Conclusion, 9. Conflicts of interest, 10. Authors’ Contribution, 11. Acknowledgments (If any), 12. References, 13. Tables and Figures

Abstract: In the case of original article, abstract should be structured. It should be divided into Background, Aims and Objectives, Study Design, Setting, Materials and Methods, Statistics, Results and Conclusion. All results should be mentioned in the abstract. There should not be any selective reporting of results in abstract.

Key Words: 3 to 6 key words on the basis of Medical Subjects Heading (MeSH) of “Index Medicus” should be given.

Introduction: Description of the research area, pertinent background information, and the hypotheses tested in the study should be included under this section. The introduction should provide sufficient background information such that a scientifically literate reader can understand and appreciate the experiments to be described. The introduction MUST include in-text citations including references to pertinent reviews and primary scientific literature. The specific aims of the project should be identified along with a rationale for the specific experiments and other work performed.

Materials and Methods/Methodology: How the study was done should be explained in sufficient detail so that some other researcher can replicate the same study. How the subjects were selected? How the intervention was allocated? How blinding was done? How the endpoints were measured? etc should be given in sufficient detail. Appropriate reference to some standard technique should be given. If experimental procedure is long then it can be given as appendix. Help of suitable guidelines mentioned above should be taken during writing the manuscript. Ethics should be the part of this section.

Statistical Analysis: Sufficient information regarding the statistics used should be given. Description of data should be given in standard form like “Mean (SD)”, “Median”, “Range” or “Frequencies (Percentages)”. Statistical tests should be mentioned in detail including assumptions for particular test, exact p value and confidence interval.

Results: There must not be any overlap between results shown in table and results written in text. Results should appear in logical sequence i.e. most important results should be written first. Absolute value should be written with method of description like percentages, mean, median etc.

Discussion: Discussion should start with summary of main results. All results should be interpreted and compared with existing knowledge of the subject. Reasons for the findings should be discussed. Implication of results obtained should be discussed in detail. Limitations of the study should also be mentioned.

Conclusion: Main findings of the study should be written in the conclusion. A box should be added just after the conclusion mentioning what was already known before the study and what information this study adds to the existing knowledge.

Conflicts of interest: Authors must declare all sources of support for the research and any association with a product or subject that may constitute conflict of interest.

Authors’ Contribution: Authors must declare the roll of all author's contribution.

Acknowledgments: All acknowledgments (if any) should be included at the very end of the paper before the references and may include supporting grants, presentations, and so forth.

References:

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text (not in alphabetic order). Citations of literature within the text must be presented in numerical order and should be set in square brackets, thus [1, 12].The cited literatures are also collected in numerical order at the end of the manuscript under the heading “References”. 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. Use the style of the examples below, which are based on the formats used by the NLM in Index Medicus. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. Use complete name of the journal for non-indexed journals. Avoid using abstracts as references.

Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as "unpublished observations" with written permission from the source. Avoid citing a "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text.

The commonly cited types of references are shown here, for other types of references such as newspaper items please refer to ICMJE Guidelines (http://www.icmje.org or http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html).

Articles in Journals

a.Standard journal article (for up to six authors): Mallikarjun GB, Menon J, Patro D. Surgical management of intra-atricular fractures of the calcaneum. J Sci Inno. Res. 2014;3(5):482-6.
b.Standard journal article (for more than six authors): List the first six contributors followed by et al. Khatri N, Peddada N, Chopra BS, Gupta AK, Garg R, Ashish, et al. Plasma gelsolin levels in healthy mice as a function of age and gender. J Sci Inno. Res. 2014;3(5):475-77.
c.Volume with supplement: Shen HM, Zhang QF. Risk assessment of nickel carcinogenicity and occupational lung cancer. Environ Health Perspect 1994; 102 Suppl 1:275-82.
d.Issue with supplement: Payne DK, Sullivan MD, Massie MJ. Women's psychological reactions to breast cancer. Semin Oncol 1996; 23(1, Suppl 2):89-97.

Books and Other Monographs

a.Personal author(s): Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996.
b.Editor(s), compiler(s) as author: Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996.
c.Chapter in a book: Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. pp. 465-78.
Electronic Sources as reference

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

Monograph on the Internet

Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [monograph on the Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309074029/html/.

Homepage/Web site

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/.

Part of a homepage/Web site

American Medical Association [homepage on the Internet]. Chicago: The Association; c1995-2002 [updated 2001 Aug 23; cited 2002 Aug 12]. AMA Office of Group Practice Liaison; [about 2 screens]. Available from: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/1736.html

Dissertation

Susan MK. Hospital acquired infections: Role of antibiotic resistance [dissertation]. St. Louis (MO): Washington Univ.; 2002.

Tables and Figures

Tables:

Tables should be self-explanatory and should not duplicate textual material.
Tables with more than 12 columns and 25 rows are not acceptable.
Number tables, in Arabic numerals, consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each.
Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading.
Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table.
Obtain permission for all fully borrowed, adapted, and modified tables and provide a credit line in the footnote.
For footnotes use the following symbols, in this sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||,¶ , **, ††, ‡‡
Tables with their legends should be provided at the end of the text after the references. The tables along with their number place in the text.

Figures:

The maximum number of figures should be limited to four
Upload the images in JPEG format. The file size should be within 4 MB in size while uploading.
Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text.
Labels, numbers, and symbols should be clear and of uniform size. The lettering for figures should be large enough to be legible width of printed column. Use only horizontal rules for the tables; to separate the column headings. No vertical rules should that all columns and rows are aligned.
Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background and should be marked neatly with overlay and not by pen.
Titles and detailed explanations should be written in the legends for illustrations, and not on the illustrations themselves.
Send digital X-rays, digital images of histopathology slides, where feasible.
If photographs of individuals are used, authors should take written permission to use the photograph.
If a figure has been published elsewhere, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright a credit line should appear in the legend for such figures.
If the uploaded images are not of printable quality, the publisher office may request for higher resolution images which can be sent at the time of acceptance of the manuscript. Ensure that the image has minimum resolution of 300 dpi or 1800 x 1600 pixels.
The Journal reserves the right to crop, rotate, reduce, or enlarge the photographs to an acceptable size.

Short Communication

Brief study or short report will be accepted under short communication.

Research Letter, Letter to the Editor and Correspondence

Short observations based on hard data will be considered in research letter section. Those who want to comment on previously published article should not send comments in research letter section. They should write it as letter to the editor. Editorial board of journal has decided to publish all letters to the editor which come to the journal as a comment on previously published articles. We understand that peer review has some drawbacks and sometimes poor quality article survived through peer review gets published. So letter to the editor serves as a post publication peer review and helps evidence based medicine. Those manuscripts which do not fall into research letter or letter to the editor can be submitted as correspondence. 

Reviews, Commentaries and Education Forum

Journal will publish reviews based on hard data written by scientist having enough experience in the relevant field. We encourage systematic reviews, narrative reviews published in educational forum. We invite commentaries from scientists and academicians on some important issues related to the field of physiology, pharmacy, pharmacology, medical education, ethics and pharmaceutical advertisements etc. Contributors should communicate with the editor regarding the exact format of article in these categories as format is flexible and depends on the topic and area of interest.

Other manuscripts like Drug review, ADR report, Research methodology articles, Ethics section, News, Conference report, Book reviews can be sent after consultation with editor about the format.

Copyright

Submission of a manuscript implies: that the work described has not been published before (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, or thesis) that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication, the authors agree to automatic transfer of the copyright to the publisher.

Retractions Policy

Journal will consider correcting or retracting articles in rare cases. The Journal follows the ICMJE guidelines for Retraction and Correction of articles.

According to ICMJE Recommendations, honest errors are a part of science and publishing and require publication of a correction when they are detected. It is our responsibility to correct errors in previously published articles. In such case, the corrections will be published as soon as possible once errors are confirmed and published version may or may not be deleted from the public domain.

On rare occasions, published articles may be retracted. The journal believes that the aim of retraction is not to punish authors but to revise the literature and to alert the reader to such publications which may contain serious errors or erroneous data, and whose conclusions are unreliable. Please note that articles will be retracted by publishing a retraction, but may or may not be deleted from the public domain.