Submit articles to The Journal of Hand Surgery at 
http://ees.elsevier.com/jhs/
Aims and Scope:
The Journal of Hand Surgery publishes
original, peer-reviewed articles related to the pathophysiology,
diagnosis, and treatment of diseases
and conditions of
the upper extremity; these include both clinical and basic
science studies along with case reports. Special features
include History of Hand Surgery, A Touch of Humanity,
Current Concepts, Surgical Techniques, Evidence-Based
Medicine, In Brief, Review
of Books and Media, and
Letters to the Editor. Accepted submissions will be published
in the print journal as well as in the online version.
Supplemental materials may be published in the online
version with reference to it in the print version. Before
beginning to write for
the Journal of Hand Surgery, prospective
authors should read these Instructions completely.
Authors will also benefit from reading
- Manske PR. Structures and format of peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts. J Hand Surg 2006;31A:1051.1055.
- Flatt AE. Words. J Hand Surg 200;25A:201.210.
http://ees.elsevier.com/jhs.
Send other
correspondence relating to the editorial management of The
Journal of Hand Surgery to the appropriate editor:Roy A. Meals, MD, Editor-in-Chief
Scott H. Kozin, MD, Review Editor
The Journal of Hand Surgery
American Society for Surgery of the Hand
6300 North River Road, Suite 600
Chicago, IL 60018
Phone: (847) 384-8300
Fax: (847) 384-1435
Email: jhs@assh.org
Editorial policies: Statements and opinions expressed in the Journal of Hand Surgery are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Editor or Publisher. The Editor and Publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for such material. Neither the Editor nor the Publisher guarantees, warrants, or endorses any product or service advertised in this publication; nor do they guarantee any claims made by the manufacturer of such product or service.
Copyright: All material published in the Journal of Hand Surgery is vested in the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. In accordance with the Copyright Act of 1976, the corresponding author of each manuscript will be required to complete a copyright assignment form on acceptance of the manuscript. When submitting a paper the author(s) must make a full statement to the Editor about all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as prior or duplicate publication of the same or similar work. Copies of such material should be included with the submitted paper to help the Editor decide how to deal with the matter.
Financial interest: The Conflict of Interest Statement, signed by all listed authors, is required on submission of the manuscript. This form requires disclosure from each author indicating that (a) no financial conflict of interest exists with any commercial entity whose products are described, reviewed, evaluated, or compared in the manuscript, except for that disclosed under 'Acknowledgments' or (b) a potential conflict of interest exists with one or more commercial entities whose products are described, reviewed, evaluated, or compared in the manuscript.
Ethical standards: The Journal of Hand Surgery adheres to the ethical standards described by the Committee on Publication Ethics (
http://publicationethics.org)
and the International
Committee of Medical Journal Editors ( http://www.icmje.org/urm_main.html). Authors are expected to
adhere to these standards.Human subjects: Articles involving research conducted in human subjects must include a statement in the Materials and Methods section indicating approval by the institutional review board and noting that informed consent, as well as any necessary HIPAA consent, was obtained from each patient. For reports of research using human subjects, provide assurance that (a) necessary and appropriate consent was obtained from each patient and (b) the study protocol conformed to the ethical guidelines of the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki as reflected in a prior approval by the appropriate institutional review committee. Identify patients by number, not by initials. Clinical trials must be registered in a public trials registry. Denote the registry and registry number. Articles emanating from a particular institution must have approval by the requisite authority.
Animal experimentation: Manuscripts reporting animal experiments must include a statement in the Materials and Methods section that animal care complied with the guidelines of the authors' institution and the National Institutes of Health and any national law on the care and use of laboratory animals.
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses: Authors should adhere to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines (www.prisma-statement.org) and indicate in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript that they have done so.
Permissions: Obtain and submit written permission for use from the original copyright holder for any lengthy direct quotations, tables, or illustrations taken from copyrighted material. Include the permission in the text, table footnote, or figure legend and provide complete information as to source. Photographs of identifiable persons must be accompanied by a signed release that indicates informed consent.
Units of measurement: Use Système International (SI) measurements. For clarity, nonmetric equivalents may be included in parentheses following the SI measurements.
Abbreviations and acronyms: If an abbreviation or acronym appears more than three times in the abstract or more than four times in the article, spell out an abbreviation or acronym the first time it is used, followed by the shortened version in parentheses. Spell out all abbreviations and acronyms at the beginning of sentences.
Drug names: Use generic names. You may cite proprietary names in parentheses along with the name and location of the manufacturer.
Language Editing: Authors lacking facility with English syntax should seek editorial assistance prior to submitting their manuscripts. Material requiring major editorial work for clarity of meaning will be returned without review. To obtain the assistance of an English-language editor prior to submitting amanuscript, go to
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/languagepolishing. Authors
are responsible
for the cost associated with using an editing
service. Use of an editing service does not guarantee acceptance
of the manuscript.Style: When not otherwise specified in these Instructions to Authors or in the Journal of Hand Surgery Style Guide, defer to the guidelines specified in the latest edition of the American Medical Association's Manual of Style (www.amamanualofstyle.com).
As a final step before submitting your manuscript, turn on the "Display Readability Statistics" function in Microsoft Word. Instructions to do so are in the Help Menu. Then subject the manuscript to Microsoft Word's Spelling and Grammar checker and consider making the changes it recommends. For instance, JHS encourages active verb forms. On completion of the spelling and grammar check, Word will give you the percentage of sentences with passive verb forms, the Flesh Reading Ease score, and the Flesh-Kinkaid Grade Level. Please indicate these 3 scores in your cover letter. Going through this process and reporting the results will make the writing stronger and will facilitate the review process.
Organization of the manuscript: Manuscripts not complying with these requirements will be returned to the author(s) for appropriate formatting modifications prior to review. Since the authors' identities are withheld from the reviewers, include the authors' names only on the title page. For blinding purposes, submit the manuscript as two separate files: the title page as one file and the manuscript, without author names, as another file. Double space lines throughout (including the list of references, tables, and figure legends) with 2.5-cm margins all around. Use continuous numbering to number each line in the margin. Arrange the manuscript as follows: title page, abstract, body of the manuscript, references, figure legends, tables, figures. Organize the body of the manuscript as follows. For peerreviewed scientific studies, the sections are introduction, materials and methods, results, and discussion. JHS scientific articles do not include a conclusion section. For review articles, include historical background (introduction), specific subheadings for the main body of the text, and a summary.
Title page: The title should be a concise and informative description of the study. Include the authors' highest academic degrees, both abbreviated and spelled out (maximum two). Exclude professional certifications such as CHT, RN, and RPT. Include the department and institution where the work was done. The sequence of the authors' names is of the authors' choosing. Designate one author as the correspondent and supply his or her complete mailing address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address. Every person listed as an author should have materially participated in the design, execution, and analysis of the study and should verify the accuracy of the entire manuscript before its submission. Lesser contributions are appropriately noted in an acknowledgment section on the title page. The person(s) receiving the proposed acknowledgement must give approval to the author for the publication of their name(s). Manuscripts should have no more than 6 authors. A greater number requires justification.
On the title page, provide a short title of no greater than 45 characters, including spaces, for the running head. List in alphabetical order key words for coding and indexing purposes. Include disclaimers, if any, and a brief acknowledgment of grants or other assistance. Note: If you received a grant from the American Foundation for Surgery of the Hand, then please acknowledge that grant on your Title Page.
Abstract: Do not include footnotes, statistical results, or references in the abstract. Type the abstract on a separate page. For peer-reviewed clinical studies, submit a structured abstract limited to 300 words and divided into 5 sections: Purpose, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Level of Evidence (see table). For peer-reviewed basic science studies, submit a structured abstract limited to 300 words divided into 5 sections: Purpose, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Clinical Relevance. For review articles and case reports, submit a brief one-paragraph description of the manuscript contents.
Manuscript body: Restrict the manuscript to fewer than 3,000 words. In both the abstract and in the main body, avoid claiming priority of findings. For example, avoid statements such as, "This paper is the first to report..." Formatting, such as Greek letters, italics, superscripts, and subscripts, may be used. The coding scheme for such elements must be consistent throughout.
Articles may use section subheadings within the following headings to clarify content.
Introduction: In fewer than 500 words and in 3 to 4 paragraphs, include the study's background, rationale, questions or hypotheses posed, and novelty. Each of the questions or hypotheses should be sufficiently important to appear in the abstract.
Materials and Methods: Present the study design clearly. Identify and describe the measurement parameters. Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Avoid sole reliance on statistical hypothesis testing, such as the use of p values, which fails to convey important quantitative information. Do not identify the statistical software used unless the analysis was dependent on a particular software program.
Results: In less than 500 words, present the findings in the same order that you pose the questions or hypotheses in the Introduction. Data should be presented only once, in a text, table, or graph.
Discussion: In fewer than 1,000 words, briefly restate the rationale and the questions, then explore major limitations and compare and contrast the study's results with previous work. Include one paragraph for each question or hypothesis. Synthesize the current results with those previously published. It is The Journal of Hand Surgery's style not to include a Conclusion section since this is typically redundant with the abstract.
References: Authors are responsible for verifying the accuracy and completeness of references. References should not be merely a listing of the results of a computerized literature search but should have been read by the author and deemed pertinent to the manuscript. Type references double-spaced on pages separate from the text and number them consecutively by the order of their citation in the text. Identify references in the text by Arabic numerals within parentheses. Do not use an automated end notes system or automatic list numbering because these features are lost when converting the manuscript into the form necessary for publication.
List all authors when 6 or fewer; when 7 or more, list the first 6 and add et al. Use abbreviations of journal titles conforming to Index Medicus. Include complete opening and closing page numbers for each citation. If a reference source is not yet published but has been accepted for publication, include the source in the reference list and submit the letter of acceptance along with the manuscript.
Do not cite meeting abstracts, personal communications, or unpublished material (including oral and poster presentations, correspondence club letters, and manuscripts not yet accepted for publication) in the reference list. If critical to the manuscript's message, cite this material in the text within parentheses. Please note the following examples of reference style.
Journal article
Elfar JC, Yaseen Z, Stern PJ, Kiefhaber TR. Individual finger sensibility in carpal tunnel syndrome. J Hand Surg 2010;35A:1807-1812.
Book
Taleisnik J. The wrist. New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1985: 25-32.
Chapter in edited book
Bowers WH. The distal radioulnar joint. In: Green DP, ed. Operative hand surgery. 3rd ed. New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1993:973-1020.
Tables: Double-space table data with the table number and title centered above the table and with explanatory notes below the table. Each table should be on a separate page. Do not duplicate material in tables with material in the text or figures. Submit lengthy tables and extended data for publication as supplementary material in the online journal.
Figure legends: Number the figures with Arabic numerals in the order cited in the text. Provide sufficient explanation to render the figure intelligible without reference to the text. Define all symbols and all abbreviations not yet spelled out in the text. For reproduction of any copyrighted material, include written permission from the copyright holder (see Permissions, above). On a page separate from the body of the manuscript, type figure legends double-spaced.
Figures: Apply any digital manipulation of an image (e.g., brightness, color, contrast) to the whole image in order not to misrepresent the original image Enhancement or masking of a portion of an image is unacceptable unless clearly and completely explained in the legend. Use professionally produced arrows or other markers placed directly on the figure to identify important features. Do not write on the illustrations. Crop figures as necessary to emphasize the subject material. All figures and illustrations should be oriented so the distal component (e.g., the fingertip) is at the top. The names of the subject, author, or institution must not appear anywhere on the figure. The figure title and caption material appear in the legend, not on the figure. Figure numbers must correspond with the order in which figures occur in the text. Do not include photographs or x-rays of normal findings. Submit line art with no gradations of shading, as they will not reproduce well. Use cross-hatching or patterns where shading is necessary. Artwork and photographs submitted in color will be reproduced in full color in the Journal at no charge to the authors. Obscure the identity of any person included in a photograph or include the person's written permission to be identified. If a figure has been published, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the original copyright holder to reproduce the material (see Permissions, above). Authors are responsible for applying for permission for both print and electronic rights for all borrowed materials and are responsible for paying any fees related to the applications of these permissions.
Please see instructions for submitting digital art at
http://ees.elsevier.com/jhs. Provide images
in EPS or TIF format. To
create the art, use graphics software such as Photoshop and
Illustrator, not presentation software such as PowerPoint,
Corel-Draw, or Harvard Graphics. Color images must be
CMYK, at least 300 DPI. Gray scale images should be at least
300 DPI. Combinations
of gray scale and line art should be at
least 1,200 DPI. Line art (black and white or color) should be
at least 1,200 DPI and be accompanied
by a proof.Special features:
Review Articles
• The Current Concepts section is designed to provide review articles focusing on up-to-date information covering 60 essential topics on a three-year rotation. Current Concepts authors are invited based upon their expertise. Contact Scott Kozin atskozin@shrinenet.org with suggestions or questions.
• The Surgical Techniques section complements the Current Concepts section and provides step-by-step details of various surgical procedures relevant to clinical practice. Surgical technique articles are open for submission and will also be solicited from experts. Interested authors should contact David Netscher at netscher@bcm.tmc.edu.
• The Evidence-Based Medicine section uses case-based learning and applies this concept to all aspects of the management of a particular disease including etiology, diagnosis, nonsurgical and surgical treatment, aftercare, and outcomes. Cases can be submitted and will serve as the basis for a review of the best scientific evidence available to manage the patient. Volunteers interested in reviewing the evidence and writing a full article should contact David Ring at dring@partners.org.
• In Brief articles are short summaries that focus on the relevant, recent peer-review literature pertaining to hand and upper extremity surgical conditions or medical problems relevant to our medical practices. Contact Donald Lee at donald.h.lee@vanderbilt.edu and Julie Daniels at julie.m.daniels@vanderbilt.edu with a brief outline of the proposed topic, suggestions or questions.
Case Reports: The Journal receives far more case reports than space allows for publication. To be worthy of publication, a case report must have extraordinary teaching value to the readers. Typically we do not accept cases where two findings are associated since the findings are often coincidentally rather than causally related. Restrict the abstract to 150 words and highlight the unique features of the case. In sections identified as Introduction, Case Report, and Discussion and in fewer than 1,500 words, introduce the topic, present the case, and discuss its novelty and educational value. Limit references to 10 citations.
History of Hand Surgery: Include a brief unstructured abstract, limit the manuscript length to 3,000 words, and follow the guidelines for original science submissions.
A Touch of Humanity: As space allows, the Journal will publish selected submissions in the following categories:
- First Hand: Original essays or poetry that relate to the author's experience and insight as a health care provider or patient. If the description could be used to identify the patient, his signed authorization must accompany the submission. Omitting or generalizing information to mask a patient's identity is acceptable; changing information is not. Restrict essays to 1,500 words, poetry to 40 lines.
- The Hand in Art: Original, previously unpublished photographs of hands represented in established works of art such as paintings, sculpture, stamps, and coins. Follow the standards of photography cited above in the section on Figures. A legend of no more than 150 words should describe the work, its materials, creator, location, date of creation, and context.
- Hand Crafted: Original, previously unpublished photographs of work created by readers. Possible objects include but are not limited to wood turning, cabinetry, painting, sculpture, car restoration, needle craft, jewelry making. Follow the standards of photography cited above in the section on Figures. Include a legend of no more than 150 words describing the work, its materials, and time required for completion.
Review of Books and Media: The Journal publishes reviews of books and other media that will enlarge a reader's perspective even beyond specialty core knowledge and technical skills. Acceptable media include educational material in electronic formats, practice management software programs, and software applications for smart phones. For authors and publishers wishing to have a work reviewed, send two copies to Dr. Meals. We will not return material selected for review. We will return material not selected for review only when the sender has prepaid the shipping charges.
We encourage readers to submit unsolicited reviews of books and media that they think would be of interest to other readers. Limit reviews to 800 words and include the work's title, publisher, city and date of publication, and retail price. Such submissions will go through the same review and selection process as unsolicited scientific manuscripts.
Letters: Letters to the editor are encouraged. They may be independent observations, or they may relate to a previously published article. Letters must not duplicate information submitted elsewhere for publication or previously published. Letters are subject to editing and abridgement without the author's review. Limit the body of the letter to 300 words, authors to three, references to five, and tables or figures to one. We are more likely to publish a letter relating to a previously published article when we receive it promptly after the article is published. We will forward the letter to the author(s) for comment (maximum 300 words and 5 references). The policies regarding conflicts and disclosures for full manuscripts apply to letters as well.
Video Clips: The Journal of Hand Surgery invites authors to submit video clips for publication on the Journal's website. All video clips will be subject to peer review. The American Society for Surgery of the Hand will hold the copyright on all video clips published on the Journal's website. Each coauthor of a video clip must sign a form, obtainable from the Editorial Office, expressly transferring copyright in the event that we publish the video clip on the Journal's website. Peer review will proceed when the Editorial Office has received the signed copyright releases.
Video clips must be no more than 1 minute in length and no more than 5 MB in file size. QuickTime or MPEG formats are acceptable. Authors who want their videos accessible in a streaming format must also provide either a single SureStream file or 3 uniquely named single-rate clips (28.8, 56, T1) with a SMIL file to list the bandwidth choices. Video clips must meet production quality standards without modifications or editing by the Editorial Office. The Journal can accept only video submissions that meet the Journal's formatting and image quality requirements. Authors will be notified if there are any problems with submitted files and asked to resubmit modified files. Image editing and correct formatting are the author's responsibility. Authors may supply a still shot from the clip to be posted next to the link to the video clip on the website; guidelines for figure submission should be followed.
For detailed instructions on capturing, digitizing, saving, and submitting videos by ftp, please see the Guidelines for Video Submission available at www.jhandsurg.org.
Reprints: We will send a reprint order form to the author with the page proofs. Reprints ordered at that time are more economical than those ordered after publication. Questions regarding reprints should be directed to the Publisher (212) 462-1966
SUBMIT MANUSCRIPTS ONLINE AT
HTTP://EES.ELSEVIER.COM/JHS
Updated December 2011