Submissions

Author Guidelines

SUBMISSIONS

The Philippine Journal of Orthopaedics shall only accept submissions through its online portal (https://philjorthopaedics.org/index.php/pjo/about/submissions).

No hard copies shall be entertained.

Submissions shall include: (1) the manuscript, (2) cover letter, (3) author form, and other relevant forms (informed consent form). These shall be screened for completeness and correctness prior to review by the editors.

You may use the following templates to write your manuscripts:

PJO Template for Original Articles

PJO Template for Case Reports

COVER LETTER (Download the Cover Letter template here )

A cover letter addressed to the Editor-in-Chief should be prepared, stating the complete title of the work, final list of all authors, and the intention to submit.

The corresponding author with complete contact information (institutional mailing address, work telephone and work e-mail address) should be clearly indicated.

Presentation of the study findings as an abstract or poster in previous conferences should be mentioned in the letter, to include information on the title and dates of the conference, as well as awards won, if any.

AUTHOR FORM  (Download the Author Form here )

The Author Form includes: A certification of fulfillment of authorship criteria for all authors listed; Declaration of conformity to publication ethics and ethical standards for experiments on human/animal subjects and approval by the appropriate ethics committee; Disclosure of conflicts of interest where existing; and Publishing Agreement.

Complete names of the authors (First name, middle initial, last name), with title indicating the highest educational/professional attainment (e.g., MD, MSc, PhD), and name and location of not more than one (1) institutional affiliation, should be indicated.

INFORMED CONSENT FORM (Download the Informed Consent form here  )

For case reports/case series, the authors shall submit a scanned copy of the written/informed consent for publication from the involved patient/subject.

The Philippine Journal of Orthopaedics requires the use of its standard Informed Consent Form, duly accomplished and submitted with the other requirements.

In case the involved subject/s and/or relative/guardian can no longer be contacted after all means have been undertaken by the author, the author should state so in the cover letter with a description of all the efforts made to secure consent.

MANUSCRIPT

Title Page

The title page should include:

Complete title of the article which should be informative, concise, meaningful, and as brief as possible (no more than 20 words).

Name of each author with highest academic degree(s) and complete address of one (1) institutional affiliation.

Listing of any meeting(s)/conference(s) where the material is under consideration for presentation, has been previously presented, and/or has been awarded. Indicate title, place month and year of the meeting/conference.

Corresponding author’s name, mailing address, telephone, and e-mail address. The corresponding author will be responsible for all questions about the manuscript. Only one author is to be designated as corresponding author and he/she does not need to be the first author on the manuscript.

Appropriate footnotes for explanatory purposes or additional information may be placed with proper cross-referencing to the main text, in the following order of usage: *, **, ***

Financial support, if any. Provide the agency name and city, company name and city, fellowship name and/or grant number.

Abstract

Original Articles, Review Articles require a structured abstract of not more than 500 words, with the following four headings:

Objective/s: Briefly state the purpose/s or aim/s of the study.

Methodology: State the study design (e.g., randomized clinical trial, case-control study, cross-sectional study, systematic review), setting (multi-center, institutional, et cetera), study population. Additional modifiers can be stated (consecutive, retrospective, prospective, observational, interventional, non-consecutive, etc.)

Results: Briefly summarize the principal outcome measurements/data obtained. Results should be accompanied by data with confidence intervals and the exact level of statistical significance.

Conclusions: Provide brief and concise conclusion(s) directly supported by the data.

Case Reports or Case Series do NOT require a structured abstract, with a maximum of 300 words.

Keywords

At least 5 keywords listed in the Medical Subject Headings database ([MeSH] of the National Center for Biotechnology Information [NCBI] [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/]) should be provided.

Body of the Text

The manuscript should be written in IMRAD format (Introduction, Methodology, Results and Discussion, Conclusion).

Organize and prepare the manuscript to include the following sections:
INTRODUCTION. The Introduction should refer only to the most pertinent past publications and should not be an extensive review of the literature. Include a brief background, the research question and/or rationale, objectives/purposes of the study, and major hypothesis to be tested if any.

METHODOLOGY. Methods should be written with sufficient detail to permit others to duplicate the work. Study Design: State the study design using a phrase such as randomized or nonrandomized clinical trial, case-control study, cross-sectional study, cohort study, case series, case report, systematic review, meta-analysis, review, experimental study, or historical manuscript; Setting: (e.g. multicenter, institutional, clinical practice); Participants, Patients, or Study Population: Number of patients, selection procedures, inclusion/exclusion criteria, randomization procedure and masking; Intervention or observation procedure(s); Main and secondary outcome measure(s); Data and statistical analyses, to include what software was used for the computations. For original articles, statements regarding adherence to the Declaration of Helsinki, approval by the Institutional Review Board (IRB)/Ethics Committee, and a description of the informed consent process should be included.

RESULTS. Results must be concise. Provide demographic data of the study population. Describe outcomes and measurements in an objective sequence with minimum discussion. Data should be accompanied by confidence intervals (usually at the 95% interval) and exact p-values or other indications of statistical significance.

DISCUSSION. The discussion should be restricted to the significant findings presented. Avoid excessive generalization and undue speculation. Elucidate on (but do not reiterate) the results, provide responses to other and contradictory literature, identify limitations or qualifications of the study, and state the conclusions that are directly supported by the data. Give equal emphasis to positive and negative findings, whether and what additional study is required, and conclude with the clinical applications or implications supported by the study.

CONCLUSION/S. The conclusion(s) is/are should be directly supported by the results. Authors should avoid making statements on economic benefits and costs unless their manuscript includes economic data and analyses.

Cite only published studies as references.

Quote from the entire study, not the abstract.

Authors may acknowledge “unpublished data” or submitted articles within parentheses in the text.

Reference to a “personal communication” within parentheses in the text must be accompanied by a signed permission letter from the individual being cited.

Abbreviations

Restrict abbreviations to those that are widely used and understood. Avoid abbreviations that have meaning only in the context of your specific manuscript.
All abbreviations should be spelled out once (the first time they are mentioned in the text) followed by the abbreviation enclosed in parentheses.

Measurements

All measurements and weights should be expressed in SI units.

Drugs, Instruments, Equipment

Use generic names only in the text body. State the trade name of a particular drug cited in parentheses including manufacturer’s name, city, state and/or country when first mentioned in the text.

With regard to instruments or equipment utilized in the study, enclose in parentheses the specific model, manufacturer’s name, city, state and/or country.

Conflicts of Interest

There should be a statement disclosing conflicts of interest where existing, source of funding for the study and manuscript, and acknowledgments to individuals/groups of persons, or institution/s.

Funding Sources

Funding source/s for the study on which the manuscript is based, to include the writing of the manuscript, should be stated.

Acknowledgments

Contributors to the work who do not fulfill the authorship criteria should be acknowledged.
Tables, Figures, Illustrations and Photographs

Tables

Tables should follow references. Each table must be titled and numbered consecutively using Arabic numbers as mentioned in the text. The title should be brief and fully understandable without reference to the text. Each table column and row must have a heading. Tables that indicate the mean should have the corresponding standard deviation. Legends must identify all symbols that appear on the tables and graphs. A maximum of five tables may be included in the manuscript.

Figures (Graphs, Illustrations, and Photographs)

Each final figure should be submitted as individual Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), Portable Network Graphics (PNG), or Tag Image File Format (TIFF) files with appropriate labels (figure number, title).

Submit the original, raw, and unedited files in the abovementioned formats in one (1) folder with labels that shall allow comparison with the final figures. Disclose If there are modifications, such as cropping, changes in color, orientation, or placement of arrows or shapes.

Photographs (clinical photographs, fluorescein angiograms, computed tomography [CT] scans, magnetic resonance imaging [MRI], X-ray, photomicrographs, transmission/scanning electron micrographs [TEM/ SEM], graphs, etc.) should have a resolution of at least 600 dpi.

Graphs may be submitted in “PowerPoint” or “Excel” format. Text in figures must not be smaller than 10 points when finally reproduced in the Journal. Illustrations must be professionally rendered with appropriate labels. Raw data may be requested by the Editorial Board for verification of computations.

Each figure must be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals by order of citation in the text.

Each should have a brief explanatory legend. Legends must identify all symbols or letters that appear on the prints. Histologic figures, stains, and magnifications should be noted in the legend.

Graphs that indicate the mean should include the standard deviation. Clinical photographs should be masked when possible to prevent identification of the patient. Photographs may be in black and white, or submitted in full color.

Any figure that has been published elsewhere or adapted should have an acknowledgment to the original source. A copy of the release to publish the figure signed by the copyright holder must also be submitted.

Up to a maximum of five items only per type may be included.

Appendix

Appendices should be used very sparingly. However, it is appropriate to provide survey forms, to list the members of a study group, or explain complex formulas or information. In studies involving a study group, the writing group authors should be listed along with the group name on the title page. Other group members should be listed in an appendix.

References

List only references that are pertinent to the manuscript.

References should be numbered consecutively in the text and in the reference list. In the text, reference numbers are entered as superscripts. The references must be verified by the author(s) against the original documents. PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) offers a useful reference checker.

References to journal articles should include: the author or authors (for more than four authors, list only the first three followed by “et al.”), title, journal name, (as abbreviated in Index Medicus), year, volume number, and inclusive page numbers. References to books should include: the author or authors, chapter title (if any), editor or editors (if any), book title, edition (other than the first), city of publication, publisher copyright year, and inclusive pages of the chapter or section cited.

Website references must include author (or website owner), title of article, date article was posted, publication (if applicable), complete website address and date accessed.

For a complete sample of references, please refer to http://www.nlm.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html