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Preparing Your Paper

All authors should conform to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, prepared by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/).

Structure

Your paper should be compiled in the following order (except for Case Reports and Correspondance type of articles):

  • Title page
  • Abstract
  • Keywords
  • Tweetable abstract/Social Media promotion
  • Main text:
    • Introduction
    • Materials and methods incl. ethical approval
    • Results
    • Discussion
    • Conclusions
  • Conflict of interest
  • Author contributions
  • Acknowledgments
  • Funding information
  • References
  • Tables and figures
    • Table(s) with caption(s) (on individual pages)
    • Figure(s) and figure caption(s) (as a list)
  • Supporting information (as appropriate)

Title page – should include: a) full title of the article (title should be descriptive, clear, concise and incorporate keywords/phrases without using abbreviations or proprietary names) b) all contributing authors with full name (first name, middle name(s) if appropriate, and surname followed by degrees c) affiliation(s) (institution, town and country) in English. Affiliations are marked with superscript numbers and d) corresponding author (only one) details to whom all decision letters and page proofs will be communicated (give the professional address and include telephone with country code and e-mail). We also highly recommend suggesting two or more reviewers for your paper; please state their full name, place of work, and e-mail address. 


Abstract – a structured abstract of no more than 400 words is required. Avoid abbreviations in the abstract. Emphasize the main problem targeted and to what degree it was solved or new knowledge was added.


Keywords - include 3-5 keywords for indexing services and other search facilities for published material. Standardised medical subject headings (MeSH terms) are preferred.

 

Tweetable abstract /Social Media promotion- Please provide a tweetable abstract in no more than 22 words. Please add the Twitter handles of the authors if available. Please provide a photo, eye-catching illustration or graph for use for social media (only use graphics you have copyright of). Please aim for an image to give readers a clear idea of the content of your article. Save the graphical abstract as a .jpg, .png, or .gif. Please do not embed it in the manuscript file but save it as a separate file, labelled GraphicalAbstract.

 

Main text 

For DSOG Guideline Bulletin articles, please use the standard form found here. For other article types, see below:

  1. Introduction
    Provide a relevant background and introduce the problem being investigated citing key published work. Clearly state the purpose or objective of the research and what questions are to be addressed or answered.
  2. Materials and methods
    The design of investigations, methods of analysis, source of data and outcome measures should be described in sufficient detail to permit the study to be repeated by others and must include specification of all statistical methods.

At the end of the Material and methods section, under a subheading called Ethical approval, authors must include specific information on ethical committee/institutional review board approval (e.g. name of the ethical committee, reference number and date of approval) and - if applicable - data protection authority permission. For clinical trials, authors must provide the registration date, the trial registration number, the name of the publicly accessible registry where it is registered, the URL address of the trial registry, and the date of initial participant enrollment.

  1. Results
    Present the findings in appropriate detail. Duplication between text and tables or figures should be avoided. Related subject matters should be joined in paragraphs (avoid one sentence paragraphs).

Express probability values to no more than three decimals (P, uppercase in italics). Please provide actual P-values and avoid the use of NS (not significant). Confidence intervals (CI) should be reported with a maximum of two digits and “-“between values unless they are negative in which case “to” between values should be used (such as CI 1.84 - 3.26; CI -2.35 to -4.56), and in tables they should be in a separate marked column. In tables use the % mark above a column or percentage values and avoid internal brackets/parentheses in the tables. For mathematical equations use italic type for variables and single letters and write them on a single line if possible.

  1. Discussion
    Raise implications of the findings reported and compare them with those of earlier reports. The focus of this section should be the importance of the actual main findings to clinicians and patient care. Strengths and limitations of the study should be discussed.
  2. Conclusions
    Provide a final concise summary of your findings in one short paragraph at the end of discussion considering implications for clinical practice and future research.

 

Conflict of Interest statement - all authors must state explicitly whether potential conflicts of interest do or do not exist. Authors are responsible for disclosing all financial and personal relationships that could be viewed as presenting a potential conflict of interest. For more information on what constitutes a Conflict of Interest, please see the ICMJE information page.

Acknowledgments - Persons who have made a valuable contribution but do not meet the authorship criteria listed above should be listed in the acknowledgments section.

Funding information – Financial and material support must be acknowledged. Grant bodies and major financial contributors should be listed. If no specific funding was obtained, this should also be stated.

Reference style

This journal uses the Vancouver reference style. No more than 50 references are accepted as a general rule, but can be exceeded for systematic reviews.

State the references consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text, using superscript Arabic numerals after a period or comma. References cited only in tables or in legends to figures should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure. List all authors when six or fewer, when seven or more, list the first three and add ‘et al.’. All journal titles should be abbreviated as shown in the List of Journals in Index Medicus.

Unpublished data, personal communications, statistical programs, "papers" presented at meetings, abstracts and manuscripts submitted for publication cannot be used as a reference. Articles accepted by peer reviewed publications but not yet published are not acceptable as references until they are in Epub format when a DOI number may be cited.

For examples of how to refer to different sources, consult the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals: Sample References - click here.

Tables and Figures - Each table and figure should be cited in the text.
The total number of tables and figures combined should not exceed eight. The journal will decide on the final location of tables and figures in the article (do not indicate this in the text). Legends to figures and tables should be provided after the references. Legends must be fully explanatory so that they can be interpreted independently. Avoid abbreviations when possible and define any abbreviations used at the foot of the table. Tables should fit onto a single A4 page in word, either in portrait or landscape orientation - consider splitting tables that fit poorly onto a single page.

Table(s) with caption(s) (on individual pages – Should be made using Excel or the table feature provided in Word. Use sequential Arabic numerals for tables in both text citations and legends. Tables must be concise and self-explanatory with their legends placed above the body of the table. Keep the format simple, with no background color. Footnotes annotated in superscript lowercase letters may be used. Tables may be placed either after the References in the main manuscript file or uploaded as separate files.

Figures and figure captions (as a list) - Figures should be submitted as separate files but their legends should be included after the Tables. All figures should be cited in the text in numerical order using Arabic numerals. Vector graphics (such as line artwork) should be saved in Encapsulated Postscript Format (EPS), and bitmap files (e.g. photographs) in Tagged Image File Format (TIFF). Other compatible figure formats are .jpg, .gif, .bmp, .xls and .ppt, but not PDF. Line art must be scanned at a minimum of 800 dpi, photographs at a minimum of 300 dpi. Figures based on previously published material must be accompanied by evidence of full permission to reproduce the figure from author(s)/publisher(s) or copyright holder.

Supporting Information - Supporting Information is linked to the article on the web and should enhance the parent article but should not be essential to understand the article content in the print edition of the journal. Please do not include Supporting Information within the main manuscript file, but upload as separate table or figure file(s) named Supporting Information, Table S1, Table S2, Figure S1 etc.

Supporting Information needs to be cited in the text as Supporting Information Table S1, Table S2 etc.

Provide a legend on each Supporting Information item after the References, in the order in which the material is cited in the text. Include a title and a brief summary of the content. For audio and video files, include also the author's name(s), videographer, participants, length (minutes), and size (MB). Permission statements from patients or other relevant individuals may be required.

Supporting Information content may include text documents, questionnaires, tables, figures, graphics, illustrations, audio and DVD/video material, research protocols and mathematical calculations. Videos will be included as Supporting Information.. Supporting document information with a web-directory as to where they are found will be at the back of the text.

Authors reporting results from a questionnaire survey should include a copy of the questionnaire used (original language and/or English translation) together with the manuscript, unless the questionnaire is in common use and/or published before, when a reference will suffice. Supporting Information is subject to the terms in the Copyright Transfer Agreement form, but authors are solely responsible for the accuracy and content of the material provided (a publisher's disclaimer is added).

Authors are encouraged and may even be asked to submit anonymized raw data as supporting information to make their study more transparent and reproducible by others.

Word Limits

Please include a word count for your paper i the title page.

 

Word limit

Max. Figures + Tables

Max. references

Original Articles, Protocols, Pilot studies, Quality Assurance/Clinical Audits

4000

8

50

Review Article

5000

8

50 (exceptions can be made)

Short Communications (Letter), Commentaries ("How We Do It"), Guideline Bulletins

1500*

12

50

Case Report

800 (excluding abstract)

8

10

Correspondence, Letter to the Editor

400

8

10

*For Guideline Bulletins, the word limit can be set aside under special circumstances. Contact a managing editor before submission. Please use the standardized form for Guideline Bulletins.

The word counts do not include the Reference list, Tables, and Figures.

Authorship

DJOG follows the ICMJE recommendations regarding who qualifies for an authorship, based on the following 4 criteria:

  • Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
  • Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
  • Final approval of the version to be published; AND
  • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Please refer to the ICMJE homepage for further information.

In addition, we allow more than one person to be registered as first authors, if both authors contributed equally.

Using Third-Party Material in your Paper

You must obtain the necessary permission to reuse third-party material in your article. The use of short extracts of text and some other types of material is usually permitted, on a limited basis, for the purposes of criticism and review without securing formal permission. If you wish to include any material in your paper for which you do not hold copyright, and which is not covered by this informal agreement, you will need to obtain written permission from the copyright owner prior to submission.

Complying With Ethics of Experimentation

Please ensure that all research reported in submitted papers has been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner, and is in full compliance with all relevant codes of experimentation and legislation. All papers which report in vivo experiments or clinical trials on humans or animals must include a written statement in the Methods section. This should explain that all work was conducted with the formal approval of the local human subject or animal care committees (institutional and national), and that clinical trials have been registered as legislation requires. Authors who do not have formal ethics review committees should include a statement that their study follows the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Submitting Your Paper

To submit your manuscript please click here.

Please note that DJOG uses Crossref to screen papers for unoriginal material. By submitting your paper to DJOG you are agreeing to originality checks during the peer-review and production processes.

On acceptance, we recommend that you keep a copy of your Accepted Manuscript

 

All submissions must meet the following requirements.

  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • The main manuscript file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format.
  • The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining and all tables, figures, and illustrations including the legend are placed in as separate files and not in the main manuscript.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
  • The abstract is no more than 400 words and are structured and using the sections Introduction, Methods, Results and Conclusion
  • Tables are easily readable and fit onto a single A4 page in word. Otherwise, consider splitting the table.
  • In the Comments for the Editor field below, you must upload your coverletter for the submission.
  • One to eight keyword(s) are provided in the metadata section. All keywords must be MESH terms.
  • We highly recommend that you suggest two or more reviewers for your paper (to be stated on the title page).
  • If your manuscript has been submitted to other journals previously and been rejected after peer-review, please indicate this on the title page and include the previous peer-review comments (and possibly your response to the comments).