ISSN 0102-3616 printed version
ISSN 19824378 online version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Manuscript form and preparation
• Submitting manuscripts

After approval by the Editors, all manuscripts will be submitted to the evaluation of three qualified reviewers ((peer review), anonymity being assured throughout the selection process. Articles not presenting merit, those containing significant methodology errors, or those that do not fit the editorial policy of the journal will be rejected, there being no appeal to be filed after a rejection. Reviewer comments will be forwarded to the authors for changes in the text or justification for changes not made. Only after final approval of the reviewers will the manuscripts be forwarded for publication. A manuscript that has been accepted for publication will become the property of the Journal and may not be published, in whole or in part, by any other medium without the prior written authorization of the Chief Editor.

The Journal is designed for SBOT-member Orthopaedic doctors, healthcare professionals dedicated to related activities and orthopaedic doctors from other countries.

Peer Review

The 'peer review' is one of the factors supporting the quality of a scientific medium. In the case of RBO, the establishment of a graduated editorial board, mainly constituted of university professors, has enabled a careful peer review. Upon receipt, the articles are submitted to an expert technician in scientific methodology for analysis and to three members of the editorial board working in the same area. Those professionals evaluate the papers and return them with their comments. Five aspects are evaluated: Priority Level for Publication, Relevance of the Paper, Scientific Quality and Presentation.

After approval by the Editors, all manuscripts will be submitted to the evaluation of three qualified reviewers ((peer review), anonymity being assured throughout the selection process. Articles not presenting merit, those containing significant methodology errors, or those that do not fit the editorial policy of the journal will be rejected, there being no appeal to be filed after a rejection. Reviewer comments will be forwarded to the authors for changes in the text or justification for changes not made. Only after final approval of the reviewers will the manuscripts be forwarded for publication. A manuscript that has been accepted for publication will become the property of the Journal and may not be published, in whole or in part, by any other medium without the prior written authorization of the Chief Editor.
The authors are fully responsible for the concepts and statements included in the papers.

The articles published on Revista Brasileira de Ortopedia follow the uniform requirements recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, updated on October 2004 and available at www.icmje.org

MANUSCRIPTS PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION

Any referred article must be accompanied by a letter signed by all authors authorizing its publication and stating that the work has not been previously published, and that the same has not been submitted to publication by any other journal.
The following must be attached to the letter:

Statement of Conflict of Interest, whenever applicable: the Statement of Conflict of Interest, according to the Resolution nr. 1595/2000 by the Federal Medicine Council, prohibits the inclusion of advertisement or promotion of any commercial products or equipment on scientific articles.

Evidence of Study Approval by the Committee of Ethics in Research of the Institution where the study was carried out.

Information about eventual research financing sources

Statement that the investigators sign an Informed Consent Term when the article refers to clinical research on human beings.  

 Every research, either clinical or experimental, on human beings or animals, must be carried out according to the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association (J Bone Joint Surg Am.1997;79(7):1089-98).

The articles may be written in Portuguese, English or Spanish languages.

Articles should be written in Portuguese or Spanish or English, according to their countries of origin.

The following types of manuscripts are received for publication on the Revista Brasileira de Ortopedia: Original Article, Update, Review, Case Reports, Prior Note, Synopsis and Abstracts, Letters, and Editorials.

Original Article: refer to experimental or clinical investigation research, either retrospective or prospective, randomized or double blind. It should include: Title in English Language, Structured Abstract, Key words (Descriptors), Abstract and Key words in English Language, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, and References.

Update Article: Review of the state of the art regarding a given topic, written by a specialist upon invitation of the Editors. It should include: Abstract, Key words (Descriptors), Title, Abstract and Key Words in English Language, and References.

Case Report: Should be informative and free of irrelevant details. Only clinical cases that have an interest due to the rarity of the findings, or due to the unusual manner of presentation will be accepted. It should include: Abstract, Key words (Descriptors), Title, Abstract and Key Words in English Language, and References.

Review Article: Intended to review the literature published about a certain topic, and to make a critical and systematic evaluation of the literature about that certain topic, and present relevant conclusions based on such literature. Review articles will only be accepted for publication when requested by the Editors. It should include: Abstract, Key words (Descriptors), Title, Abstract and Key Words in English Language, and References.

Prior Note: intended to communicate an experimental diagnostic method or surgical technique, a new surgical instrument, a new orthopedic implant, etc. It should include: Title, Abstract (both in Portuguese and in English), Key Words (Descriptors) (both in Portuguese and in English), Explanatory Introduction, Description of the Method, of the Material or of the Technique, Final Comments, and References.

Synopsis: summaries of scientific or text books with comments specifically reflecting on the relevance of the theme discussed. It should include a full reference of the work being commented, name and institution to which the commentator belongs.

Abstracts: relevant abstracts of theses, papers presented in Scientific Events, etc. They should contain a complete reference of the paper.

Letters to the Editor: intended to comment or discuss papers published in the journal or to report ongoing original research. These will be published at the discretion of the Editors, with the respective answer, as the case may be.

Editorial: written upon invitation, presenting comments on relevant papers published on the journal, major research work published, or communications of the editors on topics of interest of the specialty.

Manuscript preparation:

 A) The Opening Page must contain:

• Title of the article both in Portuguese and in English, with ten to twelve words not counting articles and prepositions. The title should be compelling and give an idea of the objectives and of the content of the paper;

• Full name of each author, without abbreviations;

• Indication of the academic degree and institutional affiliation of each author, separately. If there is more than one institutional affiliation, indicate only the most relevant one;

• Indication of the Institution where the work was carried out;

• Name, address, fax number, and e-mail address of the corresponding author;

• Research support sources, if any;

• Statement of no conflict of interests.

B) Abstract and Key Words: Abstract, in Portuguese and English, not exceeding 250 words. In original articles, the Abstract shall be structured, emphasizing the most significant data of the paper (Objective: to inform why the research was carried out, pointing to its motivation; Materials and Methods: briefly describe the material evaluated and the method used to evaluate it; Results: describe the relevant findings with statistical data and their respective significance; Conclusions: report only the main conclusions; Key Words: also referred to as Uniterms – check the BIREME list of key words (www.bireme.br). For Case Reports, Reviews, or Updates, and Prior Notes, structured abstracts are not required. After the abstract, specify at least five and at most ten key words reflecting the subject matter of the paper. Key words should be based in the DECS – Describers in Healthcare Sciences – available at http://decs.bvs.br/

C) Text

Should strictly follow the structure for each category of manuscript.

In all manuscript categories, the quotations of authors in the text should be numerical and sequential, using Arabic numbers between parentheses and superscripted.

The Introduction should be brief and contain and explain the objectives and the reason for the paper.

Methods: to contain sufficient information for the reader to know what was done and how. The description must be sufficiently clear to enable another researcher to replicate or continue the study. Describe the statistical methodology used with sufficient detail to allow any reasonably knowledgeable reader to have access to original data to confirm the results presented. Avoid the use of imprecise language, such as: at random, normal, meaningful, relevant, acceptable, without defining such terms. Research results should be reported in this chapter, in logical sequence and concisely. Statistical methods: should be described in detail. Statements such as "no significant difference was found between the two groups" will be refused. The use of the word significant requires that the value "P" be reported. The use of the word correlation must be accompanied by the corresponding coefficient. Information on the management of postoperative pain, both in humans and in animals, must be included in the text (Resolution No. 196/96, of the Ministry of Health and International Animal Protection Standards).

Results: Whenever possible, the results should be presented in Tables, Graphs, or Figures. Results with less than two years of follow-up will rarely be accepted.

Discussion: all of the results of the study must be discussed and compared to the relevant literature.

Conclusions: must be based on the results obtained.

Acknowledgements: collaboration of individuals, institutions may be mentioned, as well as acknowledgements for financial support, technical assistance, that are deserving of acknowledgement but do not justify an inclusion among the authors.

References: must be updated and preferably mention the most relevant papers published on the topic in the last five years. Should not contain papers not referred to in the text. If pertinent, we recommend inclusion of papers published in RBO. References should be numbered consecutively, in the order that they are mentioned in the text, with Arabic numbers. The presentation should follow the "Vancouver Style", according to the models below. The names of the journals should be abbreviated according to the style presented by the National Library of Medicine, available in "List of Journal Indexed in Index Medicus" at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=journals

For the references, list the names of all authors (up to six). When there are more than six authors, please mention the first six authors followed by the phrase “et al.”

Journal or Magazine Articles:
1) Borges JLP, Milani C, Kuwajima SS, Laredo Filho J. Tratamento da luxação congênita de quadril com suspensório de Pavlik e monitorização ultra-sonográfica. Rev Bras Ortop. 2002; 37(1/2):5-12.

2) Bridwell KH, Anderson PA , Boden SD , Vaccaro AR , Wang JC. What's new in spine surgery. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2005;87(8):1892-901.
Schreurs BW, Zengerink M, Welten ML, van Kampen A, Slooff TJ. Bone impaction grafting and a cemented cup after acetabular fracture at 3-18 years. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2005;(437):145-51.

Books:
Baxter D. The foot and ankle in sport. St Louis: Mosby; 1995.

Book chapters:

Johnson KA. Posterior tibial tendon . In: Baxter D. The foot and ankle in sport. St Louis: Mosby; 1995. p. 43-51.

Assays and Thesis:

Laredo Filho J. Contribuição ao estudo clínico-estatístico e genealógico-estatístico do pé torto congênito equinovaro [tese]. São Paulo: Universidade Federal de São Paulo. Escola Paulista de Medicina; 1968.

E-Publications

1) Lino Junior W, Belangero WD. Efeito do Hólmio YAG laser (Ho: YAG) sobre o tendão patelar de ratos após 12 e 24 semanas de seguimento. Acta Ortop Bras [periódico na Internet]. 2005 [citado 2005 Ago 27];13(2):[about 5p.]. Disponível em: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.

2) Feller J. Anterior cruciate ligament rupture: is osteoarthritis inevitable? Br J Sports Med [serial on the Internet]. 2004 [cited 2005 Ago 27]; 38(4): [about 2 p.]. Available from: http://bjsm.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/38/4/383

Tables and Figures:

Tables:

Tables must be sequentially numbered as they are mentioned in the text, with Arabic numbers. Each table must have a headline and, if required, an explanatory label.

Charts and tables must be submitted in their original files (Excel).

Figures:

This material must be presented in black-and-white, with labels and corresponding numbers printed at the bottom of each illustration.

Figures must be submitted in their original files (Excel, Jpeg or  Tif (300 dpi).

Please, submit each individual figure to the system. The label(s) should be included at the end of the text, before the list of references. Please, do not include figures within the text. Figures include all illustrations, such as photographs, drawings, maps, graphs, etc, and must be numbered consecutively using Arabic numbers.

Black-and-white photographs will be reproduced at no costs, but the editor reserves the right to establish a reasonable limit concerning the number of photographs, or to charge from author the expenses resulting from an excessive number of figures. Color photographs shall be charged from authors.

Abbreviations or Siglas: Must be preceded by the full name when mentioned on the text for the first time. On figures and tables’ foot, the meaning of abbreviations, symbols, or other icons, as well as the source must be provided: site where the research was conducted.

If the illustrations have been previously published somewhere else, they must be accompanied by a written authorization by the author or editor, mentioning the reference source where it has been published.

Revista Brasileira de Ortopedia reserves the right to refuse for evaluation articles that do not fulfill all the criteria above described.

Submissions must be made online through the link http://submission.scielo.br/index.php/rbort/login. It is crucial that the permission to reproduce the material and the letters with the approval by a Committee of Ethics of the Institution where the study was carried out - when concerning to interventions (either diagnostic or therapeutic) on human beings - and that signed by all authors stating the unprecedented nature of the study are submitted to RBO by fax (number: 11 2137-5418).