ISSN 0102-3616 printed version
ISSN 19824378 online version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Presentation and submission of manuscripts
• Preparation of the Manuscript

The Revista Brasileira de Ortopedia (RBO) is the scientific publication medium of the Brazilian Society of Orthopedics and Traumatology (Sociedade Brasileira de Ortopedia e Traumatologia, SBOT) and has the purpose of disseminating papers that contribute towards improving and developing the practice, research and teaching of Orthopedics and related specialties. It is published bimonthly in February, April, June, August, October and December, and has been published with absolute regularity since its first edition in 1965. The journal receives articles for publication in the following sections: Original Articles, Review Articles, Updating Articles, Case Reports, Preliminary Notes, Technical Notes and Letters to the Editor. Articles can be written in Portuguese, Spanish or English, according to their countries of origin. The journal is aimed towards orthopedists who are linked to the SBOT, healthcare professionals who are dedicated to similar activities and orthopedists in other countries. Its abbreviated title is Rev Bras Ortop., and this should be used in reference lists, footnotes and legends.

Peer Review

Peer review is one of the factors that sustain the quality of a scientific journal. In the case of the RBO, an editorial board constituted mostly by university professors has enabled discerning peer review. After receipt, articles are sent to a technical specialist in scientific research methodology and to three members of the editorial board who work within the same field. These professionals assess the studies and return them with their reports. The evaluation includes five factors: degree of priority for publication; relevance of the study; scientific quality; presentation; and recommendation. After approval by the editors, all manuscripts will be assessed by qualified reviewers, and anonymity is ensured throughout the appraisal process (blinded peer review). Articles that do not have merit, contain significant methodological errors or do not fit within the journal’s editorial policy will be rejected without any appeal rights. The reviewers’ comments will be returned to the authors, so that the authors can make modifications to the text or justify why the text should be maintained. Only after final approval from the reviewers and editors will manuscripts be sent for publication.

Copyright

All declarations published in the articles are entirely under the authors’ responsibility. Nonetheless, all material published will become the RBO’s property, and the journal will become the holder of the authors’ rights. The authors must forward a declaration of transfer of authors’ rights signed by all co-authors, to the RBO by fax (+55-011-2137-5418) or post, at the time of manuscript submission.

*published on Editors’ criteria with reply when necessary;
**by Editors’ invitation; *** except abstract, references, tables and figures.

The Revista Brasileira de Ortopedia (Rev Bras Ortop. - ISSN 0102-3616) is a bimonthly publication from the Brazilian Society of Orthopedics and Traumatology, with the purpose of publishing original studies on all the specialties of orthopedics. The concepts and declarations contained in the studies are entirely under the authors’ responsibility. Articles published in the RBO follow the uniform requirements proposed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, as updated in October 2004 and available at the electronic address www.icmje.org. For studies involving investigations on human beings or laboratory animals, their compliance with the appropriate guidelines and the institutional committee’s approval of the study protocol should be clearly presented. Articles submitted should be accompanied by the following:

Author Agreement

A letter signed by all the authors that authorizes publication of the article and declares that it is unpublished and that it has not been and is not being submitted for publication in another journal.

Title Page
A page containing the complete identifications of the authors (affiliation, with the name of the institution, city, state and country), institution(s) from which the study originated (with the name of the institution, city, state and country) and, when applicable, any differentiated or special participation.

Covering Letter
A letter presenting the study that is addressed exclusively to the editor.
Manuscript
A complete file containing the article with references, preferably with abstract and keywords.

Figuras, Tabelas, Gráficos
Individual files sent separately.

The following should be attached to the Author Agreement:

Declaration of conflict of interest, when appropriate. Through this, in accordance with Federal Medical Council Resolution 1595/2000, scientific articles are prohibited from promoting or advertising any commercial products or equipment.
Certificate of study approval from the Research Ethics Committee of the institution in which the study was conducted.
Information on any sources of funding for the research.
Declaration that the investigators have signed an informed consent document, when the article deals with clinical research on human beings. All clinical or experimental research on humans or animals should be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association (J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1997;79(7):1089-98).
Articles should be written in Portuguese, Spanish or English, according to their countries of origin.

Types of Article
The Revista Brasileira de Ortopedia receives the following types of manuscripts for publication: Original Articles, Updating Articles, Review Articles, Case Reports, Technical Notes, Summaries, Abstracts, Letters and Editorials.

Original Articles
These describe prospective or retrospective experimental research or clinical investigations, which may be randomized or double blind. They should have a Title in Portuguese and English, an Abstract in Portuguese and English (structured as Objective, Methods, Results and Conclusion), Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions and References.

Updating Articles
These are reviews of the state of the art on a given topic, written by specialists on invitation from the editors. They should have an Abstract in Portuguese and English, Keywords, Title and References.

Case Reports
These should be informative and not contain irrelevant details. Only clinical cases that are of interest either because of their rarity as nosological entities or because of their unusual form of presentation will be accepted. They should have an Abstract in Portuguese and English, Keywords, Title and References.

Review Articles
These have the purpose of examining the published bibliography on a given subject, in order to make a critical and systematized assessment on a certain topic and present the important conclusions based on this literature. They will only be accepted for publication when requested by the editors. They should have an Abstract in Portuguese and English, Keywords, Title and References.

Technical Notes
These are destined for disseminating diagnostic methods, experimental surgical techniques, new surgical instruments, new orthopedic implants, etc. They should have an Abstract in Portuguese and English, Keywords, Title, Explanatory Introduction, Description of the Method, Material or Technique, Final Comments and References.

Letters to the Editor
These have the aim of commenting on or discussing studies published in the journal or reporting on original research that is in progress. They will be published at the editors’ discretion, with the respective reply, when appropriate.

Editorial

A) Cover Page (Title Page):

• Title of the article, in Portuguese and English, composed of ten to twelve words (not counting articles and prepositions). The title should stimulate interest and should give an idea of the aims and content of the study;
• Complete name of each author, without abbreviations;
• Indication of the academic level attained and the institutional affiliation of each author, separately, with the city, state and country, with sequential numerical indication using superscript lower-case letters. If there is more than one institutional affiliation, only indicate the most relevant one;
• Indication of the institution where the study was conducted, with city, state and country;
• Name, address and e-mail address of the author for correspondence;
• Sources of funding for the research, if there were any;
• Declaration that there were no conflicts of interest.

Abstract and keywords: Abstract and keywords in Portuguese and English, with a maximum of 250 words. In original articles, the abstract should be structured, emphasizing the most significant data from the study (Objective: state why the study was conducted, emphasizing the motivation; Materials and Methods: succinctly describe the material evaluated and the method used to do so; Results: describe the important findings with statistical data and the respective significance; Conclusions: only report the main conclusions; Descriptors: also known as Keywords – consult the list at BIREME: www.bireme.com.br). For Case Reports, Review Articles, Updating Articles and Preliminary Notes, the abstract does not need to be structured but keywords are required. Below the abstract, specify a minimum of three and a maximum of ten keywords that define the subject of the study. The descriptors or keywords should be based on the Health Science Descriptors (Descritores em Ciências da Saúde, DECS), which are available at the electronic address http://www.decs.bvs.br; or on the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), from www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html.

B) Text (Manuscript)
The structure for each manuscript category should be followed rigorously. In all manuscript categories, citations of authors should not be made in the text. The text should preferably have an abstract and keywords.
Introduction: This should be brief and should contain and explain the objectives and reason for the study.
Methods: This should contain enough information to k now what was done and how it was done. The description should be clear and sufficient for another researcher to be able to reproduce or continue with the study. The statistical methodology used should be described with sufficient detail to allow any reader with reasonable knowledge of the topic and access to the original data to verify the results presented. Use of imprecise terms such as random, normal, significant, important or acceptable without defining them should be avoided. The research results should be reported concisely in this chapter in a logical sequence. Statistical methods: These should be described in detail. Statements equivalent to “no significant difference was found between the two groups” will be rejected. Use of the word “significant” requires that the “p” value should be reported. Use of the word “correlation” should be accompanied by the respective coefficient. Information on postoperative pain management, both in humans and in animals, should be reported in the text (Resolution No. 196/96, from the Ministry of Health, and International Animal Protection Norms).
Results: Whenever possible, these should be presented in tables, graphs or figures. Results with fewer than two years of follow-up will only rarely be accepted.
Discussion: All the results from the study should be discussed and compared with the pertinent literature.
Conclusions: These should be based on the results obtained.
Acknowledgements: Collaborations from individuals or institutions or thanks for financial support or technical assistance that deserve recognition but do not justify inclusion among the authors may be mentioned.
Conflicts of interest: These should be recorded objectively when present. If there are none, the following declaration should be presented: “The authors declare that there was no conflict of interests in conducting this study.”
References: These should be up to date, with preference for the most relevant studies on the topic published over the last five years. They should only contain studies referred to in the text. If pertinent, it is recommendable to include studies published in the RBO. The references should be numbered consecutively, in the order in which they are cited in the text, and should be identified using Arabic numerals in parentheses. The presentation should follow the “Vancouver Style” format, as shown in the models below. Journal titles should be abbreviated in accordance with the style presented by the National Library of Medicine, as available in the “List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus”, at the electronic address: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=journals.
For all the references, cite all the authors up to six. When there are more than six authors, cite the first six authors, followed by the expression “et al.”

Articles in journals:
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.
Chapters in books: Johnson KA. Posterior tibial tendon . In: Baxter D. The foot and ankle in sport. St Louis: Mosby; 1995. p. 43-51.
Dissertations and theses: Laredo Filho J. Contribuição ao estudo clínico-estatístico e genealógico-estatístico do pé torto congênito equinovaro [thesis]. São Paulo: Universidade Federal de São Paulo. Escola Paulista de Medicina; 1968.
Electronic 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 [periodical on the Internet]. 2005 [cited 2005, Aug 27];13(2):[about 5 p.]. Available from: 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, Aug 27]; 38(4): [about 2 p.]. Available from: http://bjsm.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/38/4/383

C) Tables and Figures:
Tables: should be numbered in their order of appearance in the text, using Arabic numerals. Each table should have a title and, if necessary, an explanatory legend. Charts and tables should be sent as individual files (preferably in Excel).
Figures: This material, with legends and respective numbering, can be presented in colors but will be printed in black and white. Figures should be sent in the form of individual files (300 dpi). Further details in: http://www.elsevier.com/author-schemas/artwork-and-media-instructions. Each individual figure should be sent to the system. The legend(s) should be incorporated at the end of the text, in the manuscript after the reference listing. Do not include figures in the text. The term “figure” includes all illustrations, such as photographs, drawings, maps, graphs, etc, and should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. Photographs in black and white will be reproduced free of charge, but the editor reserves the right to establish a reasonable limit regarding the number of such photographs, or to charge the authors for the expenses resulting from the excess. Colored photographs will be charged to the authors.
Abbreviations: These should always be preceded by the name in full, when cited for the first time in the text. In figures and tables, the meanings of abbreviations, symbols and other signs should be given as footnotes. The footnotes should also give information on the source: the place where the research was conducted. If the illustrations have already been published, their submission should be accompanied by written authorization from the author or editor, and the reference source where they were published should be declared. The RBO reserves the right not to accept for assessment any articles that do not fulfill the criteria laid out above.

Sending the manuscript: Submissions should be made online, through the link http://ees.elsevier.com/rbo. It is essential to send the following by fax or post: permission to reproduce the material; a letter giving approval from the Ethics Committee of the institution where the work was carried out, when it related to therapeutic or diagnostic interventions in human beings; and the Author Agreement, signed by all the authors, in which they declare that the study has never been published previously (fax: +55 11 2137-5418).