The Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery is produced by the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons.

The Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery is published by Elsevier Science Inc., New York, NY, USA.

Manuscripts submitted to the journal must be original material that has not been published or accepted for publication, in whole or in part, in English or in another language, elsewhere. All papers are submitted to an international panel for peer review. Criteria for editorial review include suitability of subject matter, originality of content contribution to the field, and timeliness.

Manuscripts can be sent to either the North American or the European office:

Douglas D. Koch, MD
Nick Mamalis, MD
4000 Legato Road, Suite 850
Fairfax, VA 22033
USA

Emanuel S. Rosen, FRCSE
Thomas Kohnen, MD
10 St. John Street
Manchester M3 4DY
ENGLAND

Submission should include an original manuscript and 3 complete copies typed on one side of the paper only and double-spaced with generous margins. If the manuscript is revised, submit 4 copies; on one, highlight or underline the actual changes.

The journal's Assignment of Copyright Form, signed and dated by all authors, must be submitted with each manuscript. This form is published in the January and July issues and is also available online on the ASCRS (www.ascrs.org/publications/jcrs/cpyrt.html) and ESCRS (www.escrs.ie/info/jour/copy.htm) web sites.

Authors are encouraged to submit an electronic file with the revised manuscript. Please observe the following criteria. Send only hard copy when first submitting your paper for acceptance and review. When your paper has been reviewed, revised if necessary, and accepted, send a disk containing the final version with the final hard copy. Make certain that the disk and hard copy match exactly (otherwise the diskette version will prevail). Electronic files can be submitted on floppy disks, ZIP/JAZ disks, or CD ROMs. Specify the word processing software compression software and the platform (PC, Mac, UNIX etc.) used in the creation of your files. The article file should include all textual material (text, references, tables, figure captions, etc.); graphics should be saved on separate disks. The file should follow the general instructions on style arrangement and, in particular, the reference style of the journal. The file should use the wrap-around end-of-line feature, ie, returns at the end of paragraphs only. Place 2 returns after every element, such as title, headings, paragraphs, and figure and table call outs. Be sure to keep a backup disk for reference and safety.

The title of the paper should be short and specific. A short running head should also be provided.

The title page should include the following: (1) each author's full name (ie, first name, middle initial if used, and last name) and highest degree; (2) city, state, and country in which work was carried out; (3) if presented at a meeting, name of the organization, city, country, and exact date of presentation; (4) sources of public and private financial support, including organization's name, city, and country; (5) name and address of author to receive reprint requests; (6) statement about the authors' proprietary or financial interest in a product or lack thereof.

Credit for authorship requires substantial contributions to the area enumerated in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (www.icmje.org). The number of authors is limited to 8 for a single-center study and 12 for a multi-center study. If more authors are included, each must sign a statement confirming that he or she fulfills the authorship criteria. No more that 8 and 12 authors, respectively, will be listed under the title; other names will appear in a footnote.

Groups of people who have contributed materially to the paper but do not meet the authorship criteria will be listed in an appendix (eg, Clinical Investigators, Participating Investigators, Study Group).

 

References and legends for figures should be typed, double-spaced, on separate sheets and should follow the text of the paper.

 

All papers are subject to revision to conform with terminology and style used by the journal. Authors should adhere to accepted English usage and syntax. Suggested references: American Medical Association Manual of Style, 9th ed. Baltimore, MD, Williams & Wilkins, 1998; Scientific Style and Format; the CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, 6th ed. New York, NY, Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Reports of clinical studies should be prefaced by a 250-word structured abstract. The structured abstract should have the following sections:

Purpose: Indicate the question that the study answers or the hypothesis that it tests.

Setting: Indicate where the study took place; this enables readers to assess the study's applicability to their practice.

Methods: Describe the study design, indicating randomization and masking and whether the data collection was retrospective or prospective. Identify the patients, including selection procedures, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and numbers. Indicate the intervention procedures and the outcome measurements.

Results: Present the outcomes and measurements. Data should include the level of statistical significance.

Conclusions: State the conclusions and their clinical pertinence.

Reports of clinical studies should also include a synopsis for the table of contents. The synopsis should be no more than 30 words and should describe the main finding of the paper but not duplicate the abstract conclusion.

Techniques and case reports should be prefaced by a 150-word descriptive abstract.

If appropriate, technique articles can include a video. The purpose of the video is to supplement but not replace the description of the technique in the article itself. Therefore, the manuscript should be self-contained; ie, the reader should be able to understand and repeat the technique based on the text and figures in the manuscript alone. The article and video will be reviewed according to the journal's standard review process. If the technique is accepted for publication, the video will be shown on the ASCRS and ESCRS web sites. Technique articles that include a video will be identified in the table of contents.

The text must follow a standard format: introduction, materials and methods used, presentation of results, and discussion. Conclusions can be incorporated into the discussion or placed in a separate section.

The description of materials and methods must be explicit enough that the study can be repeated by others; results must be reproducible. If a method has been published in an English language, peer-reviewed journal, a reference is adequate. Use generic or descriptive nomenclature for drugs and instruments, with the brand name in parentheses.

In clinical studies involving experimental investigations, the manuscript must state that informed consent was obtained from all participants and that the study was reviewed by an ethics committee or review board (IRB) or that no IRB approval was required.

In experimental studies using animals, the manuscript must describe the care of the animals and indicate ethics committee or IRB approval. These studies should conform to principles of animal maintenance such as those described in the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Statement for Use of Animals in Ophthalmic and Vision Research.

Statistical methods should be defined; any not in common use should be described in detail or supported by references. General guidelines on the use of statistical methods and specific recommendations on statistical estimation and significance are given under Statistical Guidelines.

Visual acuity should be reported in Snellen format for means and ranges. Mean visual acuity should be determined by calculating the geometric mean with standard deviation stated in logMAR format (Holladay JT, Prager TC. Mean visual acuity. Am J Ophthalmol 1991; 111:372-374 )

In the results section, avoid redundant data presentation; as a rule, information stated in the text should not be repeated in the tables. Graphs and tables should be used for detailed lists of findings.

Letters to the editor about recent articles should be submitted within 6 weeks of publication. The text should not exceed 300 words. A letter should have no more than 5 references and 1 figure or table. It cannot include more than 3 authors. It cannot include more than 3 authors. A title page or cover sheet must provide full names of all authors and the address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of a corresponding author. Receipt of a letter to the editor will be acknowledged by postcard; publication proofs will not be provided. Letters are reviewed by the journal editors and are subject to editing. The authors of the article will be given an opportunity to reply.

Correspondence submissions (short reports) do not require an abstract or a structured format. They should not exceed 500 words and can have no more than 8 references and 2 figures or tables. A title page or cover sheet must provide the full names of all authors and the address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of a corresponding author. Receipt of a correspondence submission will be acknowledged by postcard. Publication proofs will not be provided. Correspondence is reviewed by the journal editors and is subject to editing.

Suggested reference: Day TA. How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, 3rd ed. Phoenix, AZ, Oryx Press, 1988.

All sources must be acknowledged by a reference, and all references must be cited in the text. The list of references should be numbered in the order that the references are cited in the text. Journal names must be abbreviated according to the form used by Index Medicus. Use "et al." only when a paper has more than 4 authors, and only after listing the first 3 authors. Papers are judged in part on the appropriateness of the references cited, and references are expected to reflect the most current literature on the subject.

References supporting scientific conclusions should, in general, be drawn from primary, preferably refereed, sources available in the open literature. Summary or review articles are less appropriate references for specific technical matters, although they may certainly be included to help the reader appreciate the broad view of a topic. Un-refereed "news" publications are generally not satisfactory scientific references, although they may be appropriate for certain historical purposes. References to these publications should be followed by a citation in parentheses in the text and not in the list of references. The citation should include author, title of article, name of publication, issue date, and page numbers.

Information from manuscripts that are not yet in press or have been reported at meetings may be cited only in the text, not as formal references. Personal communications from others should be dated and included parenthetically in the text. The author should obtain written permission from individuals cited in personal communications and include a copy of this permission with the manuscript.

Unpublished research documents that are not easily available to the public should be avoided as references if possible. If such materials are used, the author must ensure that the corporation or agency involved will make the information available to others on request. A copy of any such reference should be enclosed with the submitted manuscript to assist in editorial review. The material in such references must satisfy the criterion of public verifiability, which will be applied to the manuscript as a whole. For example, a study claiming superior performance of a drug that is not commercially available and whose structure is unspecified could not be reproduced by others. Such a study would be inappropriate as an article or a reference.

Reference format:

Yildirim R, Aras C, Ozdamar A, et al. Reproducibility of corneal flap thickness in laser in situ keratomileusis using the Hanstome microkeratome. J Cataract Refract Surg 2000; 26:1729-1732

Apple DJ, Kincaid MC, Mamalis N, Olson RJ. Intraocular Lenses; Evolution, Designs, Complications, and Pathology. Baltimore, MD, Williams & Wilkins, 1989

Bains RA, Anderson Penno EE, Gimbel HV. Laser in situ keratomileusis. In: Gimbel HV, Anderson Penno EE, eds, Refractive Sugery: A Manual of Principles and Practice. Thorofare, NJ, Slack, Inc, 2000; 127-157

Black-and-white glossy photographs (4 copies of each) should accompany manuscripts. Prints should be no larger than 5 x 7 inches, untrimmed and unmounted. Oversized photographs with numbers or letters must be reproducible without loss of clarity.

Each photograph must be labeled on its reverse side with the figure number and an arrow indicating the top of the illustration.

Color illustrations are acceptable only as necessary for technical clarity; the author will be responsible for the production cost of each color figure. Four copies of each color illustration should be submitted: 1 set of slides and 3 sets of either color or black-and-white prints.

The author must include written consent from patients if identifiable and permission from previous publisher if the figure is a reproduction.

All figures and graphs should be professionally drawn and photographed. Computer-generated graphs must be clear or they will not reproduce well.

Tables should use Arabic (not Roman) numbers, and each table should be typed on a separate sheet, using horizontal lines to divide title and column headings according to the style used in the journal.

All tables and figures must be referenced in the text.

To ensure meaningful statistical analysis of the study results, authors should consider the following questions:

1. Was the source of subjects satisfactorily stated?

2. Were concurrent controls used (as opposed to historical controls)?

3. Were the treatments well defined?

4. Was random allocation to treatment used?

5. Was the randomization method described?

6. Was the duration of posttreatment follow-up satisfactory (at least 6 months)?

Conduct of Study

7. Were the treatment and control groups comparable with relevant measures?

8. Did a high proportion of subjects achieve adequate follow-up?

9. Were the dropouts characterized by treatment received?

10. Were the side effects of treatment reported?

Analysis and Presentation

11. Was there a statement adequately describing or referencing all statistical procedures used?

12. Were the statistical analyses appropriate?

13. Were confidence intervals given for the main results?

14. Was the level of significance stated for outcomes that were reported as significant?

15. Was the reported level of significance corrected for the number of statistical analyses that were performed?

16. When the null hypothesis was accepted (no difference between experimental groups), was the statistical power of the study calculated and reported?

17. Was the conclusion justified by the statistical analysis?

alterations

If authors make extensive changes to the text or the figures at the production stage (on page proofs), the journal reserves the right to charge the cost of the changes to the authors. No charge will be made for correcting errors made during the editorial process or by the printer.

recommendations

Manuscripts from non-English-speaking countries should be reviewed and edited by someone proficient in the use of English.

Study design should be reviewed by a methodologist.

reprints

The senior author of each article will receive a reprint order form, which must be sent to the publisher at the time the page proofs are returned.

1. One original and 3 complete copies of the manuscript

2. Title page

3. Structured abstract (for clinical articles)

4. Descriptive abstract (for techniques, case reports)

5. Synopsis of article (for clinical articles)

6. Four copies of all illustrative material

7. Assignment of Copyright Form, signed by all authors

8. Acknowledgment of financial and proprietary interests

9. Acknowledgment of public and private support

Manuscripts will not be reviewed until all these items have been submitted.