BackBone: The Spine Journal is a double-blind peer-reviewed Journal Publishing article related to care and research in the field of Spine Surgery and is the official Journal of Spine Association of Gujarat.
Scope of the Journal
Backbone: The Spine Journal will focus to integrate knowledge from all resources and create a common wisdom pool. The focus of the journal will be clinical, medical and surgical aspects of orthopaedics but will also extend to include Basic sciences, clinical trials, molecular biology; genetics, pathology; radiodiagnosis, interventional radiology, radiotherapy, biomechanics; biomaterials; nanotechnology; and also special prosthesis designs. This journal primarily aims to cater to clinicians, researchers and health-care providers whose focus is on the understanding and treatment of Spine in health and disease
The Journal will include many focused and novel features including those listed below:
Submission Formats
Backbone: The Spine Journal accepts the following formats of articles
- Perspectives
- Insights
- Interviews
- Master Class
- Innovations
- Burning Questions
- Case Reports
- Original articles
- Reviews, meta-analysis, systematic reviews
- Case Study /Series
- Case Image
- Technical Note
- Video Technique
- Surgical Tips and tricks
- Case Approach
- Clinical Perspective
- Letter to Editor
- Letter to Experts
Description of various formats is provided below
Perspectives: A clinical overview of a common topic with the aim to share with readers the recent update and current state of affairs.
Insights: Invited article from an Expert in the Field specially focusing on their area of Research or Interest.
Interviews: Academicians and Researchers across the world will get a chance to feature in our interview section and share their views.
Master Class: In this feature, we will invite a ‘Master’ to demonstrate videos or pictorial demonstrations of surgical techniques or concepts.
Innovations: An innovative concept or an Idea that provides a new perspective. This needs to send directly to the editorial email and after editorial review, it will be sent for peer review. 1000 words article describing the new concept, implant, protocol, or surgical modification should be accompanied with a note of how this will be clinically relevant.
Burning Questions: Opinion/Counter opinions from experts or group of experts on selected topics.
Original Articles: include case series, comparative trials, epidemiological studies, and RCT’s.
Case Reports: Have been detailed below and all the remaining formats follow similar guidelines as case reports.
Case Image: is the description of a single image that has a unique learning point.
Technical Note and Video Technique: detailed description of a new technique or improvisation of an old technique.
Surgical Tips: Small surgical tips and pearls are invited for this section. Pictures are essential and video will be preferable.
Case Study: This new format combines the level V evidence with Clinical Decision Making (CDM). It focuses on getting the thought process of the treating surgeon when dealing with a complex/complicated case.
Case Approach: This is a new but invited-only section. We will invite an expert to describe his approach to a particular case scenario with literature and rationale behind the approach.
Clinical Perspective: this special section will publish specific learning points or experiences which the authors can share with the readers. The only essential point is that this perspective should be clinically relevant and rationally acceptable. This need not be with details of management or follow-up of the case. The idea is to provide a platform for the publication of these important and clinically relevant learning points. A single-page write-up of fewer than 1000 words will be accepted.
Letter to Editor: On articles in Backbone: The Spine Journal. Letters should be typed double-spaced and limited to 1000 words. A copy of the letter will be sent to the previous article’s author(s) to invite a response.
Letter to Experts: Backbone: The Spine Journal will soon be creating an Expert panel of surgeons. Readers of Backbone: The Spine Journal can ask queries regarding their cases to our Experts. These queries will be answered by experts and the Orthopaedic Research Group will add a literature review to this expert opinion and the article will be peer-reviewed and published in 15 days.
Photo-Article: Pictorial articles which will be an easy read with the most important message highlight.
Instructions for Authors
Manuscript Submission
Authors should submit their manuscripts online using the online electronic submission system ‘Scripture’ developed for this journal by the Indian Orthopaedic Research Group (IORG). Please Click Here if you are ready to submit your article.
There are no charges for submitting the manuscript or for peer review and decision on the manuscript. Authors will usually receive a decision on their manuscript within 8-10 weeks.
All manuscripts are to be submitted via the Journal submission software ‘Scripture’ on the website www.backbonejournal.com
Any other query regarding article formatting for submission process can also be mailed to editorbackbonejournal@gmail.com
Copyright Agreement and Submission letter
The entire contents of the Back Bone – The Spine Journals are protected under India and international copyrights. However, the Journal grants to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy use distribute, perform and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works in any digital medium for any reasonable non-commercial purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship and ownership of the rights. The journal uses Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International Public License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Acceptance or rejection
Manuscripts are judged on the interest and importance of the topic, intellectual and scientific strength, clarity of presentation, and relevance to Back Bone – The Spine Journals readers.
Copyright Form: Download Here
Conflict-of-interest Statement
All authors of articles must disclose any and all conflicts of interest they may have with publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or is important to the outcome of the study presented. Authors should also disclose conflict of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript. If the articles are authored by the editorial board, the conflict of interest must be clearly stated. Plagiarism is not permitted, the Journal will check every article for plagiarism using an Internet search.
Conflict of Interest Form: Download here
Article submission Charges: None
Scientific Misconduct
If plagiarism is detected after publication, the Journal will investigate the same, and if established, the authors’ institution and funding bodies would be notified, and the article will be retracted. To report plagiarism, please contact the Journal office, preferably through email for better documentation of correspondence.
For duplicate publication, fabricated data, undisclosed conflict of interest, plagiarism and/or other issues of publication and scientific misconduct, Back Bone- The Spine Journal follows the guidance produced by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) https://publicationethics.org/core-practices , World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) http://www.wame.org/policies-and-resources and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf .
Back Bone- The Spine Journal endeavors to avoid all possible misconduct. All manuscripts are checked for plagiarism using an internet search. If the Editor or a reviewer is concerned that some aspect of a submitted article may constitute misconduct in research, publication or professional behavior, the Journal communicates the same to the author(s) and seeks clarification. However, if the concerns are not satisfactorily resolved by discussion with the author(s), the Journal may report the same to appropriate authorities such as their institutions and, for duplicate publication, the journal in which the previous publication had appeared.
The Journal also encourages its readers to report any published article in which they suspect misconduct through e-mail or letter. The anonymity of the complainant would be maintained at all times.
Sending a revised manuscript
The revised version of the manuscript should be submitted online in a manner similar to that used for submission of the manuscript for the first time. However, there is no need to submit the “First Page” or “Covering Letter” file while submitting a revised version. When submitting a revised manuscript, contributors are requested to include, the ‘referees’ remarks along with point-to-point clarification at the beginning in the revised file itself. In addition, they are expected to mark the changes as underlined or colored text in the article.
Instructions for Manuscript Preparation
Manuscripts should be written in English. Authors whose native language is not English should seek the assistance of a colleague who is a native English speaker and familiar with the field of the work. Authors are advised to follow the recommendations in the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication” proposed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (www.icmje.org). Manuscripts must be typed double-spaced with wide margins on A4 paper. The manuscript parts should be in the following order, with each section beginning on a new page: title page, abstract, text, acknowledgments, references, tables, figure legends, and figures. Number all lines in a continuous manner and number all pages in the bottom right corner beginning with the title page. For reports on randomized control studies, authors should refer to the CONSORT statement (www.consort-statement.org). Standard abbreviations and SI units should be used. Define abbreviations at first appearance in the text, figure legends, and tables, and avoid their use in the title and abstract. Use generic names of drugs and chemicals.
Submission Files
Following files will be essential for the submission of any kind of article
– Cover letter
– Title page
– Blinded manuscript
– Tables
– Figures
– Copyright form: [Download Here]
– Conflict of Interest form: [Download Here ]
– Patient Consent Form: [Download Here]
The details of formatting these files are provided below.
Manuscripts submitted to Backbone: The Spine Journal must be submitted in the format described below. Articles that do not meet the journal’s style will not be peer-reviewed or considered for publication. All articles should be no more than 3500 words long with a maximum of 50 references and 10 figures. if your manuscript contains more words or figures, please write in the cover letter justifying the need for extra figures, references, and text. Manuscripts should also contain an abstract of up to 350 words. The article will only be accepted for peer review in the following format:
Cover Page
Title page
Abstract
Keywords (Min. 3)
Introduction
Material and Methods
Results:
Complications:
Discussion:
Conclusions:
Clinical Relevance:
References:
Illustrations and figures:
Figure legends (if any):
Additional data files (if any):
List of abbreviations used (if any):
Copyright Form & Authors’ contributions Form: [Download Here]
Conflict of Interests Form: To be downloaded from the website and a signed copy scanned and submitted along with the manuscript [Download Here ]
Patient Consent Form: [Download Here]
Acknowledgments and Funding:
Manuscripts should be submitted in Microsoft Word Document format
– Cover Letter: This is the official letter written to editors by the author, where they can inform the editorial board about significance of their study. They can also inform regarding special situations like shared data with another study or long term follow up of already published article. This also provides the chance to authors to interact directly with editorial board and put up any specific point for considerations like more number of authors, manuscript exceeding word count or figure count.
– Title Page: The title should be concise and informative to make electronic retrieval of the manuscript both effective and specific. Include important information such as the study design, i.e., clinical or basic, and in particular indicate if the study is a randomized control trial. A running title not exceeding 35 letters and spaces should be provided.
Example of Title Page
The first page of the manuscript should be a dedicated title page, including the title of the article. The title should include the study design, i.e. Case report. For example
Authors Names should appear in sequence that will be final, with superscript numbers mentioning authors affiliations
Author Name A1, Author Name B2, Author Name C3*
Address: 1 Full designation, degree and postal address of author A; 2 Full designation, degree and postal address of author B; 3 Full designation, degree and postal address of author C
* Corresponding author should be indicated with an asterisk.
The full names, institutional addresses and email addresses for all authors must be included on the title page. No other information should be included on this page.
The page should contain the article title, the full names of the authors including only major qualification such as M.D. or Ph.D., and the complete postal address of the department and institution where the work was done. Designate one author as a correspondent and supply his or her complete postal address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address. If the name or address for offprint requests is different, this should be stated. Every person listed as an author should have materially participated in the design, execution, and analysis of the study and should verify the accuracy of the entire manuscript before its submission. No more than 8 authors can be included in the title page. Lesser contributors may be noted in an acknowledgment section at the end of the manuscript.
Authorship criteria are as per the ICMJE Guidelines and include Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions:
- To conception and design or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data
- Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content
- Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship
- General supervision of the research group is not sufficient for authorship
The order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor. Once submitted the order cannot be changed without the written consent of all the contributors.
For an original article the number of contributors should not exceed six; for case reports, letter to the Editor and review articles, the number of contributors should not exceed four. A justification should be included, if the number of contributors exceeds these limits.
Only those who have done substantial work in a particular field can write a review article. A short summary of the work done in the field of review should accompany the manuscript.
Example to state Author’s Contributions
We suggest the following kind of format (please use initials to refer to each author’s contribution):
“FC analyzed and interpreted the patient data regarding the fracture disease and the stiffness. RH performed the histological examination of the callus, and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.”
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance or a department chair who provided only general support.
– Blinded Submission: Author information should not be included in the main document. Authors should submit the title page, the main document, and the Pictures separately. To ensure blinding, authors should not include in the abstract or text the name or initials of the authors or the institution at which the study was performed. Refer to your own published work in the third person. Use “In the previous work of Author name et al.”, not “In our previous work.” The blinded manuscript should contain title, abstract, keywords, main article with references, tables and figure legends
– Abstract: This should start on page 2 of the manuscript. The abstract must not exceed 350 words. Do not use abbreviations or references in the abstract. The structured abstract should consist of four paragraphs: Background (including the context and purpose of the research), Methods, Results, and Conclusions. The abstract should be typed on a separate page, and should not include abbreviations, footnotes, or references. Abstract should make clear how the paper adds to the Orthopaedic literature:
– Keywords: Add 3 to 5 keywords at the end of the abstract. MESH terms will be preferable.
– Blinded Manuscript: The length of the text and references should not exceed 15 pages of double-spaced type. The number of figures and tables together should not exceed 20. Do not repeat in the text all data that appear in the tables or illustrations; emphasize or summarize only important observations. A conclusion may be included in the summary paragraph of the Discussion only if it is not redundant.
The blinded manuscript should not contain names of author or their institute. References should be numbered in order of appearance and should be placed in square brackets [1]. Manuscript is usually, but not necessarily, divided into sections with the headings Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and Clinical Relevance. Long articles may need section subheadings to clarify their content.
– Introduction: should explain the background of the case, including the disorder, usual presentation and progression and an explanation of the presentation if it is a new disease. If it is a case discussing an adverse drug interaction the introduction should give details of the drug’s common use and any previously reported side effects. It should also include a brief literature review.
– Material & Methods should be sufficiently detailed to allow easy understanding and reproduction of the study. Details of study design, outcome measures, outcome assessors, and statistical methods have to be provided here. Surgical technique should be described in detail with photographs and videos [videos should be uploaded on youtube and link to be submitted to us]
– Results: Keep results very succinct and to the point. Write all data in mean ± SD [Range] with appropriate standard units. Mention p values till third decimal points. Use tables to display the numerical data. Do not interpret the results in this section. Provide details of complication events and their individual follow ups
– Discussion: should be elaborate and should focus on the main results of your study. Individual complications should be addressed separately and put in context with the current literature.
– Clinical relevance: of the study should be mentioned in three or four sentences
Additional Details
– Abbreviations (if any): If abbreviations are used in the text they should either be defined in the text where first used, or a list of abbreviations can be provided.
– Consent: This section is compulsory. It should provide a statement to confirm that the patient has given their informed consent for the case report to be published. You do not need to send the form to us on submission, but we may request to see a copy at any stage (including after publication)
– Protection of Patients’ Rights to Privacy: Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, sonograms, CT scans, etc., and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent/guardian, wherever applicable) provides informed consent for publication. Authors should remove patients’ names from figures unless they have obtained informed consent from the patients. The journal abides by the ICMJE guidelines:
1. Authors, and not the Journal or its Publisher, need to obtain the patient consent form before submitting their work for publication consideration to the journal. Authors should ensure that this patient consent form(s) are properly archived. The consent forms should not be uploaded with the cover letter or sent through email to the Editorial or Publisher offices.
2. If the manuscript contains patient images that preclude anonymity or a description that has an obvious indication of the identity of the patient, a statement about obtaining informed patient consent should be indicated in the manuscript.
3. To protect the patient’s identity, the recognizable facial features not related to the study should be digitally blurred
4. Written informed consent is the preferred method for obtaining consent. If verbal consent is obtained, the authors must ensure that the verbal consent is recorded in the medical case record of the patient and duly signed by witness.
Patient consent form: Download here
– Competing Interests: Please declare whether competing interest exists. A competing interest exists when your interpretation of data or presentation of information may be influenced by your personal or financial relationship with other people or organizations. Where an author gives no competing interests, the listing must read: “The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests”. Download Conflict of Interest form [Click Here]
– Acknowledgments: Please acknowledge anyone who contributed towards the study by making substantial contributions to conception, design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, or who was involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content, but who does not meet the criteria for authorship.
– References: Authors are responsible for verifying the accuracy and completeness of the references. The number of references should not exceed 50. Reference citation in text should be in Vancouver style. The format of the reference quote should follow the MEDLINE/ PubMed Journal Article Citation Format found at the National Center for Bibliography Information [NCBI] Website where specific reference citations can be searched for. Abbreviations of journal names must conform to those used in MEDLINE/PubMed. Avoid using abstracts as references. In the references, do not list personal communications and unpublished material (including oral and poster presentations and manuscripts not yet accepted for publication).
All references must be numbered consecutively, in square brackets, in the order in which they are cited in the text, followed by any in tables or legends [Vancouver Style]. The must be no more than 50 references listed, e.g.
For an article within a journal:
Bentolila V, Nizard R, Bizot P, Sedel L. Complete traumatic brachial plexus palsy. Treatment and outcome after repair. J Bone Joint Surg Am 1999;81:20-8.
For a book chapter, or article within a book
Songcharoen P. Neurotization in the treatment of brachial plexus injury. In: Omer G, Spinner M, van Beek A, editors. Management of peripheral nerve problems. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders; 1998. p. 459-64.
If a non-English-language reference is listed, the original language should be indicated, as shown in the following sample:
Journal article not in English
Otani T, Hayashi S, Ueno Y, Hayashi H, Kato T, Tamegai H, Fujii K. Long-term radiographic evaluation of muscle release operation for arthritis of the hip: comparison study between the results of muscle release and the natural history of osteoarthritis. Rinshou Seikeigeka (Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery) 2004;39:921–6 (in Japanese).
– Preparing illustrations and figures: Please note that the journal can only publish ten figures in each article. If you have more than ten figures and feel that all are essential to the understanding, please make this clear in your covering letter, explaining why the figures are needed. Figures and tables should be sequentially referenced. Authors should include all relevant supporting data with each article.
Figures should be provided as separate files and should not be included in the main text of the submitted manuscript or include within them the figure legend. Each figure should comprise only a single file. There is no charge for the use of color. Authors should make every effort to preserve the anonymity of the patient by removing or concealing any identifiable features, including birthmarks and tattoos. Please take extra care with images of the head and face, ensuring that only the relevant features are shown. Publication of facial images will be subject to approval by the Editor-in-Chief.
Formats:
The following file formats can be accepted:
EPS (preferred format for diagrams)
PNG (preferred format for photos or images)
TIFF
JPEG
HIGH-RESOLUTION PICTURES ARE NECESSARY
Figure legends: No more than 10 figures per article is accepted. For each figure, the following information should be provided: Figure number (in sequence, using Arabic numerals – i.e. Figure 1, 2, 3, etc); short title of figure (maximum 15 words); detailed legend, up to 300 words. Figures should be provided as separate files. The legends should be included in the main manuscript text file rather than being a part of the figure file. For each figure, the following information should be provided: Figure number (in sequence, using Arabic numerals – i.e. Figure 1, 2, 3, etc); short title of figure (maximum 15 words); detailed legend, up to 300 words. The legend should include a brief description of the exact location of the image on the patient, the type of image (e.g. micrograph/x-ray), and time in relation to progression e.g. one week after surgery. There must be no abbreviations unless they are expanded (excluding common abbreviations such as antibodies). Please note that it is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce figures or tables that have previously been published elsewhere.
– Tables: to be added to the blinded manuscript after the references. Tables should be given a brief, informative title and numbered consecutively in the order of their citation in the text. Type each table double spaced on a separate page. Use the table function in MICROSOFT WORD, not spreadsheets, to make tables. Tables must be no larger than a single sheet of A4 paper. The table number and title should appear above the table, and the definition of all abbreviations, levels of statistical significance, and additional information should appear below the table.
Preparing tables: Each table should be numbered in sequence using Arabic numerals (i.e. Table 1, 2, 3 etc.). Tables should also have a title that summarizes the whole table, maximum 15 words. Detailed legends may then follow, but should be concise.
Smaller tables considered to be integral to the manuscript can be pasted into the document text file. Such tables should be formatted using the ‘Table object’ in a word processing program to ensure that columns of data are kept aligned when the file is sent electronically for review.
Tabular data provided as additional files can be uploaded as an Excel spreadsheet (.xls) or comma separated values (.csv). As with all files, please use the standard file extensions.
Backbone: The Spine Journal also allows movies and/or animations to be included as additional files, and allows movies to be viewed in the context of the article. Video files should be sent to us by email editorbackbonejournal@gmail.com or can be uploaded to Youtube and link send to us.
Additional data files should be referenced explicitly by file name within the body of the article, e.g. ‘See additional file 1: Movie1 for the original data used to perform this analysis.
Copyright Form: To be downloaded from the website and a signed copy scanned and submitted along with the manuscript.
– Ethics: It is the responsibility of the authors to assure that all clinical investigations detailed in manuscripts submitted to the journal are conducted in accordance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (www.wma.net/ en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html). All case reports must include a statement indicating that informed consent has been obtained from the patient or appropriate persons for publication, including any necessary photographs. An example of such a statement would be “The patients and/or their families were informed that data from the case would be submitted for publication, and gave their consent.” Do not use patients’ names, initials, institutional ID numbers, or other identifying information. Articles, including their study design, originating from a particular institution are assumed to be submitted with the approval of the requisite authority on ethical issues. Articles describing research involving human subjects must include a statement in the Materials and methods section indicating that approval was given by the institutional review board (IRB) or Ethics committee of the institution and that informed consent was obtained from each patient or candidate. Manuscripts reporting animal experiments must include a statement in the Materials and methods section indicating that approval was obtained from the institutional review board and that animal care complied with the guidelines of the authors’ institution or any national law on the care and use of laboratory animals.
Style and language
– General: Currently, Backbone: The Spine Journal can only accept manuscripts written in English. Spelling should be US English or British English, but not a mixture.
It is essential that submitted manuscripts have a high standard of written English. Manuscripts that are poorly written will be returned to authors for revision prior to peer review. Authors are advised to write clearly and simply, and to have their article checked by colleagues before submission. Non-native speakers of English may choose to make use of a copyediting service before submission.
Backbone: The Spine Journal will copy-edit accepted manuscripts before they are published. The editing is designed only to correct such things as misused words, spelling errors, missing references or incomplete citation information.
– Typography: Please use double line spacing.
Type the text unjustified, without hyphenating words at line breaks.
Abbreviations spelt out in full for the first time
Numerals from 1 to 10 spelt out
Numerals at the beginning of the sentence spelt out
Use hard returns only to end headings and paragraphs, not to rearrange lines.
Capitalize only the first word, and proper nouns, in the title.
All pages should be numbered.
Use the Backbone: The Spine Journal reference format.
Footnotes to text should not be used.
Greek and other special characters may be included. If you are unable to reproduce a particular special character, please type out the name of the symbol in full.
Gene names should be in italic, but protein products should be in plain type.
Please ensure that all special characters used are embedded in the text, otherwise they will be lost during manuscript processing.
Genes, mutations, genotypes, and alleles should be indicated in italics, and authors are required to use approved gene symbols, names, and formatting. Protein products should be in plain type.
– Units: SI Units should be used throughout (liter and molar are permitted, however).
Artwork Guidelines
Electronic figure submission: Supply all figures electronically.
Indicate what graphics program was used to create the artwork.
For vector graphics, the preferred format is EPS; for halftones, please use TIFF format. MS Office files are also acceptable.
Vector graphics containing fonts must have the fonts embedded in the files.
Name your figure files with “Fig” and the figure number, e.g., Fig1.eps.
– Line art:
Definition: Black and white graphic with no shading.
Do not use faint lines and/or lettering, and check that all lines and lettering within the figures are legible at final size.
All lines should be at least 0.1 mm (0.3 pt) wide.
Scanned line drawings and line drawings in bitmap format should have a minimum resolution of 1200 dpi.
Vector graphics containing fonts must have the fonts embedded in the files.
– Halftone art:
Definition: Photographs, drawings, or paintings with fine shading, etc.
If any magnification is used in the photographs, indicate this by using scale bars within the figures themselves.
Halftones should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.
– Combination art:
Definition: a combination of halftone and line art, e.g., halftones containing line drawing, extensive lettering, colour diagrams, etc.
Combination artwork should have a minimum resolution of 600 dpi.
– Colour art:
Colour art is free of charge for online publication.
If black and white will be shown in the print version, make sure that the main information will still be visible. Many colours are not distinguishable from one another when converted to black and white. A simple way to check this is to make a xerographic copy to see if the necessary distinctions between the different colours are still apparent.
If the figures will be printed in black and white, do not refer to colour in the captions.
Colour illustrations should be submitted as RGB (8 bits per channel).
– Figure lettering:
To add lettering, it is best to use Helvetica or Arial (sans-serif fonts).
Keep lettering consistently sized throughout your final-sized artwork, usually about 2–3 mm (8–12 pt).
Variance of type size within an illustration should be minimal, e.g., do not use 8-pt type on an axis and 20-pt type for the axis label.
Avoid effects such as shading, outline letters, etc.
Do not include titles or captions in your illustrations.
– Figure numbering:
All figures are to be numbered using Arabic numerals.
Figures should always be cited in the text in consecutive numerical order.
Figure parts should be denoted by lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.).
If an appendix appears in your article/chapter and it contains one or more figures, continue the consecutive numbering of the main text. Do not number the appendix figures, “A1, A2, A3, etc.” Figures in online appendices (Electronic supplementary material) should, however, be numbered separately.
– Figure captions:
Each figure should have a concise caption describing accurately what the figure depicts. Include the captions in the text file of the manuscript, not in the figure file.
Figure captions begin with the term Fig. in bold type, followed by the figure number, also in bold type.
No punctuation is to be included after the number, nor is any punctuation to be placed at the end of the caption.
Identify all elements found in the figure in the figure caption; and use boxes, circles, etc., as coordinate points in graphs.
Identify previously published material by giving the original source in the form of a reference citation at the end of the figure caption.
Figure placement and size
When preparing your figures, size figures to fit in the column width.
For most journals, the figures should be 39 mm, 84 mm, 129 mm, or 174 mm wide and not higher than 234 mm.
The publisher reserves the right to reduce or enlarge figures.
– Permissions: It is the responsibility of authors/contributors to obtain permissions for reproducing any copyrighted material. A copy of the permission obtained must accompany the manuscript. Copies of any and all published articles or other manuscripts in preparation or submitted elsewhere that are related to the manuscript must also accompany the manuscript.
Complaints and Appeals
This procedure applies to complaints about the publishing policies, procedures and/or actions of the Back Bone – The Spine Journals’ Editorial staff. This complaint must relate to content or a procedure that was the responsibility of the Back Bone – The Spine Journal or its Editor.
If the authors strongly believe that their manuscript was wrongly rejected, they can register an appeal with the Journal by emailing a detailed explanation to editorbackbonejournal@gmail.com.
The appeals will be acknowledged by the Editorial Office and will be investigated in an unbiased manner. While under appeal, the said manuscript should not be submitted to other journals. The final decision rests with the Editor-in-Chief, and second appeals are not considered.
The Journal only accepts complaints through the above-mentioned e-mail, as this provides a reliable trail. All complaints are acknowledged at the earliest. The complaint would be followed up in an unbiased manner and be handled by the person to whom they are made, if possible. The Journal aims to resolve any complaint raised within 2–4 weeks; however, if that is not possible, an interim response would be provided until the complaint is resolved.
Contact
Editor
Dr Hitesh Modi
Zydus Hospital and Healthcare research Pvt Ltd.,
SG Highway, Thaltej, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
Email: editorbackbonejournal@gmail.com
Publisher
Spine Association of Gujrat (SAG)
Address: Stavya’ Spine Hospital & Research Institute
Near Nagari Eye Hospital & Hindi Rashtrabhasha College,
Mithakhali, Ellisbridge, Ahmedabad
Pin Code– 380006.
On behalf of SAG, publishing is overlooked by
Indian Orthopaedic Research Group,
A- 203, Manthan Apts, Shreesh CHS, Hajuri Road,
Thane- 400612, Maharashtra, India.
Tel – 022-25834545.
