Manuscripts are received with the understanding that they contain original data that are not previously published or are being considered for publication elsewhere. Authors are required to submit the manuscript along with all concerned certificates and documents copyright form, submission form, corresponding author form, contribution form available on the web site www.dukeorthopaedicjournal.com of the journal. In case of any queries or additional information, you can write an e-mail to the Editor-in-Chief of the journal at [email protected].

The manuscript must have separate documents for:
• Cover letter,
• Research Article/Case Review/Original Research/Review Article file,
• Figure/Table/Graph/Flowchart (with descriptive legends) doc.

Manuscript Components
Microsoft Word 97-2003 or higher document file must be used to submit a manuscript. The text must be double spaced with 1" margins and justified to the left-hand margin. Avoid using "styles" or document templates. The "Normal" Word format is recommended. (Arial 12 point text is preferred.) Please number all pages.

Title
The title of the manuscript should appear at the top of the first page. The title must clearly state what the article is about.

Title Page
Name and affiliation: Full name of each author (first name, middle initial and last name) followed by each author’s highest academic degree(s) and designation. Name of department(s) and institution(s) along with complete address such as city, state and country with which each author is affiliated and to which work should be attributed.

Corresponding Address: Name, address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail of corresponding author.

Cite all funding sources of support for the publication of work or study. A short running head of no more than 45 characters, including spaces, Number of Words/Characters in abstract and manuscript, Number of Figures (color and black/white counted separately).

Author Names
Do not include author names in the manuscript in order to preserve anonymity during the review process. Authors’ names need to be included in separate document that has to be provided along with main manuscript while submitting the file on the journal’s web site.

*Note: The author names along with their complete affiliations need to be attached in Step 4 of submission page, whereas the main document, tables, figures, graphs and other docs will be attached in Step 5.

ABSTRACT
All articles must include a structured abstract of approximately 200 to 300 words and only include material appearing in the main body of the manuscript. Authors are required to indicate the relevance in a statement of clinical significance within the abstract of the manuscript as well as at the end of the main body of the text.

Structured abstracts vary according to the type of article. All abstracts must be organized into a structured format appropriate to the type of article using the headings listed in the following table:



Keywords
A list of three to ten keywords contained in the article must be listed below the abstract. A minimum of three and maximum ten keywords are required, and they should contain the type of research such as systematic review, randomized clinical trial, cohort study, case-control study, laboratory research, or "other". (These will be used to search for your article on PubMed and other Internet resources.)
(During the electronic submission process authors will be asked to copy and paste the abstract and the keywords into corresponding text boxes on the submissions pages.)

BODY OF THE MANUSCRIPT
The body of the manuscript must be organized into a format appropriate for the type of article using bold headings as listed in the following table:



Introduction
This should clearly state the purpose of the study and identify what issues are going to be addressed.

Material and Methods
All relevant attributes of the material forming the subject of the research should be provided. Experimental methodology should be concisely and appropriately explained. Commercially produced materials, devices, software, etc. must be followed by name of manufacturer and location. Statistical methods should be clearly specified. Manuscripts reporting human studies should include evidence that study was ethically conducted in accordance with Declaration of Helsinki.

Results
This section should succinctly state the results without any lengthy discussion or interpretation of individual data. Data should be presented using tables, illustrations and graphs. Data in table or illustration form should be referenced in the text, not repeated (e.g. detailed information should not be given in text and tables). Statistical tests should be clearly defined and statistical significance should be shown in both figures and tables with the help of superscripts such as a, b, c, rather than *, ¶, # or other nonsequential symbols.

Discussion
The discussion should focus on the new and important findings of the study. The observations should be related to other relevant studies in a logical sequence. It should summarize, but not repeat the Results. The Discussion should end with a summary of the data and conclusions. The conclusions should be linked with the aims and objectives of the study and should clearly state whether the objective was achieved. Limitations of the study should also be mentioned.

Conclusion
In academic writing, a well-crafted conclusion can provide the final word on the value of your analysis, research, or paper.

Acknowledgments
Acknowledgment of the source of any funding for the research associated with the article should be listed here along with a statement that the research was approved by an appropriate human subject’s research committee when appropriate. An additional acknowledgement of support provided by other individuals, organizations, institutions is left to the discretion of the author.

Manufacturer Name
Please provide the name of manufacturer with its complete city and country name of all products used in research.

Patient Consent Form
Whenever the photographs/figures of a patient is used in the article, the author has to provide a signed consent form from the patient stating that the patient is permitting the author to use his figures in the article and will not have any objection to it in the future.
You can download Patient Consent Form and submit it along with the manuscript while submitting the article on the web site www.dukeorthopaedicjournal.com of the journal.

REFERENCES
Bibliography should list references in order of their appearance in the text (not alphabetically) and should follow PubMed Central guidelines along with Vancouver Style. Visit the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) website https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/pmcdoc/tagging-guidelines/article/style.html and search for specific reference citations under the section “Fully-Tagged Citations”. Point 2.3 needs to be followed. All references must be cited in the text in superscript. The examples of the references have been mentioned below:

Journal

1. Le Huec JC, Jouve JL, Szpalski M. Surgical techniques in pediatric spine surgery. Eur Spine J 2014 May 9. [Epub ahead of print].
2. Lucas KR, Polus BI, Rich PS. Latent myofacial trigger points: their effect on muscle activation and movement efficiency. J Bodywork movement Ther 2004;8(3):160-166.
3. Miladi L, Mousny M. A novel technique for treatment of progressive scoliosis in young children using a 3-hook and 2-screw construct (H3S2) on a single sub-muscular growing rod: surgical technique. Eur Spine J 2014 May 9. [Epub ahead of print].
4. Falla D, Jull G, Hodges PW. Feedforward activity of the cervical flexor muscles during voluntary arm movements is delayed in chronic neck pain. Exp Brain Res 2004;157(1):43-48.

Abstract: Hoyme HE, Jones KL, Dixon SD, Jewett T, Hanson JW, Robinson LK, Small ME, Allanson J. Maternal cocain use and fetal vascular disruption [abstract]. Am J Hum Genet 1988;43(3 Suppl):A56.

Authored Book: Ohlsen, Merle M.; Horne, Arthur M.; Lowe, Charles F. Group counseling. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston; 1988. 416 p.

Article or Chapter in an Edited Book: Anderson, Robert J.; Schrier, Robert W. Acute renal failure. In: Braunswald, Eugene; Isselbacher, Kurt J.; Petersdorf, Robert G., et al., editors. Harrison’ principles of internal medicine. 11th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1987. p. 1149-1155.

Article in an Edited Book with Volume: Merritt, Christopher RB. Breast imaging techniques. In: Putnam, Charles E.; Ravin, Carl E., editors. Textbook of diagnostic imaging. Vol. 3. Philadelphia: Saunders; 1988. p. 2118-2120.

Monograph: Lawrence, Ruth A. A review of the medical benefits and contraindications to breastfeeding in the United States [Internet]. Arlington (VA): National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health; 1997 Oct [cited 2000 Apr 24]. p. 40. Available from: https://www.ncemch.org/pubs/PDFs/breastfeedingTIB.pdf
Place the number of the references at the end of the sentence as superscript to which the reference is related. Use commas to separate multiple reference numbers. For example:
"Bond strength of composite resin to dentin is influenced by the presence of a smear layer.^4,5,8-15

If more than one reference is contained in a sentence, then number the reference immediately following the text that refers to the reference. For example:
"Bailey² found that 46% showed signs of metastasis while Varner³ found only 28%."

FIGURES AND LEGENDS
Photographs must be in color; in focus, free of distracting artifacts and consistent in exposure. Place any required labels or arrows on images prior to uploading. Images must be at least 600 by 450 pixels (proportional height) in size when in landscape orientation with a resolution of at least 300 pixels per inch. Graphs should be approximately 500 pixels wide so that all labelling can be read with data points clearly visible. Substantially larger images must be avoided to prevent file transmission and electronic manuscript processing errors. Radiographs, drawings, and graphs can be in black and white but color images are preferred.

File names for images must be clearly labelled according to the order in which they appear, (Fig. 1, Fig. 02 and Figs 1 and 2 or Figs 1-5 etc. in brackets and in running sentence, it should be Figure 1 says that�..). Images can only be submitted in TIFF, PSD, PNG, and JPEG file formats. If images are produced in PowerPoint, then they must be saved as a JPEG file before uploading during the submission process.

All images are to be placed in numerical order following the reference list and accompanied by a legend describing the content of the image as follows:


Fig. 1: Intraoperative picture of patient after removal of lipoma showing it is in the deep intramuscular region of thenar region.

Call outs must be placed in the body of the manuscript to indicate where an image is to be located. Example:
“A 12 year old male patient reported to Sri Ramakrishna College with a crown fracture of permanent mandibular right central incisor (Ellis Class III) and permanent maxillary right and left central incisors and permanent mandibular left central incisor (Ellis Class II) from trauma that happened 30 minutes before reporting. There was an associated injury in the lower lip (Figure 1).”

TABLES
Tables are placed in numerical order at the end of the manuscript following the list of figures.
A legend is to accompany all tables and call outs are to be placed in the body of the text to indicate where the table is to be located in the article.
The tables function in Microsoft Word is to be used to create data tables rather than using columns of tabbed information.

“The segregated and total score obtained by nurses is given in Table 1.”

Table 1: Knowledge, attitude and practice scores of intensive care unit nurses of a tertiary care hospital in Delhi NCR, 2014



Copyright
The journal holds the copyright of all the editorial content published in this journal. All accepted manuscripts and their accompanying illustrations become a permanent property of the journal and may not be published anywhere in part or full, in print or electronically without written permission from the journal.

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION
Once all of the preparation is complete and you have all of the information and files ready for submission, please go to the Homepage and register as an author through our New Author registration (https://www.dukeorthopaedicjournal.com/Register/Register.aspx). Once you are registered on the web site, you will be sent a username and password to the provided e-mail address. Using the same, you will login into the journal’s web site https://www.dukeorthopaedicjournal.com/ and select Author.



After logging into author’s account,



and follow the steps for submission available at https://www.jaypeejournals.com/PDFs/Manual_for_manuscript_submission.pdf. Once the submission is completed, you will be given a JPJ id for example JPJ1296170815. This is system generated JPJ id using which you can track the status of your manuscript from submission till publication https://dukeorthopaedicjournal.com/ManuscriptTrack.aspx. Generally, the review process takes 4-8 weeks and the authors will be informed of the status via mail from the Editor stating the review completed/final decision of the manuscript.

REVIEW PROCESS
The article once submitted will undergo a thorough plagiarism check. After this it will undergo editorial review within one week. Following this it will then be sent for peer review by fellowship trained specialists in Orthopaedic Surgery, which takes 4-8 weeks and the authors will receive the mail from the Editor stating the final decision of the manuscript.

PERSONAL ASSISTANCE
If you need any assistance regarding the submission of your manuscript at our Scriptor’s Zone (electronic submission portal), you may please contact at [email protected]/[email protected].

TYPES OF SUBMISSIONS ACCEPTED
All types of submissions / papers should follow a standard format as described in the above “Manuscript component” section.

Editorials: Usually provide commentary and analysis concerning an article in the issue of the Journal in which they appear. They may include figures and tables. They are always solicited. The editorials would be limited to 1000 words with up to 10 references.

Original Articles: Reports of original clinical and basic research of interest to the Orthopaedic community are the primary material to be published as original articles. Randomly controlled trials intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic tests, outcome studies, cost effectiveness analysis, case-control series, and surveys with a reasonably high response rate. The text would be limited to 3000-5000 words, with an abstract of 250 words, maximum of 5 tables and figures (total) and up to 40 references.

Reviews and Clinical Debates: An article review is both a summary and an evaluation of another writer’ article. They would cover a contemporary topic and would generally be wide-ranging overviews of a field of research. The reviews and clinical debates will be subject to the standard review process. The minimum word length would be 3000 and maximum would be 5000 words with 6 tables and figures (total) and 50 references.

Case Reports/Study: The Journal encourages the submission of case reports that highlight practical diagnostic and/or management considerations. The format of these papers should follow that described in the “Manuscript Components” section below. Identifying information within written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees should not be given.

Case Series: Case-series is a descriptive study design and as the name suggests, it is just a series of cases of any particular disease or disease discrepancy that one might observe in one’ clinical practice etc.

Letters to the Editor: The Journal accepts Letters to the Editor that raises some issues related to recently published articles (last 6 months) in the DUKE Orthopaedic Journal. The letters should not exceed (1000 words) of text and 4 references. While not all “Letters to the Editor” will be published, those that are judged worthwhile will be forwarded to the authors of the articles in question or to selected experts in order to provide the opportunity for a response. Whenever possible, they will be published with the reply of the author of the published article.

AFTER ACCEPTANCE
Once the article is accepted a confirmation mail will be sent to the corresponding author. After about 2-3 weeks post acceptance the authors can check its issue placement in the ahead of print section. A proof of the article will be sent to the corresponding author for necessary changes just before the issue is to be published. E.g. For an issue of May 2016, the article will be sent in April 2016 for proof reading.

Online Proof correction: Once the galley proof of the accepted article is ready, it will be then sent to the Corresponding author. The environment is similar to MS Word: in addition to editing text, you can also comment on figures/tables and have to answer to the queries provided in the query form that will be sent along with the pdf proof. Web-based proofing provides a faster and less error-prone process by allowing you to directly type your corrections, eliminating the potential introduction of errors.

Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please check carefully before replying. Proofs must be checked carefully within 48 to 72 hours of receipt, as requested in the cover letter accompanying the page proofs.

Reprints: Reprints of articles can be obtained on special request by paying a nominal amount. Please write an e-mail to Ashwani Shukla at [email protected] for the same.

Review Policy
The journal follows a double-blind review process, where both the reviewer and author remain anonymous throughout the process. Please remove all identifying features such as author(s) affiliations from the article, ensuring that Author’s identity is not revealed.

Research Integrity
Duke Orthopaedic Journal requests that authors take note of and adhere to guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Research Integrity (https://ori.dhhs.gov/). (https://publicationethics.org/), and editors will investigate suspected instances of scientific fraud. All submissions are screened for inappropriate image manipulation, plagiarism, duplicate publication and other issues that violate research ethics. Depending on the outcome of these investigations, the Journal may decide to publish errata, or, in cases of serious scientific misconduct, ask authors to retract their paper or to impose retraction on them.

Patient Anonymity and Informed Consent
It is the author's responsibility to ensure that a patient's anonymity is carefully protected, to verify that any experimental investigation with human subjects reported in the manuscript was performed with informed consent, and follows all the guidelines for experimental investigation with human subjects required by the institution(s) with which all the authors are affiliated. Authors are asked to comply with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' HIPAA.

Privacy Rule and particularly those provisions concerned with the protection of health information in research (more information can be found at https://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/special/research/). Authors should mask patients' eyes and remove patients' names from figures, unless written consent has been obtained and can be submitted with the manuscript.

AIM & SCOPE
THE DUKE ORTHOPAEDIC JOURNAL is a peer-reviewed journal, with the goal of enhanced patient care. The journal welcome submissions from all institutions around the world for topics related to Orthopaedics, Musculoskeletal Radiology, Rheumatology, Rehabilitation, Plastic Surgery, and Sports Medicine.

EDITORIAL POLICIES

Ethical & Legal Considerations
A submitted manuscript must be an original contribution not previously published (except as an abstract or a preliminary report); must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere; and, if accepted, must not be published elsewhere in similar form, in any language, without the consent of Jaypee Publishers.

Although the editors and referees make every effort to ensure the validity of published manuscripts, the final responsibility rests with the authors, not with the Journal, its editors, or the publisher. Authors must submit manuscripts on-line through the Journal's website at https://www.dukeorthopaedicjournal.com/. Submission instructions are listed in the Manuscript Submission section below.

Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers are committed to meeting and upholding standards of ethical behavior at all stages of the publication process. We follow closely the associations, such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), that set standards and provide guidelines for best practices in order to meet these requirements.

Protection of Human Subjects & Animals in Research
For original articles in the Journal that report research involving animals, the corresponding author must confirm that all experiments were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations (i.e. IACUC guidelines and federal regulations). When documenting animal studies, we recommend adhering to the ARRIVE reporting guidelines.

All studies of human subjects must contain a statement within the Methods section indicating approval of the study by an institutional review body (i.e. Institutional Review Board), and, if appropriate, a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from all subjects. If no legally informed consent can be obtained, such as in research carried out with human subjects receiving emergency treatment, authors should indicate that a waiver of regulatory requirements for obtaining and documenting informed consent applies (in accordance with the U.S. HHS federal guidance).

When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether institutional and national standards for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed. Further guidance on animal research ethics is available from the International Association of Veterinary Editors' Consensus Author Guidelines on Animal Ethics and Welfare.

Medical research involving human subjects must conform to generally accepted scientific principles, be based on a thorough knowledge of the scientific literature, other relevant sources of information, and adequate laboratory and, as appropriate, animal experimentation. The welfare of animals used for research must be respected (ICMJE guidelines).

Changes in Authorship
Some changes in authorship (i.e. order of names, addition of co-authors, re-designation of corresponding author status) are permitted while a paper is under review. Substantive changes (i.e. removal or addition of a co-author) require agreement from all authors listed on the initially submitted manuscript.

Changes to corresponding author status may be made only when agreement from the original corresponding author can be secured by the editorial office. If the corresponding author of a paper in revision is not responsive, and the previous decision was released more than 60 days prior, the editorial office may proceed with re-designation. In such cases, the original corresponding author will be copied on all Journal correspondence.

If an author is added or removed while a paper is under revision, the editors will ask for justification from the corresponding author. Co-authors will be individually queried for consent as well. Further review will be suspended until authorship has been resolved.

After acceptance, changes in authorship require written consent from all co-authors. Production and publication of the paper will be suspended until authorship has been agreed. In cases of the post- acceptance removal of an author, after agreement has been documented, the Journal will inform the excluded author and proceed with the requested change. Further action will not be taken by the Journal; after agreement, authors may pursue the matter directly with co-authors or institutions.

After publication, all authors must consent to the addition of an extra author. If all authors agree, a corrigendum will be published. In cases of disagreement, authors will be advised that the change will not be made until written agreement is provided. Intractable disagreement will prompt the Journal to contact author institutions for adjudication. Corrections will only then be granted per institutional request.

Removing an author after publication will also require confirmation from all co-authors. However, if fraud or misconduct is alleged, the Journal will investigate. If an author disagrees with the published interpretation of data in their own paper, all authors will be provided with the opportunity to document their concerns, published at the discretion of the editor.

Conflicts of Interest Statement
All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work.

Role of the funding source
You are requested to identify provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then this should be stated.

Processing Charges
There are no processing charges for publication of an article in the journal (DUKE ORTHOPAEDIC JOURNAL).