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Types of paper
Original research (both clinical and laboratory), case series, reports and correspondence will be
considered. To be accepted for publication, individual case reports need to have important and novel learning points; a simple narrative
of a complex or challenging patient(s) is insufficient. Case series dealing with important areas of practice with a thorough review of
relevant literature will be considered The journal also publishes invited review articles and debates on topical and controversial subjects
in the area of obstetric anaesthesia. Reviews are usually commissioned, although authors may contact the Editor-in-Chief if they wish
to discuss potential topics.
Contact details for submission
Authors may send queries concerning the submission process, manuscript status, or journal procedures
to the Editorial Office at:
IJOA, Editorial Office, ELSEVIER.
E-mail: ijoa@elsevier.com
Ethics in Publishing
For information
on Ethics in Publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication see  http://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics and
http://www.elsevier.com/ethicalguidelines.
A paper
that contains the results of human and/or animal studies will only be accepted for publication if it is made clear that a high standard
of ethics was applied in carrying out the investigation. All clinical investigators must follow the Ethical Principles for Medical Research
Involving Human Subjects outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki
In the case of invasive studies of humans, the text should include a statement that the research protocol was approved by a local institutional
review board or ethics committee and that written consent was obtained from all subjects. For case reports subjects must not be identifiable;
however, the patient's written consent to publish should be given (see Patient Details).
Conflict of interest
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 within three years of beginning the submitted work that
could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. See also http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest.
Submission declaration
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously
(except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication
elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was
carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere including electronically in the same form, in English or in any
other language, without the written consent of the copyright-holder.
Reporting
clinical trials
Researchers are recommended to pre-register their trials on a public registry at or before the time of first
recruitment. Several web-based public registries are now available including http:/http://www.clinicaltrials.gov.
Nevertheless, IJOA does not currently regard pre-registration of a clinical trial as a compulsory pre-requisite to submission and possible
publication, and does not favour those that have been pre-registered or discriminate against those that have not.
Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement'
(for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure
the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript
together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.
Subscribers may reproduce
tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of
the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations
and translations (please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions). If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included,
the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted
forms for use by authors in these cases: please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.
Retained author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details
you are referred to: http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.
Role of the
funding source
You are requested to identify who 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 paper for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such
involvement then this should be stated. Please see http://www.elsevier.com/funding.
Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose
articles appear in journals published by Elsevier, to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions
of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.
Language and language services
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted,
but not a mixture of these). Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission
please visit http://www.elsevier.com/languageediting or our customer support site at http://support.elsevier.com
for more information.
Patient details
Unless you have written permission
from the patient (or, where applicable, the next of kin), the personal details of any patient included in any part of the article and
in any supplementary materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission. For further information see
http://www.elsevier.com/patientphotographs.
Submission
Submission
to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of your files. The system
automatically converts source files to a single PDF file of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even
though manuscript source files are converted to PDF files at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further
processing after acceptance. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place
by e-mail removing the need for a paper trail.
Submission of an
article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except as an abstract or part of a published lecture or academic
thesis), that it is not under consideration (in whole or in part) for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all
Authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be
published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent from the International Journal
of Obstetric Anesthesia, the copyright-holder.
Please submit
your article via http://ees.elsevier.com/ijoa.
Use of wordprocessing software
It is important that the file be saved
in the native format of the wordprocessor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as
possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the wordprocessor's
options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. Do not embed "graphically
designed" equations or tables, but prepare these using the wordprocessor's facility. When preparing tables, if you are using a table
grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns.
The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with
Elsevier: http://www.elsevier.com/guidepublication). Do not import the figures into the text file but, instead, indicate
their approximate locations directly in the electronic text and on the manuscript. See also the section on Electronic illustrations.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the "spell-check" and "grammar-check" functions of your wordprocessor.
Manuscripts should have 1.5 line spacing, including tables and references and lines should be numbered.
Pages should be numbered consecutively. Authors are advised to study recent issues of the International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia
to assess the level of detail required for publication. For guidance, original research articles should not exceed 3000 words, case reports
1500 words, reviews 5000 words, editorials 1500 words and correspondence 750 words (excluding references)
Article structure
Abstract. This should consist of not more than 250 words summarising the
contents of the article and should contain no references or abbreviations. Where appropriate use a structured abstract with the headings:
Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions - followed by Key Words.
Headings should be appropriate to the nature of the paper. In
general those for experimental papers should follow the usual conventions. Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion etc. do not need
to be on separate sheets. Other papers can be subdivided as the author desires; the use of headings enhances readability. Do not insert
compulsory line breaks within the text. When reporting randomised trials, authors are advised to refer to http://www.consort-statement.org. For observational studies authors should refer to http://www.strobe-statement.org.
Essential title page information
•
Title.
Concise and informative. Titles are often
used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
•
Author names and affiliations.
Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses
(where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the
author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name,
and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
•
Corresponding author.
Clearly indicate who will handle
correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country
and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address.
•
Present/permanent
address.
If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a "Present address"
(or "Permanent address") may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work
must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.
Abbreviations
Avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract. All unusual abbreviations should be fully
explained at their first occurrence in the text. Avoid numerous invented abbreviations. All measurements should be expressed in metric
units, SI units being preferred except in the case of fluid pressures. For more detailed recommendations, authors may consult the Royal
Society of Medicine publication: Units, Symbols and Abbreviations: A Guide for Biological and Medical Editors and Authors.
Propriety names and drugs, instruments etc. if essential, should start with initial capital letters.
Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing
of your original artwork.
• Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose the font.
• Only use the following
fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times, Symbol.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
•
Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
• Submit each figure as a separate file.
A detailed guide
on electronic artwork is available on our website:
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions
You are urged
to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
Regardless of the application
used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, please "save as" or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution
requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save
the text as "graphics".
TIFF: color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF: Bitmapped line
drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
DOC, XLS or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these Microsoft Office applications please supply "as is".
Please
do not:
• Supply embedded graphics in your wordprocessor (spreadsheet, presentation) document;
• Supply files that
are optimised for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
Color
artwork
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS or MS Office files) and with the correct
resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable color figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge,
that these figures will appear in color on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations
are reproduced in color in the printed version. For color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs
from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for color in print or on the Web only. For
further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Please
note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting color figures to "gray scale" (for the printed version should
you not opt for color in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the color illustrations.
Figure captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached
to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep
text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.
Tables
Number tables in the order in which they are cited in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table
body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical rules. Ensure that the data presented in tables are not duplicated
in the text.
Citation in text
Please ensure that every reference
cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full.
Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these
references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution
of the publication date with either "Unpublished results" or "Personal communication" Citation of a reference as "in press" implies that
the item has been accepted for publication.
Reference style
The accuracy
of references is the responsibility of the author. References should be entered consecutively by superscript Arabic numbers in the text
after punctuation and not preceded by spaces. The references should be listed in numerical order. References to journals should include
the author's name and initials (list all authors when six or fewer; when seven or more, list only the first three and add et al.), full
title of the paper, journal title abbreviated using Index Medicus abbreviations, year of publication, volume number, first and
last page numbers. If not in Index Medicus journal titles should be given in full.
For example: Scott DB, Tunstall ME. Serious
complications associated with epidural/spinal blockade. Int J Obstet Anesth 1995; 4: 133-9.
References to books should be set out
as follows: Eisenach JC. The pain of childbirth and its effect on the mother and fetus. In: Chestnut DH, ed. Obstetric Anesthesia
Principles and Practice. 3rd ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier Mosby; 2004:3288-301.
Citing and listing of Web references. As
a minimum, the title of the website or document, the full uniform resource locator (URL) and the accessed date should be given. Any further
information, if known (DOI, author names, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references should be included
in order of citation, in the reference list. Electronic material from a web site should be set out as follows: National Institutes of
Health. NIH guidelines on the inclusion of women as subjects in clinical research. Available at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/not94-100.html. Accessed September 30, 2009.
Journal abbreviations
source
Journal names should be abbreviated according to
Index Medicus journal abbreviations: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html;
List of serial title word abbreviations: http://www.issn.org/2-22661-LTWA-online.php;
CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service):
http://www.cas.org/sent.html.
Supplementary data
Elsevier
accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional
possibilities to publish supporting applications, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files
supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect:
http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please provide the data
in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply
a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Submission checklist
It is hoped that this list will be useful during the final checking
of an article prior to sending it to the journal's Editor for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any
item.
Ensure that the following items are present:
One Author designated as corresponding Author:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers
All necessary files have been uploaded
• Keywords
•
All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations
• Manuscript
has been "spellchecked" and "grammar-checked"
• References are in the correct format for this journal
• All references
mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted
material from other sources (including the Web)
• Color figures are clearly marked as being intended for color reproduction
on the Web (free of charge) and in print or to be reproduced in color on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white in print
•
If only color on the Web is required, black and white versions of the figures are also supplied for printing purposes
For any further
information please visit our customer support site at http://support.elsevier.com.
Use of the Digital Object Identifier
The
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character
string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore,
it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly 'Articles in press' because they have not yet received their full bibliographic
information. The correct format for citing a DOI is shown as follows (example taken from a document in the journal Physics Letters
B):
doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2003.10.071
When you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, they are guaranteed
never to change.
Proofs
One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be
sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post) or, a link will
be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download the files themselves. Elsevier now provides authors with PDF proofs which can
be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 (or higher) available free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.
Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online). The exact system requirements are given at the
Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win.
If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations
function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return them to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your
corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including
replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scan the pages and e-mail, or by post. 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. We will do everything possible
to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back
to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed.
Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received.
Offprints
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail.
For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication.
The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer
outlining the terms and conditions of use.
For inquiries
relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit this journal's homepage. You can
track accepted articles at http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's
status has changed. Also accessible from here is information on copyright, frequently asked questions and more. Contact details for questions
arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, will be provided by the publisher.
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