Osteosynthesis and Trauma Care publishes studies on research and clinical-scientific work on trauma care, especially operative fracture treatment. The language of the journal is English. Papers from any country will be considered for publication. Manuscripts submifted to the journal should not already have been published previously in English or any other language, nor should they be under consideration for publication elsewhere in English or any other language. All unsolicited papers are peer-reviewed before it is decided whether they should be accepted, rejected, or returned for revision. Reviewers' comments are usually returned to the authors. The journal reserves the right to edit the language of papers accepted for publication for clarity and correctness, and to make formal changes to ensure compliance with the journal's style. Authors have an opportunity to review any such changes in the proofs.

Submission of manuscripts

Manuscripts can be submitted directly to the journal's editorial office at the following address:

Prof. Dr. med. V. Vécsei
Universitätsklinik für Unfallchirurgie
Währinger Gürtel 18-20
1090 Vienna, Austria
Tel.: +43-1-40-400-5902
Fax: +43-1-40-400-5949
E-mail: vilmos.vecsei@akh-wien.ac.at

Manuscripts

1. General

Each submission must come with a covering letter containing the following information:

• title of the article; name and address of the main author with telephone and fax numbers;
• statement that none of the material in the manuscript has been published previously in any form and none of the material is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere other than noted in the covering letter to the Editor-in-Chief;
• statement indicating that each author has contributed substantially to the submitted work and has reviewed and agrees with the submission of the manuscript for review;
• a signature by each author, or at minimum the senior author with the authority from the co-authors.

2. Format and Length

Manuscripts must be typed legibly on standard paper no larger than 21Ç29.7cm (DIN A4) with a 3cm margin on the left, font 12 point, double spaced. The pages must be numbered in sequence beginning with the title page as page number one. A maximum of 6-8 illustrations is allowed. Longer manuscripts will be subject to editing. All papers should be submitted in triplicate (text: one original and two copies; figures: two sets suitable for reproduction and one copy).

3. Style

Authors are responsible for the correct typing of their manuscript and the list of references. Nomenclature should follow the recommendations of the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and the International Union for Biochemistry (IUB). All measurements must be in Systeme International (SI) units.

4. Structure

The authors are asked to follow the outline set out below:

Page one: a)title, b)short running title (limit: 45characters including spaces), c)name of the author(s) (no titles or academic grades) and address of the institute(s) where the investigations have been carried out. Should the address of the author at the time of publication differ from the one stated in the paper, the current address should be stated in a footnote, d)complete mailing address of corresponding author including telephone and tele-fax numbers and E-mail addresses.

Page two: a)a summary containing not more than 200words with no abbreviations, b)key words (3-7 without repeating words in the title).

Page three and onwards: a)introduction also indicating the aim of the study, b)materials and methods, c)results: double presentation of data in the form of text, tables or figures should be „avoided, d)discussion and conclusions, e)acknowl„edge-ments, f) list of references.

5. References

a) Text: Citations and references should be marked by numerical codes in parentheses referring to the respective numbers in the list of References. If authors are mentioned in the text, only the first author should be given followed by et al. whenever the reference has three or more authors.

Example: Also Wetzler et al. [7] estimated the incidence of malposition...

b )List of References: References should be supplied on a separate page, listed alphabetically by author, and should be cited in the text as numbers in alphabetical (not chronological) order. If several works of one author are listed they should be arranged in chronological order. All authors or groups of authors of each publication should be mentioned. The name of the author(s) should be followed by the full title of the paper, name of the journal in which it has been published (abbreviations according to World Medical Periodicals, published by the World Medical Association), volume, first and last page, year of publication in brackets. Abstracts and supplements have to be indicated. Chapters from books have to be cited as follows: author(s), title of chapter, title of book, editor(s), publisher, place and year of publica„tion, first and last page of the chapter.

Examples

- Articles in journals:

¹ Wetzler MJ, Getelman MH, Friedman MJ, Bartolozzi AR. Revision anterior cruciate ligament surgery: Etiology of failures. Operat Techn Sports Med 1998; 6: 64-70

² Wirth CJ, Peters G. The dilemma with multiply reoperated knee stabilities. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 1998; 6: 148-159 Chapters in books:

¹ Thelen M, Ritter G, Bücheler E (eds). Radiologische Diagnostik der Verletzungen von Knochen und Gelenken. Thieme, Stuttgart 1993: 261

² Schild H, Rudiger J. Ellenbogengelenk. In: Thelen M, Ritter G, Bücheler E (eds). Radiologische Diagnostik der Verletzungen von Knochen und Gelenken. Thieme, Stuttgart 1993: 331-352

6. Tables and figures

Each table and figure must be referred to in the text and numbered with Arabic figures. Each table must be typed on a separate page with its heading above it. Figures (in triplicate) must be labelled on the back with the figure number, first author's name and an arrow indicating the top. Illustrations should be professionally drawn and photographed or produced on a laser printer. For laser-printed figures, glossy paper suitable for camera-ready copy must be used. A descriptive and detailed legend is required on a separate page.

Colour illustrations can be published if necessary and recommended by the Editor-in-Chief and if the author makes a contribution to the printing costs. This contribution amounts to at present e 175 - per figure or plate, plus VAT. lt is recommended to mount separate figures as plate.

Electronic Manuscripts

Whenever possible, accepted manuscripts should be made available electronically. Widespread text processors, such as Microsoft Word and Word Perfect, should be used and the operating system, programme and version numbers should be indicated on the diskette. Please save your file in the standard format of your text processor and in one or several exchange format/s (for example, *.txt, *.rtf). If possible, the “endnote” function of the text processor should be used for the management of references. Figure legends and tables should be list„ed at the end of the document.

Please save figures as separate files. They should not be integrated into the text document. The following graphic file formats are preferred:

- For coloured and black-and-white bitmaps: *.eps *.tif, *.jpg, *.wmf (resolution: 300 dpi). - For diagrams and line drawings: *.eps (resolution: 800 dpi).

In addition to the electronic files, three paper versions of both text and figures must be submitted. In case of doubt, the paper version is given the higher priority. Please provide a signed declaration that the paper and electronic versions are identical.

Reprints

Authors receive 25 reprints free of charge; further reprints can be ordered at cost price when returning the proofs.

Copyright

All rights are held by the publishers, including the right to reproduce all or part of any publication.

Valuable information on medical writing and format is provided in the following:

1. Iverson C, Flanagan A, Fontanarosa PH et al. American Medical Association manual of style. 9th ed. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1998.

2. Lang TA, Secic M. How to report statistics in medicine: annotated guidelines for authors, editors, and reviewers. Philadelphia: American College of Physicians, 1997

3. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. JAMA 1997; 227: 927-934.