Author Guidelines
Instructions to Authors
The Irish Journal of Anaesthesia (IrJA) is an international scientific periodical published in accordance with independent, unbiased, and double-blinded peer-review principles. Six issues are published per year: in February, April, June, August, October, and December.
The journal publishes clinical and experimental research articles, review articles, case reports, letters to the editor, Audits and scientific conference proceedings prepared in accordance with ethical guidelines in the field of Anaesthesia, Intensive Care Medicine, and Pain Medicine.
Originality, high scientific quality, and citation potential are the most important criteria for a manuscript to be accepted for publication. Manuscripts submitted for evaluation should not have been previously presented or already published in an electronic or printed medium. The journal should be informed of manuscripts that have been submitted to another journal for evaluation and rejected for publication. The submission of previous reviewer reports will expedite the evaluation process. Manuscripts that have been presented in a meeting should be submitted with detailed information on the organization, including the name, date, and location of the organization.
Manuscripts submitted to the Irish Journal of Anaesthesia (IrJA) will go through a double-blind peer-review process. Each submission will be reviewed by at least two external, independent peer reviewers who are experts in the field in order to ensure an unbiased evaluation process. The editorial board will invite an external and independent editor to manage the evaluation processes of manuscripts submitted by editors or by the editorial board members of the journal. The Editor in Chief is the final authority in the decision-making process for all submissions.
An approval of research protocols by the Ethics Committee in accordance with international agreements (World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki “Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects,” amended in October 2013, www.wma.net) is required for experimental, clinical, and drug studies and for some case reports. If required, ethics committee reports or an equivalent official document will be requested from the authors. For manuscripts concerning experimental research on humans, a statement should be included that shows that written informed consent of patients and volunteers was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures that they may undergo. For studies carried out on animals, the measures taken to prevent pain and suffering of the animals should be stated clearly. Information on patient consent, the name of the ethics committee, and the ethics committee approval number should also be stated in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript. It is the authors’ responsibility to carefully protect the patients’ anonymity. For photographs that may reveal the identity of the patients, releases signed by the patient or their legal representative should be enclosed.
All submissions are screened by a similarity detection software (iThenticate by CrossCheck).
In the event of alleged or suspected research misconduct, e.g., plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication, the Editorial Board will follow and act in accordance with COPE guidelines.
Each individual listed as an author should fulfill the authorship criteria recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE -
www.icmje.org). The
ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:
1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work he/she has done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.
All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Those who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged on the title page of the manuscript.
The Irish Journal of Anaesthesia (IrJA) requires corresponding authors to submit a signed and scanned version of the authorship contribution form (available for download through www.jtaics.org) during the initial submission process in order to act appropriately on authorship rights and to prevent ghost or honorary authorship. If the editorial board suspects a case of “gift authorship,” the submission will be rejected without further review. As part of the submission of the manuscript, the corresponding author should also send a short statement declaring that he/she accepts to undertake all the responsibility for authorship during the submission and review stages of the manuscript.
The Irish Journal of Anaesthesia (IrJA) requires and encourages the authors and the individuals involved in the evaluation process of submitted manuscripts to disclose any existing or potential conflicts of interests, including financial, consultant, and institutional, that might lead to potential bias or a conflict of interest. Any financial grants or other support received for a submitted study from individuals or institutions should be disclosed to the Editorial Board. To disclose a potential conflict of interest, the ICMJE Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form should be filled in and submitted by all contributing authors. Cases of a potential conflict of interest of the editors, authors, or reviewers are resolved by the journal’s Editorial Board within the scope of COPE and ICMJE guidelines.
The Editorial Board of the journal handles all appeal and complaint cases within the scope of COPE guidelines. In such cases, authors should get in direct contact with the editorial office regarding their appeals and complaints. When needed, an ombudsperson may be assigned to resolve cases that cannot be resolved internally. The Editor in Chief is the final authority in the decision-making process for all appeals and complaints.
When submitting a manuscript to the Irish Journal of Anaesthesia, authors accept to assign the copyright of their manuscript to the Irish Journal of Anaesthesia. If rejected for publication, the copyright of the manuscript will be assigned back to the authors. The Irish Journal of Anaesthesia requires each submission to be accompanied by a Copyright Transfer Form (available for download at www.irishjournalofanaesthesia.ie). When using previously published content, including figures, tables, or any other material in both print and electronic formats, authors must obtain permission from the copyright holder. Legal, financial and criminal liabilities in this regard belong to the author(s).
Statements or opinions expressed in the manuscripts published in the Irish Journal of Anaesthesia reflect the views of the author(s) and not the opinions of the editors, the editorial board, or the publisher; the editors, the editorial board, and the publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for such materials. The final responsibility in regard to the published content rests with the authors.
MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
The manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with ICMJE-Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (updated in December 2015 - http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf). Authors are required to prepare manuscripts in accordance with the CONSORT guidelines for randomized research studies, STROBE guidelines for observational original research studies, STARD guidelines for studies on diagnostic accuracy, PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews and meta-analysis, ARRIVE guidelines for experimental animal studies, and TREND guidelines for non-randomized public behavior.
Manuscripts can only be submitted through the journal’s online manuscript submission and evaluation system, available at www.irishjournalofanaesthesia.ie Manuscripts submitted via any other medium will not be evaluated.
Manuscripts submitted to the journal will first go through a technical evaluation process where the editorial office staff will ensure that the manuscript has been prepared and submitted in accordance with the journal’s guidelines. Submissions that do not conform to the journal’s guidelines will be returned to the submitting author with technical correction requests.
Authors are required to submit the following:
during the initial submission. These forms are available for download at www.jtaics.org.
Preparation of the Manuscript
Title page: A separate title page should be submitted with all submissions and this page should include:
- The full title of the manuscript as well as a short title (running head) of no more than 50 characters,
- Name(s), affiliations, and highest academic degree(s) of the author(s),
- Grant information and detailed information on the other sources of support,
- Name, address, telephone (including the mobile phone number) and fax numbers, and email address of the corresponding author,
- Acknowledgment of the individuals who contributed to the preparation of the manuscript but who do not fulfil the authorship criteria.
Abstract: An abstract should be submitted with all submissions except for Letters to the Editor. The abstract of Original Articles should be structured with subheadings (Objective, Methods, Results, and Conclusion). Please check Table 1 below for word count specifications.
Keywords: Each submission must be accompanied by a minimum of three to a maximum of six keywords for subject indexing at the end of the abstract. The keywords should be listed in full without abbreviations. The keywords should be selected from the National Library of Medicine, Medical Subject Headings database (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html).
Manuscript Types
Original Articles: This is the most important type of article since it provides new information based on original research. The main text of original articles should be structured with Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion subheadings. Please check Table 1 for the limitations of Original Articles.
Statistical analysis to support conclusions is usually necessary. Statistical analyses must be conducted in accordance with international statistical reporting standards (Altman DG, Gore SM, Gardner MJ, Pocock SJ. Statistical guidelines for contributors to medical journals. Br Med J 1983: 7; 1489-93). Information on statistical analyses should be provided with a separate subheading under the Materials and Methods section and the statistical software that was used during the process must be specified.
Units should be prepared in accordance with the International System of Units (SI); also, (.), (/), or (·) should be avoided when writing out units (e.g., write mg kg-1, µg kg-1, mL, mL kg-1, mL kg-1 sa-1, mL kg-1 dk-1, L dk-1 m-2, mmHg, etc.)
Editorial Comments: Editorial comments aim to provide a brief critical commentary by reviewers with expertise or with high reputation in the topic of the research article published in the journal. Authors are selected and invited by the journal to provide such comments. Abstract, Keywords, and Tables, Figures, Images, and other media are not included.
Review Articles: Reviews prepared by authors who have extensive knowledge in a particular field and whose scientific background has been translated into a high volume of publications with a high citation potential are welcomed. These authors may even be invited by the journal. Reviews should describe, discuss, and evaluate the current level of knowledge of a topic in clinical practice and should guide future studies. The main text should contain Introduction, Clinical and Research Consequences, and Conclusion sections. Please check Table 1 for the limitations of Review Articles.
Case Reports: There is limited space for case reports in the journal and reports on rare cases or conditions that constitute challenges in diagnosis and treatment, those offering new therapies or revealing knowledge not included in the literature, and interesting and educative case reports are accepted for publication. The text should include Introduction, Case Presentation, Discussion, and Conclusion subheadings. Please check Table 1 for the limitations of Case
Reports.
Letters to the Editor: This type of manuscript discusses important parts, overlooked aspects, or lacking parts of a previously published article. Articles on subjects within the scope of the journal that might attract the readers’ attention, particularly educative cases, may also be submitted in the form of a “Letter to the Editor.” Readers can also present their comments on the published manuscripts in the form of a “Letter to the Editor.” Abstract, Keywords, and Tables, Figures, Images, and other media should not be included. The text should be unstructured. The manuscript that is being commented on must be properly cited within this manuscript.
Images in Clinical Practices: The journal accepts original high-quality images related to cases that it has come across in clinical practices, that cite the importance or infrequency of the topic, that make the visual quality stand out, and that present important information that should be shared in academic platforms. Titles of the images should not exceed 10 words. Images may be signed by no more than three authors. Figure legends are limited to 200 words. The number of figures is limited to three. Video submissions will not be considered.
Table 1: Limitations for each manuscript type.
| Type of manuscript | Word limit (Main text only) | Abstract word limit | Reference limit | Table limit | Figure limit |
| Original Article | 3500 | 250 (Structured) | 30 | 6 | 7 or total of 15 images |
| Review Article | 5000 | 250 | 50 | 6 | 10 or total of 20 images |
| Case Report | 1000 | 200 | 15 | No tables | 10 or total of 20 images |
| Audits | 1000 | 200 | 15 | 2 | 4 |
| Letter to the Editor | 500 | N/A | 5 | No tables | No media |
Tables
Tables should be included in the main document, presented after the reference list, and they should be numbered consecutively in the order they are referred to within the main text. A descriptive title must be placed on the top of the tables. Abbreviations used in the tables should be defined below the tables by footnotes (even if they are defined within the main text). Tables should be created using the “insert table” command of the word processing software and they should be arranged clearly to provide easy reading. Data presented in the tables should not be a repetition of the data presented within the main text but should be supporting the main text.
Figures and Figure Legends
Figures, graphics, and photographs should be submitted as separate files (in TIFF or JPEG format) through the submission system. The files should not be embedded in a Word document or the main document. When there are figure subunits, the subunits should not be merged to form a single image. Each subunit should be submitted separately through the submission system. Images should not be labelled (a, b, c, etc.) to indicate figure subunits. Thick and thin arrows, arrowheads, stars, asterisks, and similar marks can be used on the images to support figure legends. Like the rest of the submission, the figures too should be blind. Any information within the images that may indicate an individual or institution should be blinded. The minimum resolution of each submitted figure should be 300 DPI. To prevent delays in the evaluation process, all submitted figures should be clear in resolution and large in size (minimum dimensions: 100 × 100 mm). Figure legends should be listed at the end of the main document.
All acronyms and abbreviations used in the manuscript should be defined at first use, both in the abstract and in the main text. The abbreviation should be provided in parentheses following the definition.
When a drug, product, hardware, or software program is mentioned within the main text, product information, including the name of the product, the producer of the product, and city and the country of the company (including the state if in USA), should be provided in parentheses in the following format: “Discovery St PET/CT scanner (General Electric, Milwaukee, WI, USA)”
All references, tables, and figures should be referred to within the main text, and they should be numbered consecutively in the order they are referred to within the main text.
Limitations, drawbacks, and the shortcomings of original articles should be mentioned in the Discussion section before the conclusion paragraph.
References
While citing publications, preference should be given to the latest, most up-to-date publications. If an ahead-of-print publication is cited, the DOI number should be provided. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references. Journal titles should be abbreviated in accordance with the journal abbreviations in Index Medicus/ MEDLINE/PubMed. When there are six or fewer authors, all authors should be listed. If there are seven or more authors, the first six authors should be listed followed by “et al.” In the main text of the manuscript, references should be cited using Arabic numbers in parentheses. The reference styles for different types of publications are presented in the following examples.
Journal Article: Blasco V, Colavolpe JC, Antonini F, Zieleskiewicz L, Nafati C, Albanèse J, et al. Long-term outcome in kidney recipients from donors treated with hydroxyethylstarch 130/0.4 and hydroxyethylstarch 200/0.6. Br J Anaesth 2015; 115: 797-8.
Book Section: Sherry S. Detection of thrombi. In: Strauss HE, Pitt B, James AE, editors. Cardiovascular Medicine. St Louis: Mosby; 1974. pp.273-85.
Books with a Single Author: Cohn PF. Silent myocardial ischemia and infarction. 3rd ed. New York: Marcel Dekker; 1993.
Editor(s) as Author: Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996.
Conference Proceedings: Bengisson S. Sothemin BG. Enforcement of data protection, privacy and security in medical informatics. In: Lun KC, Degoulet P, Piemme TE, Rienhoff O, editors. MEDINFO 92. Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Medical Informatics; 1992 Sept 6-10; Geneva, Switzerland. Amsterdam: North-Holland; 1992. pp.1561-5.
Scientific or Technical Report: Smith P. Golladay K. Payment for durable medical equipment billed during skilled nursing facility stays. Final report. Dallas (TX) Dept. of Health and Human Services (US). Office of Evaluation and Inspections: 1994 Oct. Report No: HHSIGOE 169200860.
Thesis: Kaplan SI. Post-hospital home health care: the elderly access and utilization (dissertation). St. Louis (MO): Washington Univ. 1995.
Manuscripts Accepted for Publication, Not Published Yet: Leshner AI. Molecular mechanisms of cocaine addiction. N Engl J Med In press 1997.
Epub Ahead of Print Articles: Ali A, Cangir CC, Ersoy A, Turgut N. A Hospital Employee with Acinetobacter Tonsillitis Linked to Intensive Care Unit. Turk J Anaesth Reanim 2013 Aug 41. doi: 10.5152/TJAR.2013.23. [Epub ahead of print].
Manuscripts Published in Electronic Format: Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis (serial online) 1995 Jan-Mar (cited 1996 June 5): 1(1): (24 screens). Available from: URL: HTTP:/ www.cdc.gov/ncidodlElD/cid.htm.
REVISIONS
When submitting a revised version of a paper, the author must submit a detailed “Response to the reviewers” that states point by point how each issue raised by the reviewers has been covered and where it can be found (each reviewer's comment, followed by the author’s reply and line numbers where the changes have been made) as well as an annotated copy of the main document. Revised manuscripts must be submitted within 30 days from the date of the decision letter. If the revised version of the manuscript is not submitted within the allocated time, the revision option may be cancelled. If the submitting author(s) believe that additional time is required, they should request this extension before the initial 30-day period is over.
Accepted manuscripts are copy-edited for grammar, punctuation, and format. Once the publication process of a manuscript is completed, it is published online on the journal’s webpage as an ahead-of-print publication before it is included in its scheduled issue. A PDF proof of the accepted manuscript is sent to the corresponding author and their publication approval is requested within 2 days of their receipt of the proof.
PERMISSIONS AND REPRINTS
Permission requests for the reproduction of published content and reprint orders should be directed to the Editorial Office.
