Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery is an international, peer-reviewed journal. We invite submission of articles on topics pertaining to the science and art of medicine related to otolaryngology-head and neck surgery. Articles are published because of scientific merit and are not to be considered general practice guideline standards.
All manuscripts and editorial communications should be sent online, via Editorial Manager (EM), to: Michael S. Benninger, MD, Editor in Chief, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. See Manuscript Submission, below. Go to http://otohns.edmgr.com for directions.
Editorial Policies
All original articles are reviewed by 2 or more reviewers. Acceptance is based on originality, interpretation, logical consistency and validity, and significance of the material presented.
Journal Categories
Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery publishes the following types of articles. Please check Manuscript Preparation and Submission for further details.
Original Research: Original, in-depth, clinical or laboratory investigations, or extensive clinical experience. Manuscript length: Submissions must have a title page, 150-word abstract, and no more than 10 typed, double-spaced pages, and no more than 3,000–3,500 words (exclusive of title page and abstract). They should contain no more than 20 references, and a total of 10 figures and/or tables.
Literature Reviews: Scholarly reviews of the literature on important subjects in otolaryngology—head and neck surgery that challenge readers to expand existing information. Reviews do not generally go beyond the observations of the authors and, as such, do not qualify as original articles. Do not combine a case report with a literature review. Manuscript length: They should contain no more than 50 references, and 20 pages.
Case Reports: Report of a truly unique, highly relevant, and educationally valuable case. Submissions should have a title page, but no abstract. Manuscript length: no more than 3 typed, double-spaced pages (900 words), 5 references, and 2 figures or tables. A case report should not be combined with a literature review. Revisions for case reports will not be permitted.
Short Scientific Communications: Quick communication of scientific research that is not yet ready for presentation in full form. Such research should have the potential to stimulate communications among researchers and clinicians that may lead to new concepts and supportive work. This section will also include communication of important, innovative, or technical developments. Selected manuscripts will receive an expedited review and publication. Manuscript length: Submissions must have a title page, 100-word abstract, a maximum length of no more than 3 typed, double-spaced pages (900 words) and a total of 2 figures and/or tables, and no more than 7 references.
Clinical Techniques and Technology: A short report of unique or original methods for: (1) surgical techniques or medical management: OR (2) new devices or technology. Submissions must have a title page and no abstract. Manuscript length: no more than 3 typed, double-spaced pages, 900 words, a total of 2 figures and/or tables, and no more than 5 references.
Clinical Photographs: Color photograph (not picture of an x-ray) of a unique, relevant, and educationally valuable clinical entity with an accompanying discussion. Submissions must have a title page, and no abstract. Manuscript length: no more than 3 typed, double-spaced pages (900 words) and 4 references. In exceptional cases, with editor approval, a second photograph will be considered, although this will require reducing the text by 200 words.
Letters to the Editor: Brief letters to the editor regarding published material or information of timely interest. If the letter is related to a previously published article, those authors will, whenever possible, be invited to reply. The letter should be titled and double-spaced. It should be brief and to the point, with few references.
Book Reviews: Books and monographs (domestic and foreign) will be reviewed depending on their interest and value to subscribers. Reviews should be brief (limited to 1 page) and should give readers an overview of the contents of the book, opinions on its strengths and weaknesses, and recommendations concerning a target group most likely to benefit from reading the volume.
Book reviews are handled offline.
Please submit a hard copy of the review and a disk labeled with the word processing program/operating system to Associate Editor-Book Reviews, Neil Bhattacharyya, MD, FACS, Division of Otolaryngology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 45 Francis St, Boston, MA 02115; e-mail: neiloy@massmed.org. In appreciation of the review, the reviewer keeps the book.
Video Clip Submission: Instructions for submission of video vignettes are available at the online journal and can be accessed by going to http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/ymhn/content/videosubmission. Video vignettes for accepted manuscripts should be submitted to Keith F. Clark, MD, PhD, 608 NW 9th St, Ste 5100, Oklahoma City, OK 73102-1006; e-mail: clarkfamily5@cox.net. Videos should be sent together with a copy of the accompanying accepted manuscript and the letter of acceptance from the editor's office.
Supplements: Supplements are considered for publication on the basis of importance of topic, expertise of participants, and scientific quality of the articles presented. All supplements undergo peer review. Private funding for supplements is required. Contact the Managing Editor of the Journal (otomanager@entnet.org) for further information.
International Manuscripts
International manuscripts must follow all the instructions for Manuscript Preparation and Submission. Manuscripts received from foreign countries will be held to the same high standards as those received from the U. S. and Canada and must conform to acceptable American English usage. Manuscripts previously published in a language other than English may be submitted; however, the date of publication, the name of the journal, and the copyright information must be included.
Manuscript Preparation
Correct preparation of the manuscript will expedite the review and publishing process. Manuscripts must conform to acceptable American English usage. Spell out any abbreviations the first time they appear in the text and indicate the abbreviation immediately afterward in parentheses. Use all abbreviations consistently throughout the manuscript. For further questions concerning style, consult the American Medical Association's Manual of Style or a recent issue of this Journal.
Title Page: Include the submission title and all authors' full name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation, and location. Designate ONE author as the corresponding author, and provide a complete address, telephone/fax numbers, and e-mail address. The corresponding author will receive all correspondence regarding the manuscript as well as proof pages and reprint requests. Also indicate where the paper was presented, and if applicable, provide a brief acknowledgment of any grants and/or other assistance received.
Abstract: Each original research article must have an abstract/summary not exceeding 150 words. Abstracts must be on a separate page, and structured with the following headings: Objective, Study Design and Setting, Results, Conclusion, and Significance.
Text: Do not use the “Track Changes” feature of any word processing program. If this feature has been used for any portion of the manuscript, all changes must be accepted before building a .pdf submission. The Editorial Office will not edit or process submissions containing this formatting. See JOURNAL CATEGORIES for length requirements. Number all pages beginning with the title page as #1. Use generic drug and equipment names when possible; cite the proprietary names in parentheses after first mention, if desired. Identify equipment by manufacturer name and location. State all measurements in metric units, and if desired, add English units in parentheses. Consult previous issues of the Journal for useful guidelines for reporting the grading of facial nerve dysfunction (1985;93:146–7), the Committee on Hearing and Equilibrium guidelines for Meniere's disease (1995;113:181–5), the measurement of power densities in laser surgery (1986; 94:273), and the definition of rhinosinusitis (2004;131:S1).
IRB Policy: Following the mandate of the Declaration of Helsinki (Sec. B, para. 13, World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki, amended 2004), all medical procedures must be approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB). Therefore, any such procedures discussed in submissions to Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery must list approval by the local IRB. IF such a body does not exist in the authors' institution, authors must include a statement similar to this: “An IRB is not available in our institution, but this is how we obtained proper consent from the patients, in keeping with the mandate of the Declaration of Helsinki.”
Said description must then follow.
Acknowledgments: All papers prepared in consultation with a statistician who is not a coauthor must contain an acknowledgment, following the text, indicating the name and degrees of the statistician. Acknowledge any other contributions in this section.
References: Authors are responsible for the completeness, accuracy, and format of their references. Do not use the endnote or footnote function of word-processing software to generate a list of references.
Begin references on a separate page after acknowledgments.
Number references in the order of their appearance in the text, not in alphabetical order.
Cite references in the text by number in the form of a superscript.
Do not exceed 20 references, unless the manuscript is a review article.
Cite unpublished data, personal communications, and manuscripts submitted (but not accepted) as footnotes in the text.
List only the first 3 authors, and add et al after the third author.
Follow the format detailed in the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” (Ann Intern Med 1997;126:36–47); http://www.icmje.org
Abbreviate journal titles as shown in the MEDLINE. Examples of correct forms of references are given below: Journal reference: Tarasidis G, Watanabe O, Mackinnon SE, et al. End-to-side neurorraphy: a long-term study of neural regeneration in a rat model. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1998;119:337–341.
Book reference: McMinn RMH, Hutchings RT, Logan BM. Color atlas of head and neck anatomy. 1st ed. Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers; 1982. p. 10–25.
Chapter reference: Oppenheim JJ, Schecter B. Lymphocyte transformation. In: Friedman R, Friedman H, editors. Manual of clinical immunology. 2nd ed. Washington (DC): American Society for Microbiology; 1980. p. 233–45.
Evidence-Based Medicine and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery: To help our readers understand the quality of references cited in articles published in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, authors are requested to assign an appropriate grade of recommendation—as defined by the level of evidence—to each article they reference, based on definitions from the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, below. We ask our reviewers to similarly evaluate articles submitted to us.
Grades of recommendations: Grade A, Level 1; Grade B, Level 2, 3; Grade C, Level 4; Grade D, Level 5. Levels of evidence: Level 1, Randomized controlled trials or a systematic review (meta-analysis) of randomized controlled trials; Level 2, prospective (cohort or outcomes) study with an internal control group or a systematic review of prospective, controlled trials; Level 3, retrospective (case-control) study with an internal control group or a systematic review of retrospective, controlled studies; Level 4, case series without an internal control group (retrospective reviews; uncontrolled cohort or outcome studies); Level 5, expert opinion without explicit critical appraisal, recommendation based on physiology/bench research, literature reviews, and animal studies.
Authors should include the grades of recommendation at the end of each reference, thus: Benninger MS, Holzer S, Lau J. Diagnosis and treatment of acute bacterial rhinosinusitis: Summary of the Agency on Healthcare Policy and Research's Evidence Based Report. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2002: 122; 1–7. (Grade A).
Legends for Figures: Provide a legend for each figure. List the legends (double-spaced) on a legend page, placed after the reference page. Because all figures will be printed in black and white unless selected by the Editor for color reproduction, please refrain from using color descriptors in the legend.
Tables: Data appearing in tables should supplement, not duplicate, the text. Put tables on separate pages and number them in order of their mention in the text. Place tables after the figure legend page. Provide a brief title for each table, and define any abbreviations in table footnotes. Tables must be no more than 7 inches (18 cm) wide, and should use, at minimum, a 10 point font in either Arial, Times New Roman, or Century font.
Figures: Figures should be submitted in electronic format, preferably in TIF or JPEG format. Figures must be entered separately into EM, including the description/label (e.g., Figure 1). Figures should be created using graphics software such as Photoshop or Illustrator. DO NOT USE PowerPoint, Corel Draw, or Harvard Graphics. Do not put your figures in Microsoft Word documents. Color figures are encouraged whenever possible for contrast, though they may not necessarily be selected for publication. COLOR figures submitted with the manuscript may appear in black and white in print, unless selected by the Editor, but will appear on the website in color at no extra charge. When color images appear in print in black and white, the black and white contrast will diminish, so choose distinct color contrasts and/or patterns for best conversion to black and white images.
If a color image is accepted for print, it must meet the following specifications: CMYK at least 300 DPI. Gray scale images should be at least 300 DPI. Combinations of gray scale and line art should be at least 600 DPI. Line art (black and white or color) should be at least 1200 DPI.
For manuscripts that contain PHOTOGRAPHS OF A PERSON, submit a written release from the person or guardian, or submit a photograph that will not reveal the person's identity (eye covers may not be adequate to protect patient identity).
Appendices: Will only be published online, not in the print Journal.
Manuscript Submission
Go to http://otohns.edmgr.com for directions in using Editorial Manager (EM), the online submission and review system. EM recommends using either Netscape (not Netscape 6) or Internet Explorer as browsers.
To use Editorial Manager, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader (a PDF reader) 5.0 or later installed on your system. If you need to install this software, you can download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader at the following address: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
If you experience difficulty installing or using this software, contact your IT department for assistance. Adobe also offers a help database for their free Reader at this address: http://www.adobe.com/support/products/acrreader.html
Authors should first read the User Instructions and then, as a first-time user, register in Editorial Manager. Do not use accented letters or symbols in your registration. If you have already registered and received a user name and password, you should not register again. Instead, click Login in the bar at the top of the page. The system will take you through the process step by step. There are tutorials for both authors and reviewers.
You will be guided to fill in the necessary information, then upload your manuscript text (including references, figure legends, tables, etc.) and figures (see above for further information on figures). The Abstract must be included twice—once alone, where indicated, and once as a part of the whole manuscript. It is advisable to save the complete manuscript as a word-processing document, then upload it into EM.
Copyright/Transfer and Disclosure Form
The Copyright/Transfer and Disclosure form must be signed by ALL authors and submitted offline. Go to the Editorial Manager site at http://otohns.edmgr.com and to “User Instructions.” Go to the “Mandatory Items” checklist, download and print the three-page form, and insert the title of the manuscript. Have all authors sign in all five sections, then send it via FAX to 1-703-299-1136, or by mail to: Editorial Office, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, One Prince St, Alexandria, VA 22314.
Submit written permission from the copyright holder (normally the publisher) for all PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED material, including tables, figures, and direct quotations longer than 100 words.
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