More pages for ‘Focus on Details’ in ‘Surgery Illustrated’: Call for papers

Abstract

Since January 2008 you have been receiving two issues per month of the BJU International. This major change allows more room for ‘Surgery Illustrated’. One issue each month will be devoted to ‘Focus on Details’ submissions, the other to the ‘Surgical Atlas’, which is by invitation only. ‘Focus on Details’ submissions are spontaneous submissions from authors who wish to describe one surgical step of a procedure in detail, with a few figures on a limited number of pages. In general, modifications of one specific aspect of a procedure, tricks to ease one particular step, or highlighting some point of technique, are within the scope of ‘Focus on Details’ submissions. All sketches and drawings will be redone (at no cost to the authors) by our illustrator, Stephan Spitzer. For details of submissions, see the revised Guidelines for Authors below. In the near future, there will be a loose-leaf folder available (‘Collections of Urological Surgery’), which will include ‘Focus on Details’ submissions adjacent to related comprehensive surgical procedures (’Surgical Atlas’). Thus, these submissions will not only be available as a one-time publication, but also in a comprehensive and lasting edition. Again, this is an opportunity to thank those without whom it would be impossible to achieve what has been accomplished so far: Stephan Spitzer, our illustrator, Rolf Gillitzer, MD, and Christoph Wiesner, MD, the co-editors of this section, and Irene Keenan, Editorial Secretary. Furthermore, we owe thanks to the Editor of BJU Int, John Fitzpatrick, for his continuous support of our section, to the Executives of the BJU Company, with Christopher Woodhouse as Chairman, and to the publisher, Wiley Blackwell, all of whom allow us to accomplish our ambitious (and expensive) goal to illustrate standard and novel surgical procedures in urology. Submissions to Focus on Details are welcome. This second part of ‘Surgery Illustrated’ intends to highlight one surgical step with one or two figures and a brief description. Articles must not be related to a surgical procedure previously published in the ‘Surgical Atlas’. Let us know if you have any questions in this regard. Manuscripts highlighting one step of a surgical procedure (e.g. specific instrument or surgical manoeuvre) should be no more than two or three pages and contain a maximum of two illustrations. Material for the illustrator: Good quality drawings, and/or photographs, labelled and defined. The text should be structured as follows: A short introductory paragraph describing the problem Description of the technique as legends to figures A summary, including benefits over standard surgical step, shortcomings, possible complications and troubleshooting. If accepted for publication, all illustrations will be redrawn to conform with the format and appearance of ‘Surgery Illustrated’. Submissions to Focus on Details should be directed to: Joachim W. Thüroff, Associate Editor, BJU International, Department of Urology, Johannes Gutenberg University Hospitals, Langenbeckstrasse 1, 55131 Mainz, Germany. Telephone: +49 6131 172311, fax: +49 6131 1747 2311, e-mail: SurgeryIllustrated@urologie.klinik.uni-mainz.de