1.1. Editorial policy
Journal of Orthopedic and Spine Trauma (JOST) is the official journal of the Persian Orthopedic Trauma Association (POTA) which is academically affiliated to the Orthopedic and Trauma Department of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS). JOST is a free peer review journal and publishes original papers related to the field of orthopedic and spine trauma with emphasis on local and regional traumatic problems and therapeutic concepts. Reviews, symposia, short communications, educational corners and letters to the Editor are also accepted. Case reports are considered if justified by their unique significance in the field of trauma. Prior consultation with the editor-in-chief or co-editors is recommended before considering or submitting review articles.

Manuscripts are processed on condition that they have not been previously published or submitted for publication, and are not under process in other journals. This restriction does not apply to articles published as reports in a form of abstracts or summaries. 

Manuscripts should be submitted online via the Jost.tums.ac.ir online manuscript submission and review system of TUMS. At the time of submission, complete contact information (postal/mail address, e-mail address, mobile phone, telephone and fax numbers) for the corresponding author and/or first author is required. First and last names, e-mail addresses, and institutional affiliations of all co-authors are required. After the manuscript is submitted online, the corresponding author will receive a manuscript number (See Manuscript Preparation and Submission Requirements). Final decision on an article will be made by Editorial Boards based on consideration of the review process.

Adherence to the recommendations of the Declarations of Helsinki and Tokyo, for humans, and the European Committee guidelines for the use of experimental animal is mandatory for manuscripts to be submitted in the JOST. Authors have to state in the manuscript that the protocol is compatible with these guidelines and are approved by their institutional ethical committee. For any investigation involving human subject(s), printed informed consent, obtained from the subject(s) and/or their guardian(s) is needed and this must be clearly stated in the paper. 

1.2. Form of Manuscript
Manuscript should be written with double spacing (at least 6mm between lines) and with wide margin. A standard, at least 12-point typeface, is to be used.

All manuscripts should be edited by a professional English editor prior to submission. On their acceptance, manuscripts will, if necessary, be revised another time by journal editors for English style and language. 

1.3. Abbreviations
Abbreviations are a hindrance for the reader. Use as few abbreviations as far as possible and write out names of compounds, receptors, procedures, etc., in full throughout the text of the manuscript. Abbreviations could be use in the text if they are defined formerly in the manuscript. 

2. Organization and style of manuscripts

Authors should evaluate a released issue of the journal for the general manner of presentation. Manuscripts should be written in clear, concise English. Terms that are not generally understood and insider's jargon should be avoided. 

2.1. Full-length manuscripts and short communications

2.1.1. General

The manuscript of a short communication (which should not exceed 2000 words including abstract, legends and references) and a full-length paper ( preferably less than 4500 words) should be arranged as follows:

Title page (first page):

title (not exceeding 100 characters including spaces); surname(s) of author(s), preceded by one name spelled out in full; name and address of the establishment where the work was done; name, full postal address, mobile phone, telephone, fax number and e-mail address of the author to whom proofs and other correspondence should be sent.

Second page: abstract and keywords (based on Mesh terms, normally 3-6 items).

The abstract should be sectioned and include: the rationale based on which the experiments were done, a very brief description of the experiments (including species, tissue, procedures, etc.), followed by the main results, and finally, a conclusion giving the relevance of the results to the question asked. The abstract must be completely self-explanatory. The abstract should not exceed 250 words.

Third page onward, body of the manuscript, divided in to the following sections:

1. Introduction: The introduction should assume that the reader is knowledgeable in the field and should therefore be as brief as possible. State the purpose of the article and summarize the rationale for the study or, observation. 

2. Materials and methods

Describe your selection of the observational or experimental subjects (patients or laboratory animals, including controls) clearly. Identify the age, sex, and other important characteristics of the subjects. Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. Procedures detail that has been published previously should be referred to. When a modified procedure is used, only the author's modifications of the previously published method need to be given in detail. SI units should be used throughout the text. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic names (s), dose (s), and route (s) of administration.

Reports of randomized clinical trials should declare their registration number and present information on all study elements, including the protocol (study population, interventions or exposures, outcomes, and the rationale for statistical analysis), assignment of interventions major study elements, including the protocol (study population, interventions or exposures, outcomes, and the rationale for statistical analysis), assignment of interventions (methods of randomization, concealment of allocation to treatment groups), and the method of masking (blinding).

Authors submitting review manuscripts, meta-analysis and systematic reviews should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data. These methods should also be summarized in the abstract.

Reports of experiments involving patients and healthy volunteers must demonstrate the steps taken to obtain consent and to maintain confidentiality. The procedures followed must be in accordance with institutional, regional, international guidelines and conform to accepted ethical standards. 

3. Results

Present your results in logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables or illustrations; emphasize or summarize only important observations. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainly.

Report complications of treatment. Give numbers of observations. Report losses to observation (such as dropouts from a clinical trial). Specify the statistical methods used to analyze the data. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. 

4. Discussion

Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow them. Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction or the results section. Include in the Discussion section the implications of the findings and their limitations, including implications for further research. Relate the observations to other relevant studies. Link the conclusions with the goals of the study but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by the data. In particular, authors should avoid making statements on economic benefits and costs unless their manuscript includes economic data and analysis. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed. State new hypotheses when warranted, but clearly label them as such. Recommendations, when appropriate, may be included.

5. Acknowledgements

These should be included at the end of the text and not in footnotes. Personal acknowledgements should precede those of institutions or agencies. 

6. References

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in parentheses. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure.

Only references closely related to the author's work should be listed and these should be confined to published articles or those accepted for publication and in press. Citation of submitted manuscripts, unpublished data and personal communications should be avoided, but if essential, they should be cited parenthetically in the text (e.g., Tanaka JA., pers. Comm.). In such cases, the authors must obtain permission from the data owner to quote his or her unpublished work. Journal abbreviations should conform to those in the latest edition of Index Medicus. All authors should be quoted. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their references. 

7. Tables

Tables should be typed on separate pages and numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. Tables should be self-explanatory and include a brief descriptive title. Give each column a short or abbreviated heading. Place explanatory matter in footnotes indicated by lower case letters, not in the heading. Explain in footnotes all nonstandard abbreviations that are used in each table. Footnotes should not include extensive experimental details. Be sure that each table is cited in the text. If you use data from another published or unpublished source, obtain permission and acknowledge them fully.

8. Illustrations

Figures should be professionally drawn and photographed and uploaded as original size. Human subjects must not be identifiable in photographs, or their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph. Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text. The original source of a previously published figure must be acknowledged. Written permission from the copyright holder is required, except for public documents. Legends for illustrations should be typed using double spacing, starting on a separate page, with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations. Symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters used to identify parts of the illustrations must be identified and explained in the legend. 

2.2. Commentary

2.2.1. Rational 

Commentaries are short articles that present new perspectives or eccentric viewpoints on existing research. Also, they can be comments on newly published articles. Personal opinions, hypotheses, and methodological perspectives are accepted as long as they are based on scientific and verifiable facts. In JOSTrauma, both invited and submitted commentaries will be held in high regard. 

2.2.2. Preparing your manuscript 

2.2.2.1. Title page 

The required elements of title page are:

• Paper title (not exceeding 100 characters including spaces)
• List of authors including the full names, academic degrees, affiliations, and email addresses for all authors, the commentary first author cannot be one of the main article’s writer
• The corresponding author with full contact information
• Funding source(s) and conflict of interest statement for all authors
• Keywords: Three to five keywords representing the main content of the article.
• Abstract is NOT needed

2.2.2.2. Main text 

Includes a background to cover the body of evidence and a summary of existing literature but not the exact same sentences as the main article. Subsections and informative headings may be used. It is recommended to keep a broad readership and clear writing in mind. Discuss the issue with a brief yet effective strategy and provide useful take-home messages. The main text should not include more than 1500 words. 

2.2.2.3. References

We do not accept commentaries with more than 15 references. Only use essential citations. 

2.2.2.4. Figures and tables

You may include one figure/table, only if it is necessary.

2.3. Educational Corner 

2.3.1. Rational 

The JOST engages to publish different types of educational articles from researchers and clinicians on orthopedic surgery and trauma in order to highlight original works of colleagues that are not found elsewhere or in textbooks. We encourage authors to write short articles about new techniques and methods and their outcome on any specific field of orthopedic surgery that can benefit others or can be a start of a clinical trial in the future for example a new method of fixation of a fracture or an applied approach to a specific patient or problem systematically by writing a protocol.

In JOSTrauma, educational corner papers with an attitude toward finding new techniques to overcome current special economic circumstances and resource limitations and those written by either residents or young orthopedic surgeons who are graduated recently will be held in high regard.

2.3.2. Preparing your manuscript 

2.3.2.1. Title page 

The required elements of title page are:

• Paper title (not exceeding 100 characters including spaces)
• List of authors including the full names, academic degrees, affiliations, and email addresses for all authors
• The corresponding author with full contact information 
• Funding source(s) and conflict of interest statement for all authors 
• Keywords: Three to five keywords representing the main content of the article.
• Abstract is NOT needed 

2.3.2.2. Main text 

The main text should include a brief introduction of a case or problem and a detailed step-by-step approach that is either new and original or a review and gathering of multiple techniques on that matter and shed light on a practical method or technique to confront that issue.

There is no need for and introduction or conclusion part. 

2.3.3. Attention

We encourage authors to engage in this part by applying the following rules:

1. Article should be educational and original
2. If applying a technique, it should have novelty and should be different from previous papers on that subject
3. If educational article is a guideline gathered from text books and previous papers in that matter, the references and logic of that guideline or protocol should be written. (the JOSTrauma appreciates articles that have been applied previously in real clinical cases)
4. The article should not include more than 2000 words
5. The limit for number of references is 10
6. If applying a new technique, clear high quality pictures of that technique are appreciated, if the authors use pictures or drawings that are not original it should be done by original publisher’s permission.