Information For Authors

Interested in submitting to this journal? We recommend that you review the About the Journal page for the journal's section policies, as well as the Submissions. Authors need to register with the journal prior to submitting or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the five-step process.

Downloadable Forms & Documents

  • ASR-Author Guidelines and Instructions (PDF FORMAT)
  • ASR-Letter of Undertaking (WORD FORMAT) (PDF FORMAT)
  • ASR-Ethical Compliance Undertaking (WORD FORMAT) (PDF FORMAT)
  • ASR-Reviewer Suggestion Form (WORD FORMAT) (PDF FORMAT)
  • ASR-Consent Form of Case Reports (WORD FORMAT) (PDF FORMAT)
  • ASR-Peer Reviewer Proforma (WORD FORMAT) (PDF FORMAT)
  • ASR-Manuscript Submission Checklist (WORD FORMAT) (PDF FORMAT)
  • ASR- Title Page Sample (WORD FORMAT)

Submission Checklist (High Level of Compliance is Required; The articles not in compliance would be returned)

Authors are required to follow ICMJE Guidelines for reporting research work. Before submitting, kindly ensure that the following aspects are present.

For the correspondence author:

  • E-mail address
  • House address

Manuscript: The Manuscript files should be prepared in a manner to facilitate the double blind peer review process. The title page containing author and institutional information should be submitted separately from the body of the manuscript. The manuscript should include:

  • Cover Letter
  • Title Page
  • Article Body Text
  • All figures (with relevant captions)
  • All tables (including titles, description, references)
  • Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided
  • Supplemental files, if applicable
  • Letter of Undertaking
  • Ethical Compliance Undertaking
  • Reviewer Suggestion Form (One Reviewer should preferably from outside Pakistan)
  • Plagiarism Check Report (Optional)
  • Relevant Consent Forms
  • IRB Approval Letter
  • Proof of Submission of Article Processing Charges (APC) Contact Support Person

Further Considerations:

  • The manuscript has been checked for correct spelling and grammar
  • All Reporting Guidelines have been met
  • All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa
  • All figures and tables are cited in the text
  • Permission for use of copyrighted material from other sources has been obtained
  • A conflict of interest statement is provided, even if the authors have no conflicting interests to declare
  • All research and clinical trials are registered in a public registry
  • Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed
  • Referees and reviewers suggested by the author(s) comply with journal policies as well.

Before Initiating Submission Procedure

Ethical Confines

The work detailed in the manuscript must be approved by the appropriate ethical committees related to the institution(s) in which it was performed, including verification that all subjects involved gave informed consent. Records of written consent must be kept by the author. Studies involving experiments with animals must follow institution guidelines for the care of animal subjects. Any identification markers of patients and volunteers – including names, initials, and hospital numbers – must NOT be used.

Declaration of Interest

All authors must disclose financial and personal relationships with individuals or organizations that could potentially introduce bias to their article. Examples of possible conflicting interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications or registrations, and grants or other funding. If there are no interests to declare, then please: 'Declaration of interest: none". This summary statement will be published if the article is accepted.

Submission Declaration and Verification

Verify that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture, or academic thesis), that it is not being considered for publication anywhere else, that its publication is approved by all authors, and by the responsible authorities/institutions where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form without the written consent of the copyright holder. Verify that the work is original – all manuscripts are checked for plagiarism, and if found to be plagiarized above a certain degree, the author is liable to be blacklisted. 

Use of Impartial and Inclusive Language

Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equality of opportunity. Content must not imply that one individual is superior to another on the basis of age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability, or health condition. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, stereotypes, slang, and references to the dominant culture. Avoid using markers of identification – including age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability, or health when referring to subjects unless absolutely necessary. Always use the gender-neutral ‘they’ when referring to singular subjects unless the gender of the subject has a particular influence on the research matter.

Authorship and Author Rights

Manuscripts by multiple authors must be signed by all the authors and contain details of the contribution of every individual author. All authors must fulfill the criteria for authorship. Authorship credit should be based on:

  • A significant contribution to formation or design of the study, procurement of data, or analysis and interpretation of data (Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not justify authorship)
  • Drafting the article or revising it analytically
  • Final approval of the version to be published
  • Agreement to be responsible for all aspects of the work and ensure that the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work is maintained.

If a large, multi-center group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship defined above and complete journal-specific author and conflict of interest disclosures. When submitting a group author manuscript, the corresponding author should clearly indicate the preferred citation and should clearly identify all individual authors as well as the group name. Other members of the group should be listed in the acknowledgments. In case of suspicion of gift authorship, the journal may refuse further processing of the manuscript. Manuscripts with more than Eight authors will not be accepted for further processing and will be rejected. An author (or employer or institution) has certain rights to reuse work that this journal will not infringe upon.

Registration of Research and Clinical Trials

All types of research studies and clinical trials involving human participants should be preferably registered prior to submission, and proof of registration must be provided. Unregistered trials and studies may not be published.

Role of Funding Source

The funding source must be disclosed along with their degree of involvement with the research matter, if any, in the design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the article, or in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source had no involvement, then this should be stated. Any authors found guilty of scientific misconduct will be blacklisted from future publications.

Preparation

Reviewing Process

This journal is reviewed using a double-blind method through OJS. The following categories the journal will accept, out of guest editorials, original articles, review articles, case reports, clinical updates, short communications, book reviews, case studies, clinical notes, Continuation of Medical Education (CME), obituaries, letters, Knowledge-Attitude-Practice (KAP) studies, routine surveys, and cross-sectional studies. The authors are required to suggest potential referees for the review process. The journal however would have discretion to get the article reviewed by the suggested faculty or not.

Reporting Guidelines

Compliance with the relevant reporting guideline is mandatory for submission of the following guidelines:

  1. Submit a completed checklist, indicating the page numbers where compliance to the guidelines was ensured.
  2. Mention in the ‘Methods’ section that the research is being reported in line with the relevant guideline, which should be named and cited.

Randomized Controlled Trials

All randomized controlled trials submitted for publication in Archives of Surgical Research must include a completed Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) flowchart and ensure that all features of the CONSORT checklist are present. A copy of the CONSORT checklist must be uploaded in the supplemental material. Refer to the CONSORT statement website here.

Systematic Reviews

Systematic reviews are to be reported in accordance with PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) Guidelines and must include the flowchart as a figure and the checklist as supplemental material. Please download a PRISMA Flowchart and a PRISMA Checklist here. To aid and improve the methodological quality of your article, include an AMSTAR 2 checklist as well, which is available here.

Cohort, Case-control, and Cross-sectional studies

Cohort, Case-control, and Cross-sectional studies must be compliant with the STROCSS criteria (Strengthening the reporting of cohort studies in surgery), which is available here. Cite the following paper: Agha RA, Abdall-Razak A, Crossley E, Dowlut N, Iosifidis C, Mathew G, for the STROCSS Group. STROCSS 2019 Guideline: Strengthening The Reporting Of Cohort Studies in Surgery. Each study type has its own checklist which must be uploaded as supplemental material.

Diagnostic, Quality Improvement and Qualitative studies

Diagnostic studies should be reported according to the STARD statement criteria (Standards for the Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy studies). The flow-chart should be a figure and checklist should be uploaded as supplementary material. Quality Improvement studies must comply with the Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE) criteria, which is available here. Qualitative studies require the Consolidated criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) checklist, available here.

 

Health Economic Evaluation

Health Economic Evaluation studies should conform to the CHEERS statement, available here.

Tumour Marker Prognostic Study

Tumor Marker Prognostic studies should be reported according to the REMARK criteria.

Before and After Studies

Before and After studies measure specific characteristics of a population or group of individuals after an event or intervention, compare them with those characteristics before the event or intervention, then measure the effects of the event or intervention. These studies should conform to the STROCSS statement.

Experimental Animal Studies

Animal studies must be reported according to the ARRIVE guidelines (Animals in Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments) and must include the checklist as supplemental material. An example of a completed checklist can be found here. The institutional protocol number must be included at the end of the abstract.

Qualitative Surveys

Qualitative Surveys should be reported according to the criteria detailed in the SRQR Guidelines. Guidelines for the synthesis of qualitative research can be found here. Guidelines for interviews and focus groups are available here.

Case Series

Ensure that the case series is compliant with the PROCESS Guidelines and submit a completed PROCESS checklist. State that the work has been reported in line with the PROCESS criteria and cite the following paper: Riaz A. Agha, Mimi R.Borrelli, Reem Farwana, Kiron Koshy, Alex Fowler, Dennis P. Orgill, for the PROCESS Group. The PROCESS 2018 Statement: Updating Consensus Preferred Reporting Of CasE Series in Surgery (PROCESS) Guidelines.

Article Structure

Title Page

The title page should give the title in capital letters and a shorter running title. Avoid abbreviations and formulae if possible. In addition, the title page should also include:

  • Correctly spelled names of all authors, and their affiliation addresses where the actual work was done. Include the e-mail address of each author.
  • Signpost clearly the corresponding author who will maintain contact at all steps of reviewing and publication, and post-publication, and answer any questions about the research. All information must be updated in case of any changes.
  • Present/permanent address of every author.
  • The source of funding for the research.
  • The number of figures and tables, the total word count, and the total number of pages of the manuscript.
  • A sample Title Page has been uploaded on this page above.

Abstract

All original articles must accompany a structured abstract of up to 250-350 words. It should state the aims of the study, methodology, and materials used, results obtained, and conclusions reached. Specify how the sample selection of study subjects or experimental animals was carried out, specify the observational and analytical methods, and give specific data and its statistical significance, where possible. Highlight novel and significant aspects of the study. Avoid references, but if necessary, cite the author(s) and year(s). Avoid non-standard or uncommon abbreviations, but if necessary they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract. This page should constitute of the abstract and keywords only.

Keywords

Right after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using British spelling. Avoid general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of'). Only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be appropriate. These keywords will be used to aid the indexing process of the journal.

Introduction

Outline the aims of the work and provide sufficient background information, avoiding a lengthy literature review or a summary of the results.

Methodology

Provide adequate details to allow the research to be reproduced by an independent researcher. If experimental apparatus is used, the manufacturer’s name and address should be included in parentheses. Methods that have previously been published should be summarized, and signposted by a reference. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and cite the source. Any alterations to existing methods should also be described. If a drug is used, its common name, dose, and route of administration must be included. For patients, age and sex with mean age ± standard deviation must be given where relevant to the data. Statistical methods employed for comparisons of data sets must be mentioned and any computer programs used for calculations must be specified.

Results

Results should be clear and succinct. They must be presented in the form of text, tables, and illustrations. The content of the tables should not be repeated in the text; the tables should be numbered and identified and referenced as their number. A conclusion that either supports or negates the hypothesis should be included. If the data is inconclusive, that should also be noted.

Discussions

This should emphasize the present findings of the research, and the differences and similarities with prior work done in the field by other researchers. Data must not be repeated in the discussion, and lengthy citations and reviews must be avoided.  Highlight the original and central aspects of the study and the conclusions that they lead to.

 

References

Please make sure that Mendeley or some other software is used for reference. The articles without compliance in this area would be sent back. American Medical Association (AMA Referencing Style) should be used. References should be typed in sequential numbers in superscript for in-text citations and numbered sequentially in the Reference List provided at the end. Maximum references for the original article should not exceed 40; they should not exceed 10 for case reports and 80 for reviews. Authors should ensure that locally published studies are given precedence. Add DOI number of documents where it is available.

References from books should include author, title, publisher, and year of publication. Example:

Das JC. Power System Harmonics and Passive Filter Designs. John Wiley & Sons, Inc; 2015.

For articles in journals, the authors, title of the article, name of the journal, year of publication, and an article identifier and page range (where available) must be included. See the following example:

Zhu Z, Hoffman JE. Condensed-matter physics: Catching relativistic electrons. Nature. 2014;513(7518):319-320. 

Websites that are blogs and subject to changes by the author must be used as sparingly as possible, and when included, the author’s name, the title, the name of the website, date of publication, the date on which the website was accessed, and a link to the website must all be included. Example:

Andrew E. After Years Of Conflict, Huge Project Could Help Scientists Decipher The Brain. IFLScience. Published June 18, 2015. Accessed October 30, 2018. https://www.iflscience.com/brain/after-years-conflict-huge-project-could-help-scientists-decipher-brain/

For government reports, technical reports, and scientific reports, if the report number is unavailable, then cite the report as a book. For reports, it is usually not individual people that are credited as authors, but a governmental department or agency. Include the name of the agency, the title of the report, the publisher, and the year of publication. An example is as follows:

Government Accountability Office. The Manager, the Government, and the Accounting Profession. U.S. Government Printing Office; 1968.

References to Ph.D. dissertations, Master's theses, or Bachelor theses follow the format outlined below and must include author, title, publication detail if applicable, and year of publication.

Campbell AJ. History transformed: Sengoku Daimyo in Japanese popular media. Published online 2012.

For newspaper articles, the citation must include the author, title, name of newspaper, full date, and the page number. The example is as follows:

Kinsley M. Paid Leave Counts as Progress. New York Times. May 27, 2017:SR3

Avoid referencing personal communications and unpublished observations, but they must be presented in parentheses in the text if included, and not in the list of references in the appendix. A research article may not be cited as “Under Publication” or “In Press” unless it has been accepted for publication. In such a case, the name of the journal must be given.

Acknowledgments

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be credited in this section. It should include persons who provided technical help, writing assistance, and general support or supervision. Financial and material assistance must also be credited. Persons who have added to the material but do not justify authorship can be listed as “clinical investigators”, “participating investigators”, “scientific advisors”, “reviewers’, or “data collectors.”

Further Considerations

World Limits

The maximum length of the original manuscript should not exceed 4000 words including the title page, table, and references. For review articles, the maximum word count is 3500, however, considering the demand of the subject it can be up to 8000 words. A maximum number of tables & illustrations should not exceed 5. Short reports of cases, clinical experience, drug trials, and their adverse effects can be submitted. The maximum length of these case reports should not exceed 800 words, 5 maximum number of references, and 2 tables or illustrations. For letters, the maximum number of words is 600 with 5 references. Extra charges will be applicable for lengthy manuscripts.

Units, Abbreviations, and Formulae

Système Internationale (SI) units should be used, with the traditional equivalent in parentheses where appropriate. Avoid non-standard or uncommon abbreviations, but if necessary they must be defined at their first mention. Submit math equations as editable text. Add simple formulae in line with normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. Variables are to be written in italics. Powers of e should be denoted by exp. Any equations that have been presented separately from the text (if referred to explicitly) must be numbered consecutively.

Artwork

Make sure to use uniform lettering and sizing of original artwork.  For original illustrations, use Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or a font that looks similar. Number the illustrations according to their order in the text with a logical naming convention for the artwork files. Provide captions to illustrations separately. Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the published version, avoiding any files that are disproportionately large.  Submit each illustration as a separate file. If the electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply it in the native document format without alterations or conversions. If the application used is not part of Microsoft Office, convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):

  • EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings, make sure to embed fonts.
  • TIFF (or JPEG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones); ensure a minimum of 300 dpi.
  • TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings; ensure a minimum of 1000 dpi.
  • TIFF (or JPEG): For combinations of bitmapped line/half-tone (color or gray-scale), ensure a minimum of 500 dpi.

Do not supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have a low number of pixels and a limited set of colors.  Do not supply files that are too low in resolution. Ensure that each illustration has a separate caption that is not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise of a short title and a brief description of the illustration. Avoid text in the illustrations themselves but explain the symbols and abbreviations used.

Tables

Submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or separately at the end in an appendix. Number tables consecutively according to their sequence in the text and present any table notes below the table body. Keep the use of tables to a minimum and ensure that the data included in them is not repeated in results described elsewhere in the article. Avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells.

Supplementary Material, Research Data, and Video

Supplementary material such as applications, images, and sound clips, can be published with the article to enhance it. Submitted supplementary items are published exactly as they are received (Excel or PowerPoint files will appear as such online). Submit this material with the manuscript and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each file. If you want to share data that supports your research publication, where appropriate, interlink the data with the article. Research data refers to the results of experimentation that validate research results. To enable reproducibility and data reuse, share the software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods, and other useful materials related to the project. If you have made your research data available in a public data repository, link the dataset directly into your article. To enable transparency, we require you to state the availability of data in your submission if your data is unavailable to access or unsuitable to post. Authors who wish to submit video files with their article are encouraged to include links to these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed, or separately at the end. Keep the file in one of the recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 150 MB per file, 1 GB in total.

After Completion

Proofreading

The final version of the article is sent to the corresponding author for proofreading before publication. In case of changes, corrections should be sent to the editor by email.

Processing & Publication Charges

This is open access journal and journal charges Article Processing Charges (APC) of Rs 5000/- for local manuscripts and $US 100 for foreign manuscripts. Article Processing Charges are deposited at the time of submission and are non-refundable. Moreover, please also note that once accepted minimum publication charges for articles, manuscripts are Rs.4,000/- per page (in case of overseas US$ 50/- per page; Overseas US$ 50/- per page). Charges for photographs, films, and illustrations are additional. Publication charges are payable in advance once the manuscript has been accepted for publication.

The above-mentioned charges have been waived till further notice. A small amount may be charged at the time of publication during this interim period.

Waiver Request

Those who cannot pay for processing and publication can apply for a waiver at the time of the submission of their article.

Ethics Committee Approval

All manuscripts involving human subjects must be accompanied by a certificate of approval by the relevant institutional review body or ethics committee.

Informed Consent

While the actually signed consent forms need not be sent to the journal, all manuscripts reporting the results of experiments involving human subjects should include a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from each subject or subject’s guardian, after the experimental protocol is approved by relevant institutional body or ethics committee.

Letter of Undertaking

Manuscripts must be accompanied by a letter of undertaking signed by all the authors

Printed Copy

One printed copy will be sent to the correspondence author. Authors can order additional copies at the rate of cost. Payment for additional copies should be sent in with the publication charges.

Submission       

All manuscripts must be Word documents. 

Ombudsperson

The journal's Managing Editor can be contacted by authors and other personnel in case any grievances should arise by e-mail.