Submissions

Author Guidelines

Annals of Mediterranean Surgery (AMS) covers all aspects of modern surgery. Papers can be submitted in English or Spanish. AMS welcomes the presentation of the following types of manuscripts:

• Editorial
• Original articles. Original experimental or clinical studies.
• Review of the literature. The journal may request potential authors to submit review articles on certain topics of interest.
• Case reporting.
• Letter to the editor and / or Scientific Letter. Comment on a manuscript recently published in the journal.
• Images in surgery. An image of a rare disease or unusual presentation of a common illness with an exceptional didactic interest. Please send no more than 1-2 pictures, along with a brief description (approximately 300 words) and 1-2 references.
• Clinical Challenge. An image of a disease associated with a series of questions with multiple answers regarding a clinical case. Please send no more than 1-2 pictures, along with a brief description (approximately 300 words), 1-2 references and a maximum of 5 questions with 4 possible answers, being only one correct one.
• Student Corner. Section for medical students to send their undergraduate or research work during the university career. It will follow the same rules of the original articles.
• Happy Endings ("How I Do It"). Brief description of a new technique or modification of a previous technique or complex cases that came out of the guidelines.
• Instructive Mistake and / or Null Hypothesis. Studies that have presented negative results. AMS believes that you can even learn from errors or negative results, so you are encouraged to post them.

Presentation of the manuscript

All manuscripts must be submitted electronically through the journal's website at www.amsjournal.eu. All manuscripts will be peer-reviewed by two independent reviewers. The decision on acceptance or rejection of the manuscript should be expected approximately two months after the submission. There is no submission or processing fee required. Authors are asked to submit their texts in Word, Open-Office or RTF format; Tables in Word or Excel format; high resolution images in JPEG format; Drawings in EPS-modifiable format or PDF.

Preparation of the manuscript

All manuscripts submitted must contain the following parts: (1) Title page, (2) Abstract, (3) Main Text, (4) References.

Title page
On the front page, please indicate:

• Article title
• Name and affiliation of each author
• Department (s) and / or institution (s) where the study was conducted
• Name, postal and e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers of the author responsible for the correspondence.
• The corresponding author must submit his/her ORCID profile. If he/she does not have one, the author can create a new profile on the following website: https://orcid.org/

Abstract

The abstract must be in English and Spanish, unstructured and contain a maximum of 200 words. Presentations in the sections "Editorial", "Letters to the Editor and / or Scientific Letter", "Images in Surgery", "Happy Endings" and "Clinical Challenge" do not require summaries.

Keywords

After the abstract, a maximum of 5 keywords must be indicated that will be used in the indexing of the article. Authors should provide keywords in both Spanish and English. For keywords in Spanish, authors can consult the DeCS (Descriptors in Health Sciences) thesaurus, while for keywords in English, they can refer to the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) thesaurus for keywords in English.

Main text
The main text should be structured as follows:

• Introduction. State the purpose of the study and briefly review the current literature.
• Material (Patients) and Methods. Describe the study design in detail with appropriate information on experimental animals or patients.
• Results. Inform the main results of the study in a concise manner. Please use tables or figures if necessary.
• Discussion. Discuss the results and their importance with reference to the current literature.

 
The main text of the case reports should be structured as follows:

• Introduction. Indicate the importance of the case in view of the current literature.
• Presentation of the case. Analytical presentation of the case or intervention.
• Discussion. Discuss the rarity or didactic value of the case or intervention.

Figures
Maximum 3 figures per article. JPEGs will be included (best for the digital world) and may be in color. The dimensions shall not exceed 20 x 25 cm. The figures of the accepted articles will not be returned to the authors. All illustrations must be indicated with the figure number. The figures are inside the text in the place that corresponds to them and not at the end of the whole. Subtitles should make the self-explanatory figures without referring to the text and without extensively repeating what is given in the Results section. If quantitative data (such as graphs, etc.) are represented, it is necessary to define the meaning of the error bars (standard deviation, standard error, 95% confidence limits).

Boards
Maximum 3 tables per item. Tables will be included in the text numbered sequentially with Arabic numerals. All abbreviations used in the table will be explained at the bottom of the table. The tables are inside the text in the place that corresponds to them and not at the end of the whole. When quantitative data are represented, it is necessary to define the meaning of the values of variance indicated (standard deviation, standard error, confidence limits of 95% or more). Tables must be provided as Word or Excel files, NOT as images.

Mandatory Declarations

All authors must include the following declarations in their manuscripts before submitting them to the Annals of Mediterranean Surgery. These statements should be included at the end of the manuscript, before the references section, under the subtitle "Authors' Statement". These declarations are mandatory to ensure transparency and adherence to ethical standards:

1. Funding Statement

• "This research has not received specific grants from public sector agencies, commercial sectors, or non-profit entities."
• If the research has received funding, the source and type of support must be specified in detail.

2. Conflict of Interest Statement

• "The authors declare no conflicts of interest."
• If any conflict of interest exists (economic, professional, or personal), it must be clearly disclosed with a brief explanation.

3. Statement on the Use of Clinical Data

• "The authors declare that the protocols established by their respective healthcare centers have been followed to access clinical records for the purposes of this publication, aimed at research and/or dissemination within the scientific community."
• Authors are responsible for ensuring compliance with current regulations on data privacy and protection and obtaining the necessary consents where applicable.

4. Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Scientific Writing

• Authors are discouraged from using generative AI in scientific writing. Generative AI tools may only be employed in the drafting process to enhance the clarity and language of the text, under human supervision and control. Authors must carefully review and edit the outputs, as these technologies may produce incorrect, incomplete, or biased content.
• AI or AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as authors or co-authors.
• It is mandatory to explicitly declare the use of such tools, specifying the tools used, their purpose, and the extent of their application in the text.
• Authors are fully responsible for the content of their work, including any undeclared use of generative AI tools. The journal is not liable for omissions or inaccurate declarations related to the use of these technologies.
• Please include the following statement if you have NOT used AI or AI-assisted technologies: "This manuscript has been entirely written by the authors, without the use of artificial intelligence tools for content generation."
• If you have used AI or AI-assisted technologies, please use the following statement: "This manuscript was drafted with the assistance of [name of the tool, e.g., ChatGPT], used exclusively to enhance the clarity and language of the text. The authors have thoroughly reviewed and edited the generated content to ensure its accuracy and quality."

Failure to comply with these requirements will result in the automatic rejection of the manuscript. If you have any questions or require further clarification regarding these declarations, please contact the editorial team.

References
Cite references in order of appearance in the text using Arabic numerals. Reference citations in the text should be identified by numbers in brackets (eg, [1]). Only references that are mentioned in the text should be listed. Use the Index Medicus style for journal title abbreviations. Make a list of all authors if there are four or less; For five or more authors, list the top three and add "et al." All authors are responsible for the accuracy of their references.

Example:

• Journal article: Diener MK, Mehr KT, Wente MN, Kieser M, Buchler MW, Seiler CM. Risk-benefit assessment of closed intra-abdominal drains after pancreatic surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis assessing the current state of evidence. Langenbecks Arch Surg. 2011; 396 (1): 41-52.
• Book: Fry DE. Multiple System Organ Failure. St. Louis: Mosby-Year Book, Inc., 1992.
• Chapter in book: Zucker KA, Bailey RW. Diagnostic and therapeutic laparoscopy for the general surgeon. In: Polk HC Jr, Gardner B, Stone HH, eds. Basic Surgery. 4th ed. St. Louis: Quality Medical Publishing, 1993. p.95-121.