American Journal of Ophthalmology: Quick facts and submission tips

CRITERIA FOR PUBLICATION

• To protect the mission of The American Journal of Ophthalmology as a peer-reviewed journal, only original material will be published in the AJO. Authors who distribute e-prints, preprints, reprints, or substantive content in any format, including digital, of an article into the public domain before publication risk losing the opportunity to publish in the AJO.

EDITORIAL POLICIES AND SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

• Only finely polished, publication ready, manuscripts should be submitted to The American Journal of Ophthalmology or risk possible rejection prior to peer review.

• Manuscripts must be submitted with a cover letter that includes information on prior or duplicate publication or submission, as well as the originality of the manuscript and any other information that the authors want to convey to the Editor-in-Chief. The authors must indicate whether the manuscript was previously rejected or evaluated in any form by another journal, and they should describe specifically how they have improved the manuscript.
• Enhanced disclosure information from the authors is required in a specific format. The following information should appear, in the order indicated (labeled A through E), in the Acknowledgement section (just prior to the References -- not on the Title page or the Methods section).

a. Funding/Support: Any government and non-government support must be acknowledged. (The authors are reminded that several governments require providing open access to your manuscript.)

b. Financial Disclosures: Do not state, "no financial conflicts" as this is not what is requested in this section, but rather all "financial disclosures" are required, and should be consistent with the ICMJE disclosure forms.

• Follow copyright requirements listed here: http://www.ajo.com/content/authorinfo
• Find the guide for authors here: http://www.elsevier.com/journals/american-journal-of-ophthalmology/0002-9394/guide-for-authors

MANUSCRIPT REVIEW PROCESS

GOOD PUBLISHING PRACTICES

• For studies or reports with human subjects, it must be stated in the Methods section that the study and data accumulation were carried out with appropriate IRB approval, Informed Consent for the research, and, for US authors, in accordance with HIPAA regulations. See more here: http://www.ajo.com/content/authorinfo

• If original data, it must be confirmed in the coverletter by the principal investigator or the Corresponding Author that he or she "had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis as well as the decision to submit for publication." Cover letters for revised manuscripts must answer, point by point, any concerns noted by reviewers.

• The American Journal of Ophthalmology discourages statements of priority ("we are the first to report...") because of the inability to be familiar with all published works on a subject. Either omit the statement of priority or provide a standard statement that adheres to AJO policy: "we are unaware of previous reports of this finding (phenomenon, procedure, or other appropriate wording) and could find no reference to it in a computerized search (include the name of the database, such as PubMed)."     

• If figures, photographs, or tables are used from other publications, a written permission is required from the copyright holder to reprint such items in AJO.

• Copies of any permission to report information about identifiable individuals or to name individuals for their contributions must accompany the manuscript.

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ADDITIONAL LINKS FOR AUTHORS

• Ethics information for authors 
• 8 Reasons why I accepted your article
• Understanding the Publishing Process

METRICS

2.881 (SCImago Journal Rank, 2013)

4.021 (Journal Citation Reports®, Thomson Reuters, 2013)