• Aims and scope
    The Journal of Hand Surgery Asian-Pacific Volume is an international, peer-reviewed journal. This journal will publish original and review articles and cover all fields of clinical and basic research related to the hand surgery. It will serve as a source of information and education for hand surgeons and readers who are interested.
    The aims of this journal are to promote communication regarding hand problems and to advance patient managements. All manuscript should be creative, informative, and useful for the diagnosis and treatments of hand surgery. Articles in the following categories will be published; original articles, case reports, invited review articles, editorials, special reports, and letters to the Editor. All submissions, reviews, and decisions are processed on-line (http://www.jhs-ap.org).


  • Language
    All manuscripts should be written in English.


  • Peer review
    The papers will be peer-reviewed by at least two independent reviews of each full length original article. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for final decisions regarding the acceptance of a peer-reviewed paper.


  • Research and publication ethics

    A. Conflict of Interest
    Authors of manuscripts must disclose any potential conflicts of interest at the end of the manuscript. All forms of financial support including any grants or pharmaceutical company support should be mentioned in the Acknowledgments. Statements on conflict of interest have no influence on the editorial decision.

    B. Research Approval
    All manuscripts dealing with human subjects must include a statement that subjects provided informed consent and that the study was approved by an institutional review board. All manuscripts reporting animal experiments must include a statement in the Methods section that the care and use of laboratory animals complied with the guidelines of the animal utilization committee of the authors’ institution and any national law on the laboratory animals. Any research that involves a clinical trial should be registered with a primary national clinical trial registration site, or other sites accredited by the WHO or the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

    C. Policy on Duplicate Publication
    Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere.


  • Submission of manuscript

    A. Online submission
    • Manuscript submission is only available through the on-line submission center (http://www.jhs-ap.org).
    • All manuscripts should be submitted as MS-Word files, and will be converted into PDF files on site. Authors should check the converted files before final submission.

    B. Financial Disclosure and Copyright Transfer
    All authors must sign and scan a copy of the journal’s “Financial Disclosure and Copyright Transfer” form, which is available on-line on the submission page. The completed form should be submitted via E-mail (office@jhs-ap.org) after the acceptance of the manuscript.


  • Preparation of manuscript
    Authors are required to submit their manuscripts after reading the following instructions. Any manuscript that does not conform to the following requirements will be considered inappropriate and may be returned.

    A. General Requirements
    • Manuscripts must be submitted as MS-Word files. The text should be typed in 12-point font and double-spaced with 2.5 margins all around.
    • If a long-term follow-up is needed, given the scope of the study, it should be performed more than two years.
    • All pages should be numbered sequentially, starting from the abstract.
    • Use continuous numbering throughout the text from the abstract.
    • To facilitate blind peer review, submit the manuscript as two separate files; Title page and blinded manuscript. In the text of the manuscript, the name of any author or institution should not be included.
    • Measurements should be presented in accordance with the International System of Units (SI).
    • Abbreviations should be minimized. When necessary, spell out the full term at the first time it appears in the text, add the abbreviation in parentheses, and use the abbreviation thereafter.
    • To cite a reference in the text, insert the citation number in superscript with right sided parenthesis. Cutations at the end of a sentence should be placed after a period or a comma. If two or more citation numbers are required, separate numbers with a comma (,) or use a dash (-) for three or more consecutive numbers. [e.g., ~ were described.1) ; ~ were indicated.1,2,7,8) ; ~ was not recommended.4,6-9) ]

    B. Title Page
    The title page should contain the full title of the paper, the names of the authors and of the institutions, and institutional addresses. If authors are at different institutions, first present the institution where most of the work was carried out, and indicate individual departments and institutions by inserting a superscript letter just behind the author’s name, and the same letter in front of the appropriate institution. The name, address, e-mail address, telephone, and fax number of the corresponding author should be placed in the lower portion of the title page. The title should be expressed briefly, clearly, and concisely.

    C. Abstract
    Each paper should start with an abstract not exceeding 300 words. The abstract should state the background, methods, results, and conclusions in each paragraph in a brief and coherent manner. Relevant numerical data should be included. Under the abstract, keywords should be inserted (maximum 5 words) and listed in the following order: anatomical name (illness), diagnosis, and treatment. Authors are recommended to use the MeSH database to find Medical Subject Heading Terms at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html. The abstract should be structured into the following sections.
    1. 1) Background: The rationale, importance, or objective of the study should be described briefly and concisely in one or two sentences. The objective should be consistent with that stated in the Introduction
    2. 2) Methods: The procedures conducted to achieve the objective of the study should be described in details, together with relevant details concerning how data were obtained and analyzed and how research bias was adjusted.
    3. 3) Results: The most important results and analysis of the study should be presented in a logical manner with specific experimental data.
    4. 4) Conclusions: The conclusions derived from the results should be described in one or two sentences, and must match up with the objective of the study.

    D. Introduction
    State the background or hypothesis that led to the initiation of the study. Lead systematically to the hypothesis of the study, and finally, to a restatement of the objectives of the study. Do not include conclusions in the Introduction.

    E. Methods
    Institutional review board (IRB) approval, when applicable, must be stated. Describe the study design (prospective or retrospective), inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the demographic data. Explanations of the experimental methods should be concise. The authors should include statistical methods with enough explanations.

    When the authors are reporting clinical outcomes of a study using any technique, including injections or application of plaster of Paris as well as a surgical intervention, the authors should report the levels of expertise of the surgeons who performed the procedure with citation of the Tang and Giddings' article entitled "Why and how to report surgeons' levels of expertise".

    Tang JB, Giddins G. Why and how to report surgeons' levels of expertise. J Hand Surg Eur Vol. 2016 May;41(4):365-6.

    Levels of expertise of the surgeons in reporting outcomes of treatment. (Table 1. from Tang et al. J Hand Surg Eur Vol. 2016.)

    Levels/category Criteria
    1. Non-sepcialist A surgeon who is in training or is a general practitioner.
    2. Specialist - less experienced A surgeon who has completed training, but who has not yet acquired in-depth knowledge or high-volume experience in the use of the technique(s).
    3. Specialist - experienced A surgeon who has obtained appreciable experience in use of the relevant technique(s), having practiced as a specialist over a longer period (typically >5 years).
    4. Specialis - highly experienced A specialist who possesses in-depth knowledge and experience with use of the relevant technique(s). This experience is indicated by having performed or been involved as a leading participant in scholastic studies relevant to the disorder(s) or technique(s).
    5. Expert A highly experienced specialist who has made a recognized contribution to knowledge related to the disorder being investigated,b or who has pioneered the technique(s) in the report.


    F. Results
    This section should include detailed reports on the data obtained from the study. All data in the text must be presented in a consistent manner throughout the manuscript.

    G. Discussion
    In the Discussion, data should be interpreted to demonstrate whether they affirm or refute the original hypothesis. Discuss elements related to the purpose of the study and present the rationales that support the conclusion drawn by referring to relevant literature. Care should be taken to avoid information obtained from books, historical facts, and irrelevant information. The strong and weak points of the study should be included.

    H. Acknowledgments
    All persons who have made substantial contributions, but who have not met the criteria for authorship, should be acknowledged here. All sources of funding for the study should be stated here explicitly.

    I. References.
    • The number or references is limited to 40 for original article and 10 for case report and technical note.
    • The references should be numbered according to the citation order in the text (not alphabetically).
    • All references must be cited in the text.
    • Non-published findings and personal communications should not be included in the list of references.
    • References to journal articles should conform to the journal title abbreviations used in the Index Medicus, which is found at "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/". (e.g. J Hand Surg Asian Pac Vol., J Bone Joint Surg Am. , J Hand Surg Am., J Hand Surg Eur Vol.)
    • Overlapped page numbers should be abbreviated. (e.g. 1044-1048 should be abbreviated 1044-8).
    • List names of all authors when six or fewer. When seven or more, list only the first three names and add et al..
    • Authors should be listed by surname followed by initials.
    • Examples of references are as follows:
      1. 1) Journal article
        Baek GH, Chung MS, Lee YH, Gong HS, Lee S, Kim HH. Ulnar shortening osteotomy in idiopathic ulnar impaction syndrome. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2005;87(12):2649-54.
      2. 2) Book
        Williams PL, Bannister LH, Berry MM, et al.. Gray’s Anatomy. 38th ed. London: Churchill Livingstone; 1995: 861-2.
      3. 3) Chapter in a book
        Kaplan EB, Spinner M. Important muscular variations of the hand and forearm. In: Spinner M editors. Kaplan’s functional and surgical anatomy of the hand. Philadelphia: Lippincott; 1984: 335-49.
    • For more on references, refer to the NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers.

    J. Table
    • Tables should be numbered sequentially with Arabic numerals and given a brief title. Use capital letters for the first letter of each word in the title, except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions.
    • Tables should be numbered in the order in which they are mentioned in the text.
    • If an abbreviation is used in a table, it should be defined in a footnote below the table.
    • Tables should be understandable and self-explanatory, without references to the text.

    K. Figure Legends
    • Illustrations should be numbered in the order in which they are mentioned in the text (e.g., Fig. 1).
    • Each illustration should have a brief and specific legend, which should be listed on a separate manuscript page after references.
    • Staining techniques used should be described. Photomicrographs with no inset scale should have the magnification of the print in the legend.

    L. Illustrations
    • Papers containing unclear photographic prints may be rejected.
    • Each figure should be prepared in a separate file.
    • The name of an image file should correspond to the number of the figure. If a figure contains two or more photographs, they should be assigned an Arabic numeral followed by letters in the English alphabet (e.g., Fig. 1A, Fig. 1B).
    • Submit illustrations on-line in JPEG, TIFF or EPS format. Do not embed images into the text file. Figures may be halftone photographs or black on white line drawings. Color images will be accepted only when essential. Remove any writing that could identify a patient.
    • If a manuscript is accepted for publication, the journal will request high quality figures in TIFF or EPS format. When using a digital camera, set the resolution to a minimum of 300 ppi (pixels per inch), and set the size of the image to 5 × 7 in (127 × 178 mm). Color and grayscale images, such as radiographs, must have a minimum resolution of 300dpi, and line art drawings must have a minimum resolution of 1200 dpi.
    • Any illustrations previously published should be accompanied by the written consent of the copyright holder.


  • Other types of manuscripts
    All other types of manuscripts should meet the abovementioned requirements.

    A. Invited Review Articles
    Review articles should focus on several topics of contemporary interest to the hand surgeons and researchers. Publication of these articles will be decided upon by the Editorial Board. This journal has three types of review article series; invited review, current opinion and recent advances series. These reviews should be written in the neutral point of view.

    B. Case Reports
    • Case reports must include Abstract, Introduction, Case Report, and Discussion.
    • Abstract: The abstract should not exceed 150 words, and must be written in a single paragraph with no headings.
    • Introduction: The reason for reporting the case should be stated in a clear and cohesive manner.
    • Case Report: This section should include relevant elements, such as brief history, findings of the laboratory and imaging studies, and treatment.
    • The authors should include the levels of expertise of the surgeons (see the explanation).
    • Discussion: Discussion should focus on the case and pertinent literature.
    • References: References should not exceed 10.

    C. Technical Notes
    Technical notes should not exceed 1,500 words. The abstract should not exceed 150 words, and must be written in a single paragraph with no headings. The body of these manuscripts should consist of Introduction, Technique, Discussion, References, and Figures/Figure legends and tables (if applicable). Technique should include the levels of expertise of the surgeons (see the explanation). References should not exceed 10. A maximum of 3 figures and 1 table are allowed.

    D. Editorials
    Editorials are invited by the editors and should be commentaries on articles published recently in the journal. Editorial topics could include active areas of research, fresh insights, and debates in the field of hand surgery. Editorials should not exceed 1,000 words, excluding references, tables, and figures.

    E. Brief Communications
    Brief communications are short articles describing important clinical or experimental findings or great advances. A brief communication should be organized in the same way as original articles and should be limited to 1,500 words. The number of tables and figures in total should not exceed two.

    F. Letters to the Editor
    The journal welcomes readers’ comments on articles published recently in the journal.

    G. Special Reports
    They are limited to 2,700 words excluding references, tables, and figures.


  • Standards for reporting
    For the specific study design, such as randomized control study, study of diagnostic accuracy, meta-analysis, observational study and non-randomized study, it is recommended for authors to follow the reporting guidelines listed in the following table.
    CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) http://www.consort-statement.org/
    STARD (Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy) http://www.stand-statement.org/
    PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) http://www.prisma-statement.org/
    STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology) http://www.strobe-statement.org
    MOOSE (Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) http://www.consort-statement.org/mod_product/uploads/MOOSE%20Statement%202000.pdf


  • Author’s checklist
    • Manuscript in MS-Word(.doc) format.
    • Double-spaced typing with 12-point font.
    • Sequence of title page, abstract and keywords, introduction, methods, results, discussion, acknowledgments, references, table, and figure legends. All page and manuscript text with line should be numbered sequentially, starting from the abstract.
    • Title page with article title, authors’ full name(s) and affiliation(s), address for correspondence (including telephone number, e-mail address, and fax number), running title (less than 10 words), and acknowledgments, if any.
    • In the text of the manuscript, the name of any author or institution should not be included.
    • Abstract in structured format up to 300 words for original articles and in single paragraph up to 150 words for case reports. Keywords (up to 5) from the MeSH list of Index Medicus.
    • All table and figure numbers are found in the text.
    • Figures as separate files, in JPEG, TIFF or EPS format.
    • References listed in proper format. All references listed in the reference section are cited in the text and vice versa.
    • Covering letter signed by the corresponding author.


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