About the Journal

This page includes information on:

  1.  Focus and scope
  2.  Submission process
  3.  Peer review process
  4.  Editorial policies
  5.  Publication ethics
  6.  Research ethics
  7.  Advertising policy
  8.  Privacy policy
  9. Disclaimer

 

1. Focus and scope 

The Australasian Journal of Plastic Surgery publishes original research on all aspects of plastic and reconstructive surgery research and review including aesthetic, breast, burns, cleft lip and palate, craniomaxillofacial, experimental research, general reconstruction, hand, head and neck, history of plastic and military surgery, international collaboration, melanoma and skin cancer, paediatric, training and technical and preoperative investigations/imaging.

The journal is published by the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons with support from the New Zealand Association of Plastic Surgeons. It was established in 2018 as a joint initiative between the Australasian Foundation for Plastic Surgery and the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons. Two issues are published per year in March and September.

The aim of the journal is to be the premier platform for plastic and reconstructive surgery research and review in the region; to foster, encourage and support research excellence; and to make a key contribution to surgical practice worldwide in keeping with the prominent roles that Australian and New Zealand surgeons have played in the development of the specialty.

The journal's audience includes specialist plastic and reconstructive surgeons, general surgeons, paediatric surgeons, vascular surgeons, trainee surgeons, specialist registered nurses, medical professionals and medical technologists.

 

 Journal summary

1. Name of Journal: Australasian Journal of Plastic Surgery

2. Abbreviation/other titles: AJOPS; Australas J Plast Surg

3. ISSN: Online only: 2209-170X

4. Timing of publication: Twice per year

5. Publisher

  • Name of Publisher: Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons
  • Contact Address: Suite G01, Ground Floor, 69 Christie Street, St Leonards 2065
  • City: New South Wales, AUSTRALIA
  • Telephone: +61 (0)2 9437 9200  
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Homepage: www.ajops.com

6. Year of first publication: 2018

7. Editorial scope: All aspects of plastic and reconstructive surgery research and review including aesthetic, breast, burns, cleft lip and palate, craniomaxillofacial, experimental research, general reconstruction, hand, head and neck, history of plastic and military surgery, international collaboration, melanoma and skin cancer, paediatric, PRS Board of Training and technical and preoperative investigations/imaging.

8. Contributors/journal sponsorship: The Australasian Journal of Plastic Surgery was established in 2018 as a joint initiative between the Australasian Foundation for Plastic Surgery and the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons. The journal is published by the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons with support from the New Zealand Association of Plastic Surgeons. 

9. Language: English

10. Publication history:

Ten issues starting Mar 2018:
Volume 1: Mar 2018; Sept 2018
Volume 2: Mar 2019; Sept 2019
Volume 3: Mar 2020; Sept 2020
Volume 4: Mar 2021; Sept 2021
Volume 5; March 2022; Sept 2022

 

Abstracting and indexing information

Directory of Open Access Journals
AJOPS is indexed in the DOAJ - a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals. DOAJ is independent.

WorldCat
AJOPS is cited in WorldCat - the world's largest network of library content and services.

Google Scholar
AJOPS is cited in Google Scholar - a web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and discipline.

 

Membership information

Crossref
AJOPS is a member of Crossref - official digital object identifier (DOI) registration agency of International DOI Foundation

COPE
AJOPS is proud to have been accepted as a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

OASPA 
AJOPS is proud to have been accepted as a member of the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association. 

 

Keywords

ASPS, NZASPS, AFPS, Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons, New Zealand Association of Plastic Surgeons, Australasian Foundation for Plastic Surgery, publications, science, educational, scientific surgery, journal, journals, Australia, Australian, Australasian, New Zealand, international, plastic surgery, reconstructive techniques, aesthetic, breast, burns, cleft lip and palate, craniomaxillofacial, experimental research, general reconstruction, hand, face and neck, history of plastic and military surgery, international collaboration, melanoma and skin cancer, paediatric, PRS board of training, technology and preoperative investigations and imaging, microsurgery, reconstructive surgical procedures.

 

Archiving

The journal utilises the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration.

 

Fees
Publication of accepted manuscripts is free for members of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the New Zealand Association of Plastic Surgeons (NZAPS). A small publication fee (AU$500) applies to published papers where none of the authors are members of ASPS or NZAPS. There is no fee for authors of papers invited by the Editors-in-Chief.

 

Core journal statistics for the volume 5, 2022:*

70 - Submissions received1
150 - Reviews requested2
91 - Reviews received 3
30 - Total declined4
17 - ...of which, desk reject5
24- Acceptances6
41% - Acceptance rate7
186 - Days from submission to acceptance8

*The number of acceptances and rejections is based on all decisions made in 2022, and may include papers submitted to the journal prior to 2022.

Definitions
1 Number of new articles received by the journal
2 Number of peer review invitation emails that were sent out
3 Number of completed peer review reports received
4 Total number of articles rejected (including desk rejects)
5 Number of articles rejected prior to peer review
6 Number of articles that received a 'Accept for publication' decision
7 Number of acceptances, as a percentage, against the total number of final decisions
8 Average from submission to acceptance for all publications in the volume

 

 

2. Submission process

The Editors-in-Chief of the Australasian Journal of Plastic Surgery invite submissions from authors on a rolling basis on all aspect of plastic and reconstructive surgery. All manuscripts submitted to the journal are screened by the editorial team. Manuscripts are immediately rejected if they do not follow the author guidelines, are not in line with the aims of the journal, or are well short of the standard required for publication.

Publication of accepted manuscripts is free for members of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the New Zealand Association of Plastic Surgeons (NZAPS). A small publication fee (AU$500) applies to published papers where none of the authors are members of ASPS or NZAPS. There is no fee for authors of papers invited by the Editors-in-Chief.

 

 

3. Peer review process 

Dobule-blind peer review

The Australasian Journal of Plastic Surgery has adopted a double-blind peer review process for original and review articles and cases. This involves an initial assessment by the relevant section editor and, if accepted for review, detailed assessment by two or more independent peer reviewers.

In double-blind peer review, all identifying information is removed from the submission so that author(s) remain anonymous to the reviewers and visa versa. 

All manuscripts submitted to the journal are screened by the editorial team. Manuscripts are immediately rejected if they do not follow these guidelines, are not in line with the aims of the journal, or are well short of the standard required for publication.

1. When an author submits their manuscript it is downloaded by journal staff and checked to ensure that all the submission requirements have been met. Once the submission is complete it is forwarded to the appropriate section editor for initial assessment.

2. Section editors assess manuscripts for their originality, educational value and scientific validity. If accepted for review, the section editor recommends three external reviewers.

3. Manuscripts have all identifying information removed before undergoing detailed assessment by two or more independent reviewers (double-blind peer review). Depending on the reviewers' recommendation, revised submissions may be accepted for publication or undergo a further round of review. Recommendations regarding revisions or corrections may be offered to help authors re-write their submission. If revisions are required, authors are given four weeks to re-submit their work.

4. A paper may go through more than one round of peer review before a recommendation is reached. The reviewers’ recommendation is sent back to the Section Editor for endorsement before final approval is sought from the Editors-in-Chief.

5. The Editors-in-Chief may accept or decline a submission. Once accepted, the manuscript is ready for editing.

Members of the editorial team can submit their own papers to the journal or appear as a co-author on a paper. When this occurs they are removed from all editorial tasks associated with the paper and another member of the editorial team is assigned responsibility for overseeing the peer review. A competing interest must be declared with the submission and any resulting publication.

The Editors-in-Chief may invite editorials and features. Features are not subject to peer review unless stated. Letters to the editor, media reviews, perspectives and video content are reviewed by the Editors-in-Chief.

If you experience any adverse event arising from review process, or would like to tell us your views, please email [email protected]. 

 

Table 1: Peer-review of content type

Type

Undergoes independent double-blind peer review

Accepted at the discretion of the editors-in-chief

Original articles*

Yes

No

Review articles*

Yes

No

Case reports*

Yes

No

Case series*

Yes

No

Editorials

No

Yes

Features

No

Yes

Letters

No

Yes

Perspectives

No

Yes

Guides

No

Yes

Topics

No

Yes

Reviews

No

Yes

* involves (minimum) two or more independent peer reviewers

If you experience any adverse event arising from review process, or would like to tell us your views, please email [email protected]. Information for reviewers can be found here.

Publication
After a manuscript has been through peer review and is accepted for publication it is edited for language and style. When this is complete it is returned to the corresponding author for feedback. Once the author feedback is received, the manuscript undergoes a second round of corrections before the final edited manuscript is returned to the corresponding author for sign off. The final manuscript and associated figures and tables are then sent to typesetting.

 

 

4. Editorial policies 

Open access and unique article identifiers

The Australasian Journal of Plastic Surgery provides open access to peer reviewed research as part of its commitment to readers and authors. All our content is freely available online in PDF, HTML and, from 2022, JATS-XML. We publish linked DOIs for all journal content including article references via CrossRef. The journal is indexed with the DOAJ and all authors must provide their ORCID ID.

For more information on open access, visit Open Access Australasia.

Licencing: CC-BY 4.0

Authors retain copyright of their article and publish under the following Creative Commons Licence terms:

Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0

CC-BY-4 lets others distribute and copy the article, create extracts, abstracts, and other revised versions, adaptations or derivative works of or from an article (such as a translation), include in a collective work (such as an anthology), text or data mine the article, even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit the author(s), do not represent the author as endorsing their adaptation of the article, and do not modify the article in such a way as to damage the author's honour or reputation.

 

 

5. Publication ethics

Overview

As part of our commitment to developing and implementing best practice policies and procedures for publications ethics, AJOPS editors and reviewers undertake to treat all manuscripts fairly and in confidence and to declare any competing interests in line with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors' ICMJE_Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals and the Committee on Publication Ethics COPE guidelines. 

We ask all authors to be aware of, and comply with, ICMJE requirements and COPE guidelines, particularly in relation to authorship (including avoiding 'ghost' or 'guest' authorship), plagiarism, simultaneous submission, redundant or duplicate publication, manipulation of statistics, competing or conflicting interests and compliance with policies on research ethics (Declaration of Helsinki, the use of animals in research, randomised controlled trials and clinical trials including registration and systematic reviews and meta-analyses).

 

Conflicts of interest

Authors must declare any financial support or relationships that may pose a conflict of interest by disclosing, at the time of submission, any financial arrangements they have with a company whose product figures prominently in the submitted manuscript or with a company making a competing product. Such information will be held in confidence while the article is under review and will not influence the editorial decision. If the article is accepted for publication, the editor will usually discuss with the authors the manner in which such information is to be communicated to the reader. 

Reviewers must also declare any financial support or relationships that may pose a conflict of interest at the time of assessment/review such as any financial arrangements they may have with a company whose product figures prominently in a submitted manuscript or with a company making a competing product. 

 

Complaints

We take allegations of misconduct seriously. If you believe a decision regarding a publication outcome was the result of a breech of publication ethics, either as a result of research or publication misconduct, please email your concerns to [email protected]. All correspondence should be addressed to the editors-in-chief and include a detailed description of the allegation along with supporting evidence. All complaints are treated confidentially and will be investigated in line with relevant COPE guidelines. 

 

Authorship and acknowledgements

The journal adheres to the definition of authorship by the ICMJE. The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following four criteria: 

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; 

2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content;

3. Final approval of the version to be published; and

4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Contributors who do not qualify as authors should be mentioned under ‘Acknowledgements’. If a submission has more than five authors, the inclusion of each name must be justified in the covering letter. Results of multicentre studies may be reported under the name of the organising group. For more information on contributor roles, please refer to the Contributor Roles Taxonomy CRediT website.

 

Author identification

AJOPS endorses ORCID and asks all authors to provide their own, and their co-authors', ORCID ids upon submission of a manuscript. On publication, all authors who have added their ORCID will have it displayed as a hyperlink on the view article page next to their name. 

 

Patient consent

AJOPS endorses the ICMJE'S statement on the protection of research participants here. AJOPS requires authors to obtain informed consent from patients (or their guardian/next of kin) prior to submitting case reports. For privacy reasons this information should remain with the treating institution. 

 

Plagiarism

Manuscripts with plagiarised content will not be considered by the journal. If plagiarism is identified, we will follow COPE guidelines. Authors whose work has been flagged as containing possible plagiarised content by AJOPS editors or reviewers will have an opportunity to respond to the journal's concerns. If no response is recieved the journal reserves the right to reject the submission, issue a correction or retraction (if the manuscript has already been published) and contact authors' institutions, funders or regulatory bodies as necessary.

As a member of Crossref the Australasian Journal of Plastic Surgery uses Similarity Check for plagiarism checking. 

 

Simultaneous submissions

The journal does not consider manuscripts that are simultaneously being considered by other journals. Occasionally, editors of different journals may knowingly agree to jointly publish selected articles because of the need for wide coverage. Examples include publication guidelines and important recommendations on public health. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that two or more journals do not unknowingly publish the same article.

 

Redundant or duplicate publication

Redundant or duplicate publication occurs when a submission is published that overlaps substantially with one that has already been published in either print or electronic media. An article is reviewed for publication on the assumption that its contents have not been submitted simultaneously to another journal, have not been accepted for publication elsewhere and have not already been published.

References must be provided for all publications that relate to the manuscript under consideration. In addition, copies of any possible duplicate published material should be submitted with a statement in the covering letter explaining why the manuscript under consideration is not a duplicate publication. This includes articles in press or under consideration by another journal. Any attempt at dual publication will lead to automatic rejection, may prejudice acceptance of future submissions, and may be highlighted in the journal.

 

 

5. Research ethics

Human studies

All human studies must be reviewed by the appropriate ethics committee and performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in Brazil in October 2013). In addition, patient anonymity must be preserved at all times. The journal will not publish pictures that identify patients unless the authors submit evidence of written consent from the patient or a legal guardian. 

 

Use of animals in research

Studies involving the use of animals must be reviewed by the appropriate ethics committee and performed in accordance with the principles of the Australian code for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes as well as any specific national laws where applicable.

AJOPS supports the ethical principles laid down in the Basel Declaration (Replace, Reduce and Refine) to safeguard animal welfare.

 

Randomised controlled trials

Reporting of randomised controlled trials should follow the guidelines of The CONSORT Statement (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials).

 

Clinical trials

Reporting on clinical trials should adhere to the guidelines outlined in the CONSORT Statement.

In line with the ICMJE recommendations for the registration of clinical trials and sharing of data, all clinical trials submitted for consideration by AJOPS must be registered in a publicly accessible database before initiation of the trial such as the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry.

 

7. Advertising policy

To ensure the Australasian Journal of Plastic Surgery adheres to ethical standards of advertising, and to determine the eligibility of products and services for advertising in AJOPS, we have developed the following policy.

For the purposes of this policy, advertising refers to digital 'promotional material belonging to companies or manufacturers'.

Summary of principles

  • AJOPS will only sell advertising space on its website in line with the aims of the journal.
  • Decisions to sell advertising space are made independently of editorial content.
  • The appearance of advertising in AJOPS is neither a guarantee nor an endorsement by AJOPS of the product or the claims made for the product in such advertising.
  • The fact that an advertisement for a product, service, or company has appeared in AJOPS shall not be referred to in any collateral advertising.

1. Placement of advertising in digital publications

Placement of advertising within or on full text article pages is prohibited. In-text linking within an article to an advertisement is not permitted. Advertisements that appear on journal website may coincidentally be related to the subject of an article, but such juxtaposition must be random. (Note: digital ads may be static, rotating or animated. Because ads rotate in various positions, adjacency may occur coincidentally).

2. Distinguishing advertising from content

The words 'Paid advertisement' will appear below the advertisement and will be hyperlinked to a landing page that states the following:

'This is a paid advertising placement and AJOPS does not endorse the advertised product. Advertisements must adhere to AJOPS advertising policy.'

3. Use of the AJOPS logo

The AJOPS logos may not appear on commercial websites as a logo or in any other form without prior written approval by the Managing Editor of AJOPS.

4. Use of AJOPS content

Web sites shall not frame AJOPS content on a website without express permission; shall not prevent the viewer from returning to the AJOPS website or other previously viewed screens, and shall not redirect the viewer to a web site the viewer did not intend to visit.

5. Review and approval of advertising

All advertising must be reviewed and approved by AJOPS editorial team. Such review will include the website landing page to which the advertisement links.

Specific requirements:

  1. The advertisement should clearly identify the advertiser of the product or service offered. In the case of pharmaceutical advertisements, the full generic name of each active ingredient shall appear. See the World Health Organisation's Guidance on International Nonproprietary Names (INN).
  2. Layout, artwork, and format shall be such as to be readily distinguishable from editorial content and to avoid any confusion with the editorial content of the publication.
  3. Unfair comparisons or unwarranted disparagement of a competitor’s products or services will not be allowed.
  4. Advertisements will not be acceptable if they conflict with Australian Medical Association Code of ethics.
  5. It is the responsibility of the manufacturer to comply with the laws and regulations applicable to the marketing and sale of its products. Acceptance of advertising in AJOPS should not be construed as a guarantee that the manufacturer has complied with such laws and regulations.
  6. Advertisements may not be deceptive or misleading.
  7. Advertisements will not be accepted if they are offensive in either text or artwork, or contain attacks or derogations of a personal, racial, sexual, or religious nature, or are demeaning or discriminatory toward an individual or group on the basis of age, sex, race, ethnicity, religion, physical appearance, or disability.
  8. The policy of the AJOPS with respect to pharmaceutical advertising is to offer ethical manufacturers the opportunity to communicate directly with the medical profession about their products. Adherence to legal requirements concerning advertising by pharmaceutical companies is their responsibility.

This policy has been adapted from guidelines set out by Winker MA, Flanagin A, Chi-Lum B, et al. Guidelines for medical and health information sites on the internet: principles governing AMA web sites. JAMA. 2000;283(12):1600–1606. doi:10.1001/jama.283.12.1600.

 

 

8. Privacy policy

Protecting your privacy is our top priority. Please read our Privacy Policy (PDF 318 KB) carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal information and how we will treat it.

 

 

9. Disclaimer

Statements and opinions expressed in the articles and communications herein, including comments made by readers, are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the editors, the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons, Australasian Foundation for Plastic Surgery or the New Zealand Association of Plastic Surgeons.