About the Journal

Aims and Scope

Pediatric Neurosurgery publishes new information and observations in pediatric neurosurgery, neurology, neuroradiology, and neuropathology. The focus is on the etiology of neurological diseases, the operative care of affected patients, and outcomes research. In addition to experimental and clinical studies, the journal presents critical reviews on selected topics as well as case histories and reports on advances in surgical technique. This thought-provoking approach encourages the dissemination of information from neurosurgeons and neuroscientists around the world. Published materials are of interest to both researchers and clinicians who study and care for patients with pediatric, congenital, and developmental diseases of the nervous system.

 

Subscribe to Open

Pediatric Neurosurgery is piloting the model Subscribe to Open (S2O), which aims to achieve the benefits of Open Access with no financial or other burdens on authors. Please refer to Subscribe to Open for more information. The journal's current status of providing hybrid-subscription-based access or Open Access without APCs will be shown on the journal home page.

Journal Sections

Novel Insights from Clinical Practice: This Case Report is to include highlighted boxes containing one or two bullet points on 'Established Facts' (what is already known) and 'Novel Insights' (what new information has been gained). These should be selected to reinforce the novelty of the clinical observation (please see template below).

Technical Notes: This article should clearly list and describe an innovative method, technique, or procedure, associated with patient care in a single case or series of cases (please see template below).

Images in Pediatric Neurosurgery: This Case Report may not exceed 400 words to allow sufficient space for pictorial material. Maximum 5 references and 1 figure (please see template below).

Article Types

Research Article

Research Articles report on primary research. They must describe significant and original observations. Consideration for publication is based on the article’s originality, novelty, and scientific soundness, and the appropriateness of its analysis.
Research Articles are reports of original work. Authors are asked to follow the EQUATOR Network for Research Articles.
Prior approval from an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or an Ethics Review Committee is required for all investigations involving human subjects.

A downloadable template is available below.

Documents

Research Article (DOCX, 39 KB)

Review Article

Review Articles are considered reviews of research or summary articles. They are state-of-the-art papers covering a current topic by experts in the field. They should give evidence on and provide answers to a well-defined aspect or question in a particular area. Review Articles must include a critical discussion of the reported data and give a clear conclusion with potential impacts on the standard of care.

A downloadable template is available below.

Documents

Review Article (DOCX, 32 KB)

Case Report

Case Reports can present a case study, case report, or other description of a case. Case Reports present significant new insights or cases with an unusual and noteworthy course. Submissions can be based on a case or a number of similar cases. The most important aspect of the presentation is that it should provide a new perspective on a recognized clinical scenario or may represent an entirely new clinical condition. The novelty of the case(s) may lie in the phenotype, the presentation, the investigation, and/or the management. We strongly encourage authors to comply with the CARE guidelines.The manuscript must include a statement detailing that written informed consent for publication was obtained and from whom (e.g. “Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this case report and any accompanying images.”). If the patient has died, consent for publication must be obtained from their next of kin. If the patient described in the case report is a minor or vulnerable, then consent for publication must be obtained from the parent/legal guardian. The completed consent form must be made available to the Editor if requested, and will be treated confidentially.

A downloadable template is available below.

Documents

Novel Insights (DOCX, 37 KB)

Technical Notes (DOCX, 36 KB)

Images in Pediatric Neurosurgery (DOCX, 36 KB)


Only Case Reports of exceptional novelty and impact will be considered for publication. Authors may wish to submit the following types of Case Reports as listed below: (please refer to the Sections above for a detailed description)

Novel Insights
Technical Notes
Images in Pediatric Neurosurgery

Case Reports that do not significantly advance the field with mechanistic contributions to the understanding of the disease will be rejected or transferred.

Brief Report

Brief Reports are short and/or rapid announcements of research results. They must contain data derived from cutting-edge research and be of potential interest to a large proportion of the readership. They are independent, concise reports representing a significant contribution to the field. Such communications should represent complete, original studies and should be arranged in the same way as full-length manuscripts with subheadings.

A downloadable template is available below.

Documents

Brief Report (DOCX, 36 KB)

Editorial

Editorials provide a viewpoint on specific articles or on general subjects directly relevant to the journal. Editorials are written by an editor or other member of the journal.


A downloadable template is available below. 

Documents

Editorial (DOCX, 34 KB)

Letter

Letters may explore subjects related to matters discussed in the journal, providing the author’s perspective on a subject. Letters may discuss a recently published article and may lend support or constructively critique the article in line with the author’s experience. The editors reserve the right to share such letters to the authors of the article concerned prior to publication in order to permit response, ideally in the same issue of the journal. Letters should not include original data.


A downloadable template is available below. 

Documents

Letter (DOCX, 33 KB)

Methods Article

Methods Articles describe methods or protocols used to perform an experiment or carry out a research plan. They should not report research results. Authors may submit a Study Protocol outlining a research and/or statistical analysis plan for proposed, or ongoing, but incomplete, research studies, including but not limited to, clinical trials, population-based studies, clinical outcome studies, and service evaluations. Only study protocols that have received ethical approval will be considered and, where expected by community convention, study protocols must be pre-registered and the trial/study registration number should be provided in the manuscript. Manuscripts reporting study protocols must adhere to the relevant reporting guidelines for their study design, such as the SPIRIT, PRISMA-P or other relevant reporting guidelines as detailed on the Equator Network website

A downloadable template is available below.

Documents

Method Article (DOCX, 36 KB)

Method Article for Study Protocol (DOCX, 37 KB)

Contact Information

Should you have any problems with your submission, please contact the editorial office:

Editorial Office Pediatric Neurosurgery
S. Karger AG
P.O. Box
CH-4009 Basel (Switzerland)


Editorial and Journal Policies

Getting Started

The presentation of manuscripts should follow the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). We recommend preparing the manuscript using the dedicated article template for the manuscript type.

Only papers written in English are considered. The articles should be comprehensible to a reader who is fluent in English and should be edited prior to submission to ensure that standard English grammar and usage are observed. Use of a professional language editing service prior to submission can help avoid delays with the review process.

Research and Publication Ethics

When preparing a manuscript, it is important to review the editorial policies, including those on research ethics, consent, conflict of interest, data sharing and citation, text reuse and plagiarism, reproducibility and more. For full details, please visit the Publication Ethics and Editorial Policies page.

Karger Publishers is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Karger journals aim to adhere to the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines. Our policies on reporting and investigation of suspected misconduct in manuscripts and articles and how we handle potential errors in published articles can be found on the Publication Ethics and Editorial Policies page. Concerns regarding a manuscript in review or a published article should be raised to the .


Statements

All submitted manuscripts must contain a statements section after the main body of the text, but before the reference list. A summary of the required information is given below, for full details please refer to the article templates and visit the Publication Ethics and Editorial Policies page.


Acknowledgement (optional)

In the Acknowledgement section, authors may include individuals, who are not listed as authors, and organizations that have made substantive contributions to the research or the manuscript. An exception is where funding was provided, which should be included in Funding Sources.


Statement of Ethics

The Statement of Ethics must provide detail about the ethical approval process for the study reported in the manuscript, including the name and affiliation of the committee who approved the study and the decision reference number. For studies involving human participants, information must be provided about the consent provided to participate in the study. If information is included in the submission that may identify and individual or groups of individuals, specific consent to publish this information must be obtained and reported in the Statement of Ethics.

For complete information on our policies on Studies Involving Human Subjects, Identifiable Materials or Data or Studies Involving Animals, please see here.


Conflict of Interest Statement

Authors are required to disclose any relationship that could be perceived as a conflict of interest in the Conflict of Interest Statement. All forms of support and financial involvement which took place in the previous three years should be listed, regardless of their potential relevance to the paper. Nonfinancial relationships that may potentially influence the writing of the manuscript should also be declared. If there is no potential conflict of interest to report, please state this.

For complete information on our Conflict of Interest policy, please see here.


Funding Sources

Authors must give full details about the funding of any research relevant to their study, including sponsor names, written in full providing any associated grant numbers, and explanation of the roles of these funders in the study design, execution and analysis, and manuscript conception, planning, writing and decision to publish. If the sponsor or funder had no role in any of the above or if no funding was received for the study, please state this.

For complete information on our Funding Sources policy, please see here.


Author Contributions

In the Author Contribution statement, a short statement detailing the contributions of each person named as an author should be included. The CRediT taxonomy is a useful framework for preparing this section. Contributors to the submission who do not fulfil the ICMJE Criteria for Authorship should be credited, with their consent, in the Acknowledgement section.

For complete information on our Authorship and Contributorship policy, please see here.


Data Availability Statement

Authors are required to provide a Data Availability Statement that details whether data are publicly available and where the data supporting their study can be accessed. The journal’s data sharing policy strongly encourages authors to make all datasets on which the conclusions of the paper rely available to editors, reviewers and readers without unnecessary restriction wherever possible. In cases where research data are not publicly available on legal or ethical grounds, this should be clearly stated along with any conditions for accessing the data.

For complete information about our Data Sharing policy, please see here.

Peer Review

Peer Review Policy

All Karger journals employ a rigorous peer-review process to confirm the validity and ensure scientific accuracy of published articles. Independent researchers with relevant expertise assess submitted manuscripts to help journal editors determine whether a manuscript should be published in their journal. All articles, except for Editorials and some Correspondence articles, are externally peer reviewed, typically by at least two individuals with expertise in the manuscript content area and/or research methods, before a final decision is made about acceptance for publication.


Peer Review Type and Process

Pediatric Neurosurgery uses a single-blind peer review system where reviewers know the names of the authors, but the authors do not know who reviewed their manuscript. For full details, including information about peer review policies and appeals process, please visit the Peer review – Karger Publishers page.