Author Guidelines

The Journal of Neurosurgery Academy (JNA) publishes peer-reviewed surgical and educational articles that provide practical and clinically relevant descriptions of surgical procedures, operative techniques, surgical decision-making, and video-based surgical education along with case reports and case series.

Authors should ensure that submissions are original, prepared specifically for JNA, and comply with the journal's editorial, ethical, and publication policies.

1. General Submission Principles

Authors should observe the following requirements when preparing and submitting a manuscript:

  • Manuscripts should be submitted only to JNA while they are under consideration. Authors should not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal.
  • The submitted manuscript should be original and should not have been published previously, in whole or in substantial part.
  • All authors should have made appropriate contributions to the work, approved the submitted version, and agreed to its submission to JNA.
  • The manuscript should be prepared according to the article type selected at submission.
  • Authors should ensure that all statements, references, figures, tables, and associated multimedia are accurate and appropriately presented.
  • Patient-identifying information should not be included.
  • Authors are responsible for ensuring that any third-party material included in the submission can be legally reproduced or published.
  • Additional requirements relating to publication ethics, patient consent, ethical approval, conflicts of interest, funding, authorship, copyright, licensing, artificial intelligence, and other publication related matters are provided in the journal's respective policies and guidelines sections and declaration forms under the submission block

Anonymized Submission Procedure

The journal follows a double-anonymous peer review process, in which the identities of both authors and reviewers are concealed during peer review. Authors must therefore ensure that the manuscript and all files intended for peer review do not disclose their identity.

1. Title Page and Author Information

All author-identifying information must be provided separately from the anonymized manuscript. The title page should include:

  • Manuscript title
  • Full names of all authors
  • Institutional affiliations
  • ORCID iDs, where applicable
  • Corresponding author details
  • Author contribution statement
  • Conflict of interest statement
  • AI declaration statement
  • Funding information
  • Acknowledgments
  • Other information that may identify the authors or their institutions

The title page should not be included in the blinded manuscript file.

2. Anonymized Manuscript

The manuscript submitted must not contain information that directly or indirectly identifies the authors.

Authors should:

  • Remove author names and affiliations from the manuscript.
  • Remove acknowledgments and other statements that may identify the authors or their institutions.
  • Avoid wording that identifies the authors through references to their own work or institution.
  • Remove identifying information from figures, tables, supplementary files, and video files, where applicable.
  • Remove author names and other identifying information from the document properties and file metadata.
  • Avoid references to the institution, department, or location where the work was conducted if such information could identify the authors.

The anonymized manuscript should contain the title and all sections required for the relevant article type, but without author-identifying information.

3. Submission of Files

Authors should upload the anonymized manuscript as the main manuscript file. The title page and other author-identifying information should be uploaded separately through the appropriate fields in the online submission system.

Where supplementary files, figures, or videos are submitted for peer review, authors must ensure that these files are also appropriately blinded and do not contain information that could reveal their identity.

Authors should carefully review all files before completing the submission to ensure that author identities have not been inadvertently disclosed.

The editorial office may return submissions that do not comply with the anonymized submission requirements and request a corrected version before the manuscript proceeds for further review.

2. Article Types

JNA publishes the following article types.

2.1 Original Article - Surgical Procedure Video

A Surgical Procedure / Operative Technique with Associated Video article provides a detailed and educational description of a surgical procedure, operative approach, technical modification, or surgical strategy without an individual patient or case being the principal subject of the article.

The article should emphasize the practical and educational aspects of the procedure, including, where appropriate:

  • indications and patient-selection principles;
  • contraindications and limitations;
  • preoperative evaluation and planning;
  • relevant surgical anatomy;
  • patient positioning;
  • surgical approach;
  • operative steps;
  • critical anatomical landmarks;
  • technical nuances;
  • surgical decision-making;
  • potential difficulties and pitfalls;
  • complication avoidance and management;
  • postoperative considerations; and
  • surgical pearls and technical points.

An individual patient, case presentation, or patient-specific outcome is not required for this article type.

An associated or embedded operative video or other relevant multimedia is an integral component of the article and should directly complement the written description. The multimedia should demonstrate relevant operative steps, surgical anatomy, technical nuances, or other educational aspects of the procedure.

2. Case Report - Surgical Video

A Surgical Procedure Case Report with Associated Video describes an individual patient or clinically relevant case in which the surgical procedure, operative strategy, technical challenge, unusual finding, or clinical decision-making provides meaningful clinical or educational value.

The article should present the relevant clinical context together with a detailed description of the surgical procedure.

Depending on the nature of the case, the article may address:

  • clinical presentation;
  • relevant history and examination;
  • investigations and imaging;
  • diagnosis;
  • indication for surgery;
  • patient-specific surgical decision-making;
  • preoperative planning;
  • operative procedure;
  • intraoperative findings;
  • technical challenges;
  • management of important anatomical structures;
  • complications and their management;
  • postoperative course;
  • outcome and follow-up; and
  • key clinical or surgical learning points.

The operative procedure and associated video should form an integrated part of the article. The video should directly complement the written description and may demonstrate surgical anatomy, operative steps, technical nuances, intraoperative findings, or other educational aspects of the case. The case should provide meaningful clinical, surgical, or educational value.

2.3.3. Case Series – Surgical Video

This article type  with associated Video describes a surgical procedure performed in a series of patients or clinical cases, with an accompanying video demonstrating the procedure or important technical aspects.

The manuscript should describe the patient or case series, indications, surgical technique, relevant variations or technical considerations, and outcomes across the series. The accompanying video may demonstrate a representative case and does not necessarily need to include every patient in the series.

2.4. Editorial

An Editorial is a scholarly commentary, perspective, opinion, or discussion addressing a topic relevant to neurosurgery, surgical practice, surgical education, or the scope of JNA.

Editorials may address important developments in neurosurgery, surgical techniques or approaches, surgical education, clinical or operative practice, articles published in the journal, emerging developments, or other matters of relevance to the neurosurgical community.

Editorials are generally commissioned or invited by the Editor or editorial team. They are not intended to present a conventional surgical case report or a detailed operative technique.

The format, length, and reference requirements for an Editorial may be determined by the Editor according to the purpose and scope of the article.

3. Manuscript Preparation and Templates

Authors should prepare manuscripts according to the selected article type and use the appropriate JNA manuscript template.

Surgical Articles

A single Surgical Articles Manuscript Template is provided for

  1. Original Article- Surgical Procedure Video
  2. Case Report- Surgical Videa
  3. Case Series –Surgical Video

Please find the template in the below link which provides the recommended manuscript structure, section headings, and instructions for preparing the manuscript.

Manuscript Template

Authors should include the sections applicable to their selected article type.

All article types require an associated or embedded operative that directly complements the written article.

4. Surgical Video and Multimedia Requirements

Because JNA is focused on video-based surgical education, associated operative video should be prepared as an integral component of the surgical article.

Authors should ensure that:

  • the video directly corresponds to the procedure described in the manuscript;
  • the principal operative steps are clearly demonstrated;
  • important anatomical structures and technical nuances are identified where appropriate;
  • narration, subtitles, labels, arrows, or other annotations may be used to improve educational value;
  • unnecessary or unrelated footage is avoided;
  • patient-identifying information is appropriately removed or obscured where applicable; and
  • editing does not alter the substantive representation of the surgical procedure or create a misleading impression of the operative events.

The manuscript should contain a concise video title, duration, description, and video legend as specified in the Surgical Articles Manuscript Template.

5. Reporting Guidelines

For Original Article – Surgical Procedure Video articles, authors are encouraged to consult the SUPER reporting guideline.

For Case Report _Surgical Video, authors are encouraged to consult the CARE guideline and the SCARE guideline.

For Case Series – Surgical Video authors are encouraged to consult the and PROCESS (preferred reporting of case series in surgery)

Use of a reporting guideline does not replace the journal's manuscript requirements.

6. Submission Checklist

Before submission, authors should ensure that:

  • the correct article type has been selected;
  • the manuscript follows the appropriate JNA manuscript template;
  • the manuscript is not simultaneously under consideration by another journal;
  • all authors have approved the submitted manuscript;
  • relevant overlapping or previously published material has been disclosed;
  • the surgical procedure is described adequately for its intended educational purpose;
  • the associated video or multimedia directly complements the manuscript;
  • the video and manuscript are consistent with each other;
  • figures and tables are appropriately cited and submitted;
  • references are accurate and complete;
  • patient-identifying information has been removed
  • required permissions have been obtained for third-party material; and
  • all applicable journal declarations and submission forms have been completed.