PREPRINT PUBLICATION OPTION

Making good use of one's time is fundamental to achievement and accomplishment over our respective life spans. Making the world aware of achievements and accomplishments is equally important.

This is most true in reference to medical and scientific researchers who, having completed original research, wish to have their research data published as soon as possible. Any delays are viewed as a waste of time and an indication of a poorly performing editorial team of any scientific and medical research journal.

In the interest of making scientific findings available for distribution and citation as quickly as possible following initial peer review acceptance, International Surgery now offers authors the option of posting an online prepublication version of their initial peer review accepted manuscript as a “preprint.” The preprint is a pdf of the final version uploaded and approved by the author(s). The preprint will include the final DOI and will be citable as “in press.” While the preprint manuscript has been through initial peer review and approved, the manuscript will not have been copyedited, nor necessarily will the graphics and tables have been modified for final publication.

Once the manuscript appears in the preprint section of the International Surgery website, no edits to the preprint version of the manuscript will be permitted, although copyediting and other functions will separately occur to the manuscript prior to final publication. The final publication may therefore look different from the preprint version and may also have some differences in content. The preprint article is automatically removed once the final version is published in the website. Preprint manuscripts will appear to the subscribers of International Surgery. If the open access publishing alternative is selected, then preprint manuscripts will appear to all readers.

Our goal in 2015 is to exceed the expectations of authors and their related institutions. We believe making available a preprint option to authors is a major step forward in enhancing our services to authors. We hope that all of you do as well.