Submissions

Scientific articles should follow the IMRAD structure (introduction, methods, results and discussion). This is the requirement for both original research articles and review articles. Case studies should generally have the following structure: background, case study, discussion and conclusion. Manuscripts that do not adhere to the following instructions will be returned to the corresponding author for technical revision before undergoing peer review.

Reporting guidelines for specific study designs may be found in Mulford library (http://www.consort-statement.org/index.aspx?o=1031) For example, for reports on randomised controlled trials authors should refer to the CONSORT statement, and for reporting meta-analyses the QUOROM statement is recommended.

Reports on qualitative studies should include the following: introduction, purpose of the study, design, setting, subjects/participants, findings, discussion, main conclusions and clinical implications, if any.

It is recommended that authors using quantitative methods get their work reviewed by a statistician before submitting the article to SJOVS.

All submitted manuscripts must fulfil the requirements laid out in the following pages to be considered for publication. Manuscripts that do not fulfil these requirements will be returned even if they may be of scientific interest.

The editors assume that authors will not actively promote their research in other media before a possible publication in SJOVS. This excludes presentation at conferences and abstracts.

Scientific articles
Articles should be arranged in the following order: 1) title page; 2) abstract; 3) keywords; 4) main text; 5) acknowledgements (if any) and financial support; 6) references; 7) tables with their accompanying captions; 8) figure captions; 9) figures and illustrations.

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically (please see separate information on how this is done).

The first page of the manuscript is the title page and should be arranged in the following order: name(s) of the author(s), title, authors' position, title, and address of the place at which the work was carried out. Name and contact details of corresponding author, including fax number, phone number and e-mail address.

The second page of the manuscript should start with a short abstract and 3-5 keywords.

The abstract should be limited to 300 words. It should have the following form: background, materials and methods, results, and conclusions. The abstract needs to be written in English (British English).

The body of the manuscript should begin on page three, starting with the introduction and followed by methods, results and discussion.

The introduction should state the purpose of the study and present an overview of currently available literature in the field. Large literature reviews are not required. Referred sources should be primary sources.

Methods. State the choice of methods and study population. Give references for chosen methods, including statistical methods used on the analysis for the results. This part of the paper should be written in such a manner that the study may be replicated by others.

The results should be presented as clearly and concisely as possible; give exact information, absolute values are preferable to percentages. Use graphics such as figures and tables purposefully. Present the results in a logical order without discussing them. Do not repeat data from tables and/or figures in the main manuscript, but sum up important observations.

In the discussion the author(s) should debate the meanings and implications of their observations and results compared with previously published research in the same area. A discussion of limitations and weaknesses of the presented study should be included. Details mentioned in the results section should not be repeated. The discussion may end in a short conclusion, but conclusions which cannot be supported by the work carried out should be avoided.

Review articles may differ from the IMRAD structure where appropriate.

Language and format of scientific papers 
All manuscripts should have line spacing 1.5 and left and right margins approximately 4 centimetres wide. Use Times New Roman and font size 11.

The manuscript needs to be written in English (British English).

Make all measurements and units metric with the possible exception of visual acuity. Lens prescriptions or refractive errors should be expressed as: RE (or OD) +1.25 - 1.50 x 95.

It must be written in a form that makes it easily available for most readers.

Use of foreign words should be limited, and they should be explained when first used in the manuscript.

Abbreviations for terms, methods, procedures etc should be written fully (in parenthesis) the first time they are used.

Use normal lower case letters, not capitals. Avoid italics, bolds and other typographic effects.

The manuscript should be as concise as possible, rarely more than 3000 words (excluding tables and references).

The title should be short and precise and should cover the topic of the manuscript.

The main sections of the manuscript can be divided into subsections, but should preferably have no more than three levels.

Submission of a paper will be taken to imply that it presents original, unpublished work not under consideration for publication elsewhere unless this is clearly stated.

Acknowledgements and financial support
Persons who have contributed to the work, but who do not fulfil the requirements of authors may be thanked in this section. The nature of each person's contribution should be stated (for example: in data collection, as supervisor etc). Acknowledging somebody assumes they have given their acceptance. See also the section about authorship. Relevant information about funding of the work presented in the paper should also be mentioned here.

References
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references and for presenting them according to the requirements of SJOVS. If references are not given according to the guidelines the manuscript will be returned without being reviewed.

Referencing should follow the APA style, as detailed in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 7th edition. All references also include DOI numbers. In the text, references should be quoted by giving the authors' surname(s) followed by the year of publication: (Andersen and Karlsen, 2008). For three or more authors cite include the name of only the first author "et al.": (Jakobsen et al., 2008).

The reference list should be typed separately at the end of the manuscript in alphabetical order and arranged as follows:  authors' name and initials, year, title of the article, full title of the journal, volume, first and last page numbers. Journal titles should be abbreviated according to the rules adopted in the "World List of Scientific Periodicals".

All references must be sited in the original language and NOT translated into Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.

The use of a bibliographic application such as EndNote or BibTex is recommended for reference managing and formatting. APA style files (7th edition) are included in both applications. EndNote or BibTex files will be asked for after acceptance of a manuscript.

Please also make sure that DOI numbers are included in list of references.

A paper which has been accepted for publication but which has not appeared may be sited in the references with the abbreviated title of the journal followed by the words "in press".

A "personal communication" or "unpublished data" should be sited as such in the text with full author names. These citations should NOT be included in the reference list.

Reference to electronic sources should be limited. Referee journals which exist only online and public websites containing for example laws will be acceptable references. In cases where referee journals are published both as paper journals and online, reference should be to the paper journal.

When referring to websites where the contents may be updated both the publishing date and the date of access should be given.

Illustrations and tables
Illustrations should be termed Figure and includes drawings, diagrams and photographs. Good illustrations increase reader interest, but should only be used when relevant. They may be traditional diagrams, photographs, drawings, text boxes or other.

When using figures care must be taken to ensure patient anonymity. In such cases patient consent must be given.

Tables and figures should be written or drawn on separate sheets, and should be placed at the end of the manuscript. Avoid 3D columns in diagrams. Data for figures may be attached to allow the editors to redraw the figures if necessary.

The captions for tables, figures and text boxes should be as brief as possible, but sufficient enough so they can be understood independently from the main article.

Figure captions should be on a separate sheet. There should be a suitable caption at the top of each table.

Tables, figures and text boxes should be numbered with Arabic numerals in the order they appear in the manuscript.

Reference to a table, figure or text box in the manuscript should be as follows: In Table 1 ...., and (Table 1). In Figure 1 ..., and (Figure 1). In Box 1 ..., and (Box 1).

The quality of figures must allow reduction in size without reduction in quality. The relationship between all elements of a figure (legends, numbers and diagrams) must remain the same after size reduction.

Figures must not be placed electronically or physically within the main text. Where figures are taken from previous publications this must be clearly stated, for example "from Andersen and Karlsen, 2008".

Colour photographs, including digital photographs are welcome. Slides, when used, should be submitted once the manuscript is accepted for publication. The preferred format for digital photos is jpg, but tiff- or eps-format will also be accepted. Resolution should be minimum 300 dpi, and images should be saved with highest possible quality.

Figures and images to be printed in SJOVS can not be submitted as part of a Power Point presentation or pasted into a Word document.

Please contact the editor if further information about quality of images is required.

Authors must obtain necessary permission for use of figures from previous publications.

Authorship
Name and e-mail address must be given for the corresponding author, who may be contacted by readers. When there is more than one author, each author is expected to have participated in the study to a significant extent  and to such a degree that he or she can take responsibility for parts of the contents. During the manuscript submission process, the corresponding author will be required to state that all authors accept public responsibility for the manuscript. Although the editors and referees make every effort to ensure the validity of published manuscripts, the final responsibility rests with the authors, not with the Journal, its editors, or the publisher. Only persons who fulfil all three of the following criteria may be named as authors of a scientific paper:

1. Having contributed significantly with regards to idea and study design or collection or analysis of data
2. Having written the draft paper, reviewed critically or contributed intellectually to the writing of the paper
3. Having given final acceptance. Where there is collective authorship for example by a group or an organisation, one or more names must be given of the author(s) responsible for the contents.

Give full names and work place of all authors and an e-mail address for correspondence.

Ethics and conflicts of interest
If human subjects were involved in the study, the authors must confirm that the research followed the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki, that informed consent was obtained from the subjects after explanation of the nature and possible consequences of the study, and, where applicable, the research was approved by the regional ethical research committees.

Patients' anonymity must be ensured. Where patients/subjects may be identified their consent must be given.

Information of possible commercial interests or other possible conflicts of interest concerning the submitted manuscript must be given, and any financial support must be mentioned, for example under Acknowledgements.

Cover letter and information for the editors
Manuscripts should be accompanied by a cover letter to the editor. This letter should contain short answers (one or two sentences) to the following two questions:

-What knowledge already exists about this research area?

-What new knowledge does this paper add?