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Journal Information

Overview

The Western Journal of Orthopaedics (WJO) is a peer-reviewed publication by The University of New Mexico’s (UNM) Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation that publishes articles focused on orthopaedic-related surgery and engineering. WJO includes a wide variety of topics, including orthopaedic surgery and innovative techniques for correcting orthopaedic-related injuries. WJO provides an extensive, double-blinded review process to ensure high quality of content and thus encourages medical students, residents, and physicians to submit their original articles for consideration.


Aims and Scope

WJO provides professionals in orthopaedics with up-to-date information on surgery, innovative techniques for correcting orthopaedic-related injuries, and evidence-based research to enhance the quality of life for patients.
The submission deadline for WJO is November 1 every year. Manuscripts submitted afterward will be considered for next year’s volume. Please view the Author Guidelines (link to author guidelines page) for submission details. Email any questions to WJO@salud.unm.edu. Thank you for considering WJO as an avenue to feature your research.
Contributions from anywhere in the world are welcome and considered on their merits. The manuscript must be written in English and should be submitted as outlined in the Author Guidelines.


History

In 2012, WJO was initially created as The University of New Mexico Orthopaedics Research Journal to showcase exceptional research from the University of New Mexico’s Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation. In 2017, WJO incorporated a formal, external, and double-blinded peer-review process. In 2020, WJO released its first volume under the new name.


Rights and Permissions

Permission must be obtained to publish any tables, figures, or text that have been previously published. Permission must also be obtained if an adaptation of a previously published table or figure is to be published in a new article. Rights are guaranteed to the original authors and publisher. Thus, authors looking to use their work or a portion of their work must obtain their written permission.


Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

We investigate all instances of alleged scientific misconduct identified in submitted manuscripts and published papers, including, but not limited to, plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, and duplicate publication. We follow the Committee on Publication Ethics’ Core Practices (https://publicationethics.org/core-practices) as well as The University of New Mexico’s Research Misconduct Protocol (https://handbook.unm.edu/e40/) in the management of investigations of possible misconduct.

  1. Duties of the Editorial Board
    1. Publication Decisions
      The editorial board ensures that each manuscript submitted for publication undergoes review by a three-person editorial board and peer review by at least two reviewers with expertise in the field of research. The Editor in Chief is responsible for deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the journal will be accepted for publication based on the relevance of the research, its importance to readers and researchers, the reviewers’ comments, and such publication requirements on plagiarism and copyright infringement set forth by The University of New Mexico’s Research Misconduct Protocol.
    2. Fair Play
      The editorial board evaluates submitted manuscripts based on their intellectual merit and relevance to the scope of the journal, without regard to the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, spiritual belief, citizenship, institutional affiliation, or political philosophy.
    3. Confidentiality
      The editors will not disclose any information about submitted manuscripts to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other members of the editorial board, and publisher, as appropriate.
    4. Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
      The editors and editorial board will not use any unpublished or published materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript without the express, written consent of the authors. Editors shall recuse themselves from considering the publication of a manuscript if it causes conflicts of interest resulting from collaborative, competitive, or other associations/relationships with any authors, companies, or institutions connected to the manuscript; editors will instead defer to another member of the editorial board to handle the manuscript in these cases.
    5. Cooperation and Participation in Investigations
      The editors will take responsive measures when ethical concerns have been raised with regard to a submitted manuscript or published paper. Every submitted report of unethical publication will be evaluated. Depending on the outcome of the investigation, the editors may reject the manuscript, ask the author to retract the manuscript or publish a correction. In instances of rejection or retraction due to misconduct, the corresponding author’s institution and funding agency will be notified.
  2. Duties of Authors
    1. Reporting Standards
      Authors of manuscripts of original research should present an accurate history of the work completed, followed by an objective discussion of its meaning and relevance. The manuscript should contain adequate information and references to allow others to replicate the work. Knowingly presenting inaccurate statements constitutes unethical behavior and is unacceptable.
    2. Data Access and Retention
      Authors may be asked to provide raw data with their manuscript for editorial review, and should be prepared to retain and make the data available for a reasonable amount of time after publication.
    3. Plagiarism and Originality
      The authors should ensure that they have written and submitted only original work, and if they use and/or reference work from other authors, that it has been cited or quoted appropriately. Plagiarism takes many forms, from publishing another author’s work as their own, copying or substantially paraphrasing another author’s work without citing that author’s work, or claiming research from another author as their own. Plagiarism in all forms is considered unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
    4. Duplicate, Redundant, or Concurrent Publishing
      Authors should not publish essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Authors should not submit a manuscript that has already been published in another journal; all manuscript submissions must be novel and relevant to the scope of the journal. Concurrently submitting the same manuscript to several journals is considering unethical publishing and is unacceptable. Additionally, authors should not submit a previously published paper for consideration in another journal.
    5. Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
      At the earliest stage possible, authors should disclose any conflicts of interest that may be presumed to influence the results or their interpretation in the manuscript. The author may do so by submitting a disclosure form along with their manuscript submission and including a statement in the manuscript. Potential conflicts of interest include: financial, such as educational grants, as well as nonfinancial, such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge, or beliefs in the material or subject matter being discussed. All sources of financial support should be disclosed.
    6. Authorship of the Manuscript
      Authorship should be limited to those who have made significant contributions to the design, conception, data analysis, execution, or analysis and interpretation of the study. Others who contributed to the manuscript, such as in writing and editing support should not be listed as authors, but instead acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section after written permission to include their name is obtained. The corresponding author should ensure that all co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the manuscript, and that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript and have agreed to proceed with its entry for publication.
    7. Acknowledgement of Sources
      Authors should ensure that proper acknowledgement of the work of others is always made. Authors should cite publications that have been instrumental in the completion of reported study. Information obtained privately (through correspondence or discussion with third parties) must not be used or reported without explicit written consent from the source. Data obtained from confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, may not be used without the explicit written consent from the author(s) of the work involved in these services.
    8. Fundamental Errors in Publishing
      When authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their own published work, they must promptly notify the journal’s editorial board or publisher and cooperate with the editors to retract or correct the work. If the editorial board or publisher learns of significant errors or inaccuracies from a third party, it is the authors’ obligation to promptly correct or retract the paper or offer evidence to the editorial board of the correctness of the original composition.
    9. Human or Animal Subjects
      If the work involves use of human or animal subjects, the authors must ensure that the manuscript contains a statement explaining that all procedures were performed in compliance with all relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that appropriate institutional committees have approved them. Authors should include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation in human cases. Privacy rights of human subjects must always be observed.
    10. Peer Review
      Authors are required to participate in the peer review process an cooperate fully by promptly responding to reviewers’ requests for clarification, proof of ethics approval, and copyright permissions. If a first decision of “revisions necessary” is made, authors must thoroughly respond to the reviewers’ comments in a timely manner, revising and returning their manuscript by the deadline given.
  3. Duties of Reviewers
    1. Contribution to Editorial Decisions
      Through their review, reviewers will assist the editorial board in making editorial and publication decisions through communication with the editors.
    2. Promptness
      Any invited reviewer who is unable to complete their review of a submitted manuscript in a timely manner should immediately notify the editors and decline the invitation to review to allow enough time to contact other reviewers.
    3. Confidentiality
      Reviews should be conducted objectively with the reviewers only considering the quality of the work submitted. All manuscripts received for review are confidential and should be treated as such. Reviewers must not discuss or show any aspect of the manuscript with anyone without the authorization from the editorial board; this also applies to reviewers who have declined the invitation for review. Reviewer misconduct (confidentiality breach, delay in review, and plagiarism) will not be tolerated.
    4. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
      Any reviewer who has conflicts on interest resulting from collaborative, competitive, or other associations/relationships with any authors, companies, or institutions connected to the manuscript should immediately notify the editorial board of their conflict of interest and decline invitation to review.
  4. Duties of the Publisher
    1. Handling of Unethical Behavior
      In cases of unethical publishing behavior, Starline Printing, in cooperation with the editorial board, will take all necessary measures to clarify the issue and amend the article in question. The publisher, along with the editorial board, will take appropriate steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers when unethical conduct has occurred.
    2. Access to Journal Content
      Starline Printing is committed to providing access to the scholarly work produced by the Western Journal of Orthopaedics by handling and printing physical copies of each volume of the journal.

Peer Review and Acceptance

All submitted manuscripts are briefly reviewed by the Co-Editors for quality, scientific importance, and relevance to the journal’s general readership. Manuscripts with insufficient priority for publication or those that are outside the scope of the journal are rejected promptly. Manuscripts are then reviewed by two to three external peer reviewers and one Co-Editor. In most cases, the authors are requested to make changes to their manuscript after reviewing comments from reviewers. Upon receiving the revised manuscript, reviewers will make a decision on the manuscript.
WJO employs a double-blinded review process in which peer-reviewers and author identities are kept confidential. The existence of a manuscript under review is not revealed to anyone other than the editorial staff. Peer reviewers are required to maintain confidentiality about the manuscripts they review and must not divulge any information about a specific manuscript or its content to any third party without prior permission from the journal editors. All authors will be sent notification of the receipt of manuscripts and editorial decisions by email.
Manuscripts judged worthy of further consideration are sent to two to three external peer reviewers and one Co-Editor.


Funding

Authors should list all funding sources in the “Funding” section. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their funder designation.

Authorship

The journal follows the ICMJE definition of authorship, which indicates that authorship be based on the following:

  • Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
  • Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
  • Final approval of the version to be published; AND
  • 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.