As we begin our sixth year, there are new submission guidelines for ESUN

An ESUN Article

Bruce Shriver, PhD
Editor-in-Chief, ESUN

The Electronic Sarcoma Update Newsletter, an online, open access, peer-reviewed, bi-monthly newsletter, is now in its sixth year of publication. We have published over 600 pages of peer-reviewed articles on sarcoma and over 400 pages of Op Ed pieces written by oncologists, nurses, patients, caregivers, and survivors.

In addition to feature articles that focus on specific sarcomas, current research and clinical issues dealing with these cancers, ESUN has regular columns that abstract newly announced clinical trials and recent research findings. It also contains a column telling stories of courage and hope, a column that deals with a potpourri of topics of general interest, and updates on sarcoma advocacy and related groups. Our readership consists of patients, caregivers, physicians (oncologists and non-oncologists) and nurses.

The Guidelines for Authors and Guidelines for Reviewers have recently changed and are given at the end of this editorial. We invite you and your colleagues to submit an article to ESUN for consideration. We are particularly interested in review articles on the following topics:

We have published detailed review articles of Angiosarcoma, Chondrosarcoma of the Bone, Ewing's Sarcoma, Leiomyosarcoma of the Bone and Soft Tissue, Leiomyosarcoma of the Uterus, Liposarcoma, Malignant Fibrous Histiocytoma, Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors, Mesenchymal Chondrosarcoma, Osteosarcoma. Rhabdomyosarcoma, and Synovial Sarcoma. We have also published an article that overviews both Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma and Clear Cell Sarcoma. Detailed review articles are currently being written covering Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans (DFSP), Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST), and Fibrosarcoma of Bone. We are interested in receiving detailed review articles on additional sarcomas, including:

Please let me know if you are interested in submitting an article to ESUN for consideration.

Best regards,
Bruce

ESUN: Guidelines for Authors

Authors are encouraged to look at articles appearing in some of the recent issues of ESUN to see the breadth and depth of material presented. Articles are typically 4,000-5,000 words in length and include figures, tables, sidebars, and references. Some articles have also included flash animations.

Submitting an article for consideration indicates that the work reported has not been previously published, that it is not being considered for publication in other publications, and that the author(s) will not submit the article for consideration while it is in the peer-review process. Include the following with your submission: (a) an abstract of 100-150 words; (b) five to six keywords (appearing in the title) to facilitate electronic search; and (c) a cover page that includes the title of the submission, author name(s), institutional affiliation(s), mailing address(es), and office telephone number(s). Authors are also encouraged to include an "Introduction" section providing a overview of the content and structure of the paper.  References must be numbered consecutively in order of appearance in the text. Citations of references in text should be identified using numbers in parenthesis; e.g., "as discussed by Brown (Ref. 4)" or "as presented in (Refs. 11 and 17)".  References should the placed at the end of the manuscript in a section titled "References" and appear in numerical order.

After the article is received, it is sent to 2-3 members of ESUN's Medical Advisory and Editorial Board and 1-2 external reviewers for review and comment. After an author addresses the comments and it is accepted for publication, the revised article is sent to two copy editors before it is prepared for web-based publication.

Authors are encouraged to include sidebars in their article. There are two types of sidebars in articles appearing in ESUN: ones that are directed to physicians and ones that are directed to the patients and caregivers. The sidebars for physicians are to give more medical detail to the physicians. Patients and caregivers typically bypass these sidebars when reading the article. The sidebars for patients and caregivers are to help explain some of the technical content that is in the article. Physicians typically bypass these sidebars when reading the article. The author writes the side bars directed to the physicians and we will write the side bars directed to the patients and caregivers. The side bar material needs to be distinctly identified from the other text in the article. Please give a title to each sidebar that summarizes its content. The details of the references to various studies, reports, etc. that are cited in the text, figures, photos, tables, and sidebars should be placed at the end of the article.

Since ESUN is an online periodical, authors are encouraged to include hyperlinks to any material that they believe would help the physicians explore specific topics in more detail. We will include hyperlinks that we believe are useful for the patients and caregivers.

Transmit the text of the article to us as a Microsoft Word document and include in it markers for the placement and title of each figure, photo, table, and sidebar. In addition, transmit: (a) each figure (in jpg or gif format) as a separate file, including the figure number and annotation. Do not embed the figures in the text document. Include in the text document placeholders where the figures are to appear; and (b) each table as a Microsoft Word table including the table number and annotation.

ESUN: Guidelines for Reviewers

ESUN employs a "blind" reviewing process and the identities of the people who review and comment on articles submitted to ESUN are held in confidence. Treat the article you are reviewing as a confidential document and do not send it to or discuss it with anyone.

We are looking for detailed feedback on a variety of issues related to articles submitted for publication to ESUN. The more detailed your comments are to the authors, the more they will help to make the article technically accurate and more useful and understandable to ESUN’s readers. We do not have a specific form for you to fill in for your review. Rather, we would appreciate your taking a few pages to address the following six items:

At the end of your review, please indicate if you are recommending that the article by published, revised and resubmitted, or rejected. In addition to your comments regarding the content of the article, we also welcome any comments you have regarding copy editing issues such as spelling, grammar, sentence structure and the overall organization of the material. 

V6N1 ESUN Copyright © 2009 Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative.