Format your manuscript to the Neurosurgical Focus requirements — abstract, numbered references, and required declarations — and submit through the JNS Publishing Group submission system (Editorial Manager) without a formatting rejection.
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Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 19 August, 2026
Getting past the desk at Neurosurgical Focus is usually less about the research and more about matching the journal’s exact submission rules. This template is built around Neurosurgical Focus’s actual requirements — its abstract rules, numbered references, and the required declarations — so your submission clears screening on the first pass. Everything below tracks the Neurosurgical Focus author guidelines; check it directly if anything looks out of date by the time you submit.
It’s a manuscript shell set up to Neurosurgical Focus’s specifications for topical, focused issues across neurosurgery. Neurosurgical Focus is published by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS). The shell covers the title page, the abstract, a body in Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion (IMRaD) order, and a reference list in numbered style.
Start with the title page (authors, affiliations, and ORCID iDs). The abstract is an abstract within the journal's stated word limit. The body follows Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion (IMRaD), and the reference list uses numbered. Close with the declarations block: ethics approval, conflict of interest, funding, and data availability.
The details that trip up most first submissions: an abstract outside the stated word limit, references not in the journal's required format, and missing declarations (ethics, competing interests, funding). Beyond that, match your article type’s specific limits rather than assuming the defaults apply, keep numbered formatting consistent from the first draft, and submit only through the JNS Publishing Group submission system (Editorial Manager) — email submissions aren’t processed.
The shell mirrors what Neurosurgical Focus’s editorial staff check first: abstract format and length, numbered reference formatting, and a complete declarations block. For the journal’s full aims and scope, see the Neurosurgical Focus journal home page. Neurosurgical Focus is open access; check the current publication policy before you submit. Manuscripts go in through the JNS Publishing Group submission system (Editorial Manager), which also tracks your paper through peer review.
| Element | Neurosurgical Focus requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | an abstract within the journal's stated word limit |
| Main text | Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion (IMRaD) |
| Declarations | Ethics approval, conflict of interest, funding, and data availability |
| Figures / tables | Captioned, cited in order; check format and resolution rules in the guide |
| Supplemental | Large datasets, extra tables, code — uploaded separately and cited in text |
| Submission | the JNS Publishing Group submission system (Editorial Manager) |
Read the Neurosurgical Focus author guidelines once before drafting and once before upload. Draft the abstract after your results are stable so it matches the paper. Set numbered as your reference style before adding a single citation — retrofitting it later is where errors creep in.
Skim two or three recent Neurosurgical Focus papers to calibrate depth, structure, and figure style. State your contribution in the first two paragraphs, not on page ten. Write a data-availability statement that names a real repository rather than a placeholder, and disclose any preprint or conference version with identifiers in your cover letter. Confirm current open-access pricing and any institutional agreement before committing to a fee.
Do one focused pass against the Neurosurgical Focus author guidelines: scope fit, abstract format, length, numbered references, required declarations, and figure quality. Re-check the items that most often cause a bounce here — an abstract outside the stated word limit, references not in the journal's required format, and missing declarations (ethics, competing interests, funding). Then submit through the JNS Publishing Group submission system (Editorial Manager).