About JBPPNI

What is JBPPNI?

JBPPNI is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal that will encompass all aspects of basic and clinical research findings, in the area of brachial plexus and peripheral nerve injury. Injury in this context refers to congenital, inflammatory, traumatic, degenerative and neoplastic processes, including neurofibromatosis. Papers on diagnostic and imaging aspects of the peripheral nervous system are welcomed as well.

The peripheral nervous system is unique in its complexity and scope of influence. There are areas of interest in the anatomy, physiology, metabolism, phylogeny, and limb growth tropism of peripheral nerves.

The brachial plexus is an important peripheral nerve functional unit and is extensively studied as a model for nerve injury management. Current areas of interest in the brachial plexus include clinical as well as basic scientific elements that will enhance recovery from injury.

The purpose of the journal is to foster interdisciplinary discussion of disease entities to stimulate new thinking and generate novel techniques of peripheral nerve injury management. One example: the application of nerve reconstruction techniques to upper motor neuron diseases, which traditionally have not been managed in this way.

The ultimate goal of the journal is to improve the quality of life of patients suffering from peripheral nerve disorders.

Content overview

JBPPNI considers the following types of articles:

• Research: reports of data from original research.
• Reviews: comprehensive, authoritative, descriptions of any subject within the journal's scope. Opinion leaders that have been invited by the Editorial Board usually write these articles. They have an educational aim and are 2000-3000 words.
• Book reviews: short summaries of the strengths and weaknesses of a book. They should evaluate its overall usefulness to the intended audience and are usually about 400 words.
• Case reports: reports of clinical cases that can be educational, describe a diagnostic or therapeutic dilemma, suggest an association, or present an important adverse reaction. All case report articles should be accompanied by written and signed consent to publish the information from the patients or their guardians.
• Case studies: describe a major healthcare intervention, usually from a public health perspective. Case study articles that include a rigorous assessment of the processes and impact of the intervention as well as recommendations for future interventions will be considered favourably. Note that Case study articles should not describe an individual patient - authors should use the case report format for such descriptions.
• Commentaries: short, focused and opinionated articles on any subject within the journal's scope. These articles are usually related to a contemporary issue, such as recent research findings, and are often written by opinion leaders invited by the Editorial Board. They focus on specific issues and are about 800 words.
• Database articles: describe a new database or a substantial improvement of an existing database (for example by an expansion of data to broaden the range of users, or by a major increase in functionality).
• Debate articles: present an argument that is not essentially based on practical research. Debate articles can report on all aspects of the subject including sociological and ethical aspects.
• Letters to the Editor: they can take three forms: a substantial re-analysis of a previously published article, or a substantial response to such a re-analysis from the authors of the original publication, or an article that may not cover 'standard research' but that may be relevant to readers.
• Meeting report: a short description of a conference that the author has attended. It is usually best for the article to be published as soon after the meeting as possible, and should focus on the key developments presented and discussed at the meeting. These articles are usually commissioned but reports and suggestions may also be submitted for the editors' consideration.
• Methodology articles: present a new experimental method, test or procedure. The method described may either be completely new, or may offer a better version of an existing method. The article must describe a demonstrable advance on what is currently available. The method needs to have been well tested and ideally, but not necessarily, used in a way that proves its value.
• Short reports: brief reports of data from original research, usually about 1500 words.
• Study protocol: describes proposed or ongoing research, providing a detailed account of the hypothesis, rationale, and methodology of the study. If the study is a randomised controlled trial it must have an International Standardised Randomised Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN).

Peer review policies

The JBPPNI has an open peer review policy. Submitted manuscripts will be reviewed by two experts, who may be editorial board members or external experts. Reviewers will have four possible options: accept; accept after minor revision; ask author(s) to make revisions and resubmit; reject because scientifically unsound. When asking for revisions, reviewers have three possible goals: to tighten the arguments based on existing data, to identify where more data are needed and to improve the clarity and coherence of the paper. The Editor-in-Chief will examine the reviewers' recommendations and decide to accept or reject the submitted paper.

Edited by Rahul K. Nath and Rolfe Birch (Editor Emeritus), JBPPNI is supported by an international Editorial Board.

Publishing in JBPPNI

All articles will be listed in PubMed immediately upon acceptance (after peer review), and will be covered by PubMed Central and Scopus.

Articles in JBPPNI should be cited in the same way as articles in a traditional journal. However, because articles in this journal are not printed, they do not have page numbers. Instead, they have a unique article number.

The following citation:

J Brachial Plexus Peripher Nerve Inj 2004, 2:1

refers to article 1 from volume 2 of the journal.

As an online journal, JBPPNI does not have issue numbers. Each volume corresponds to a calendar year.

To keep up to date with the latest articles from JBPPNI, why not register to receive alerts? Registration also enables you to customise your subject areas of interest, store your searches, and submit your manuscripts.

Submission of manuscripts

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically to JBPPNI using the online submission system. Full details of how to submit a manuscript are given in the instructions for authors.

General journal policies

JBPPNI is published  by BioMed Central, an independent publisher committed to ensuring peer-reviewed biomedical research is Open Access. That means it is freely and universally accessible online, it is archived in at least one internationally recognised free access repository, and its authors retain copyright, allowing anyone to reproduce or disseminate articles, according to the BioMed Central copyright and licence agreement. JBPPNI however, has taken this further by making all its content Open Access.

JBPPNI's articles are archived in PubMed Central, the US National Library of Medicine's full-text repository of life science literature, and also in repositories at the University of Potsdam in Germany, at INIST in France and in e-Depot, the National Library of the Netherlands' digital archive of all electronic publications. The journal is also participating in the British Library's e-journals pilot project, and plans to deposit copies of all articles with the British Library.

BioMed Central is working closely with the Thomson Reuters (ISI) to ensure that citation analysis of articles published in JBPPNI will be available.

JBPPNI is able to deliver summaries of frequently updated content via Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds. These are accessible via the orange "XML" button at the top of the list of recent articles or the list of most accessed articles. For more information about RSS feeds see our publisher's website.

For further information about general policies please see the instructions for authors.