Contributing to EyeRounds: A guideline for authors

Christopher A Kirkpatrick, MD, Patricia G. Duffel, MA, Thomas A Oetting MS, MD

Updated July 6, 2023; Original August 16, 2015

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Background

EyeRounds.org is a service of the University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.  Content of the site is for teaching purposes and written with an intended audience of medical practitioners, ophthalmology residents and fellows in training, and medical students. The goal of EyeRounds is to provide a free, peer-reviewed, comprehensive online source of ophthalmic information for educational purposes produced by the faculty, fellows, residents, and students of the University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.

• Case presentations
• Tutorials
• Photo atlas entries
• Video atlas entries
• Anki Decks
• Other (systems-based cases, communication primers, etc.)

At least one author must currently be a resident, fellow, or faculty member at the University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. All cases must be co-authored with a current University of Iowa Ophthalmology faculty member. Medical students from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine or visiting medical students from another institution who have successfully completed the ophthalmology rotation at the University of Iowa are eligible to submit cases, but must have both a current resident or fellow and faculty member as co-authors.

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• View Case Template

• Identify a case – ideally this case would present a specific pathology that is not already covered on EyeRounds.
• Discuss the case with the faculty member responsible for the case and determine its relevancy for educational purposes and obtain their agreement to co-author the case with you.
• Write the case report (example format below).
• Submit the case to the responsible faculty co-author for review; if the case was written by a medical student, it should be reviewed by the resident or fellow co-author prior to being submitted to faculty.
• When appropriate edits are made and a final draft is completed, submit the case to the EyeRounds Chief Medical Editor who will assign the case to be reviewed by a member of the EyeRounds Editorial Board and returned with edits, suggestions, and comments.
• Again, once appropriate edits are made, return the case to the EyeRounds Editorial Board member who originally reviewed it – when revisions are complete, they will then submit the case to the EyeRounds Chief Medical Editor for final review.
• Once the case has passed final review, it will be submitted to the EyeRounds Executive Director for publication.
• Once published, the Executive Director and Editor will send the author(s) and Chief Medical Editor a link to the published entry.

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• View Atlas Submission Form

• Identify an interesting, unique, or educational high resolution photo
• Submit the atlas entry via this form. This will notify the Chief Medical Editor that there has been a submission and prompt them the review.
• Once reviewed, and any necessary edits are made by the author, the Chief Medical Editor will notify the Executive Director and Editor that it is ready for publication.
• Once published, the Executive Director and Editor will send the author and Chief Medical Editor a link to the published entry.

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Cases/tutorials

Please submit the case or tutorial as a Microsoft Word document. You may include images in the document to show where they are to be placed, but the images to be used on the website must be sent as separate files (see below).

Anki Decks

Submit complete deck by zipping the .apkg files. Include a representative image for the deck (500x500 px minimum), complete author list, and total number of cards. For additional assistance regarding an Anki Deck submission, contact the Chief Medical Editor.

Submit images as jpeg, tiff, or png files. Make sure to rename the image file in relation to what is being shown in the image (eg. descriptive_name.png). We prefer the highest quality images that are at least 1024 pixels (px) wide. High-resolution images obtained by the ophthalmic photographers within the Department of Ophthalmology are strongly preferred. Images obtained in any other way must be accompanied by a written consent from the patient to use their images for this purpose. If the image has not been completely de-identified, you must obtain signed photo consent from the patient or guardian (download approved consent form here). A pdf copy of this consent form must be included with the submission. Images must be your own. Authors are responsible for getting permission to use copyrighted images and written permission must be submitted with the entry. Descriptive captions for all images and figures must be included.

Videos may be submitted as either .mp4, .mpg, .avi, or .wmv (Flash is not accepted). All videos must be de-identified for patient confidentiality purposes unless a signed consent form from the patient has been obtained. A pdf of the consent form must accompany the submission. All videos must be accompanied by a written transcript at the time of submission if there is an audio component. Below are the video specifications.

Video Codec	H.264
Frame rate	24, 25, or 30 frames per second (FPS)
Bit rate	10,000 kbit/s for 1080p high-definition (HD) video  (preferred) 5,000 kbit/s for 720p HD video ≥ 2,000 kbit/s for standard definition (SD) video (minimum)
Resolution [Note: use square pixels]	1080p HD video with 16:9 aspect ratio, 1920 x 1080 pixels (px)  (preferred) 720p HD video with 16:9 aspect ratio, 1280 x 720 px SD video with 4:3 aspect ratio, 640 x 480 px (minimum)
Audio Codec	AAC-LC (Advanced Audio Codec – Low Complexity)
Data rate	320 kbit/s
Sample rate	48 kHz
See Vimeo information	See https://vimeo.com/help/compression  and https://vimeo.com/videoschool/lesson/259/video-compression-basics

Within the text, the references should be numbered in parentheses (not superscripted). List references in this section in numerical order as they appear in the text (not alphabetically). Once a reference is cited, all subsequent citations should be to the original number. All references must be cited in the text or tables. Use the following format as a model for the bibliography. List all authors. If there is an extremely long list of authors (> 6), such as a list of all participants in a multi-center trial, it is acceptable to list the first three authors, followed by et al.) You may use the linked EndNote style (zipped for download) to format your references if you desire.

WEBSITE:
Kaiser Family Foundation. Mandatory Quality Reporting Requirement, 2006. 2006 [cited 2008 January 28]; Available from: http://www.statehealthfactsonline.org/comparetable.jsp?ind=406&cat=8

ARTICLE:
Brick DC. Risk management lessons from a review of 168 cataract surgery claims. Surv Ophthalmol 1999;43(4):356-360. [PMID 10022518]

BOOK CHAPTER
Foster JA, Carter KD, Durairaj VD, Kavanagh MC, Korn BS, Nelson CC, Hartstein ME. Periocular malpositions and involutional changes. In: Canton LB, Rapuano CJ, Cioffi GA, editors. Orbit, Eyelids, and Lacrimal System. Section 7. Basic and Clinical Science Course. 2015-2016 ed. San Francisco: American Academy of Ophthalmology; 2004; chapter 11; p. 197-247.

Suggested Citation Format: Name FM, Name FM. Article Title. EyeRounds.org. Month DD, YYYY. Available from https://eyerounds.org/cases/NNN-case-filename.htm

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The content of the University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences web site, including EyeRounds.org, is copyright The University of Iowa. The University of Iowa allows visitors (including health care professionals who wish to distribute materials to patients) to duplicate portions of this site for personal or educational use without seeking permission from the authors. Authors may retain copyright of cases, tutorials, images, and videos by making note of the desire to do so, however, the rights will not be exclusive and once a case or tutorial has been posted, copyright is shared with the University of Iowa. Exclusive rights to the material cannot be extended to another publisher and permission to post the material to the web site cannot be revoked.

Intellectual Property Rights

We cannot accept material that has been published elsewhere. Scanned images from books, journals or other web sites can be used only with the expressed permission of the copyright owner. Documentation of this permission is required and will be kept with the case documents on the website.

• Case template
• Photo Atlas Format
• EndNote Style for EyeRounds
• Media Consent