About the Journal

The Philippine Journal of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery (PJOHNS), official refereed journal of the Philippine Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, is a free and open-access journal that follows the “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals” of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (www.icmje.org), and is listed as such: https://www.icmje.org/journals-following-the-icmje-recommendations/ - P

Aims and Scope

PJOHNS aims to provide local and overseas otolaryngologists, other surgeons and physicians, health and allied medical professionals, academicians and scientists from other disciplines, with a scholarly forum for the exchange of ideas and information in the discipline of otolaryngology - head and neck medicine and surgery and related fields that are especially relevant to health professionals in the Philippine and Asia Pacific context. It publishes peer-reviewed original articles (including clinical trials, laboratory investigations, effectiveness of diagnostic or therapeutic techniques); evidence-based medicine (including clinical practice guidelines, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, evaluations of current practices and commentaries); case reports with discussions; surgical and instrumentation innovations and illustrations of new techniques; review articles; imaging and histopathology cases; lectures and symposia; brief reports and abstracts; correspondence and guest editorials and studies relating to behavioral, epidemiological, educational or controversial issues in otolaryngology - head and neck medicine and surgery and related fields. We are particularly committed to publishing research and innovations for health that are relevant in low and middle-income countries.

Notice to Readers and Contributors

SUBMISSION

Manuscripts should be submitted via the editorial online submission and peer-review system available at https://pjohns.pso-hns.org/index.php/pjohns/about/submissions. Authors must first register to use the site. There are NO article processing charges or fees for submission, editing, review, and publication.

Authors must submit, along with the manuscript, scanned duly-accomplished authorship statements, disclosure statements and copyright transfer forms explained under the “Instructions to Authors” section of the journal, available in print with each issue, or online from http://journal.pso-hns.org/author-forms/ No manuscript will be reviewed until the signed authorship and disclosure statements and copyright transfer forms are received.

Manuscripts are subjected to iThenticate® plagiarism detection software and reviewed by editors and other experts in the field and may be proofread, content- and form- edited and returned for revision. Manuscripts are subjected to a double anonymized external peer-review process, guided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) ethical guidelines for peer reviewers, available from: https://publicationethics.org/node/19886 . Reviewers must maintain confidentiality about the manuscripts and should not use data from such manuscripts or share such data with colleagues before they are published. Reviewers must not reproduce the manuscript for any purpose or use the peer review process as a means to further their own research aims, by requiring authors to respond to questions that are of interest to the reviewer but are not questions the study was designed to answer. Reviewers should refrain from suggesting their own published work be referenced.

SUBSCRIPTION

The Journal is published semiannually in paid print and free open access electronic versions; subscribers will receive two printed issues per year plus supplements on special topics. PSOHNS Fellows in good standing are automatically enrolled subscribers with no additional fees except for the supplements. Non-fellows may subscribe to print copies at the following rates, which include delivery fees. Institutional (multiple-reader rates) apply to libraries, schools, hospitals, and government, commercial and private institutions and organizations. Individual subscriptions must be in the name of, billed to, and paid by individuals. Forms are available in each issue or from http://journal.pso-hns.org/order-form/

Individual

Local PhP 1,200.00

Overseas USD 40.00

Institutional

Local PhP 1,500.00

Overseas USD 50.00

Particular print Issues and Supplements may be purchased at the following rates per copy subject to availability:

Individual

Local PhP 600.00

Overseas USD 20.00

Institutional

Local PhP 750.00

Overseas USD 25.00

DISCLAIMER

Statements and opinions expressed in the articles, contributions and communications herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Editor(s) or the Publisher (Philippine Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery). The Editors and the PSOHNS assume no responsibility for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of product liability or negligence or which otherwise arise from use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas cited or discussed in any article, contribution or communication in this Journal.

Although all advertising materials are expected to conform to medical ethical standards, the appearance of advertising in the PJOHNS does not constitute a guarantee or endorsement by the PJOHNS or the PSOHNS of the quality or value of such product or the claims made for it by its manufacturer.

REPRINTS/ADVERTISING

Reprint requests (unless available from corresponding authors) and advertising inquiries may be addressed to the Managing Editor, Philippine Journal of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, No. 27 Manga Road, Barangay Kaunlaran, Quezon City 1111, Philippines

Open Access Policy

This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author, as long as the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license are met. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

Publication Frequency

Published semiannually, Number One of Volume One is dated January – December 1981. It is also published electronically, available from http://journal.pso-hns.org/ Journal International Standard Serial Number: p-ISSN 1908 4889; e-ISSN 2094 1501.

Implementing Guidelines

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check their submission’s compliance with all of the following items, and submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines will be rejected. In addition, compliance with guidelines for certain types of articles must be checked using the appropriate checklist (CONSORT, PRISMA, etc.)

1. Accomplished author statements, signed by ALL authors, with:

• A list of authors’ names in the correct order of listing.
• A full statement that the manuscript is original material that is not being considered for publication or has not been published or accepted for publication elsewhere, in full or in part, in print or electronic media;
• A statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, that all four criteria for authorship have been met by each author;
• A disclosure statement of financial or other relationships, intellectual passion, political or religious beliefs, and institutional affiliations that might lead to a conflict of interest;
• A copyright transfer form signed by all authors; and
• Acknowledgement by the corresponding author that IRB or ERB approval and informed consent (and assent) have been obtained, that clinical trial registry has been complied with, that copies of permission to reproduce published material, to use illustrations or report information about identifiable people, to name people for their contributions have been secured, and that all manuscript data is complete, valid and reliable.

2. Manuscripts are neatly prepared in correct U.S. English using Microsoft Word, RTF or Word-Perfect software on A4 format in Times New Roman font size 12, double spaced, with a 1-inch margin on all sides. If the MS Word “Track Changes” tool has been used in manuscript preparation, all changes in the document have been accepted and the “Track Changes” feature has been turned off before submission. Citations and references are typed manually (i.e., do NOT use automatic numbering or tools such as EndNote).
3. Manuscripts are correctly ordered as follows: (1) title page (2) abstract including keywords and laymanized version (3) text – introduction, methods, results, discussion (4) acknowledgements (5) references (6) tables (7) figure legends and (8) individual figures (each attached separately in .jpeg format). The pages of the manuscript are numbered consecutively, beginning with the title page as page one.
4. Submission Metadata matches elements from part (1) title, authors and affiliations, and (2) abstract and keywords – in Step 2 (Entering the Submission’s Metadata) of the 5-step online submission process. Following this, Parts (1) to (7) have been fully uploaded under Step 3 (Upload Submission) portion. Each figure (8) has been uploaded separately as a supplementary file. The author statement forms have also been uploaded separately as supplementary files.
5. Instructions to Authors detailed in this section have been fully complied with.

Review Procedure

Manuscripts are subjected to iThenticate® plagiarism detection software and reviewed by editors and other experts in the field and may be proofread, content- and form- edited and returned for revision. Manuscripts are subjected to a double blinded external peer-review process, guided by the “Responsibilities and Rights of Peer Reviewers” contained in the Editorial Policy Statements Approved by the Council of Science Editors Board of Directors available from: https://www. councilscienceeditors.org/. Reviewers must maintain confidentiality about the manuscripts and should not use data from such manuscripts or share such data with colleagues before they are published. Reviewers must not reproduce the manuscript for any purpose or use the peer review process as a means to further their own research aims, by requiring authors to respond to questions that are of interest to the reviewer but are not questions the study was designed to answer. Reviewers should refrain from suggesting their own published work be referenced.

Ethical Guidelines

The academic editors of the Philippine Journal of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery are committed to fair and professional dealing in all aspects of our publishing operations. Our role is to publish original work of value to the intellectual community in the best possible form and to the highest possible standards. We expect similar standards from our reviewers and authors. Honesty, originality and fair dealing on the part of authors, and fairness, objectivity and confidentiality on the part of editors and reviewers are among the critical values that enable us to achieve our aim. The PJOHNS endorses and behaves in accordance with the codes of conduct and international standards established by the Committee on Publication Ethics guidelines https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines.

Archiving Policy

The Philippine Journal of Otolaryngology Head and Nek Surgery uses LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) system to store and distribute journal content at participating libraries via a LOCKSS Publisher Manifest page.

Copyright Transfer Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 LICENSE

1. Copyright transfer ensures maximum international protection and facilitates efficient processing of requests for reprints. It includes inclusion in document delivery services, electronic journal databases and online journal versions.
2. A Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license is granted, which means that readers are free to share (copy and redistribute) the material in any medium or format under the following terms:

 Attribution – they must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. They may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in a way that suggests the licensor endorses them or their use.

NonCommercial – they may not use the material for commercial purposes.

NoDerivatives – if they remix, transform or build upon the material, they may not distribute the modified material.

3. Each author retains moral rights to his/her/their article(s), including the right to be identified as the author(s) whenever or wherever the article is cited or published.
4. Assigning the copyright does not forfeit author(s)’ rights to reprint their article(s) or contribute them elsewhere after obtaining written permission from the editors, or without such permission as long as the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license are met, provided that the PJOHNS is acknowledged as the original source.
5. Where in special cases, a contributor’s employer (such as the government) holds the copyright to an article, written non-exclusive permission to deal with reprint requests from third parties should be provided the editors.
6. By signing the copyright form, authors certify that the submitted article is their original work, that it has not been previously published nor is it being considered for publication elsewhere; that they have obtained permission for and acknowledged the source(s) of quoted excerpts or paraphrased references in the text, tables, figures and algorithms. Further, authors certify that to the best of their knowledge, their article is free of libelous, unlawful or actionable contents.