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Author Guidelines

These Author Guidelines provide instructions for preparing and submitting manuscripts to Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (PO+S). Authors should read the Aims and Scope and Policies and Ethics pages before submitting. Submission of a manuscript confirms that all authors have approved the submission and that the manuscript complies with the journal's policies.

About the Journal

PO+S is an international, open-access, double-blind peer-reviewed journal published by the World Society of Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (PO+S). The journal publishes work relevant to paediatric ophthalmology, strabismus, ocular motility, child eye health, visual system diseases in children, and related clinical, translational, scientific, and educational fields. The journal does not charge submission fees or article processing charges.

Language

Manuscripts should be prepared in clear scholarly English. Authors who are not confident in the clarity or grammar of their manuscript are encouraged to seek language editing before submission. In addition to the required English abstract, authors may include an additional abstract in a language other than English, such as the author’s preferred or native language.

Article Types

  • Original Research Articles: Full reports of original clinical, translational, basic-science, public-health, educational, or methodological research. Suggested length: 3,000-5,000 words, excluding abstract, references, tables, and figures.
  • Clinical Trial Reports: Reports of prospectively registered clinical trials. Authors should follow CONSORT where applicable. Suggested length: 3,000-5,000 words.
  • Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: Comprehensive and structured reviews using transparent methods. Authors should follow PRISMA where applicable. Suggested length: up to 7,500 words.
  • Narrative Reviews: Scholarly reviews of important topics within the journal's scope. Suggested length: 4,000-7,000 words.
  • Case Reports and Case Series: Reports of clinically meaningful cases, rare presentations, diagnostic or management insights, unexpected complications, or instructive outcomes. Case reports must follow CARE guidelines and require consent for publication. Suggested length: 1,500-2,500 words.
  • Brief Reports and Technical Notes: Concise reports of focused findings, methods, techniques, or preliminary results. Suggested length: 1,500-3,000 words.
  • Video Articles, Clinical Images, and Imaging Reports: Multimedia or image-based submissions that provide educational, diagnostic, surgical, or technical value. Suggested length: 500-2,000 words plus approved visual materials.
  • Innovative Techniques, Medical Devices, and Technology Reports: Reports describing new surgical, clinical, imaging, digital, or technical approaches relevant to the journal's scope. Suggested length: 2,000-4,000 words.
  • Editorials, Commentaries, Perspectives, and Letters: Short scholarly or opinion-based contributions. Editorials may be invited. Suggested length: 1,000-2,500 words depending on article type.
  • Consensus Statements, PO+Sition Papers, Guidelines, and Statement Papers: Society, expert-group, or working-group statements of relevance to the journal's audience. Length and structure may be agreed with the editors.

Before You Submit


  • Confirm that the manuscript fits the journal's aims and scope.
  • Confirm that the work is original, has not been published previously except where disclosed and permitted, and is not under consideration elsewhere.
  • Ensure that all authors meet authorship criteria, have reviewed and approved the submitted version, and
  • agree to submission.
  • Prepare a separate title page and blinded main manuscript file for double-blind review.
  • Prepare the relevant statements and declarations, including conflict of interest, funding, author contributions, data availability for manuscripts reporting research, ethics approval where relevant, consent to participate where applicable, consent for publication where applicable, clinical trial registration for clinical trial manuscripts, and AI disclosure where disclosure is required.
  • Confirm that any required ethics approvals, trial registrations, permissions, and consents have been obtained and retained.
  • For case reports, confirm that consent for publication has been obtained, even when the manuscript does not include obvious identifying information.
  • Check that all third-party material is properly credited and permission-cleared where required.
  • Ensure that figures, tables, clinical images, videos, and supplementary materials are accurate, legible, and appropriately cited.
  • Format references according to the journal's required style and verify that all in-text citations appear in the reference list.

How to Submit

Manuscripts should be submitted through the journal’s online submission system, Editorial Manager.

The submitting author should normally be one of the manuscript authors and will be responsible for communication with the journal during submission and peer review.

Initial Editorial Assessment

After submission, the editorial office checks manuscripts for completeness, scope fit, presentation, ethical compliance, required declarations, double-blind preparation, and originality. Submissions that are incomplete, outside scope, or inconsistent with journal policies may be returned for correction or declined before external peer review. Manuscripts may be screened using similarity-detection software before peer review.

Preparing a Double-Blind Submission

PO+S uses double-blind peer review. Authors should provide a separate title page containing author-identifying information and a blinded main manuscript file that does not identify the authors or their institutions.

Title Page

The title page should include the manuscript title, article type, full author names, affiliations, corresponding author details, ORCIDs where available, acknowledgments if they reveal author identity, funding information if it reveals author identity, and any other information requested by the submission system.

Blinded Main Manuscript

The blinded manuscript should not include author names, affiliations, institutional acknowledgments, funding details that reveal identity, file metadata identifying the authors, or other information that could compromise reviewer anonymity. Authors should refer to their own previous work in the third person where possible. Required declarations that could reveal author identity may be provided separately at submission and added to the final accepted manuscript before publication.

Manuscript Preparation

Manuscripts should be submitted as editable Microsoft Word files (.doc or .docx), unless the submission system provides other instructions. Use a clear, readable font, continuous line numbering, page numbers, and consistent headings. Tables should be editable text rather than embedded images where possible. Figures and images should be clear, legible, and suitable for review.

Research should be reported in a way that supports verification and reproducibility. Authors should provide sufficient detail on the research rationale, protocol, materials, methods, analysis, results, limitations, and ethical compliance to allow proper editorial and peer-review assessment.

Suggested Manuscript Structure

  • Title.
  • Abstract.
  • Keywords.
  • Introduction.
  • Materials and Methods / Methods / Patients and Methods, as appropriate.
  • Results.
  • Discussion.
  • Conclusion.
  • Acknowledgments, where applicable.
  • Statements and Declarations.
  • References.

Title

The title should be concise, informative, and descriptive of the content of the manuscript. Avoid non-standard abbreviations, unnecessary punctuation, and unsupported claims.

Abstract

The abstract should summarize the purpose, methods or approach, key findings, and main conclusions. Suggested maximum length: 250 words, unless a different limit is confirmed for a specific article type. Avoid references, figure numbers, table numbers, and undefined abbreviations in the abstract.

Keywords

Provide 4 to 6 keywords that represent the main topics of the manuscript and support discoverability.

Methods

Methods should provide enough detail for the work to be evaluated and, where appropriate, reproduced. Authors should describe study design, setting, participants or samples, eligibility criteria, interventions, measurements, instruments, statistical methods, ethical approvals, consent procedures, and data-analysis methods as relevant to the study.

Results and Discussion

Results should be presented clearly and logically. The discussion should interpret the findings, explain their significance, compare them with relevant previous work, acknowledge limitations, and identify implications or directions for future research. Conclusions must be supported by the reported results.

Reporting Guidelines

PO+S expects authors to follow established reporting relevant to their study design to improve clarity, transparency, completeness, and reproducibility.

Common reporting guidelines include, but are not limited to, CONSORT for randomized controlled trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, SPIRIT for study protocols, STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies, CARE for case reports, and ARRIVE for animal research.

Authors should follow the reporting guideline that applies to their study type. Authors of randomized controlled trials must follow CONSORT. Authors of case reports must follow the CARE guidelines. For other study designs, authors should identify and follow the relevant reporting guideline where one is available. Authors may consult the EQUATOR Network or other appropriate resources to identify appropriate guidance for study types not listed here.

Case Reports

Case reports should present clinically meaningful, educational, rare, unexpected, or practice-informing cases. Authors should follow CARE guidelines and should provide enough information for readers to understand the clinical context, diagnostic reasoning, management, outcome, and learning points while protecting patient privacy.

Consent for publication is required for all case reports, regardless of whether the authors believe that identifying information is included. The consent statement should confirm that consent for publication was obtained from the patient or authorized representative and that consent covers open-access publication.

Statements and Declarations

The following statements should be included in a Statements and Declarations section before the References, where applicable. Some declarations are required for all submissions, while others are required only for relevant article types, study designs, methods, or content. If a statement could compromise double-blind review, it may be provided separately during submission and added to the final accepted manuscript before publication. For more details about the journal’s policy for each declaration, please refer to the Policies and Ethics page.

Conflict of Interest Statement

Authors must disclose any financial or non-financial interests that could be perceived to influence the work. If no conflicts exist, state: “The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”

Funding Statement

Authors must disclose all sources of funding, sponsorship, institutional support, material support, or other financial support and describe the role of the funder, if any. If no funding was received, state: “The authors received no funding for this work.”

Examples include:

  • Funding received and the funder had a role: “This work was supported by [funder name] under grant number [grant number]. The funder had a role in [describe role, such as study design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of results, manuscript preparation, or decision to submit the article for publication].”
  • Funding received and the funder had no role: “This work was supported by [funder name] under grant number [grant number]. The funder had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of results, manuscript preparation, or the decision to submit the article for publication.”
  • No funding received: “The authors received no funding for this work.”

Author Contributions

All manuscripts must include an Author Contributions statement. For multi-author manuscripts, authors should briefly describe each author’s contribution using the CRediT taxonomy where appropriate. For single-author manuscripts, state that the sole author is responsible for all aspects of the work.

Data Availability Statement

Manuscripts reporting research must include a Data Availability Statement. Authors should state whether the data supporting the findings are available, where they can be accessed, whether restrictions apply, why data are not available, or whether data availability is not applicable because no data were generated or analyzed.

Examples include:

  • Data available in a Repository: “The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in [Repository name] at [URL/DOI/accession number].”
  • Data available on reasonable request: “The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.”
  • Data included in the article: “The data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary materials.”
  • Data not publicly available: “The data that support the findings of this study are not publicly available due to privacy, confidentiality, ethical, legal, or institutional restrictions.”
  • No datasets: “No datasets were generated or analyzed during the preparation of this manuscript.”
  • Not applicable: “Data availability is not applicable to this article, as no data were generated or analyzed.”

Ethics Approval

For research requiring ethics approval, authors must identify the approving body and approval number, where available. If ethics approval was waived, exempted, or not applicable, authors should state this and explain where relevant.

Consent to Participate

If human participants were involved and informed consent to participate was required, authors must state that consent was obtained. If consent was waived or not required, authors should explain the basis where relevant. If the manuscript does not involve human participants, state: “Not applicable.”

Consent for Publication

If identifiable information is included, authors must confirm that consent for publication was obtained from the individual or an authorized representative. If the statement does not apply, state: “Not applicable.”

Consent for publication is required for all case reports and case series regardless of whether identifying information appears in the manuscript.

AI Disclosure

If generative AI or AI-assisted tools materially contributed to manuscript preparation, analysis, presentation, images, figures, or content beyond routine spelling, grammar, formatting, or reference-management support, authors must describe the tool and how it was used. If no such tools were used, a statement is not required. Please refer to the relevant section of the Policies and Ethics page for further guidance and example disclosure statements.

Clinical Trial Registration

Clinical trial manuscripts should include the registry name, registration number, and registration date. If the manuscript is not a clinical trial, a statement is not required.

Acknowledgments

Include acknowledgments where applicable to recognize contributors who do not meet authorship criteria. Do not report funding in the Acknowledgments section; funding must be reported in the Funding Statement.

Figures, Tables, Clinical Images, and Videos

Figures, tables, clinical images, imaging studies, and videos should be cited in the text in consecutive order and accompanied by clear captions or legends. Authors should ensure that all visual material is accurate, legible, and of sufficient quality for peer review, production, online display, and long-term archiving.

Figures and images should be submitted at or above their intended display size and should meet recognized image-quality standards, such as the PMC Image Quality Specifications, where applicable. Authors should avoid low-resolution or web-quality graphics, pixelated images, illegible text, excessive compression, or files that are unsuitable for publication or archiving. Authors may be asked to provide higher-quality files or original source files during review, production, or integrity checks.

Reused or adapted material must be properly credited and permission-cleared where required. Authors must not manipulate images in a way that misrepresents data or findings. Any adjustments that affect presentation should be disclosed where relevant.

Supplementary Material

Authors may submit supplementary material where it supports the main article, such as additional figures, tables, datasets, code, protocols, videos, imaging files, or appendices. Supplementary files should be clearly labeled and cited in the manuscript. Authors remain responsible for the accuracy, completeness, permissions, and suitability of supplementary content.

References

References should be accurate, complete, and formatted according to the journal's required reference style. The PO+S reference style is Vancouver. Every reference cited in the text must appear in the reference list, and every reference in the reference list must be cited in the text. The main feature that sets Vancouver apart from other citation styles is its sequential numbering of references in the text. References are numbered according to where they are first used in the text, and will continue to use that number for the rest of the paper.

In-text Citation with Vancouver:
Vancouver Style only requires one piece of information for the in-text citation: A number tracking, numerically, when the resources was first cited in the paper. Each number refers to unique cited source in the paper.

Example in-text citations, from fictional authors and sources:
While all flies provide sustenance, one obtains more "nutrition for the soul" from high quality specimens [4].

If the author is mentioned in the text, the citation is placed as follows:
While all flies provide sustenance, Ribbit Frog [4] argues that one obtains more "nutrition for the soul" from high quality specimens.

Once a resource is assigned a number it keeps that number for the rest of the paper. In the example above, this article by Ribbit Frog will be labelled number '4' for the entirety of the paper.

Papers using Vancouver Style to cite their references must include a "References" page at the end of their paper. This section can either directly follow the text on the same page, or be on its own page following the text. When citing from online journal articles, you must use a special abbreviation of the journal title.

The References Page

Documents using the Vancouver style of citation must contain a "References" page at the end of the text. The following are some examples of how to cite commonly used references:

Book
Frog RR. Experts guide to artisanal fly cuisine. 2nd Ed. Halifax: Imaginary Publishing INC; 1998. 243 p.
Book and article titles are in sentence case! Online Scholarly Journal Article
Frog RR, Frog BB. I've got ninety-nine problems but a fly ain't one. J Eso Ridic [internet]. 1999 Mar [cited 2008 Feb 2]; 33(1):12-20. Available from: http://frogscholars.ca/books/flygourmand/articles/flyfood1=12345.
Journal titles are abbreviated following NLM guidelines!

Page from a Website
Fly Gourmand Association [internet]. Halifax NS: Imaginary Publishing INC; c1998-2016. How to prepare
delicious fly scallopini; 2011 Oct 12 [cited 2016 Mar 10]; [about 4 screens]. Available from:
http://www.websitename.com/stuff/en/flyfood1.html. For pages from websites: List the home page and place of publication!

For more information on how to cite different formats (such as multiple authors, video, etc) in Vancouver style check out the link to the NLM (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html)

Revised Manuscripts

When revisions are requested, authors should submit a revised manuscript and a clear point-by-point response explaining how each reviewer and editor comment has been addressed. Revised manuscripts may be returned to reviewers depending on the extent of revisions and the editor's assessment.

Proofs and After Acceptance

After acceptance, manuscripts proceed to copyediting, typesetting, proofreading, and publication. Page proofs may be sent to the corresponding author for checking. Proof corrections should be limited to typesetting, formatting, author information, and factual accuracy. Major content changes after acceptance may require editorial approval.

Publication Fees

PO+S does not charge submission fees, article processing charges, publication fees, page charges, color charges, or other mandatory author fees. Publication in the journal is free of charge for authors.

Copyright and License After Acceptance

Authors retain copyright in their published articles and grant PO+S and WSPOSthe right to publish the article and identify PO+S as the original place of publication. Published articles are made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Inter 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).