SPINAL CORD, the Medical Journal of ISCoS

SPINAL CORD is the monthly medical journal of the International Spinal Cord Society.

It is obtainable by subscription from ISCoS for members of the society and from the publishers, Nature Publishing Group, for non-members.

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The Prize consists of:

• An engraved medal
• A cheque for £500 from the Publishers of SPINAL CORD
• Up to £500 expenses towards attendance at the Annual Scientific Meeting with free registration from the Society.

Papers accepted for publication in the journal during the two years can be considered for the prize by an adjudication panel, if submitted to the Editor of SPINAL CORD by a date which will be published in the journal.  

The next closing date for the Spinal Cord Prize is 28th February 2009.

Spinal Cord Prize 2009
The closing date for the next Spinal Cord Prize is 28th February 2009. If you or a member of your Team is 39 years old or under at the time of submitting a manuscript to the Journal and wish to be considered for the Prize, then please mark this clearly on your letter of submission.

The entries will be judged by a Panel consisting of the Editor of the Journal, the Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Society and a representative of the Publishers.

Prof J J Wyndaele
Editor
Spinal Cord

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Hans Frankel Scholarship

The purpose of this award is to recognize the contribution Professor Hans Frankel has made to ISCoS and will be awarded every year.

Candidates: Members and Associate Members of ISCoS

Topic for 2005: Autonomic Dysreflexia

Documents:

• Detailed Curriculum Vitae.
• One page proposal describing the proposed training or research study, including a brief summary outlining how the candidate would benefit from this Scholarship and what he/she will use it for.
• Letter from the qualified mentor who will supervise the training/research experience indicating his/her willingness to accept a trainee.
• Letter from an ISCoS Senior Member of the region of the candidate who is supporting the application.
• Letter stating that the candidate knows that on completion of the study/research, he/she has to submit to ISCoS a report on the Scholarship. The report must focus on the results of the applicant’s research, it must be specifically written for this award and must be of high significance and impact.
• He/she must give a presentation at the Annual Scientific Meeting in the year following completion of the Scholarship and the report will be published in the Journal ‘Spinal Cord’.

Applications to:

Mr W El-Masry
Honorary Secretary, ISCoS
The Midland Centre for Spinal Injuries
Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital
Gobowen, Oswestry, Shropshire SY10 7AG, UK

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Electronic Journal Press (EJP): providing a better service for authors and reviewers.

February 2005 saw the launch of Spinal Cord’s new online submission site – electronic Journal Press (EJP). This not only acts as a submission service, but as a secure integrated web submission, review and tracking system, and because it’s web-based it is accessible anywhere, anytime.

Authors from anywhere in the world are able quickly and easily to enter their contact details into an online form, and submit their manuscript files, either as separate text and graphics, or as an integrated file.

Author files will be automatically converted into a PDF (Portable Document Format) file, which can be approved by the author on screen prior to submission. Submissions will be promptly acknowledged by email.

It’s a protected, role-based system; all authors, reviewers, editorial board members and editorial staff use the same system online, but different logins have different viewing privileges.

Editors and referees will then view the PDF on the website - cutting out the time that manuscripts traditionally spend in the postal system.

Making use of online submission and electronic peer review will enable us to speed up the review process. It enables faster review times from submission to decision, providing a better and more efficient service to authors.

Instructions detailing how to use the system are available and if you have any queries or questions please do not hesitate to contact Spinal Cord's Executive Editor, Leila Mills via e-mail at l.mills@nature.com.