India has one of the greatest potential for orthopedic research for the fact that it has high patient load and potential for a huge clinical and radiological database. Also there are unique scenarios like tuberculosis, delayed presentation of diseases or neglected trauma that have only anecdotal reporting in world literature. Yet orthopaedic research output from India is insufficient and unfocussed

While talking to various organizations and individual orthopaedic surgeons, we came to a conclusion that data, both radiological and clinical is been collected by a lot of surgeons. This can also be proven by the large number of conference presentations that are made every year in our country. So why is this data not getting published?

Most important issue that came out of our discussions was that surgeons have time constraints to write a manuscript and also that they find writing a manuscript for a journal really cumbersome. Few problems as quoted were

- A lot of current literature review is required and most do not have access to full text articles.

- Formatting according to Journal guidelines is difficult

- It takes a lot of time to write the manuscript

- The statistical part is an unknown entity

- Lack of awareness that their data is publishable

Quite a few of these surgeons did prepare a manuscript; however they got rejected and then never tried again.

To help in these scenarios we are now providing a nationwide service called Manuscript Assistance and Publishing Service (MAPS). We have infact worked on this model since last 4 years and have produced more than 40 papers by working with various authors. The details of this service are given below in FAQ format

What is MAPS?

MAPS or Manuscript Assistance and Publishing Service is a service provided by the Indian Orthopaedic Research Group (IORG) where the group will undertake the responsibility of Literature Review, Data Compilation, Statistical Analysis, Manuscript Writing, Submission to an Appropriate Journal, Article revision, Resubmissions if required and Follow up till Publication of the Article. All the steps of Publications from Manuscript writing, reference checking to publication will be covered under this service.

How does MAPS work?

Definite steps are chalked out for this service.

FIRST STEP: The authors have to fill up a MAPS form (Link provided below) that will include details of their study. Along with MAPS form the data of the study will be required to be send by email. If the authors have written a rough manuscript, or have a rejected manuscript or have a conference presentation or poster, they will be required to be mailed to us at indian.ortho@gmail.com.

SECOND STEP: The IORG Core Committee will assess the data and potential of publication of the study. We will prepare a report on the project which will indicate if the project is accepted or rejected. If accepted the report will contain details of additional data that we require and will also contain an approximate expenditure for the project. This will be mailed to the authors

THIRD STEP: On receiving the project report the authors have to decide whether they wish to go ahead with the project. They will be required to intimate us regarding their decision

FOURTH STEP: If the project is accepted by the authors, IORG will provide a time frame of completion of the study and a schedule of payments to be made for the same. The authors will be required to sign an agreement document for the project.

Who can apply for MAPS?

Any Orthopaedic Surgeon who is a Member of Indian Orthopaedic Research Group can submit their work for review by MAPS. This service is only available in India currently, however members from other countries can also submit their work for consideration.

What are the Terms and Conditions of MAPS?

A link of document containing all the terms and conditions of MAPS is provided below. Click and download the document for details. Most of the terms and conditions have to be customized for individual projects and are negotiable.

What project were completed through MAPS programme?

Since inception of IORG and MAPS four years back, it has completed more than 30 projects all across Indian and also in Korea. A list of MAPS project is available on our Publication Page. Currently MAPS is involved in 12 active projects.

How to approach MAPS?

You have to fill the MAPS form and send complete data related to your project including excel sheets, photographs, presentations and any other additional document and email to us on indian.ortho@gmail.com . The more clear you are about your project, better is the chances of acceptance of the project by MAPS.

Are there any additional terms and conditions on working with MAPS?

The document containing all the terms and conditions of MAPS provided below. It can be downloaded and read. Any query regarding any terms and condition can be communicated to us by email to indian.ortho@gmail.com. The terms and condition form will be required to be signed by the authors, scanned and submitted to us by email.

For any other query contact indian.ortho@gmail.com A reply will be send within 48 hours.