The FAOJ (ISSN 1941-6806) is the first open access, peer-reviewed international journal of foot and ankle medicine and surgery. It is the official publication of the International Foot & Ankle Foundation. Established in 2008, the journal is the ideal platform for practitioners, residents and students to publish case related material quickly and easily for distribution through the world wide web absolutely free of charge. Its purpose is to provide a quality journal to further promote education and research in foot and ankle medicine and surgery.
Current Issue
Acute Multifocal Hematogenous Osteomyelitis in a 13 year-old: A Case Report
by M.F. Madu, MD T. Klok, MD, L. Sijbrandy, MD PhD, J. Bekhof, MD
April 2013, Volume 6, Issue 4, No. 1
Original Article: Department of Pediatrics. PO Box 10400, 8000 GK Zwolle, The Netherlands
Background: Acute hematogenous osteomyelitis (AHOM) is a serious pyogenic infection that is generally caused by bacteria and is most commonly found in children. A multifocal presentation of the disease is rare, mostly seen in the newborn and only in a small percentage of older children. We report a case of multifocal AHOM in a previously healthy, 13-year old girl, who presented herself with several painful and swollen joints, accompanied by high fever. The history, clinical course, radiologic findings and management rationale are presented in this report.
Methods: A review of the clinical, laboratory, radiological and microbiological data of the patient was done.
Results: Arthrocentesis of a swollen ankle, done under suspicion of septic arthritis, yielded clear and sterile synovial fluid. Magnetic resonance imaging scans of affected joints later confirmed AHOM close to the joint, causing the sterile joint effusion.
Discussion: A lesson to be learned from this case is that in case of a clinically suspected septic arthritis, a negative joint puncture could mean an osteomyelitis close to the joint.
Previous Issue
Pulsed Radiofrequency Combined with Continuous Radiofrequency Ablation for the Treatment of Morton’s Neuroma: A Case Report
by Jackson Cohen, MD; Sergio Lenchig, MD
March 2013, Volume 6, Issue 3, No. 1
Original Article: Division of Pain Medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida
The Role of High Resolution Ultrasonography in Detection of Neglected or Missed Radiolucent Foreign Body in Foot and Ankle Region
by by Reyaz Ahmad Dar (MS), Mubashir Maqbool Wani (MS), Mubashir Rashid Beig (MS), Muzaffer Ahmad Ganaie (MS)
March 2013, Volume 6, Issue 3, No. 2
Original Article: Department of orthopaedics, SKIMS Medical college Srinagar Kashmir India
Why Open Access Publication with the FAOJ?
The birth and explosion of the internet has led our editorial staff to prefer publication through the internet without fees or limitations for a number of reasons:
1. Easier access to published articles. Open access publishing enables researchers and educators to submit manuscripts to web-based journals that can be downloaded free of charge by anyone with an internet connection, with no subscription fee or limits of download. Our topic search and search tools on the website also allow for easier access to information.
2. Rapid peer-review of manuscripts. This enables rapid publishing of content and a significant time saving in the publishing process. It is common for authors to have to wait 6 months or more for review of article content. This process allows the author to receive confirmation of content acceptance, review and publishing usually within a month of submission.
3. World wide access to information. The information contained in an open access publication is generated through most search engines, including google. This allows for higher world wide visibility of content than traditional, subscription based, printed journals. Although, at this time, the FAOJ is not indexed in PubMed and MedLine, this has not limited our growth and access through the world wide web. All articles are referenced through all major search engines on the internet. These include Google, Bing and other major internet search engine tools. A recent survey has found that most scholars, students and educators prefer web-based search engines to perform many of their scholarly research searches. All articles published through the FAOJ are available on all web-based search engines. It is also worthy to note that even such journals as British Journal of Podiatry, Foot and Ankle Surgery and The Foot are not indexed in PubMed.
4. Rapid publication of content. Open access publishing vastly reduces the time from acceptance of the material to publication. Once the material is reviewed and edited, the content can usually be uploaded to the world wide web within 30 days of acceptance. Printed publication can take many months for the same process. It is not uncommon for printed publications to take up to 2 years before material is finally published. In many instances, techniques and more recent information may have made an ‘original’ article out-dated. In this period of evidence base medicine, time is of the essence and open access publication does not limit itself to time intensive publication. Also, open access publication is not constrained by fixed pages often seen in printed publication which can create a publishing backlog.
5. Internet based flexibility. Many printed journals are restricted to the number of words, pages or even photos that are presented. Web based open access publications are not limited by the space and do not restrict color presentations and even film based presentations which incur very little cost. In printed journals, color photos can be cost prohibitive. Some printed journal will charge the author for publication and may even charge for color photo presentations.
6. Author copyright is retained. Authors for this journal retain full access and ownership to their respective article without copyright restriction. In traditionally printed journal, the author transfers copyright and all material over to the publisher. The publisher may often restrict the use of the authors material for reprint and sharing the article with colleagues. In an open access publication, the author is granted full rights to his or her manuscript and all information including photos may be used by third parties with permission from the author and publisher. All article published in The Foot and Ankle Online journal is protected by copyright infringement and published under The Creative Commons Attribution License. It permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
7. Google Docs: Document Sharing. After the manuscript is published, all materials including the edited manuscript, the final PDF version, the original photos and formatted photos for the work will be shared through Google Documents. Again, the original and corresponding authors for this journal will retain full access and ownership to their respective manuscript and photos including tables and grafts produced by the author or journal editors without copyright restriction. All articles published in The Foot and Ankle Online journal is protected by copyright infringement and published under The Creative Commons Attribution License. Click here to learn more about Google docs.
© The Foot and Ankle Online Journal, 2011
