Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England

Editor: Colin Johnson Chairman of the Editorial Board: Bill Thomas Editorial Board members: Bruce Campbell, Chris Chapple, St John Crean, Tom Dehn, Fares Haddad, Peter Kirkpatrick, Bijan Modurai, Mike Parker, Wyn Parry, Richard Ramsden, Jyoti Shah, Frank Smith, Irving Taylor, David Ward and Robert Wheeler Production Editor: Gill Haddock Annals Manager: Tara Nikovskis ISSN: 0035-8843 Readership: consultant surgeons and surgical trainees in the various surgical specialties Impact factor for 2009: 0.989 Access to the Annals is through IngentaConnect.

The Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England is the official journal of the College and is published eight times a year in January, March, April, May, July, September, October and November.

The main aim of the journal is to publish high quality, peer-reviewed papers that relate to all branches of surgery. The Annals also includes letters and comments, a regular technical section, NICE news, controversial topics, CORESS feedback, book reviews and the best trainee presentations from England and Wales. The editorial board is composed of members of the College Council and experts from across the surgical specialties.

An independently conducted survey of surgeons in the UK, published in 2006, showed that the Annals was the second-most read journal across all the surgical specialties. Over 60% of surgeons surveyed indicated that they read the Annals regularly.

Each subscription to the Annals includes 10 issues per year of the Bulletin of The Royal College of Surgeons of England with news of College events and discussion of topical surgical issues. Other free supplements are also distributed with the Annals. The Annals is essential reading for professionals in all branches of surgery. Please note that back issues from one year ago or more are archived on PubMed Central and may be accessed free of charge.

While every effort is made by the publishers and editorial committee to see that no inaccurate or misleading opinion or statement appears in this journal, they wish to make it clear that the opinions expressed in these articles, correspondence, advertisements, etc, herein are the responsibility of the contributor or advertiser concerned. Accordingly, the publishers and the editorial committee and their respective employees, officers and agents accept no liability whatsoever for the consequences of any such inaccurate or misleading opinion or statement.