# Jama Surgery > Use when targeting JAMA Surgery or deciding whether a surgical-outcomes or surgical-trial study fits this venue. Encodes the journal's fit, the surgical-trial and perioperative evidence bar, surgical-reporting challenges, reporting-guideline and trial-registration requirements, JAMA Network house style, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics. Venue-fit aid only, not clinical advice. - Skill: `thedixitjain/jama-surgery` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add thedixitjain/jama-surgery` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/thedixitjain/jama-surgery/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Research & Search - Author: thedixitjain (https://skillmd.com/u/thedixitjain) - Updated: 2026-09-08 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/thedixitjain/jama-surgery --- # JAMA Surgery (jama-surgery) ## Journal positioning JAMA Surgery is a JAMA Network specialty journal for surgical clinical research across general, vascular, thoracic, transplant, trauma, and surgical-subspecialty practice. It favors rigorous, practice-relevant work — randomized and well-designed surgical trials, large surgical-outcomes and registry analyses, perioperative and quality-improvement research, and comparative-effectiveness studies — with JAMA's emphasis on patient- centered outcomes, adequate risk adjustment, and direct relevance to surgical care. Single-surgeon case series, descriptive technique reports without comparative outcomes, and underpowered studies are a weak fit. This skill is a **fit / venue-selection / re-framing** aid; it is not clinical or regulatory advice and does not replace the journal's current instructions for authors. Before submitting, re-check the live JAMA Surgery author instructions. ## When to trigger - The author names JAMA Surgery for a surgical trial, outcomes, or perioperative study and wants a fit/framing check. - A surgical study must be re-framed around a comparative, patient-centered outcome with appropriate risk adjustment for a practicing-surgery audience. - The author is choosing between JAMA Surgery, JAMA, and a surgical-subspecialty journal. - The author needs the journal's surgical-trial reporting, registration, and desk-reject expectations. ## Scope & topic fit - Randomized and pragmatic surgical trials (operative vs. nonoperative, technique vs. technique, or perioperative interventions) with patient-centered outcomes. - Large surgical-outcomes, registry, and claims analyses (e.g., NSQIP-style) with robust risk adjustment for case mix. - Perioperative, enhanced-recovery, anesthesia-surgery interface, and surgical-safety research. - Comparative-effectiveness and value-of-surgery studies, including de-implementation of low-value operations. - Surgical quality, volume-outcome, disparities, and health-services research. - Systematic reviews and meta-analyses answering a focused surgical question. ## Method & evidence bar - Studies must use patient-centered outcomes (mortality, complications graded by a standard scheme, function, quality of life) with adequate risk adjustment; technical success alone is insufficient. - The applicable reporting guideline and checklist are required: CONSORT for trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews; surgical-innovation work should engage IDEAL-framework stages where relevant. - Surgical-trial reporting challenges must be addressed explicitly: blinding is often impossible (state who was blinded — patients, assessors, analysts), the learning curve and surgeon/center experience must be reported, and the intervention must be standardized and described reproducibly. - Trials require prospective registration; registration number, protocol, and statistical-analysis plan are expected. - Observational/registry claims must address confounding by indication, selection bias, and clustering by surgeon/center; causal language must match the design. - Volume-outcome and center-effect analyses need appropriate multilevel modeling. ## Structure & house style - JAMA Network format with a structured abstract and a Key Points box; re-check current article types (Original Investigation, Brief Report, Research Letter, etc.) and limits on the live guide. - The introduction frames a focused, practice-relevant surgical question; the discussion states the clinical implication and net benefit/harm plainly. - Tables/figures follow JAMA Network statistical-reporting standards; CONSORT/STROBE flow diagrams, complication tables, and risk-adjusted outcome figures are expected where applicable. - Supplements carry the protocol, SAP, intervention standardization details, and additional analyses. ## Official-submission checklist - Before giving submission-ready advice, read `../../resources/source-basis.md` and `../../resources/official-source-map.md`; start from the ICMJE and JAMA Network anchors, then cite the current JAMA Surgery page you checked. - Search the live site for "JAMA Surgery instructions for authors" and follow the current version. - Re-check article types and word/reference/table limits, structured-abstract and Key Points format, and the JAMA Network statistical-reporting requirements. - Confirm trial registration, the reporting checklist (CONSORT/STROBE/PRISMA), the data-sharing statement, and protocol/SAP submission. - Re-check IRB/ethics and consent statements, ICMJE disclosures (including device/industry ties), funding, and AI-use disclosure. - If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win. ## Pre-submission self-check - [ ] The study answers a practice-relevant surgical question with a comparative, patient-centered outcome and adequate risk adjustment. - [ ] Blinding, the learning curve, and surgeon/center experience are reported; the intervention is standardized and reproducibly described. - [ ] The correct reporting checklist (CONSORT/STROBE/PRISMA) is completed and attached; complications are graded by a standard scheme. - [ ] Trials are prospectively registered with the number in the manuscript; protocol/SAP provided. - [ ] Confounding by indication, selection bias, and surgeon/center clustering are addressed; causal language matches the design. - [ ] IRB/consent, ICMJE disclosures (including device ties), and a data-sharing statement are prepared. ## Common desk-reject triggers - Single-surgeon or single-center case series and technique reports with no comparator or risk adjustment. - Outcomes reported as technical success only, without complications, function, or patient-centered endpoints. - Surgical trials that ignore blinding, the learning curve, or intervention standardization. - Registry analyses with confounding by indication or unaddressed surgeon/center clustering and overstated causal claims. - Missing trial registration, protocol, or the required reporting checklist. - Narrow surgical-subspecialty interest better served by a subspecialty journal. ## Re-routing decision - Broadly practice-changing, top-tier surgical trial → general medicine (`jama` / NEJM / The Lancet in the natural-science bundle). - Surgical-oncology with a cancer-endpoint center of gravity → `jama-oncology` / `annals-of-oncology`. - Cardiac/cardiovascular surgical outcomes tied to cardiology endpoints → `jama-cardiology`. - Neurosurgical/cerebrovascular focus → `jama-neurology` / `stroke` / `brain`. - General internal-medicine or perioperative-medicine relevance over surgery → `jama-internal-medicine`. ## Output format ```text [Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason) [Target] JAMA Surgery [Specialty tags] <2–3 closest surgical topics> [Study design / reporting guideline] [Method/evidence] [Top risk] [Official items to re-check]
[Re-route suggestion] ``` --- **Source:** [`brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills`](https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills) → `Clinical-Medicine-Journal-Skills/skills/jama-surgery/SKILL.md`