
$5,000
IN PRIZES
ZEISS and Cureus are collaborating to bring you the first Intraoperative Fluorescence Research Publishing Competition. Microscope-integrated intraoperative fluorescence is a new and seemingly important technology, the magnitude of which is only beginning to be explored. We’ve created this competition in an effort to promote research and knowledge sharing around intraoperative fluorescence, and we encourage you to contribute!
The Grand Prize for Scientific Acclaim ($3,000) will be awarded to the author of the article with the highest SIQ™ (Scholarly Impact Quotient™). Aimed at discovering valuable and important science via the wisdom of the medical community at large, SIQ is a crowdsourced, post-publication scoring system unique to Cureus.
Two additional “Educator Awards” ($1,000 each) will be awarded to the authors of the articles receiving the most views and the most audience engagement, respectively. For more information regarding competition prizes, please see the Prizes section below.
Competition Entries
Requirements
Competition entry (i.e. article submission) is entirely free. All submitted work must be previously unpublished. The following article types are eligible for prizes: case reports, original articles, technical reports and review articles. For additional information on how to publish with Cureus, please see our Author Guide.
Statement of Independence
- Cureus Publishing Competitions are intended to encourage medical discovery, document clinical experiences – be they positive, negative, or neutral - and foster broader educational outreach through open access publication that is free to both authors and readers.
- Article submissions must adhere to the described “call for articles” and are open to any and all related manufacturer or vendor technologies.
- As a firewall to ensure objective and credible science, article selection, editorial review, peer review and publication are strictly independent of sponsoring company.
- Winning articles are determined exclusively via peer review panel and community crowdsourced scoring. Neither sponsoring company, nor Cureus, can determine competition outcome.

Awards
Monetary prizes will be awarded to three articles. The Grand Prize for Scientific Acclaim will be awarded to the published article that receives the highest SIQ score (eligible articles must be scored a minimum of 20 times). Two Educator Awards will be awarded to those articles receiving the most views and most community engagement (comments and SIQ scorings), respectively. Reviewers and editors will score each article in the competition, but authors are highly encouraged to share their published articles via social media and email in order to promote further engagement.
By using medical specialty and relevant knowledge of each article as proxies, the SIQ scoring system provides differential weights to individual scores. For example, in this system a reviewer’s score counts the most, however, even a user in an unrelated field, such as dermatology, can score an article. Articles are eligible for only one prize; in the event that an article qualifies for two prizes, only one will be granted; the second place article will be awarded the other prize.
Referral Award
Refer your colleagues for your chance to win a signed copy of Dr. Robert Spetzler’s book, Color Atlas of Cerebral Revascularization ($250 value). If your colleague’s article wins a prize, then you win a copy of the book!
Peer Review Panel
We’ve assembled a world-class crew of neurosurgeons to serve as peer reviewers. Led by Dr. Robert Spetzler, this team will review all submitted articles. Click on a reviewer to learn more.
Article analysis and commentary performed by the peer review panel are strictly independent of the sponsor.

Robert Spetzler
M.D. | Neurological SurgeryDepartment of Neurosurgery, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, USA




Peter Nakaji
| Neurological SurgeryDivision of Neurological Surgery, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, USA


Andreas Raabe
| Epidemiology and Public HealthDepartment of Neurosurgery, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital

Philip E. Stieg
M.D., Ph.D. | Neurological SurgeryDepartment of Neurological Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York

Key Dates
- Monday, May 12, 2014 - Competition begins: Articles may now be submitted as part of the competition.
- Friday, August 29, 2014 - Article submission deadline: All articles must be submitted by 11:59pm PT.
- Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - Reviewing and scoring ends: All peer review and SIQ scoring must be completed by 11:59pm PT.
- Monday, October 6, 2014 - Winning articles announced: The winning authors will be contacted and the winning articles formally announced on the Cureus website.