Submission guidelines

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Please read the guidelines in full before submitting your manuscript.
Manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

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This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

The Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the author responsibilities section on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

We also encourage you to familiarize yourself with our Editorial Policies and our Publication Ethics Policies.

Sage Publishing disseminates high-quality research and engaged scholarship globally, and we are committed to diversity and inclusion in publishing. We encourage submissions and peer review from a diverse range of authors and reviewers from across all countries and backgrounds. Read our diversity, equity, and inclusion pledge.

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal. Open access options are available – see below.

Please read the guidelines below then submit your manuscript here.

Access: Subscription
Accepts preprints? Yes
Identity transparency: Double anonymized

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal.

Figures submitted in color will be published in color in the online version of the journal and in print at no cost.

Optional open access publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice program, and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. Open Access agreement eligibility is determined by the corresponding author’s affiliation matching an agreement at acceptance. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access.

For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

Open access fees are charged separately.

Your article must be within the scope of the journal and be of sufficient quality. If not, it will not be reviewed. Please read the journal’s Aims and Scope to see if your article is appropriate.

The manuscript must be your original work, you must have the rights to the work, and you must have obtained and be able to supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, including figures, illustrations, tables, lengthy quotations, or other material previously published elsewhere.

Article types

HSS Journal considers the following article types; EQUATOR reporting guidelines and checklists are required for some article types.

Original Research

Use the appropriate EQUATOR guidelines in writing your research report and upload a checklist with your submission.

  • Observational Study (STROBE; for studies using routinely collected health data such as electronic medical records, large databases, or registries, use RECORD)
  • Clinical Trial (CONSORT)
  • Animal Study (ARRIVE)
  • Cadaver Study (CACTUS)
  • Qualitative Study (SRQR)

All original research should be structured using the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) format and a “question-drive” style. Include the IRB name and study number and a Level of Evidence appropriate to study type.

  • Introduction: Study rationale, literature review, 2-4 questions to be answered in Results and Discussion.
  • Methods: Study design, sampling method, statistical analysis, in sufficient detail to allow replication.
  • Results: Findings reported per questions posed in Introduction and the statistical analysis explained in Methods.
  • Discussion: Summary of key findings, limitations, conclusions; interpretation appropriate to study type and other cited relevant studies.

Editorial limits:

  • Structured abstract (Background, Questions/purposes, Methods, Results, Conclusion; 250-word limit)
  • Word Limit: 3000 words (not including abstract, tables, figure legends, references)
  • Tables & Figures: no more than 4 tables & 4 figures (providing statistical detail not reported in text); if exceeding this number, author should justify the rationale in the cover letter
  • Appropriate EQUATOR checklist and any additional tables or figures uploaded as Supplemental Material.
  • Reference Limit: 50 references

Systematic Review or Scoping Review

Use the appropriate EQUATOR guidelines in writing your systematic or scoping review.

All systematic or scoping reviews should use the IMRAD format and “question-driven” style, as described above for original research. Level of Evidence can be no higher than the lowest level study included.

Editorial limits:

  • Structured abstract (Background, Questions/purposes, Methods, Results, Conclusion; 250-word limit)
  • Word Limit: 3000 words (not including abstract, tables, figure legends, references)
  • Tables & Figures: No more than 4 tables & 4 figures (providing statistical detail not reported in text); if exceeding this number, author should justify the rationale in the cover letter
  • Appropriate PRISMA flow chart, checklist, table of included studies, and additional tables or figures uploaded as Supplemental Material.
  • Reference Limit: 50

Consensus Statement

A consensus statement must adhere to the ACCORD guidelines. Level of Evidence: Level V.

Editorial Limits:

  • Unstructured abstract
  • Word Limit: 2000 words (not including tables, figure legends, references)
  • Tables & Figures: 1 table & 2 figures (providing detail not reported in text)
  • Reference Limit: 30

Narrative Review

We welcome narrative reviews of the literature but discourage submission of non-focused general reviews.

Editorial Limits:

  • Unstructured abstract
  • Word Limit: 3000 words (not including tables, figure legends, references)
  • Tables & Figures: 2 tables & 2 figures (providing detail not reported in text); if exceeding this number, author should justify the rationale in the cover letter
  • Reference Limit: 30

Surgical Technique

We consider submissions of articles on novel orthopedic surgical techniques in the following format (see example):

  • Introduction: Describe the rationale supporting the technique.
  • Technique and Results: Describe the technique in detail, with sufficient patient numbers, follow-up times, assessment methods to support its use.
  • Discussion: Review the advantages, disadvantages, and available evidence.

Editorial Limits:

  • Structured abstract (Background, Technique, Results, Conclusions)
  • Word Limit: 2000 words (not including tables, figure legends, references)
  • Tables & Figures: 2 tables & 2 figures (providing detail not reported in text)
  • Reference Limit: 30
  • Short surgical videos of the technique may be uploaded as Supplemental Material.

Commentary

Commentaries address a clinical dilemma or outline personal or professional experience. Level of Evidence: Level V.

Editorial Limits:

  • No abstract
  • Word Limit: 2000 words
  • Tables and Figures: 1 table & 1 figure
  • References: 20

Letter to the Editor

We consider brief responses to articles published in HSS Journal in the prior year.

Editorial Limits:

  • No abstract, tables, figures
  • Word Limit: 500
  • References: 5

Registered Reports, Pre-Data or Post-Data

There are two types of Registered Reports:

    1. Registered Reports – Pre-Data, i.e., before any data have been gathered.
    2. Registered Reports – Post-Data, i.e., before already existing data have been examined and analyzed.

These submissions are reviewed in two stages. In Stage 1, a study proposal is considered for publication prior to data collection and/or analysis. Stage 1 submissions should include a complete Introduction, Methods, and Proposed Analyses. High-quality proposals will be accepted in principle before data collection and/or data analysis commences. Once the study is completed, the author will finish the article including Results and Discussion sections (Stage 2). Publication of the Stage 2 submission is guaranteed as long as the approved Stage 1 protocol is followed and the conclusions are appropriate. Full details can be found here. The Journal’s manuscript requirements should be adhered to for the stage 2 submission.

Guidelines & Checklist for Reporting on Race and Ethnicity in Submissions to HSS Journal

To encourage the provision of more equitable musculoskeletal care and clarity in the articles we publish, HSS Journal has adopted the 2021 guidelines by Flanagin et al published in JAMA on the reporting of race and ethnicity in submissions.

Racial and ethnic disparities in the provision and outcomes of musculoskeletal care have been well-documented within orthopedics. For example, Black patients consistently have shown lower utilization rates than White patients of major surgical procedures including total knee or hip arthroplasty, with worse perioperative outcomes following surgery. Continued research is essential to understanding the complex factors contributing to such disparities, yet authors of clinical trials published in orthopedics journals have not routinely reported the race and ethnicity of populations studied.

All authors, peer reviewers, and editorial board members should familiarize themselves with these recommendations, and authors should use the following checklist before submitting.

Checklist for Authors and Peer Reviewers on the Reporting of Race & Ethnicity

Overall Assessment

  • Use inclusive language that supports diversity and conveys respect.
  • Be aware that race and ethnicity are social constructs.
  • When reporting on racial and ethnic disparities, discuss the implications of findings as they relate to institutional or structural racism and the populations being studied.

Introduction

  • When discussing differences observed according to race and ethnicity, provide context of the contributions of historical injustices.

Materials & Methods

  • Use precise definitions for common terms, such as race, ethnicity, nationality, ancestry, equity, and equality.
  • When describing participants’ race and ethnicity, identify the source of the data (self-reported, investigator observed, or gathered from a database).

Results

  • Describe the race and ethnicity of participants along with other sociodemographic variables.
  • Aim for inclusivity by providing comprehensive categories and subcategories. For example, use specific rather than collective terms in describing racial and ethnic categories (avoid using general terms such as “minorities” or categorizing using nonspecific labels such as “other”; instead, specify the racial/ethnic group discussed).
  • Report deidentified demographic information (age, sex, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic indicators, etc.) when possible. If demographic data that was collected is not reported, state the reason.

Discussion

  • Address health inequities within populations.
  • Recognize that systemic, institutionalized, and structural racism involve policies and practices resulting in differential access to goods, services, and opportunities based on race and ethnicity.

Guidelines & Checklist for Reporting on Sex and Gender in Submissions to HSS Journal

To advance knowledge about sex and gender in musculoskeletal research, HSS Journal is a signatory to the resolutions published in 2024 by the Sex and Gender Research in Orthopaedic Journals Group. As such, we ask authors and peer reviewers of research submissions to follow the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and to use the checklist below for the reporting of sex and gender.

“Sex” is often understood to be biologic (assigned at birth), while “gender” refers to more complex social roles that can be fluid. Data on both have been historically underrepresented in orthopedic research. To better understand how sex and/or gender affect treatment and outcomes, authors of research involving humans or animals should endeavor to explain how this data is analyzed and reported in their submissions.

All authors, peer reviewers, and editorial board members should familiarize themselves with these recommendations, and authors should use the following checklist before submitting.

Checklist for Authors and Peer Reviewers on Gender-Sensitive Reporting

Overall assessment

  • Are the concepts of gender and/or sex used in your research project?
  • If yes, have you explicitly defined the concepts of gender and/or sex? Is it clear what aspects of gender and/or sex are being examined in your study?
  • If no, do you consider this to be a significant limitation? Given existing knowledge in the relevant literature, are there plausible gender and/or sex factors that should have been considered? If you consider sex and/or gender to be highly relevant to your proposed research, the research design should reflect this

Research questions and hypotheses

  • Does your research question(s) or hypothesis/es make reference to gender and/or sex, or relevant groups or phenomena? (e.g., differences between males and females, differences among women, seeking to understand a gendered phenomenon such as masculinity)

Literature review

  • Does your literature review cite prior studies that support the existence (or lack) of significant differences between women and men, boys and girls, or males and females?
  • Does your literature review point to the extent to which past research has taken gender or sex into account?

Research methods

  • Is your sample appropriate to capture gender and/or sex-based factors?
  • Is it possible to collect data that are disaggregated by sex and/or gender?
  • Are the inclusion and exclusion criteria well justified with respect to sex and/or gender? (Note: this pertains to human and animal subjects and biological systems that are not whole organisms)
  • Is the data collection method proposed in your study appropriate for investigation of sex and/or gender?
  • Is your analytic approach appropriate and rigorous enough to capture gender and/or sex-based factors?

Ethics

  • Does your study design account for the relevant ethical issues that might have significance with respect to gender and/or sex? (e.g., inclusion of pregnant women in trials)

Checklist reprinted from Heidari S, et al. Sex and Gender Equity in Research: rationale for the SAGER guidelines and recommended use. Res Integr Peer Rev. 2016;1:2. doi:10.1186/s41073-016-0007-6. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Adapted from Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Clinical trial registration

The journal endorses the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first participant enrollment. However, consistent with the AllTrials campaign, retrospectively registered trials will be considered if the justification for late registration is acceptable. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.

Reporting guidelines

Your manuscript must follow the relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines, depending on the type of study. The EQUATOR wizard can help identify the appropriate guideline. You will need to upload the appropriate checklist with your submission.

Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.

If your research involves animals, you will be asked to confirm that you have carefully read and adhered to the ARRIVE guidelines.

All randomized controlled trials submitted for publication should include a completed CONSORT flow chart as a cited figure and the completed CONSORT checklist should be uploaded with the original submission as a supplementary file.

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses should include the completed PRISMA flow chart as a cited figure and the completed PRISMA checklist should be uploaded with the submission as a supplementary file.

Formatting your manuscript

Accepted file types

The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. Please do not submit the manuscript in PDF format.You do not need to follow a template, but please ensure your heading levels are clear, and the sections clearly defined.

Your article title, keywords, and abstract all contribute to its position in search engine results, directly affecting the number of people who see your work. For details of what you can do to influence this, visit How to help readers find your article online.

Title

Your manuscript’s title should be concise, descriptive, unambiguous, accurate, and reflect the precise contents of the manuscript. A descriptive title that includes the topic of the manuscript makes an article more findable in the major indexing services.

Abstract

Please include an abstract of 200-250 words between the title and main body of your manuscript that concisely states the purpose of the research, major findings, and conclusions. Structured abstracts with the format Background, Questions/purposes, Methods, Results, Conclusions are required for Original Articles, Systematic or Scoping Review Articles, and Surgical Techniques. Unstructured abstracts are required for narrative reviews of the literature. No abstracts are required for Commentaries, and Letters to the Editor. If your research includes clinical trials, the trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract. Submissions that do not meet this requirement will not be considered.

This journal includes plain language summaries. For more information on how to prepare a plain language summary, please see this page.

Plain language summaries

A plain language summary (PLS) is an optional addition that can be submitted for any article type that requires an abstract. The plain language title (approx. 50 words) and plain language summary (approx. 300 words) should describe the article using non-technical language, making it accessible to a wider network of readers. More information and guidance on how to write a PLS can be found on our Author Gateway.

PLS are published directly below the scientific abstract and are open access making it available online for anyone to read. Peer review of the PLS will be conducted following our PLS reviewer guidelines. When submitting, authors should enter their plain language title and plain language summary into the box provided in the submission system when prompted. The PLS does not need to be provided in the manuscript text or as a separate file. If you are not submitting a PLS with your submission, please enter “N/A” in each box.

If you need professional help writing your Plain Language Summary, please visit our Author Services portal.

Keywords

Please include a minimum of 3-5 keywords, listed after the abstract. Keywords should be as specific as possible to the research topic.

Artwork, figures, and other graphics

For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures, and graphs in electronic format, please read Sage’s artwork guidelines.

Please follow the guidelines below to enable us to prepare your artwork for the printed issue as well as the online version.

  • Format
    • TIFF or JPEG. This is a common format for pictures that contain no text or graphs.
    • EPS: Preferred format for graphs and line art, as it retains quality when enlarging/zooming in.
  • Submission files
    • Figures/charts and tables created in MS Word should be included in the main text rather than at the end of the document.
    • For figures created outside Word (i.e., Excel, PowerPoint, JPG, TIFF and EPS), submit a separate file for each figure. The file name should reflect the numbering scheme in the manuscript. Please add a placeholder note in the running text (i.e. “[insert Figure 1.]”)
  • Resolution
    • Rasterized based files (i.e., those having .tiff or .jpeg extensions) require a resolution of at least 300 dpi (dots per inch).
    • Line art should be supplied with a minimum resolution of 800 dpi.
  • Dimension
    • Check that the artworks supplied match or exceed the dimensions of the journal.
    • Images cannot be scaled up after origination.
  • Fonts
    • The lettering used in artwork should not vary too much in size and type.
    • Sans serif font should be used as the default.

Figures supplied in color will appear in color online and in the print version. There is no charge for reproducing figures in color in the printed version.

Please ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures, or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Frequently Asked Questions page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

Title page

To ensure fair and anonymous peer review, your manuscript must be fully anonymized. Please ensure any identifying information is removed from the main manuscript document and included on the Title Page instead. Do not include any author names in the manuscript file name and remove names from headers and footers. This version of the manuscript will be sent to the peer reviewers. The Title Page will not be sent to peer reviewers. See the Sage Journal Author Gateway for detailed guidance on making an anonymous submission.

The Title Page should include:

  • Article title
  • The full list of authors including names and affiliations of each
    • The listed affiliation should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a note at the end of the manuscript – please indicate this on the title page.
    • All persons eligible for authorship must be included at the time of submission (please see the authorship section for more information).
  • Contact information for the corresponding author: name, institutional address, phone, email
  • Acknowledgments section
  • Declaration of conflicting interest
  • Funding statement
  • Ethical approval and informed consent statements
  • Data availability statement
  • Any other identifying information related to the authors and/or their institutions, funders, approval committees, etc, that might compromise anonymity.
Acknowledgments

If you are including an Acknowledgements section, this will be published at the end of your article. The Acknowledgments section should include all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship. Per ICMJE recommendations, it is best practice to obtain consent from non-author contributors who you are acknowledging in your manuscript.

Writing assistance and third party submissions: if you have received any writing or editing assistance from a third-party, for example a specialist communications company, this must be clearly stated in the Acknowledgements section and in the covering letter. Please see the Sage Author Gateway for what information to include in your Acknowledgements section. If your submission is being made on your behalf by someone who is not listed as an author, for example the third-party who provided writing/editing assistance, you must state this in the Acknowledgements and also in your covering letter. Please note that the journal editor reserves the right to not consider submissions made by a third party rather than by the author/s themselves.

Author contributions

You will be asked to list the contribution of each author as part of the submission process. Please include the Author Contributions heading within your submission after the Acknowledgements section. The information you give on submission will then show under the Author Contributions heading later at the proofing stage.

Statements and declarations

To ensure proper anonymization, please include a section with the heading ‘Statements and Declarations’ on your title page, after the Acknowledgements section [and Author Contributions section if applicable] including each of the sub-headings listed below. If a declaration is not applicable to your submission, you must still include the heading and state ‘Not applicable’ underneath. Please note that you may be asked to justify why a declaration was not applicable to your submission by the Editorial Office. This information will be added to the end of your published paper.

Ethical considerations

Please include your ethics approval statements under this heading, even if you have already included ethics approval information in your methods section. If ethical approval was not required, you need to explicitly state this. You can find information on what to say in your ethical statements as well as example statements on our Publication ethics and research integrity policies page.

All papers reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must state that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board approved the study, or waived the requirement for approval, providing the full name and institution of the review committee in addition to the approval number. If applicable, please also include this information in the Methods section of your manuscript.

Please include any participant consent information under this heading and state whether informed consent to participate was written or verbal. If the requirement for informed consent to participate has been waived by the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board (i.e. where it has been deemed that consent would be impossible or impracticable to obtain), please state this. If this is not applicable to your manuscript, please state ‘Not applicable’ in this section. More information and example statements can be found on our Publication ethics and research integrity policies page.

Submissions containing any data from an individual person (including individual details, images or videos) must include a statement confirming that informed consent for publication was provided by the participant(s) or a legally authorized representative. Non-essential identifying details should be omitted. Please do not submit the participant’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality. The Journal requests that you confirm to us, in writing, that you have obtained written informed consent to publish but the written consent itself should be held by the authors/investigators themselves, for example in a patient’s hospital record. The confirmatory letter may be uploaded with your submission as a separate file in addition to the statement confirming that consent to publish was obtained within the manuscript text. If this is not applicable to your manuscript, please state ‘Not applicable’ in this section.

Declaration of conflicting interest

The journal requires a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors so that a statement can be included in your article. For guidance on conflict of interest statements, see our policy on conflicting interest declarations and the ICMJE recommendations.

If no conflict exists, your statement should read: ‘The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article’.

Funding statement

All articles need to include a funding statement, under a separate heading, even if you did not receive funding. You’ll find guidance and examples on our Funding page.

Data availability

The Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.

Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

  • Share your research data in a relevant public data repository
  • Include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, use the statement to confirm why it cannot be shared.
  • Cite this data in your research

Reference style and citations

The journal follows the AMA Manual of Style. View the AMA Manual of Style to ensure your manuscript conforms.

Every in-text citation must have a corresponding citation in the reference list and vice versa.

Authors should update any references to preprints when a peer reviewed version is made available, to cite the published research. Citations to preprints are otherwise discouraged.

Examples of formatted references & citations:

Journal article

  • Amen TB, Varady NH, Rajaee S, Chen AF. Persistent racial disparities in utilization rates and perioperative metrics in total joint arthroplasty in the U.S.: a comprehensive analysis of trends from 2006 to 2015. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2020;102(9):811–820. https://doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.19.01194.
  • Thirukumaran CP, Cai X, Glance LG, et al. Geographic variation and disparities in total joint replacement use for Medicare beneficiaries: 2009 to 2017. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2020;102(24):2120–2128. https://doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.20.00246.

Book chapter

  • Wellington B. Soft tissue, peripheral nerve and brachial plexus injury. In: Clarke S, Snaty-Tomlinson J, eds. Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing: An Evidence-Based Approach to Musculoskeletal Care. 1st ed. Chichester, UK: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd; 2014:265–275.

Online reference

In-text citations

  • Negotiation research spans many disciplines [13].
  • Pandya et al [18] explored orthopedic health care disparities, analyzing access, quality of care, and postoperative results.
  • This effect has been widely studied [1,3,27].

Additional Requirements

HSS Journal requires each author of an article to complete an individual conflict of interest form, which can be downloaded from the ICMJE. A form for each author should be included at the time of the initial submission and potential conflicts of interest should be listed on the title page. All authors must declare conflicting interests from the prior 3 years. 

Ethics Statements

  1. All papers reporting animal and/or human studies must state in the Methods section that the relevant ethics committee or institutional review board provided (or waived) approval. Please ensure that the statement includes the full name and institution of the review committee.
  2. All research involving animals submitted for publication must be approved by an ethics committee with oversight of the facility in which the studies were conducted. The Journal has adopted the ARRIVE guidelines.

Informed Consent Statement

  1. For research articles, authors are required to state in the Methods section whether participants provided informed consent, whether the consent was written or verbal, and whether consent was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative.

AI Disclosure

  1. All papers must include a statement disclosing if any content was generated using AI. If so, clearly indicate which model was used and for what purpose. Please use the Methods or Acknowledgements section, as appropriate.
Supplemental material

This Journal can host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc.) alongside the full text of the article. Your supplemental material must be one of our accepted file types. For that list and more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

English language editing services

Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Author Services. Visit Sage Author Services for further information.

As part of the submission process you will need to confirm that this is your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that this is for first publication in this Journal, that it is not being considered for/has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.

Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that the journal may accept submissions of manuscripts that have been posted on preprint servers.

Preprints

The journal will consider submissions of manuscripts that have been posted on preprint servers.

Please enter the preprint DOI in the designated field when submitting your manuscript. We advise that you inform the Journal Editorial office about your posted preprint at submission.

Note that you should not post an updated version of your manuscript on a preprint server while it is being peer reviewed.

Learn more about our preprint policy.

Submission site

Submit your manuscript online via Sage Track.

IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in Sage Track before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

Manuscripts should only be submitted with the consent of all contributing authors. The individual responsible for submitting the manuscript should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the manuscript are listed as authors.

Ensure you upload all relevant manuscript files, including any additional supplemental files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

Authorship

Please view our authorship policies, which includes information on criteria for authorship, who should be the corresponding author and more.

Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

Files

  • Title Page with all required identifying information as laid out in Preparing your manuscript for submission (above). This will not be sent to the peer reviewers.
  • Your manuscript, properly formatted and anonymized according to all stipulations above, and within the scope of the journal. Any information that compromises the anonymity of the author(s) should be removed or anonymized and included on the Title Page instead. See above for more information on anonymization. This version will be sent to the peer reviewers.
  • Figures and images.
  • Supplemental material. This journal can host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images, etc) alongside the full-text of the article. Your supplemental material must be one of our accepted file types. For that list and more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

Other information required for submission

  • ORCID ID of the submitting author.
    • It is strongly encouraged that all co-authors ensure their ORCID IDs are linked to their accounts in the submission system prior to article acceptance, as this is the only way to have their ORCID ID present on the published article. ORCID IDs cannot be added to manuscripts after acceptance/publication. Please note that each co-author must log in to the submission system to add their own ORCID ID to their account. To add an ORCID ID, edit your account, click the link when prompted, and sign into your ORCID account to validate your ID. You will then be redirected back to the submission system and your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata.
    • Please create an ORCID ID if you do not already have one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
  • Complete list of authors, with their institutional affiliations.
    • The author information you enter at submission must exactly match what is included on your manuscript and/or title page, including full names, academic affiliations, and corresponding author contact details.
    • The listed affiliation should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a note at the end of the manuscript.
    • All listed authors must meet the criteria for authorship (above).
    • All persons eligible for authorship must be included at the time of submission.
    • All authors must have given consent for the manuscript to be submitted in its current form.
  • Keywords: During submission, you may be asked to select or enter keywords for your manuscript. These keywords are used to match appropriate reviewers to your manuscript.
  • The number of figures, tables, and words in your manuscript.
  • Funder information: Name, grant/award number.
  • You may be required to enter your declaration of conflicting interest as part of the submission process, in addition to listing it on your manuscript and/or title page. Please have it on hand.
  • If you have posted your manuscript to a preprint server, you will be asked to supply the DOI (this does not prohibit submission, but no changes should be made to the preprint version while your manuscript is under evaluation in this journal). Please see our guidelines on prior publication. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal's author archiving policy. If your manuscript is accepted, you must include a link in your preprint to the final version of your published article.

The following summary describes the peer review process for this journal:
Identity transparency: Double-anonymized
Reviewer interacts with: Editor
Review information published: None

Your manuscript will undergo an initial evaluation. If it does not conform to the requirements laid out in these guidelines, it will be returned to you for amendments prior to peer review. Manuscripts may be desk rejected without peer review at this point if they are out of scope for the journal or otherwise unsuitable.

After passing the initial evaluation, your manuscript will then be peer reviewed. You can log in at any time to check the status of your manuscript. We will notify you when a decision has been reached.

HSS Journal adheres to a rigorous double-anonymized reviewing policy in which the identity of reviewer and author are concealed from both parties.

Decisions on submissions are made as rapidly as possible. All manuscripts are reviewed initially by the Editors and only those that meet the scientific and editorial standards of HSS Journal, and fit within its aims and scope, will be sent for outside review. In general, Editors seek advice from 2 or 3 reviewers on submitted articles. HSS Journal does not permit the use of author-suggested reviewers.

Read Sage’s peer review policy and guidance for reviewers from HSS Journal Editor-in-Chief, Charles Cornell, MD.

HSS Journal discourages the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) in peer review. These technologies are unlikely to replicate a reviewer’s expertise, and their use infringes on the author’s privacy and copyright. For more information, please read Sage’s policy on the use of AI in submissions or peer review.

HSS Journal is committed to supporting high-quality, fast peer review and has partnered with Web of Science, which allows reviewers to track and receive credit for peer review. Reviewers may also use ORCID to be recognized for reviews. Reviewers for HSS Journal can opt in to claim their reviews or have them automatically verified and added to their reviewer profile. Reviewers claiming credit for a review will be associated with the journal, but the article name, reviewer decision, and review content is not published.

If the Editor or members of the Editorial Board submit a manuscript for possible publication in HSS Journal, the peer review process is managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor or Board member will not be involved in the decision-making process. Similarly, reviewers from the same institution as the author(s) are not invited to review their colleagues’ manuscripts.

Special issue manuscripts are managed by an external Guest Editor who may handle the peer review process of each submission. Reviewers make comments to the author and recommendations to the Guest Editor. The Guest Editor then recommends a decision on the manuscript, and the final decision is made by the Journal Editor.

As a COPE member we engage with multiple forms of post-publication discussion in line with wider guidance from Sage: Commentaries, Critiques and Responses.

You can view our complaints and appeals policy here.

Read Sage's complete peer review policy.

Plagiarism

The journal and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. Please read Sage's complete policy on plagiarism and the actions we may take.

All submitted articles are checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have copied or inadequately paraphrased other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

Contributor’s Publishing Agreement

Before publication, we require the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive license agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and license to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

Preprints

If your manuscript was posted on a preprint server prior to acceptance, you must include a link in your preprint to the final published version of your published article.

Production

Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal, Sage Edit, or by email, and should be returned promptly to avoid delaying publication. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence, and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. This is the final opportunity to make changes to your manuscript. Further corrections will not be possible after publication. Changes to the author list are not permitted at this stage.

Publication

OnlineFirst publication: This enables us to publish final articles online immediately, without waiting for assignment to a future issue of the Journal. This usually significantly reduces publication lead time. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite OnlineFirst articles.

Access to your published article: We provide you with online access to your published article. The online access link is provided to the corresponding author for sharing with their co-authors.

Promoting your article

Publication is not the end of the process. Between us, we can ensure that your article is found, read, downloaded and cited as widely as possible. Many of the most effective tactics are those you can do quickly and easily to your network of contacts and peers. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway for numerous resources to help you promote your work.

The Sage Journal Author Gateway has some general advice on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance your article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journals Solutions Portal.

You can view our complaints and appeals procedure.

Contact us

You can direct any questions to the journal’s editorial office:

Joy Jacobson, MFA, Managing Editor
jacobsonj@hss.edu
(646) 797-8509