Respiratory Care Reports is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. All accepted articles are made freely available online immediately upon publication, are published under a Creative Commons license, and hosted online in perpetuity.

If, after peer review, your manuscript is accepted for publication, a one-time article processing charge (APC) is payable to cover the cost of publishing, paid by the funder, institution, or author. There is no charge for submitting a manuscript.

The article processing charge (APC) for research articles and reviews is $2,000. The APC for case reports, commentaries, and correspondence is $1100. Any item submitted by a member of AARC has a 25% discount.

The article processing charge (APC) is payable when a manuscript is accepted after peer review, before it is published. The APC is subject to taxes where applicable. Tax-exempt status can be indicated by providing appropriate registration numbers when payment is requested. Please see further details on tax-exempt status here.

For general information on open access at Sage please visit the Open Access page.

Authors may be eligible for discounts to their APC via open access agreements that Sage has with participating institutions. Discounts depend on the terms of the agreement, find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. Eligibility is determined by the corresponding author’s affiliation at acceptance matching an agreement.

Your article may be eligible for a full or partial waiver due to our participation in initiatives to increase accessibility to publication across the international academic community. More information about discounts and eligibility.

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

Please visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstracts.

Manuscript Types and Guidelines  

Respiratory Care Reports  welcomes original manuscripts related to the science of respiratory care. Respiratory Care Reports is intended for all respiratory care professionals, from trainees to established clinicians, researchers and educators, with an emphasis on ensuring broad distribution of peer-reviewed content that is appropriate in scope and of interest to the community

Word limits do NOT pertain to the abstract, disclosure statements, author contribution statements, funding information, acknowledgments, tables, figure legends, or references.  

Respiratory Care Reports will only consider clinical trials that are registered at ClinicalTrials.gov or equivalent. Similarly, the Journal will only consider systematic reviews that have been registered with PROSPERO. 

Quick Look 

The concise take-home message of the study. Only Original Research articles have Quick Look boxes. Quick Look boxes have 2 headings, Current Knowledge and What This Paper Contributes To Our Knowledge. Include the Quick Look text in the main manuscript file. 

Current Knowledge  

• 2-4 declarative sentences summarizing current understanding of the topic being studied. Avoid stating what isn't known.  

What This Paper Contributes To Our Knowledge  

• 2-4 declarative sentences summarizing the take-home message of the study. Use past tense. Provide only information supported by the data. Do not overstate the importance of your results and do not suggest further research; this section is about the paper at hand.  

The Editors reserve the right to edit Quick Look boxes for accuracy, style, and length.  

Example Quick Look  

Current knowledge  

The endotracheal tube cuff allows positive pressure ventilation and protects the airway from aspiration. Standard cuff pressures of 20–30 cm H2O are typically used to prevent leakage of fluid around the cuff and to prevent mucosal injury. In recent years, laboratory evaluations of cuffs in glass models have demonstrated reduced fluid leakage, but clinical studies have not confirmed these findings in vitro.  

What this paper contributes to our knowledge 

In a realistic viscoelastic model of the trachea, endotracheal tube cuffs of different designs provided an adequate seal at a pressure of 12 cm H2O. With increased PEEP, higher cuff pressures were required. Tubes with a subglottic suction channel performed best in the lateral position. 

Use generic product or drug names in manuscript titles, rather than trade or trademarked names. If a trade name must be used, ensure the proper indication of trademark, copyright, or service mark. 

Statistical Analysis 

For Original Research papers, the Editor recommends working with a biostatistician to assure appropriate analysis. The Editor may request a letter from your biostatistician assuring that the analysis is correct.  

In the Methods section, identify the statistical tests used to analyze the data. Indicate the P-value that was taken to indicate significance. State whether tests were one-tailed or two-tailed; justify the use of one-tailed tests. Identify post-hoc analyses. Identify any statistical analysis software used. Indicate how the power analysis was conducted to determine appropriate sample size.  

Report measurements with an appropriate degree of precision. Report both numerators and denominators for percentages.  

For continuous data, description statistics should be expressed as mean and standard deviation (not standard error). For ordinal data, median and interquartile range should be reported.   

For ratios, (eg, odds ration, relative risk), provide 95% confidence interval.  

Report exact P values rather than thresholds. Example: write “P = .18”, not “P > .05” or “P = NS.” Note that P cannot equal 0 or 1. If the statistical software reports P = 0, report in your manuscript as P < .001. If the statistical software reports P = 1, report in your manuscript as P > .99.  

P values ≥ .01 should be expressed to 2 digits.  

P values between .03 and .07 should be expressed to 3 digits. This is to preserve potential meaning of values near .05.  

P values between < .001 and .01 should be expressed to 3 digits. All P values < .001 should be reported as P < .001.  

Units of Measurement  

Report units of measurement according to current scientific usage. Standard units of measurement and scientific terms may be abbreviated without explanation (eg, L/min, mm Hg, pH, O2). The Journal uses most values in Systeme Internationale (SI) units. For blood gas values, we prefer mm Hg to kPa. For airway pressure, we prefer cm H2O rather than mbars. 

Pulmonary Terms and Symbols 

Use the Preferred Pulmonary Terms and Symbols. Use abbreviations sparingly and do not invent new abbreviations. Use an abbreviation only if the term occurs > 10 times in the manuscript.   

The following commonly used abbreviations do not need to be defined: ARDS, CI, COPD, COVID-19, CPAP, DNA, FDA, FEV1, FIO2, FVC, ICU, PaO2, PaCO2, PO2, PCO2, PEEP, SD, SpO2. 

Drugs and Commercial Products  

Precisely identify all drugs and chemicals, doses, and methods of administration.  

Use generic names instead of trade (proprietary) names for both drugs and equipment.  

At first mention, trade names may be given parenthetically after generic names, including the name and location of the manufacturer. For equipment, provide model numbers if available.  

Subjects versus Patients  

Individuals enrolled in research are referred to as subjects, not patients. This applies to both retrospective and prospective studies.   

Ventilator Modes  

Use the Preferred Ventilator Mode Nomenclature.  

Respiratory Care Education Annual

A maximum of 10 articles each year w ill be selected for the Respiratory Care Education Annual, which is published as a collection within Respiratory Care Reports. The Editor in Chief and the Respiratory Care Education Annual Associate Editors select articles to be included at the time of acceptance based on the following criteria. The article must promote research in respiratory care education, and the author must be a member of the Education Section of the American Association for Respiratory Care. Priority will be given to articles that are likely to have the greatest impact on the education community, such as multi-center studies of an educational intervention. Single center studies and surveys have lower priority but will be considered based on their perceived merit. Additional considerations include sample size, control of confounders, response rate for a survey, and other methodologic issues that might limit the generalizability of the findings. Research articles are given priority over reviews and commentaries, although these are considered if deemed of high interest, such as a systematic review of an important education topic. For articles not accepted for the Respiratory Care Education Annual, but otherwise acceptable for publication in Respiratory Care Reports, the author will be responsible for the article processing charge.

Inclusivity  

Manuscripts should make no assumptions about the beliefs of any reader, should contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of race, sex, culture, or any other characteristic, and should use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, for example, by using gender neutral descriptions when possible.   

The Journal prefers Black (capitalized) to African-American.  

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.

Formatting your manuscript

Accepted file types

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

Double-space all text (including Tables and References). Flush-left and bold 1st level headings; flush-left and bold 2nd level headings; indent and bold 3rd level headings. For original research, the use of subheadings is discouraged; the major headings are usually sufficient. Subheadings are usually necessary and appropriate for review papers.

The LaTeX files are also accepted. A LaTeX template is available on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

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

Original Research articles must have a structured abstract of no more than 300 words (Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions). Review articles have an unstructured abstract of no more than 300 words. Case reports, commentaries and correspondence do not require abstracts. Do not include bibliographic references in the Abstract. 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.

For clinical trials, the trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.

Keywords

Please include a minimum of 6 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.

Figures supplied in color will appear in color online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. If you have requested color reproduction in the print version, we will advise you of the costs on receipt of your accepted article.

General Instructions

• Figures should complement the text; they should not be redundant of text. Use figures only if they have a purpose.
• Figures should be standalone without the need to refer to the body of the manuscript.
• Each figure should be submitted as a separate file and not embedded in the manuscript.
• The first figure in a clinical trial must be a flow chart.

Formatting

• Use subscripts appropriately: H₂O, CO₂, etc.
• Use a sans serif font sized appropriately for legibility. Axis titles may be larger than labels.
• Use lines that are heavy enough to be easily visualized.
• Do not place a title over the figure. This information should be included in the legend.
• Labels are usually a whole number, unless the range is small, in which case a single decimal place is provided. For example, a receiver operating characteristic curve, where the labels range from 0 to 1 (0, 0.1, 0.2 … 0.8, 0.9, 1).
• Use color, if necessary, to show differences such as to separate series within a group.
• Do not use background gridlines or shading in graphs.
• Figures as output from statistical analysis software are often not publication ready and will need to be
• Identify stains and magnifications for all photomicrographs. 
• Consult a graphic artist as needed for help preparing publication ready figures.

File Types and Resolution

• Format as TIFF, JPEG, or EPS for images containing no text or graphs. EPS is the preferred format for graphs and line art. 
• Image resolution must be at least 300 dpi (dots per inch). Line art should have a minimum resolution of 800 dpi. 
• An artwork preparation service is available for a fee from Sage; this service is optional.

Figure Legends

• Legends should be detailed enough to help the reader understand the figure. The legend should be more than a short title. Included in the legend are definitions of any abbreviations used in the figure. P-values are usually included in the legend but can be included in the figure if necessary for clarity.
• Include figure legends in the manuscript text file, not in the figure files.

 

Select the Appropriate Figure Style

Image

An image can be a photo or a line drawing. These are commonly used to illustrate an experimental set-up. If using a photo, avoid background distractions. A photo free of background objects is preferred.  Line drawings should be as realistic as possible. Radiographs and other clinical imaging should not be altered in any way and supplied exactly as in the patient record. Any alteration is considered fabrication. Patient identifiers must be removed. Radiographs must clearly identify the relevant details. Images of individuals must be de-identified or must have permission to use from the individual.

Li J, Respir Care 2024;69(12):1517 Morinishi K, Respir Care 2025;70(10):1285

Flow Chart

A flow chart shows how participants move through each stage of the study, from screening and enrollment to allocation, follow-up, and analysis. A CONSORT flow diagram is used for randomized controlled trials. Note that our style is a bit different than that in the CONSORT example. Box borders, arrows, and text should be black. Size the boxes according to the amount of text; the boxes will differ in size but there should be a similar amount of white space for each. Center the text in the main boxes. For exclusion boxes, center the total exclusion number at the top but then the breakdown descriptions and numbers are left-justified. Place the number in each box under the text; do not use “n = ”. Arrows indicating exclusion should extend to the right.

Ahmed ZS, Respir Care 2025;70(10):1248

 Bar Graph

Bar graphs can be used for nominal data and continuous data. For continuous data, the size of the bar represents the mean, and standard deviation (not standard error) is indicated by a line extending vertically above the bar. Borders should be placed around the entire graph. Do not use gridlines. Use external tic marks. Do not include minor tic marks. If bar graph includes more than one series of data, there can be a small gap between each series (not required). The gap between bars should be less the width of the bars. The gap between groups should be larger than the gap between series. The series can be differentiated with different colors. Be certain that the y-axis always extends to 0 to avoid the illusion of a large difference between groups. Do not place numbers over bars. For axis labels, units should be in parenthesis. For a figure with several panels, label as A, B, C, etc., in the upper left corner inside the panel. Preferred figure key placement in is upper right corner inside the panel. Do not place a box around the key. Connectors can be used over bars to indicate groups and series that are significantly different. They are usually accompanied by a label (e.g., *, **) and the P-values are included in the legend (e.g., * P = .03, ** P < .001). Note that P is italics and there is no leading 0 for P-values.

Zakrajsek AD, Respir Care 2025;70(4):417. Clark AR, Respir Care 2025;70(7):801

Box Plot

A box plot is used for nonparametric data. It includes the median, 25th percentile, and 75th percentile. The whiskers must end at an observed data point, which can be defined in various ways. In the legend, it is important to specify the meaning of the whiskers. Outliers are shown as data points. The box plot should be drawn without color unless there is more than one series for each group, in which case color can be used to distinguish among series. Do not place numbers in the box plot. Borders should be placed around the entire box plot. Do not use gridlines. Use external tic marks. Do not include minor tic marks. Be certain that the y-axis always extends to 0 to avoid the illusion of a large difference between groups. For a figure with several panels, label as A, B, C, etc., in the upper left corner inside the panel. Preferred figure key placement in is upper right corner inside the panel. Do not place a box around the key. Connectors can be used over bars to indicate groups and series that are significantly different. They are usually accompanied by a label (e.g., *, **) and the P-values are included in the legend (e.g., * P = .03, ** P < .001). Note that P is italics and there is no leading 0 for P-values.

de Haro C, Respir Care 2025;70(11):1357 Chun P, Respir Care 2025;70(9):1120

 Scatter Plot

A scatter plot displays the relationship between 2 numbers using dots to represent individual data points. It is used to visualize patterns and correlations, with the independent variable plotted on the x-axis and the dependent variable on the y-axis.  The y-axis should usually extend to 0. Borders should be placed around the entire graph. Do not use gridlines. Use external tic marks. Do not include minor tic marks. For a figure with several panels, label as A, B, C, etc., in the upper left corner inside the panel. A regression line can be included on a scatter plot to represent the best fit for the data, showing the relationship between variables.  If there is more than one series of data, the series can be differentiated with different colors. Preferred figure key placement in is upper right corner inside the panel. Do not place a box around the key. Statistics such as correlation coefficients and the equation for the regression line can be placed in a bottom corner.

Lellouche F, Respir Care 2025;70(11):1376

Line Graph

A line graph connects a series of data points with a line to show how a continuous variable changes over time. A quantitative variable is shown on the y-axis, and time is shown on the x-axis). It is not appropriate to use a line graph to show discrete values and then connect those values with a line, as there are no data available between the points; in this case a bar graph should be used. Borders should be placed around the entire graph. Do not use gridlines. Use external tic marks. Do not include minor tic marks. Series can be differentiated with different colors or different line types. Be certain that the y-axis always extends to 0 to avoid the illusion of a large difference between groups. For axis labels, units should be in parenthesis. For a figure with several graphs, label as A, B, C, etc., in the upper left corner inside the panel. Preferred figure key placement in is upper right corner inside the panel. Do not place a box around the key.

Nickel AJ, Respir Care 2025;70(2):204  Jensen H, Respir Care 2025;70(1):38

Bland-Altman Plot

A Bland-Altman plot shows the agreement between 2 different quantitative measurement methods. It plots the difference between 2 measurements on the y-axis against the average of the 2 measurements on the x-axis. A scatter plot should not be used to show the agreement between 2 devices. A line showing the mean difference should be displayed as a solid line and lines showing +2 standard deviations and -2 standard deviations should be displayed as dashed lines. Borders should be placed around the entire graph. Do not use gridlines. Use external tic marks. Do not include minor tic marks. For axis labels, units should be in parenthesis.

Shah NM, Respir Care 2025;70(9):1103

Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve

A Receiver Operating Characteristic curve plots the trade-off between sensitivity (true positive rate) on the y-axis and 1 minus specificity (false positive rate) on the x-axis across all possible classification thresholds. It is used to evaluate the performance of a diagnostic test. The x- and y-axis should extend to 0. Borders should be placed around the entire graph. Do not use gridlines. Use external tic marks. Do not include minor tic marks. For a figure with several panels, label as A, B, C, etc., in the upper left corner inside the panel.

Marabotti A, Respir Care 2025;70(9):1140

Forest Plots

The results of a meta-analysis are displayed as a forest plot. It displays individual study results as squares with confidence intervals as horizontal lines. The size of the square represents the weight of the study.  The overall pooled result is a diamond at the bottom.  A vertical line indicates the threshold for a null or no-effect result.

Pie Charts

• Pie charts are not preferred and should be avoided.

Tables 

Each table must be uploaded as a separate Microsoft Word file, not embedded in the text. Tables must have a title. The title should be self-sufficient and allow readers to understand the table without referring to the text. 

Tables should be numbered and cited consecutively in the text, Table 1, Table 2, etc. Any abbreviations and symbols must be explained in footnotes at the bottom of the table. For footnotes use the following symbols, superscripted, in the following order: *, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, **, ††.  

Equations 

Write equations as normal text. Do not use the equation function in Microsoft Word or other mathematics software.  

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

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

As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review and publication process, this journal has adopted CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy). CRediT is a high-level taxonomy, including 14 roles, which is used to describe each author’s individual contributions to the work.

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.

Respiratory Care Reports will not consider submissions that are ghostwritten by industry employees or hired writers. Nor will the Journal consider submissions of industry-sponsored studies in which the data were collected and analyzed solely by employees of the company. Such studies are considered only if there is an independent analysis of the methods and data by someone at an academic institution with research and publishing experience (eg, medical school, academic medical center, or government research institute). A letter providing the qualifications and experience of the person(s) performing the analysis should be uploaded with the manuscript files. Authors should also be prepared to share the underlying data to allow its verification. The Journal will also not consider other types of manuscripts such as narrative reviews, systematic reviews, and correspondence if all of the authors are employees of a company. 

For additional information related to relationships between authors and industry, refer to Fontanarosa PB, Flanagin A, DeAngelis CD. Reporting conflicts of interest, financial aspects of research, and role of sponsors in funded studies. JAMA 2005;294(1):110-111 (doi:10.1001/jama.294.1.110). 

Author Disclosure Statements

Upon submission, authors are required to fully disclose any interests, funding or employment that may inappropriately influence or affect the integrity of the submission. Disclosures should be for the previous 2-year period. Authors should disclose

Competing Interests. A competing interest exists when an individual (or the individual's institution) has financial or personal relationships that may inappropriately influence his actions. These competing interests may be potential or actual, financial or other. Each author must fully disclose all potential conflicts of interest, whether related to the content of the paper or not.

Personal Financial Interests. Stocks or shares in a company that may gain or lose financially from publication of the article; consulting fees or other remuneration from an organization that may gain or lose financially from publication of the article; patents or patent applications that are owned by or licensed to companies/institutions that may gain or lose value from publication of the article.

Funding. Research support by organizations that may gain or lose financially from publication of the article. This support includes salary, equipment, supplies, honoraria, reimbursement or prepayment for attending symposia, and other expenses.

Employment. Recent (within the past 5 years), current, or anticipated employment by an organization that may gain or lose financially from publication of the article.

Other Competing Interests. Any personal relationship which may inappropriately affect the integrity of the research reported (by an author) or the objectivity of the review of the manuscript (by a reviewer or Editor), for example, competition between investigators, previous disagreements between investigators, or bias in professional judgment.

Affiliations

Authors should identify as their institution(s) the facility where the work was performed and executed. Changes in an author’s affiliation after the work was completed, but prior to the submission or publication of the manuscript should be noted using a superscript asterisk in the author listing and a footnote on the title page indicating “Current Address” and listing the new affiliation. Corrections to affiliations or contact information due to relocation after publication is not permitted.

Sharing of Materials

Authors must honor any reasonable request for materials, methods, or data necessary to reproduce or validate the research findings during peer review unless it violates the privacy or confidentiality of human research subjects.

Statements and declarations

Please include a section with the heading ‘Statements and Declarations’ at the end of your submitted article, 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.

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.

Consent to participate

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.

Consent for publication

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 Sage Vancouver reference style. View the Sage Vancouver guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms.

Style Examples for Reference List:   Please browse the Style Examples for Reference List here

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.

EndNote

If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Vancouver EndNote output file.

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.

Sage recognizes the value of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to help authors in the research and writing process. Sage welcomes developments in this area to enhance opportunities for generating ideas, accelerating research discovery, synthesizing, or analyzing findings, polishing language, or structuring a submission. Sage’s policy on the use of AI technology has been developed to assist authors, reviewers and editors to make good judgements about the ethical use of such technology. Please read our full policy here: https://www.sagepub.com/journals/editorial-policies/artificial-intelligence-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

• All file names should be in English and contain only alphanumeric characters.
• Do not include spaces, symbols, special characters, dashes, dots, or underscores.
• Title each file with the type of content contained in the file (e.g., manuscript.doc, tables.doc, FigureLegends.doc, Fig1.tif, SupplementalData.pdf, etc.).
• 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.
• Figures and images.
• All figures must be numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear in the text – they will appear in the published article in the order they are numbered.
• Figure resolution is 300dpi. More information on figure/image preparation can be found here.
• 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.

• 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:Single anonymized
Reviewer interacts with: Editor and Section 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.

The journal operates a conventional single-anonymized reviewing policy in which the reviewer’s name is always concealed from the submitting author. Two independent reviews are required for a manuscript to reach a Revise or Accept decision, with the exception of the following manuscript types: Editorials, correspondence, news features, and/or Invited opinion or perspective contributions in other sections of the journal. These are subject to stringent editorial oversight; at need, external, independent review will be arranged to address specialized topics.

To ensure the integrity of the peer review process we assign reviewers and cannot accept author recommendations.

All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, while maintaining rigor. Reviewers make comments to the author and recommendations to the Section Editor, who then makes a recommendation to the Editor. The Editor makes the final decision who then makes the final decision on all manuscripts, including those appearing in a special issue or special collection. The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the Journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.

The journal has an Editorial Board and Editorial Review Board who serve the journal as external peer reviewers. Each member of the Editorial Review Board and Editorial Board are active researchers in the field and selected based on strict criteria, ensuring they possess the necessary expertise and experience. The Editor(s) may use one Editorial Review Board member or Editorial Board Member as a reviewer for each manuscript, and will then reach beyond this pool to include additional reviewers to meet the required number before a decision can be made. This ensures a comprehensive and robust peer review process, aligning with our commitment to publish the most credible and valid research. Care is taken not to invite any Editorial Review Board Member or Editorial Board Member that has any potential conflict of interest with any author of the paper.

Confidentiality

Editors and reviewers must maintain strict confidentiality of manuscripts during the peer-review process. Sharing a manuscript in whole or in part, outside the scope of what is necessary for assessment, is impermissible prior to an accepted manuscript's official publication date. Reviewers are not permitted to contact authors directly.

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

Sage recognizes the value of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to help authors in the research and writing process. Sage’s policy on the use of AI technology has been developed to assist authors, reviewers and editors to make good judgements about the ethical use of such technology. Please read our full policy here: https://www.sagepub.com/journals/editorial-policies/artificial-intelligence-policy

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.

After acceptance you will receive instructions via email inviting you to complete the Open Access process. This will include signing the appropriate Creative Commons license and, where applicable, paying the Article Processing Charge (APC) or assigning a bill payer. Once the APC has been processed, your article will be prepared for publication and can appear online within an average of 30 days. Please note that, where an APC is applicable, production work cannot be completed on your manuscript until payment has been received.

Before publication we require the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. The journal publishes manuscripts under Creative Commons licenses. The standard license for the journal is Creative Commons by Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC), which allows others to re-use the work without permission as long as the work is properly referenced and the use is non-commercial. For more information, you are advised to visit Sage's OA licenses page. Alternative license arrangements are available at the author’s request (e.g. to meet particular funder mandates).

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

One of the many benefits of publishing your research in an open access journal is the speed to publication. With no page count constraints, your article will be published online in a fully citable form with a DOI number as soon as it has completed the production process. At this time it will be completely free to view and download for all.

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:

Dean Hess, Editor-in-Chief, dhess@aarc.org