Journal of VitreoRetinal Diseases
JVRD is indexed in PubMed Central (PMC). PMC indexes content back to 2020. If your article was published prior to 2020, authors who receive government funding for their articles are invited to submit accepted manuscripts directly to PubMed Central. For more information, visit the NIHMS website.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
The Journal of VitreoRetinal Diseases will consider for publication original basic, translational, and clinical research papers across the spectrum of vitreoretinal diseases. Submissions will include full-length and brief research articles, clinical trials, case series, review articles (both invited and submitted), interviews, editorials, letters to the editor, and features regarding retinal controversies (pro and con) to bring the retina community high-quality and trustworthy scientific research. These articles will be rigorously peer-reviewed.
| Timothy G. Murray, MD, MBA, FACS, FARVO, FASRS | Murray Ocular Oncology and Retina, Miami, FL, USA |
| John T. Thompson, MD, FASRS | Retina Specialists/University of Maryland/Wilmer Eye Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, USA |
| J. Fernando Arevalo, MD, PhD, FACS, FASRS | The Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA |
| Audina M. Berrocal, MD, FASRS | Retina Department/Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Miami, Florida, USA |
| H. Culver Boldt, MD | University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa, USA |
| Robison V.P. Chan, MD, MSc, MBA, FACS | University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Dean Eliott, MD, FASRS | Massachusetts Eye & Ear, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA |
| Aleksandra V. Rachitskaya, MD, FASRS | Cole Eye Institute - Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA |
| Yoshihiro Yonekawa, MD, FASRS | Wills Eye Hospital/Mid Atlantic Retina, Philadelphia, PA, USA |
| Jose Garcia-Arumi, MD, PhD | Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, Instituto de Microcirugia Ocular (IMO), Barcelona, Spain |
| Albert J. Augustin, MD | Karlsruhe Eye Clinic, Karlsruhe, Germany |
| Carl C. Awh, MD, FASRS | Tennessee Retina, Nashville, Tennessee, USA |
| Susanne Binder, MD | Rudolf Foundation/Sigmund Freud University, Vienna, Austria |
| Kevin J. Blinder, MD, FASRS | The Retina Institute, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA |
| David S. Boyer, MD, FASRS | Retina Vitreous Associates Medical Group/USC-Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA |
| David M. Brown, MD | Retina Consultants of Texas, Houston, Texas, USA |
| Jonathan S. Chang, MD | University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA |
| David R. Chow, MD, FRCSC, FASRS | University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada |
| Claus Eckardt, MD | Augen-Klinik Frankfurt-Hoechst, Frankfurt, Germany |
| Justis P. Ehlers, MD, FASRS | Cole Eye Institute - Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA |
| Ehab N. El Rayes, MD, PhD, FASRS | Research Institute of Ophthalmology, Cairo, Egypt |
| Geoffrey G. Emerson, MD, PhD, FASRS | Retina Consultants of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA |
| Marta S. Figueroa, MD, PhD | Clinica Baviera, Madrid, Spain |
| Thomas R. Friberg, MS, MD, FARVO | University of Pittsburgh Eye Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA |
| Manjot K. Gill, MD, FRCS(C), FASRS | Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Andre V. Gomes, MD, PhD | University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil |
| Mrinali Gupta, MD, FASRS | Retina Associates of Orange County, Laguna Hills, California, USA |
| Paul Hahn, MD, PhD, FASRS | NJ Retina, Teaneck, New Jersey, USA |
| Heinrich Heimann, MD, FRCOphth | Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool, United Kingdom |
| G. Baker Hubbard, MD, FASRS | The Emory Eye Center/Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
| J. Michael Jumper, MD, FASRS | West Coast Retina, San Francisco, California, USA |
| Kazuaki Kadonosono, MD, PhD, FASRS | Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan |
| Szilárd Kiss, MD, FASRS | Weill Cornell Medical College/New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York, USA |
| Anat Loewenstein, MD | Tel Aviv Medical Center/Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Yuichiro Ogura, MD, PhD | Nagoya City University, Nagoya, Japan |
| Timothy W. Olsen, MD | Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN |
| Anton Orlin, MD | Weill Cornell Medical College/New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York, USA |
| Nimesh A. Patel, MD | Massachusetts Eye & Ear, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA |
| Fabio Patelli, MD | ASST Santi Paolo e Carlo University Hospital, Milan, Italy |
| Stanislao Rizzo, MD, FASRS | Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy |
| Mario R. Romano, MD, PhD | Humanitas University, Milan, Italy |
| Adrienne W. Scott, MD, FASRS | Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA |
| David Steel, MBBS, FRCOphth | Sunderland Eye Infirmary, Sunderland, United Kingdom |
| Ramin Tadayoni, MD, PhD | Universite Sorbonne Paris Cite, Paris, France |
| Lejla Vajzovic, MD, FASRS | Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA |
| Demetrios G. Vavvas, MD, PhD | Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, Massachusetts, USA |
| Victor M. Villegas, MD | University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Basil K. Williams, Jr, MD | Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Miami, Florida, USA |
| Lihteh Wu, MD | Asociados de Macula Vitreo y Retina de Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica |
| Young Hee Yoon, MD, PhD | Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea |
| Marco A. Zarbin, MD, PhD, FACS | Rutgers New Jersey Medical School/Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, USA |
| Marcelo Zas, MD, PhD | University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Donald J. D'Amico, MD | New York, New York, USA |
- Clarivate Analytics: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)
- ProQuest
- PubMed Central (PMC)
- Scopus
Journal of VitreoRetinal Diseases (JVRD)
Please read the guidelines below, then visit JVRD’s manuscript submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jvrd to upload your submission electronically. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of JVRD will be reviewed.
This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.
This 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).
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that JVRD may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers.
- Article types
- Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.6 Research ethics and patient consent
2.7 Reporting guidelines
2.8 Research Data - Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving - Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Word processing format
4.2 Structured abstracts
4.3 Arrangement of sections
4.4 Artwork, figures, and other graphics
4.5 Supplemental material
4.6 Reference style
4.7 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Title, keywords and abstracts
5.3 Information required for completing your submission
5.4 Permissions - On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
6.2 Access to your published article
6.3 Online First publication
6.4 Promoting your article - Further information
7.1 Appealing the publication decision
1.1 Aims & Scope
Before submitting your manuscript to the Journal of VitreoRetinal Diseases please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
JVRD welcomes the following article types:
- Original Research (≤4000 words, abstract ≤250 words): A clinical research study with an introduction, methods, results, and conclusion based on an unbiased scientific study. It should include a patient cohort or cohorts of sufficient size to allow valid statistical analysis.
- Case Reports & Case Studies (≤2000 words, abstract ≤150 words)
- Case Report: A case report is an in-depth study of patient’s diagnosis, treatment options and approaches, surgical techniques, with discussion on evidence based outcomes when available. It can include up to 3 cases.
- Case Series: A case series is a grouping of similar case studies on a specific disease or condition, which includes treatment options and approaches, surgical techniques, and a discussion on evidence based outcomes when available.
Special manuscripts by invitation only (and with approval of EIC):
- Reviews of the Literature
- Policy Papers
- Letters to the Editor
- Editorials
- Opinion
- Retinal Controversies: Pro and Con (≤1500 words, no abstract)
- Clinical Practice Guidelines (abstract ≤250 words, no word limit)
1.3 Writing your paper
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online
Submit all articles via Manuscript Central: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jvrd. JVRD accepts only original papers written in American English. An editing service, Sage language services (including translation from Spanish, Portuguese, or Chinese), is available from the publisher; use of this service does not guarantee acceptance of the paper by the journal. Manuscripts submitted to JVRD are evaluated by the editorial staff. If the manuscript is potentially suitable, peer reviewers are normally selected by the editor-in-chief and Section Editors. JVRD operates a conventional single-anonymous reviewing policy in which the reviewer’s name is always concealed from the submitting author.
Acceptance of a manuscript for publication is determined by the editor and Section editor based on the peer review, scientific merit, and value to readers. This decision may be made in consultation with other editorial staff and/or the Editorial Board. When resubmitting a manuscript, indicate changes in red font (enabling editors and reviewers to readily identify the alterations). Authors must include a response letter that addresses each of the reviewer’s and editor’s comments, in order. You will receive a template in the decision letter email. The template is also available here. Reviewer’s comments should be taken as constructive criticisms by experts in the subject area; they are provided to improve the quality of scientific manuscripts
Peer Review Essentials (vimeo.com)
Papers should be submitted for consideration only once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors, including those who:
- Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
- Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content;
- Approved the version to be published;
- Participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.
Authors should collectively meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large multicenter group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.
Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.
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.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgments section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help or a department chair who provided only general support.
2.3.1 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance (eg, from a specialist communications company) do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgments section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance—including the individual’s name, company, and level of input—and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language-polishing services.
Any acknowledgments should appear at the end of the article prior to the declaration of ethical approval, statement of informed consent, conflicting interests, funding, any additional notes, and the references.
2.3.2 Artificial Intelligence
Use of Large Language Models and generative AI tools in writing your submission
Sage recognizes the value of large language models (LLMs) (e.g. ChatGPT) and generative AI as productivity tools that can help authors in preparing their article for submission; to generate initial ideas for a structure, for example, or when summarizing, paraphrasing, language polishing etc. However, it is important to note that all language models have limitations and are unable to replicate human creative and critical thinking. Human intervention with these tools is essential to ensure that content presented is accurate and appropriate to the reader. Sage therefore requires authors to be aware of the limitations of language models and to consider these in any use of LLMs in their submissions:
- Objectivity: Previously published content that contains racist, sexist or other biases can be present in LLM-generated text, and minority viewpoints may not be represented. Use of LLMs has the potential to perpetuate these biases because the information is decontextualized and harder to detect.
- Accuracy: LLMs can ‘hallucinate’ i.e. generate false content, especially when used outside of their domain or when dealing with complex or ambiguous topics. They can generate content that is linguistically but not scientifically plausible, they can get facts wrong, and they have been shown to generate citations that don’t exist. Some LLMs are only trained on content published before a particular date and therefore present an incomplete picture.
- Contextual understanding: LLMs cannot apply human understanding to the context of a piece of text, especially when dealing with idiomatic expressions, sarcasm, humor, or metaphorical language. This can lead to errors or misinterpretations in the generated content.
- Training data: LLMs require a large amount of high-quality training data to achieve optimal performance. However, in some domains or languages, such data may not be readily available, limiting the usefulness of the model.
Guidance for authors
Authors are required to:
- Clearly indicate the use of language models in the manuscript, including which model was used and for what purpose. Please use the methods or acknowledgements section, as appropriate.
- Verify the accuracy, validity, and appropriateness of the content and any citations generated by language models and correct any errors or inconsistencies.
- Provide a list of sources used to generate content and citations, including those generated by language models. Double-check citations to ensure they are accurate, and are properly referenced.
- Be conscious of the potential for plagiarism where the LLM may have reproduced substantial text from other sources. Check the original sources to be sure you are not plagiarizing someone else’s work.
- Acknowledge the limitations of language models in the manuscript, including the potential for bias, errors, and gaps in knowledge.
- Please note that AI bots such as ChatGPT should not be listed as an author on your submission.
We will take appropriate corrective action where we identify published articles with undisclosed use of such tools.
JVRD requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent format under a separate heading. All research articles should have a funding statement in the form of a sentence under a separate Funding heading, directly after the Acknowledgments, Ethical Approval, Statement of Informed Consent, and Declaration of Conflicting Interests sections and prior to the Notes and References sections. The funding agency should be written out in full, followed by the grant number in square brackets:
This work was supported by the Medical Research Council [grant 123456].
Multiple grant numbers should be separated by commas and spaces; multiple agencies should be separated by semicolons, with “and” before the final funder:
This work was supported by the Trust [grants xxxx, yyyy]; the Natural Environment Research Council [grant zzzz]; and the Economic and Social Research Council [grant aaaa].
In some cases, research is not funded by a specific project grant but rather from the block grant and other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution. Where no specific funding has been provided for the research, we ask that corresponding authors use the following sentence:
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Note on anonymity: If you have any concerns that the provision of this information may compromise your anonymity per the peer review policy of this journal, you can withhold this information until you submit your final accepted manuscript.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
JVRD requires a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors, enabling a statement to be carried within all published articles. Please ensure that a statement is included at the end of your manuscript, under a Declaration of Conflicting Interests heading, after any acknowledgments, ethical approval, and statement of informed consent and prior to funding disclosure and the references.
If no conflict exists, please state: “The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest.”
For guidance on conflict-of-interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations.
2.6 Research ethics and patient consent
Medical research involving human subjects must be conducted according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.
Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. 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 you have provided the full name and institution of the review committee and the approval number. A few examples are listed below:
Ethical approval for this study was obtained from *NAME OF ETHICS COMMITTEE OR INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD (APPROVAL NUMBER/ID)*.
Or
Ethical approval for this study was waived by *NAME OF ETHICS COMMITTEE OR INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD* because *REASON FOR WAIVER*.
Or
Ethical approval was not sought for the present study because *REASON*.
Or
Not applicable.
For research articles, authors are also required to state in the Methods section whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal. Below are a few examples.
Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects before the study.
Or
Verbal informed consent was obtained from all subjects before the study.
Or
Written informed consent was obtained from legally authorized representatives before the study.
Or
Verbal informed consent was obtained from legally authorized representatives before the study.
Or
Informed consent was not sought for the present study because *REASON*.
Or
Not applicable.
Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative. Please include a statement even if consent was not required, noting the reason it was not required.
This same statement should also be included at the end of the article following the Acknowledgments section and prior to the Declaration of Conflicting Interests, Funding, and References. This will fall under two headings: “Ethical Approval” and “Statement of Informed Consent.”
Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants.
The relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type of study. For example, all randomized, controlled trials submitted for publication should include (1) a completed Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) flowchart as a cited figure and (2) a completed CONSORT checklist as a supplementary file.
Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.
At Sage we are committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research. Where relevant, JVRD encourages authors to share their research data in a suitable public repository subject to ethical considerations and to include a data accessibility statement in their manuscript file. Authors should also follow data citation principles. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway, which includes information about Sage’s partnership with the data repository Figshare.
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 Ethics & Responsibility page on the Sage Author Gateway.
3.1.1 Plagiarism
JVRD and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism, and other breaches of best practice in publishing very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where authors are found to have plagiarized other work, or included third-party copyrighted material without permission, or with insufficient acknowledgment, 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 department head or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic body or society, or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published, it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind:
- Abstracts and posters presented at conferences: Authors should inform the editor and acknowledge the first source of publication. Articles that have been presented at a conference but not published by the conference organizers may be considered. Authors should confirm that they have not granted the conference organizers a licence to the work; if the authors retain all the rights in the work, the journal editor may consider the article for publication because articles presented at conferences are unlikely to be the same or substantially the same versions as those being accepted by the journal.
- Raw data and clinical trial registries: Note that raw data do not include the arrangement or organization of data and that clinical trial registries are without accompanying context. Please also note that permission may still be required to reuse these materials.
- Most dissertations and theses posted in institutional archives: If the dissertation being presented for publication is the same or substantially the same as any previously published work, it will not be suitable for a Sage journal.
- Working papers or versions of the paper posted on a preprint server: Please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal's author archiving policy. If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper. Sage’s standard self-archiving policy can be found on our Author Gateway.
In all cases, the author should disclose to the editor any prior publication or distribution and ensure appropriate attribution to the prior distribution and/or publication of the material.
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement: an exclusive licence agreement meaning that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence 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 our Frequently Asked Questions on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.
3.3 Open access and author archiving
JVRD offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme 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. 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.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
Preferred formats for the text and tables of your manuscript are Word DOC, RTF, and XLS. (La)TeX files are also accepted. The text should be double spaced throughout, use a minimum of 3 cm for left- and right-hand margins, and 5 cm at the head and foot. Text should be standard 10 or 12 point. Word and (La)TeX templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
Abstracts should be structured with the following elements: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Abstracts should not exceed 250 words (≤150 words for Case Reports). Structured abstracts are required for all article types except Editorials and Opinion pieces.
The general arrangement of sections of the manuscript at submission should be as follows:
- Title page (with author information)
- Abstract
- Keywords
- Introduction
- Methods
- Results
- Conclusions
- Acknowledgments
- Ethical Approval
- Statement of Informed Consent
- Declaration of Conflicting Interests
- Funding
- References
- Figure legends
- Tables (submit as separate files—see more information about submitting tables below)
4.4 Artwork, figures, and other graphics
Illustrations, pictures and graphs, should be supplied with the highest quality and in an electronic format that helps us to publish your article in the best way possible. Please follow the guidelines below to enable us to prepare your artwork for the printed issue as well as the online version.
- Format: TIFF, JPEG: Common formats for pictures (containing no text or graphs).
EPS: Preferred format for graphs and line art (retains quality when enlarging/zooming in).
- Placement: Figures/charts and tables should be submitted separately. Please add a placeholder note in the running text (ie, “[insert Figure 1.]”).
- Resolution: Rasterized based files (ie, with .tiff or .jpeg extension) require a resolution of at least 300 dpi (dots per inch). Line art should be supplied with a minimum resolution of 800 dpi.
- Color: Please note that images supplied in color will be published in color online and black and white in print (unless otherwise arranged). Therefore, it is important that you supply images that are comprehensible in black and white (ie, by using color with a distinctive pattern or dotted lines). The captions should reflect this by not using words indicating color.
- Dimension: Check that the artworks supplied match or exceed the dimensions of the journal. Images cannot be scaled up after origination. The journal trim size is 8.5 x 11.
- Fonts: The lettering used in the artwork should not vary too much in size and type (usually sans serif font as a default).
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 request color reproduction in print, you will receive cost information from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.
Tables should not be embedded images or PDFs. They should be editable and in either Word or Excel format.
Please supply images in color. Please note that images supplied in color will be published in color online and black and white in print (unless otherwise arranged). Therefore, it is important that you supply images that are comprehensible in black and white (ie, by using color with a distinctive pattern or dotted lines).
This journal is able to host additional materials online (eg, data sets, podcasts, videos, images) alongside the full text of the article. These will be subjected to peer review alongside the article. However, these materials are not edited in any way by Sage and should arrive fully edited and ready for publication. Please use the word “Supplemental” or “Supplementary” in the file name. For more information, please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplementary files: Manuscript Submission Guidelines.
Authors are required to follow the 11th edition of the American Medical Association Manual of Style. Please ensure that references are numbered and cited in order of appearance throughout the text. Please be aware that references changed after submission require extensive reordering and reworking of the paper, so please attempt to have the references complete and final at submission.
Authors are required to place the following information before the References:
4.7 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 Language Services.
JVRD is hosted on Sage Track, a web-based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jvrd and create an account. Then submit your article.
IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for JVRD in the past year, it is likely that you already created an account.
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers, even those who share the same names, through integration of key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission and creates automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
5.2 Title, keywords and abstracts
Please supply a title, a short title, an abstract, and keywords to accompany your article. The title, keywords, and abstract are key to ensuring that readers find your article through online search engines such as Google. For information on how best to title your article, write your abstract, and select your keywords, please visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidelines: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.
5.3 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and to identify the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript 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 manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
Please also 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 Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway
6. On acceptance and publication
Your Sage production editor will keep you informed about your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information—including names, affiliations, sequence, and contact details—is correct and that funding and conflict-of-interest statements, if any, are accurate.
6.2 Access to your published article
A downloadable PDF should be sent to the corresponding author upon online publication. If you do not receive the link to the PDF, please notify the Sage production editor, after first checking with the corresponding author.
OnlineFirst allows final revision articles (ie, completed articles in queue for assignment to an upcoming issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. For more information, please visit our OnlineFirst Fact Sheet.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
Any correspondence, queries, or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the JVRD peer review associate at jvrd@sagepub.com.
7.1 Appealing the publication decision
Editors have very broad discretion in determining whether an article is an appropriate fit for their journal. Many manuscripts are declined with a very general statement of the rejection decision. These decisions are not eligible for formal appeal unless the author believes the decision to reject the manuscript was based on an error in the review of the article, in which case the author may appeal the decision by providing the editor with a detailed written description of the error they believe occurred.
If an author believes the decision regarding their manuscript was affected by a publication ethics breach, the author may contact the publisher with a detailed written description of their concern, and information supporting the concern at publication_ethics@sagepub.com