Australasian Psychiatry

Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Australasian Psychiatry

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).

Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/iapy to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

The word limit and guidance on references, tables and figures is detailed on this table of article types. Editorials and Book Reviews are only submitted by invitation from the journal Editorial team.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Australasian Psychiatry will be reviewed.

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, 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, 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 Australasian Psychiatry  does not accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers.

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

1. What do we publish?
   1.1 Aims & Scope
   1.2 Article types
   1.3 Writing your paper
2. 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 Clinical trials
   2.8 Reporting guidelines
   2.9 Research Data
3. Publishing policies
   3.1 Publication ethics
   3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
   3.3 Open access and author archiving
4. Preparing your manuscript
   4.1 Formatting
   4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
   4.3 Supplemental material
   4.4 Reference style
   4.5 English language editing services
   4.6 Revised Manuscripts
5. Submitting your manuscript
   5.1 ORCID
   5.2 Information required for completing your submission
   5.3 Permissions
6. On acceptance and publication
   6.1 Sage Production
   6.2 Online First publication
   6.3 Access to your published article
   6.4 Promoting your article
7. Further information

1. What do we publish?

1.1 Aims & Scope

Before submitting your manuscript to Australasian Psychiatry please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

1.2 Article Types

Please read these accepted Article Types before submitting to Australasian Psychiatry.

The word limit and guidance on references, tables and figures is detailed on this table of article types. Editorials and Book Reviews are only submitted by invitation from the journal Editorial team.

A section of the journal provides information on RANZCP business and related matters. Submitted articles are accepted for further consideration by the Editor on the condition that the authors may be expected to review another submission to the journal.

Although the journal no longer accepts single case reports as full articles, where case descriptions are included, e.g. as vignettes or letters to the Editor, patient confidentiality must be strictly observed. Authors must confirm, in the article, that all identifying information has been removed/altered, and that written informed consent has been obtained from the patient for the material that is presented.

If you wish to discuss the content or suitability of your article, please contact the Editor in Chief, Jeffrey Looi, via email: jeffrey.looi@anu.edu.au

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 Basic article structure and format

Title page: The title of the paper should not exceed two lines. The title page should also include the full names, affiliations and position titles of all authors, and a contact address, telephone number, fax number and email address for the corresponding author. Please make sure this information matches with the information entered onto the submission site.

This page should also include statements regarding Funding, Conflicts of Interest, Ethics and Consent. Please refer to Sections 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6 on how these statements should be formatted respectively. Please make sure the title page is fully separate from the rest of the main manuscript. If your manuscript is an invited book review, then there is no need to include these disclosure statements on the title page.

Structured abstracts (i.e. Summary): A summary of the paper must be in the form of a structured abstract (maximum of 200 words) using the following headings: Objective, Method, Results and Conclusions. In the case of articles that are primarily opinion pieces, the abstract should have the headings Objective and Conclusions. For Viewpoint or Editorial articles, a maximum 100 word unstructured abstract must be included. This Abstract/Summary MUST be included in the main manuscript file, after the title page but before the key words and the main text for all articles. No abstracts are required for Correspondence or Book Reviews 

Key words: Up to five key words should be provided after the Conclusions section of the abstract. These key words MUST be included in the main manuscript file uploaded for consideration. They should be placed after the abstract but before the main text starts. 

Case reports or case material: Where case descriptions are included, patient confidentiality must be strictly observed. Authors must confirm, in the accompanying letter to the Editor and in the article, that all identifying information has been removed/altered, and that written consent has been obtained from the patient for submission of the report. 

Pejorative language: Do not use pejorative labels like ‘schizophrenics’, ‘psychotics’ and ‘neurotics’. Instead, refer to ‘patients with schizophrenia’, etc.

Abbreviations: Abbreviations should in general be avoided. However, phrases may be abbreviated if their shortened form is widely known and they are used repeatedly (e.g. CNS, CSF, MAOI). When first used in the text, they must be spelt out in full followed by the abbreviation in parentheses.

Tables: Tables should be consecutively numbered in Arabic numerals with each table presented in a separate document.

Formatting: The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. The text should be double-spaced throughout and with a minimum of 3cm for left and right hand margins and 5cm at head and foot. Text should be standard 12 point and in Times New Roman. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

Anonymisation: This Journal operates under a double anonymisation policy, which means that neither the reviewers nor the authors will know the identities of one another. With this in mind, please make sure that only the title page contains any author identifying information, such as the full list of authors and their affiliations, along with any Acknowledgements or Disclosures that could compromise anonymity. The main manuscript file should not contain any information that could potentially identify any of the authors of the manuscript.

1.3.2 Make your article discoverable

When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

Back to top

2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

Papers will be sent for anonymous review by at least two reviewers who will either be members of the Editorial Board or others of similar standing in the field. To ensure the peer review process remains anonymous, please do not include any names or contact information in the main body of the text; this information should be included on the title page (see section 1.3.1 above). In order to shorten the review process and respond quickly to authors the Editors may triage a submission and come to a decision without sending the paper for external review.

2.2 Authorship

Papers should only be submitted for consideration 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.

The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who:

1. 1. Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,
   2. Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
   3. Approved the version to be published,
   4. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, multicentre 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.

2.3 Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements 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 Third party submissions

Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

•    Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input 
•    Identify any entities that paid for this assistance 
•    Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

2.3.2 Writing assistance

Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements 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.

Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

2.4 Funding

Australasian Psychiatry requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. 

2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

It is the policy of Australasian Psychiatry to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.

Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’. For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations here.

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, and 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, in addition to the approval number.

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.

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 do not submit the patient’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 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.

Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants.

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.

Please include a statement on your title page in regard to ethics approval. If ethics approval is not required for your paper, please state that 'ethics approval was not required

2.7 Clinical trials

Australasian Psychiatry conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrolment as a condition of consideration for publication. However, consistent with the AllTrials campaign, retrospectively registered trials wil 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.

2.8 Reporting guidelines

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 a completed CONSORT flow chart as a cited figure and the completed CONSORT checklist should be uploaded with your 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 your submission as a supplementary file. The EQUATOR wizard can help you identify the appropriate guideline.

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

2.9 Research Data

Sage acknowledges the importance of research data availability as an integral part of the research and verification process for academic journal articles.

Australasian Psychiatry requests all authors submitting any primary data used in their research articles alongside their article submissions to be published in the online version of the journal, or provide detailed information in their articles on how the data can be obtained. This information should include links to third-party data repositories or detailed contact information for third-party data sources. Data available only on an author-maintained website will need to be loaded onto either the journal’s platform or a third-party platform to ensure continuing accessibility.

Examples of data types include but are not limited to statistical data files, replication code, text files, audio files, images, videos, appendices, and additional charts and graphs necessary to understand the original research. The editor may consider limited embargoes on proprietary data. The editor can also grant exceptions for data that cannot legally or ethically be released. All data submitted should comply with Institutional or Ethical Review Board requirements and applicable government regulations.

Back to top

3. Publishing Policies

3.1 Publication ethics

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 Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.

3.1.1 Plagiarism

Australasian Psychiatry and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication 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 an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised 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.

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. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means 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 the Sage Author Gateway.

3.3 Open access and author archiving

Australasian Psychiatry 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.

Back to top

4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

4.1 Formatting

The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. The text should be double-spaced throughout and with a minimum of 3cm for left and right hand margins and 5cm at head and foot. Text should be standard 12 point and in Times New Roman. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.  

Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.

All illustrations (line drawings and photographs) are classified as figures. Figures should be cited in consecutive order in the text. Figures should be sized to fit within the column (82 mm) and submitted, preferably, at final size. 

Line figures should be supplied as sharp graphs or diagrams, drawn professionally or with a computer graphics package. After reduction, the size of the capital letters should be about 2 mm. Allowance should be made for lines and text becoming smaller and thinner on reduction. 

Electronic files of all figures are essential and the file formats EPS (encapsulated postscript) and TIFF (tagged image file) are recommended: files must be supplied at a resolution of at least 300 d.p.i. at full size. Figures should be saved individually and separate to the text.

4.3 Supplemental material

This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

Sage will only publish supplemental material subject to full copyright clearance. This means that if the content of the file is not original to the author, then the author will be responsible for clearing all permissions prior to publication. The author will be required to provide copies of permissions and details of the correct copyright acknowledgement. 

Copyright in article supplemental material depends on the source of that material:
If the content is the property of the author – the author needs to grant a non-exclusive licence to Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP), using the following statement:

“<rights holder> grants the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists a non-exclusive worldwide licence to reproduce and publish the aforementioned material as supplemental material to Australasian Psychiatry in the English language in all print and electronic formats of Australasian Psychiatry for the life of Australasian Psychiatry, including any future Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists print and electronic media, formats and products which may include Australasian Psychiatry in its entirety. Full copyright acknowledgement will be made to the rights holder for this use.”

If the content belongs to a third party – authors will need to clear (and pay, where necessary) all permissions prior to our posting any third party content, and provide us with copies of the permissions and details of the correct copyright acknowledgement for our site. The wording above can be sent to the third party copyright holders and be used for them too. 

Please note that data supplements are permanent records just like the articles themselves – i.e., they may not be altered after they have gone live (been published). 

For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplementary files, which can be found within our manuscript submission guidelines page.

4.4 Reference style

Australasian Psychiatry adheres to the Sage Vancouver reference style. View the Sage Vancouver guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.  If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Vancouver EndNote output file.

In the main text, references should be identified by consecutive superscript Arabic numerals, e.g.: 

“This finding was first reported by Smith¹, although subsequent workers ^2-7 have failed to replicate it.” 

Number the references in the order in which they occur in the text. However, once a reference is cited, all subsequent citations should refer to the original number.

At the end of the paper, list references in consecutive numerical order (not alphabetically). Cite the names of all authors when there are three or fewer; when there are seven or more, list the first three followed by et al. 

Unpublished data and personal communications should not be listed as references, but may be referred to in the main text as: (Brown J, unpubl. data, 2006) or (Smith J, pers. comm., 2005). Articles accepted for publication may be placed in the reference list with the phrase “(in press)” inserted after the authors, title and full name of the journal.

Journal article 
1. Mellsop G, Wilson J. Outcome measures in mental health services: Humpty Dumpty is alive and well. Australasian Psychiatry 2006; 14: 137–140. (DO NOT INCLUDE ISSUE NUMBER.) 

Chapter in edited book 
2. Szmukler G. Ethics in community psychiatry. In: Bloch S, Chodoff P, Green SA, eds. Psychiatric Ethics, 3rd edn. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999; 363–381. 

Book 
3. Mendelson G. Psychiatric Aspects of Personal Injury Claims. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1988. 

Electronic material
4. Medical Board South Australia. Statement Guidelines ClinicalGovernance http://www.medicalboardsa.asn.au/pdf_files/FOI/Information%20Statement%20FOI.pdf. 

Please note: All journal titles must be quoted in full (no abbreviations); punctuation of the year, volume number and page numbers must be precisely in accordance with the previous examples; no part of any reference is to be underlined. When referring to books, the city in which the book was published and the publisher’s name must be stated; the words Company, Co., Limited, Pty Ltd, Inc., etc are not to be included. Articles should have no more than 30 references in total.  Editorials can have up to 10 references.

Correspondence (letters) and book reviews must have no more than five references.

It is essential that authors conform strictly to this style. Papers with nonconforming reference style will be returned and will not be considered for publication until the paper in the correct format is resubmitted.

4.5 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. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

4.6 Revised Manuscripts

When submitting your revised manuscript please make sure to upload a clean version alongside a version with tracked/highlighted changes.

Back to top

5. Submitting your manuscript

Australasian Psychiatry is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/iapy to login and submit your article online.

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 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.

5.1 ORCID

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 from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports 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 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 identify who is to be 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).

5.3 Permissions

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.

Back to top

6. On acceptance and publication

6.1 Sage 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 corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. 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.

6.2 Online First publication

Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

6.3 Access to your published article

Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

6.4 Promoting your article

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.

Back to top

7. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Australasian Psychiatry editorial office at apy@sagepub.com