Hand Therapy

Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Hand Therapy

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

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

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Hand Therapy 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, 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 Hand Therapy  will consider submissions of papers that have been posted on preprint servers; 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.

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
   2.10 Guarantor
   2.11 Contributorship
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 Journal Layout
   4.5 Reference style
   4.6 English language editing services
   4.7 Video Materials
5. Submitting your manuscript
   5.1 ORCID
   5.2 Social media  – Twitter @BAHTHandtherapy
   5.3 Information required for completing your submission
   5.4 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 Hand Therapy, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

1.2 Article Types

The overall length of any manuscript should not exceed 4,000 words. Contributions in the following categories will be considered:

Original articles (primary research, audits and service evaluation):  Primary research studies should be reported using appropriate reporting guidelines e.g CONSORT guidelines for randomised controlled trials, A copy of the completed reporting checklist must be uploaded as a supplementatry file when submitting your manuscript. Further guidance on Reporting guidelines can be found below in section 2.8. Structured headings should be used (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion). We request a maximum of six tables and figures (combined) in total unless there are special circumstances. Large tables or other additional supplementary data can be hosted online only by Sage. See Journal layout for requirements on preparation of Tables and Figures. Hand Therapy also welcomes original articles based on audits, service reviews and service innovations where these go beyond description, have clear evaluative components and represent an important contribution to hand therapy practice and knowledge.

Reviews: These can include systematic reviews as well as narrative reviews of literature. Authors are advised to follow reporting guidelines such as PRISMA (available at http://www.equator-network.org/) to ensure the quality of reporting. Prospective registration of a systematic review protocol on PROSPERO or similar registries is likewise recommended.

Case reports: These are normally limited to 2,000 words and may   include novel assessment and treatment techniques, evaluations of equipment or material based on patient case(s). Material should not be limited to description and must include an evaluation of techniques used and outcomes

Study protocols: Protocols of proposed or ongoing clinical trials which have not completed recruitment at the time of submission and which have Ethics approval will be considered. Study protocols should follow SPIRIT guidelines: http://www.spirit-statement.org/spirit-statement/.

Hand Therapy also accepts Letters to the editor which relate to articles published in the journal.

 

Declarations

Please note that all manuscripts should be accompanied by a separate document entitled ‘Declarations’.

Please read the Declarations guideline for authors available here: hth_declaration_policy_document.docx carefully before submitting your Declarations document.

This should be submitted under the file designation ‘Declarations’. This must include each of the below headings with the corresponding information. Please note that manuscripts which do not include these Declarations will be returned. These headings will be published at the end of every accepted manuscript, where one of these headings is not applicable please indicate as such under the heading. Please see section 2.2 for additional information regarding declarations.

DECLARATIONS

1. Conflicting interests
2. Funding
3. Informed consent
4. Ethical approval
5. Guarantor
6. Contributorship
7. Acknowledgements

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

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.

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2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

Hand Therapy adheres to a rigorous double-anonymize reviewing policy in which the identity of both the reviewer and author are always concealed from both parties. All articles are reviewed by at least two independent reviewers. Where major change is required, recommendations will be made by the Editor and the paper returned, to be re-submitted with appropriate changes. Please note that submission of a paper is not a guarantee of publication. Publication is at the Editor’s discretion.

As part of the submission process you will be asked to provide the names of peers who could be called upon to review your manuscript. Recommended reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Please be aware of any conflicts of interest when recommending reviewers. Examples of conflicts of interest include (but are not limited to) the below: 

• The reviewer should have no prior knowledge of your submission
• The reviewer should not have recently collaborated with any of the authors
• Reviewer nominees from the same institution as any of the authors are not permitted

Please note that the Editors are not obliged to invite/reject any recommended/opposed reviewers to assess your manuscript.

Covering letter:
The covering letter is important. To help the Editor in her preliminary evaluation, please indicate why you think the paper is suitable for publication. The covering letter should be signed by all authors confirming (1) that they consent to publication, (2) have made a substantial contribution to the article through conception, design and/or drafting of the manuscript, and (3) that the paper or parts of it, have NOT been and will NOT be submitted elsewhere for publication. If submitting by email please scan the signed cover letter and send it as a PDF or fax it to the Editorial office (Fax: +44 (0)1603 593166). If your paper should be considered for fast-track publication, please explain why.

2.1.1 Declarations

The following statements should be uploaded under the file type ‘Declarations’ for every manuscript submitted. These will be published at the end of every paper accepted for publication.

Please read theHTH Declaration Guidelines for Authorscarefully before submitting your Declarations document.

DECLARATIONS

1. Conflicting interests
2. Funding
3. Informed consent
4. Ethical approval
5. Guarantor
6. Contributorship
7. Acknowledgements

Please see the below example of a completed declarations section:

DECLARATIONS

Conflicting interests: MS is an employee of XXX. BF has received grants from XXX.

Funding: This work was supported by the Medical Research Council [grant number XXX]

Informed consent: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient(s) for their anonymized information to be published in this article.

Ethical approval: The ethics committee of XXXX approved this study (REC number: XXXX)

Guarantor: BF

Contributorship: BF and NP researched literature and conceived the study. MS was involved in protocol development, gaining ethical approval, patient recruitment and data analysis. BF wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank XXX XXXX for his assistance and guidance in this research.

Hand Therapy is committed to delivering high quality, fast peer-review for your paper, and as such has partnered with Publons. Publons is a third party service that seeks to track, verify and give credit for peer review. Reviewers for Hand Therapy can opt in to Publons in order to claim their reviews or have them automatically verified and added to their reviewer profile. Reviewers claiming credit for their review will be associated with the relevant journal, but the article name, reviewer’s decision and the content of their review is not published on the site. For more information visit the Publons website.

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. 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.

2.4 Funding

Hand Therapy 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 Hand Therapy 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. The Journal has adopted the ARRIVE guidelines.

2.7 Clinical trials

Hand Therapy 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. 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 Data

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

Hand Therapy 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. 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.

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. For further information, please contact the editorial office at editor.handtherapy@uea.ac.uk. 

2.10 Guarantor

The Guarantor is the person willing to take full responsibility for the article, including for the accuracy and appropriateness of the reference list. This will often be the most senior member of the research group and is commonly also the author for correspondence. Please state this person’s name as initials.

2.11 Contributorship

For multi-authored papers this statement should outline what each party contributed to the authorship of the paper. Authors should be identified by their initials. An example is shown below.
BF and NP researched literature and conceived the study. MS was involved in protocol development, gaining ethical approval, patient recruitment and data analysis. BF wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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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

Hand Therapy 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.  For instance, Hand Therapy will consider submissions of papers that have been posted on preprint servers (see information in the introduction section of these submission guidelines for details). You can also 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

Hand Therapy 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.

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4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

4.1 Formatting

The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. 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.

Photographic illustrations should be rendered with at least 300 dpi; please use CMYK color conversion if possible. Graphs made with Office software such as Microsoft Excel, can be provided in their original format to facilitate conversion into printable format with preserved quality. Any other line graphs/illustrations should preferably be provided in EPS format with a resolution of at least 600 dpi to prevent ragged lines when printed. A figure image should be at least 160 mm in width at the appropriate resolution. For further guidance on how to prepare your digital image see http://art.cadmus.com/da/index.jsp.

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 supplementary files.

4.4 Journal Layout

Manuscripts must be submitted using double line-spaced, unjustified text throughout, with headings and subheadings in bold case. Press ‘Enter’ only at the end of a paragraph, list entry or heading.

Title page
The first page should contain the full title of the manuscript, a short title, the author(s) name(s) and affiliation(s), and the name, postal and email addresses of the author for correspondence, as well as a full list of declarations. The acknowledgements should also be included here – these should state clearly who is being acknowledged and why. Identifying information about the authors should not be included on any subsequent pages of the manuscript.
The title should be concise and informative, accurately indicating the content of the article. The short title should be no more than six words long.

Abstract
A structured abstract of no more than 250 words, emphasizing the main features of the contribution must accompany all articles. The abstract should normally use four headings: Introduction (context and rationale); Methods (type of study, patients, materials, techniques); Results (main numerical data and statistical information); and Discussion (main objective and verifiable conclusions). Letters to the Editor do not require an abstract.

Keywords
A maximum of five keywords should be provided to help with indexing and retrieval of the article on bibliographic databases. If possible use terms recognised under the Medical Subheadings Thesaurus (MeSh).

Tables and figures
Tables must be prepared using the Table feature of the word processor and presented on separate pages at the end of the document. Tables should not duplicate information given in the text, should be numbered in the order in which they are mentioned in the text, and should be given a brief title. Abbreviations should be written out in full in a legend placed at the end of the table. We normally request a maximum of six tables and figures (combined) in total unless there are special circumstances, which must be explained in your cover letter (or by emailing us to discuss). Large tables or other additional supplementary data can be hosted online only by Sage.

Figures
All figures should be numbered in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. All figures must be accompanied by a figure legend. If figures are supplied in separate files, the figure legends must all be listed at the end of the main text file.

Line drawings should be produced electronically and clearly labelled using a sans serif font such as Arial. Graphs may be supplied as Excel spreadsheets (one per sheet). Other line drawings should be supplied in a suitable vector graphic file format (e.g. .eps)

All photographic images should be submitted in camera-ready form (i.e. with all extraneous areas removed), and where necessary, magnification should be shown using a scale marker. Photographic images must be supplied at high resolution, preferably 600 dpi. Images supplied at less than 300 dpi are unsuitable for print and will delay publication. The preferred file format is .tif.

Abbreviations
Symbols and abbreviations should be those currently in use. Authors should not create new abbreviations and acronyms. The RSM’s book Units, Symbols and Abbreviations provides lists of approved abbreviations.

Units
All measurements should be expressed in SI units.

Statistics
If preparing statistical data for publication, please read the statistical guidelines here

4.5 Reference style

Hand Therapy 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 Harvard EndNote output file and the Sage Vancouver output file here.

Please note that only essential references should be included and should represent the most recent and pertinent literature available. Only references quoted in the text should be included in the reference list. Authors are responsible for verifying them against the original source material.

Automatic numbering should be avoided. References should include the names and initials of up to six authors. If there are more than six authors, only the first three should be named, followed by et al. Publications for which no author is apparent may be attributed to the organization from which they originate. Simply omit the name of the author for anonymous journal articles – avoid using ’Anonymous’.

4.6 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.

4.7 Video Materials

Hand Therapy will consider the publication of video materials which are submitted alongside the manuscript. Such material should enhance the contents of a paper, both in clarity and in added value. Please consult the Hand Therapy guidelines and are followed for video materials as stated below.

Video Materials

Video Abstracts

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5. Submitting your manuscript

Hand Therapy is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ht 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 Social media – Twitter @BAHTHandtherapy

Hand Therapy uses Twitter (@BAHTHandtherapy) to engage with debate on Social Media. Authors and readers are encouraged to join the ongoing discussion around the twitter account on issues related to the Journal. Authors are offered the option of providing their Twitter handle to be published alongside their name and email address within their article. Providing a Twitter handle for publication is entirely optional, if you are not comfortable with Hand Therapy promoting your article along with your personal Twitter handle then please do not supply it.

By providing your personal Twitter handle you agree to let the journal and Sage Publications to use it in any posts related to your Journal article. To include your Twitter handle within your article please provide this within the ScholarOne submission form when prompted and on the separate title page in the format outline below (please refrain from adding it to the manuscript itself to facilitate anonymous peer review).

As an example of how to supply this information please see the example below:

Joe Bloggs, Department of Neuroscience, University Hospital, Town, Zip code, USA
Email: JoeBloggs@email.com
Twitter: @drjoebloggs

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 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).

5.4 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.

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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.

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7. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Hand Therapy editorial office as follows:

By email to Christina Jerosch-Herold, editor.handtherapy@uea.ac.uk

By post to Christina Jerosch-Herold, Editorial Office of Hand Therapy, The Queen’s Building, School of AHP, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK.