Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery Open Reports

Manuscript Submission Guidelines: 

1. Open access
2. Article Processing Charge (APC)
3. Article types
4. Editorial policies
   4.1 Peer review policy
   4.2 Authorship
   4.3 Acknowledgments
   4.4 Declaration of conflicting interests
   4.5 Funding
   4.6 Clinical research ethics, and informed consent
   4.7 Reporting guidelines 
   4.8 Data
5. Publishing Policies
   5.1 Publication Ethics
   5.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
   5.3 Permissions
6. Preparing your manuscript 
   6.1 Word processing formats
   6.2 How to help readers find your article
   6.3 Artwork, figures and other graphics
   6.4 Tables
   6.5 Abbreviations, symbols, and drug names
   6.6 Measurements
   6.7 Supplementary material
   6.8 Style Guide
   6.9 Reference style
   6.10 English language editing services
   6.11 Disclaimer
   6.12 ORCID
7. Submitting your manuscript
8. On acceptance and publication
   8.1 Sage production
   8.2 Open Access publication
9. Further information

Please read the guidelines below then visit the journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jfms-or to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned for correction.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of JFMS Open Reports will be permitted to progress to review.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that:

• You are submitting your original work
• You have the rights in the work
• You are submitting the work for first publication in the journal
• The work is not being considered for publication elsewhere
• The work has not already been published elsewhere, and 

You have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright materials included in the work and not owned by you.

This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics
This Journal recommends that authors follow the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)

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1. Open Access

JFMS Open Reports is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. Each article accepted by peer review is made freely available online immediately upon publication, is published under a Creative Commons license and will be hosted online in perpetuity. Publication costs of the journal are covered by the collection of Article Processing Charges, which are paid by the funder, institution or author of each manuscript upon acceptance. There is no charge for submitting a paper to the journal.

For general information on open access at Sage please visit the Open Access page or view our Open Access FAQs.

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2. Article Processing Charge (APC)

If, after peer review, your manuscript is accepted for publication, a one-time Article Processing Charge (APC) is payable. This APC covers the cost of publication and ensures that your article will be freely available online in perpetuity under a Creative Commons license.

All AAFP and ISFM members are entitled to a substantial 75% off the APC for JFMS Open Reports. At current rates, the membership fee and discounted APC combined is significantly less than the full APC. To become a member and take advantage of this saving, as well as a full range of professional benefits, please see the Societies’ membership pages:

American Association of Feline Practitioners: https://catvets.com/members/membership/

International Society of Feline Medicine: https://go.icatcare.org/join-ISFM

The discount applies if any of the authors are eligible.

*If the paying party is based in the European Union, to comply with European law, Value Added Tax (VAT) must be added to the APC. Providing a VAT registration number will allow an institution to be exempt from paying this tax, except for UK institutions.

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3. Article types

JFMS Open Reports considers manuscripts submitted in the following formats. The main text must be a maximum of 1750 words for all manuscript types.

Short Communications 
Short Communications (ie, short research papers) must provide novel information relevant to veterinary practitioners and/or clinical researchers. Short Communications suitable for JFMS Open Reports comprise studies reporting valuable national or regional data on well-recognised aspects of feline veterinary healthcare (eg, disease prevalence or other relevant regional findings); note that any other Short Communications, for example those involving small studies providing valuable data, fall within the scope of the sister journal, JFMS. Short Communications should include a self-contained Abstract (up to 250 words, structured with subheadings as detailed in Preparing your manuscript, followed by Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgments, Conflict of Interest, Funding, Ethical Approval and Informed Consent statements, and References.  

Case Reports
Case Reports must be original and include genuinely novel information that would be of value to practitioners and/or clinical researchers; they should also contain description and critical assessment of any diagnostic treatment and process. They should include a self-contained Abstract (up to 250 words, structured with subheadings as detailed in Preparing your manuscript), followed by Introduction (optional), Case description, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgments, Conflict of Interest, Funding, Ethical Approval and Informed Consent statements, and References.

Case Series
Case Series (up to three cases) must be original and include genuinely novel information that would be of value to practitioners and/or clinical researchers. They should include a self-contained Abstract (up to 250 words, structured with subheadings as detailed in Preparing your manuscript), followed by Introduction (optional), Case series description, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgments, Conflict of Interest, Funding, Ethical Approval and Informed Consent statements, and References.  Note that large (four or more cases) prospective/retrospective case series fall within the scope of the sister journal, JFMS.

Letters to the Editor

Letters commenting on articles recently published in JFMS Open Reports will be considered for publication in the journal. Letters should not exceed 1,000 words (including references and one table or figure). The Editors may send the letter to the authors of the original paper for comment so that both letter and reply may be published together.

Manuscripts should be clearly labelled ‘Short Communication’, ‘Case Report’, ‘Case Series’ or ‘Letter to the Editor’.

Table 1. Overview of the requirements for manuscript submission to JFMS Open Reports

*Excludes abstract, tables, figure and table captions, Acknowledgements, Funding, Conflict of interest, Ethical approval and Informed consent statements, etc, and references
**For the reference style please see  6.9
***Includes references, tables and legends

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4. Editorial policies 

4.1 Peer review policy

JFMS Open Reports operates a single-blind peer review process in which the reviewer’s name and information is withheld from the author. The reviewers may at their own discretion opt to reveal their names to the author in their review but our standard policy practice is for their identities to remain concealed. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, and an editorial decision is generally reached within 6 weeks of submission.

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4.2 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 only those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who:

1. Made a substantial contribution to the work-up of the case(s) and/or concept and design, acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data, and
2. Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content, and
3. Approved the version to be published.

Authors should meet all the above conditions. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. Contributors not meeting all these requirements should be included in acknowledgements rather than as an author. Please note that a user account, containing name, email address and institution, will be created for all authors listed on a paper.

Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship. All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.

Please note manuscripts must be submitted with declaration statements in the following order: Acknowledgements (where relevant), Conflict of Interest, Funding, Ethical Approval and Informed Consent. Manuscripts may be returned if the statements are not included. 

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4.3 Acknowledgements

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 (see also section 4.2).

4.3.1 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.

4.3.2 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 first at the end of your article prior to your Conflict of interest statement

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4.4 Declaration of conflicting interests 

It is the policy of JFMS Open Reports 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 ‘Conflict of Interest’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any Acknowledgments and before the Funding statement. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.’

For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations.

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4.5 Funding

JFMS Open Reports requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgments page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: ‘The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.’

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4.6 Clinical and research ethics, and informed consent

Prior to undertaking studies and prior to submitting a manuscript to JFMS Open Reports, authors should read these guidelines to ensure requirements have been adequately met. 

Circumstances relating to the use of animals in clinical and experimental studies must meet international standards as set out in:

• The International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals (1985) from the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences, available at https://cioms.ch/shop/product/international-guiding-principles-for-biomedical-research-involving-animals-2/ (or from the Executive Secretary CIOMS, ℅ WHO, Via Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland)
• The ARRIVE Guidelines, available at https://arriveguidelines.org/

In addition to the above, for manuscripts submitted to JFMS Open Reports, the Editors would not normally support publication of:

• Any experimental studies directly resulting in euthanasia of the cats.
• Studies using non-experimental (eg, client-owned) cats that may cause the cat a level of pain, suffering, distress or harm higher than that induced by inserting a hypodermic needle, and/or where the procedure is not part of ‘Recognised Veterinary Practice’. Recognised Veterinary Practice would include investigations, procedures and therapies that are part of normal clinical practice and that would be of direct benefit for the individual cat (or potentially to the group to which it immediately belongs). Where investigations, procedures or therapies are unproven, or where there is deliberate exposure of cats to procedures or interventions that might be deleterious to their health without direct clinical benefit to them, it is highly likely that experimental cats should be used with appropriate attention to their health and welfare, with the requisite ethical approval (see below). If authors are in any doubt, they are encouraged to contact the Editors prior to manuscript submission.

The Editors would also expect that for all manuscripts submitted:

• Where appropriate, analgesia, sedation and/or anaesthesia must have been be used and the authors should have adequately discussed the use of analgesia for the welfare of the cats involved. 
• Any drugs or therapeutic agents used must have been obtained legally and ethically, following all relevant locally applicable regulations.
• Research involving experimental animals must always have received prior approval from an appropriate ethics committee with oversight of the facility in which the studies were conducted, and this may also apply to some studies involving client-owned animals (see 4.6.1 Ethical approval).

The Editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts on ethical or welfare grounds when, in their opinion, studies involve unnecessary pain, distress, suffering, harm, or potential harm to animals; and where the above guidelines have not been followed. 

4.6.1 Ethical Approval

All material published in JFMS Open Reports must adhere to high ethical standards concerning animal welfare and meet with the above guidelines. Irrespective of the nature of the work (eg, case report, case series or prospective, retrospective or experimental study), JFMS Open Reports requires all authors to make one of the following four ethical approval declarations (using the exact wording) in an ‘Ethical approval’ section at the end of on their manuscript, stating:

 a)  The work described in this manuscript involved the use of non-experimental (owned or unowned) animals. Established internationally recognised high standards (‘best practice’) of veterinary clinical care for the individual patient were always followed and/or this work involved the use of cadavers. Ethical approval from a committee was therefore not specifically required for publication in JFMS Open Reports. Although not required, where ethical approval was still obtained it is stated in the manuscript.

b) The work described in this manuscript involved the use of non-experimental (owned or unowned) animals and procedures that differed from established internationally recognised high standards (‘best practice’) of veterinary clinical care for the individual patient. The study therefore had prior ethical approval from an established (or ad hoc) committee as stated in the manuscript. 

•  This statement might, for example, apply to randomised and/or controlled trials (including where established interventions are being compared with each other), as well as studies where novel medications, techniques, devices or interventions established as safe but not currently part of ‘Recognised Veterinary Practice’ (see 4.6 Clinical and research ethics, and informed consent) are used. 
• Authors must state in the Materials and methods the nature of the institutional, national or international ethical review body used, and, if available, the ethical approval number. 
• If an existing ethical review body was not available, authors should state why in the Materials and methods, and should describe the nature of an ad hoc committee that was used (which must have included at least some individuals independent of the institute[s]/clinic[s] involved in the work).

c)  The work described in this manuscript involved the use of experimental animals and the study therefore had prior ethical approval from an established (or ad hoc) committee as stated in the manuscript. 

• Authors must state in the Materials and methods the nature of the institutional, national or international ethical review body used, and, if available, the ethical approval number. 
• If an existing ethical review body was not available, authors should state why in the Materials and methods, and should describe the nature of an ad hoc committee that was used (which must have included at least some individuals independent of the institute[s]/clinic[s] involved in the work).

d)  This work did not involve the use of animals and therefore ethical approval was not specifically required for publication in JFMS Open Reports. 

• Authors may select this option if, for example, the manuscript solely uses previously published data, or reports questionnaire or in vitro findings. This statement is not suitable for manuscripts containing novel animal-specific data (including retrospective studies).

For any queries regarding the best-fit statement, please contact jfms-or@icatcare.org

 4.6.2 Informed Consent and Informed Consent for publication

JFMS Open Reports requires all authors to make one of the following two informed consent declarations (using the exact wording) in an ‘Informed consent’ section at the end of their manuscript, stating:

a)  Informed consent (verbal or written) was obtained from the owner or legal custodian of all animal(s) described in this work (experimental or non-experimental animals, including cadavers) for all procedure(s) undertaken (prospective or retrospective studies).

b)    This work did not involve the use of animals (including cadavers) and therefore informed consent was not required. 

• Authors may select this option if, for example, the manuscript is solely uses previously published data, or reports on questionnaire or in vitro findings, and does not involve the publication of any novel animal-specific data.

In addition to informed consent for use of animals within a study, informed consent for publication is required where any animal or person may be identifiable as a result of the publication (eg, a recognisable photograph, description or unique identifiable features, etc). Authors are therefore required to also state within the ‘Informed consent’ section either:

a)  For any animals or people individually identifiable within this publication, informed consent (verbal or written) for their use in the publication was obtained from the people involved.

b)  No animals or people are identifiable within this publication, and therefore additional informed consent for publication was not required.

4.7 Reporting guidelines

Researchers reporting the results of research studies are encouraged to consult the relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines for different studies including, for example, the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) for randomised controlled trials. Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.

4.8 Data

When research data is published in JFMS Open Reports we request that any primary data used by authors in their research article is published as Supplementary material, or that detailed information is provided in the article 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 Editors may consider limited embargoes on proprietary data. The Editors 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 Lucinda Periac-Arnold (lucinda.periacarnold@sagepub.co.uk), Publishing Editor at Sage Publications.

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5. Publishing policies

5.1 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.

5.1.1 Plagiarism

JFMS Open Reports 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.

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5.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. JFMS Open Reports publishes manuscripts under Creative Commons licenses. The standard JFMS Open Reports license is Creative Commons by Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC 3.0), which allows others to re-use the work without permission as long as the work is properly referenced and the use is non-commercial. For more information, you are advised to visit Sage's OA licenses page.

Alternative license arrangements are available, for example, to meet particular funder mandates, made at the author’s request.

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5.3 Permissions

Authors are responsible for obtaining 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 visit our Frequently Asked Questions on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

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6. Preparing your manuscript

6.1 Word processing formats

Preferred formats for the text and tables of your manuscript are Word DOC, RTF, XLS. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and LaTex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
The text should be double-spaced throughout and with a minimum of 3 cm for left and right hand margins and 5 cm at head and foot. Text should be standard 10 or 12 point. All lines should be numbered on manuscripts using continuous line numbering. Figures, tables and Supplementary material should all be cited in the text in numerical order.

Title page

The first page of the manuscript should list the title (which should be concise [20 words maximum] and contain  no abbreviations), the authors’ institutional addresses, the corresponding author’s email address and postnominals, and the article’s keywords (a minimum of four, not including ‘cat’ or ‘feline’) 

Abstract

The second page of the manuscript must contain only the abstract, which should accurately and concisely reflect the content of the article. The abstract should be of no more than 250 words and must be clearly written and comprehensible to readers before they come to read the paper.

For Case Reports, the Abstract should be structured with the following two subheadings: ‘Case summary’ and ‘Relevance and novel information’. For Case Series, the abstract should be structured with the following two subheadings: ‘Case series summary’, and ‘Relevance and novel information.’ For Short Communications, the Abstract should be structured with the following four subheadings: ‘Objectives’, ‘Methods’, ‘Results’, and ‘Conclusions and relevance’.

Reference citations are not permitted.
Any manuscripts submitted without a structured abstract will be returned to the author prior to peer review, thus delaying the evaluation process of the manuscript.

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6.2 How to help readers find your article

The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article online through online search engines such as Google. Please refer to the information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords by visiting the Sage Journal Author Gateway page How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

6.3 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.

ImagesThe minimum quality required is 300dpi. When submitting your images for review, please resize them to a maximum of 2000 X 2000 pixels (the minimum size required is 1000 X 1000 pixels). Failure to comply with these guidelines will result in your manuscript being returned to you to amend, thus delaying the evaluation process of the manuscript.

6.4 Tables

These should contain only essential data. If tables contain laboratory data, wherever possible, both SI and US (American) units should be quoted and reference intervals should be provided.

6.5 Abbreviations, symbols and drug names

Each scientific abbreviation must be explained at its first occurrence in the paper; for example, ‘complement fixation test (CFT).

Medications should be referred to by their recommended International Nonproprietary Name (rINN). Where approporiate, the proprietary name and the manufacturer should be given in parentheses when first mentioned; for example, ‘carprofen (Rimadyl; Zoetis)’.

Do not use propriety symbols (eg, ® or ™) or ltd, etc, in medications or company names.

6.6 Measurements

Units of measurement may be expressed in either SI or US (American) units. However, reference intervals should always be included for laboratory data and, wherever possible, laboratory data should be quoted in both SI and US (American) units for ease of understanding by the international readership.

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6.7 Supplementary material

This journal is able to host additional materials online (eg, datasets, podcasts, videos, images, etc) alongside the full-text of the article. These will be subjected to peer review alongside the article.  For more information please refer to our guidelines on supplementary material, which can be found within our Manuscript Submission Guidelines page.

6.8 Style Guide

JFMS Open Reports conforms to its own style:  JFMS Open Reports Style Guide 2020

6.9 Reference style

JFMS Open Reports adheres to the Sage Vancouver reference style with some formatting variations.  Review the guidelines on JFMS Open Reports references to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

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

Note: In general only primary sources of information should be cited – citing reviews or book chapters where primary sources are referred to is generally not acceptable. Where relevant, authors should make note of [Abstract] and [Letter] in their references.

6.10 English language editing services

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

6.11 Disclaimer

The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery Open Reports (JFMS Open Reports) is published for veterinary and allied professionals and is not intended for use by cat owners or carers as a substitute for professional veterinary care. The journal’s content represents views and opinions of the authors (and advertisers), and not necessarily the views or opinions of the editors, societies, or publisher, who make no representation or give any warranty as to the accuracy, applicability, fitness or completeness of the content. 

Ultimate responsibility for the interpretation of published materials lies with the veterinary practitioner. Authors (and advertisers) may describe the use of products, formulations, methods, or techniques that are not necessarily available or licensed for use in cats in a reader’s own country. Publication of this content does not amount to an endorsement of efficacy, value or quality, or the claims made by authors or advertisers, and the reader is responsible for ensuring they comply with the legal and ethical treatment of animals. The authors, editors, societies, and publisher accept no responsibility for any loss or damage arising from actions or decisions based on information contained in this journal.

6.12 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 https://orcid.org/register to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

Please note that only ORCID iDs validated prior to article acceptance will be authorised for publication, and we are unable to add or amend ORCID iDs at later stages (eg, at proof stage).

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7. Submitting your manuscript

JFMS Open Reports is hosted on Sage Track, a web-based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jfms-or 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 either JFMS Open Reports or its sister title JFMS since 2011, it is likely that you will have had an account created – the same log in details can be used for both journal submission sites.  For assistance with this aspect please email the editorial office at jfms-or@icatcare.org. For further general guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

7.1 Social Media - Twitter @ISFMCats and @CatVets

JFMS Open Reports uses Twitter (through both the ISFM channel @ISFMCats and the AAFP channel @CatVets) 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. JFMS Open Reports 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 JFMS Open Reports 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 JFMS Open Reports 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 Veterinary Science, University Hospital, Town, Zip code, USA
Email: JoeBloggs@email.com
Twitter: @drjoebloggs

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8. On acceptance and publication

If your paper is accepted for publication after peer review, you will first be asked to complete the contributor’s publishing agreement. Once your manuscript files have been checked for Sage Production, the corresponding author will be asked to pay the Article Processing Charge (APC) via a payment link or a direct invoice if the corresponding author is within the European Union. Once the APC has been processed, your article will be prepared for publication and will appear online within an average of 20 working days. Please note that no production work will occur on your paper until the APC has been received.

8.1 Sage Production

Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly.

8.2 Online access publication

One of the many benefits of publishing your research in an open access journal is the speed to publication. With no issues to fill and no page count constraints, your article will be published online in a fully citable form with a DOI number as soon as it has completed the production process. At this time it will be completely free to view and download. Check the ‘Latest Articles’ tab on the journal website for the latest published content. Articles are batched every quarter, and are then available in the Archive.

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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 Editorial Office: jfms-or@icatcare.org

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