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Scars, Burns & Healing

Published in Association with Katie Piper Foundation
Other Titles in:
Plastic Surgery | Surgery | Wound Care

eISSN: 20595131 | ISSN: 20595131 | Current volume: 9 | Current issue: 1 Frequency: Yearly

Scars, Burns & Healing is a peer reviewed, open access journal, which focuses on scar and burns research, with the breadth of science and medicine related to healing. Research in diverse fields from tissue engineering to genetics is increasingly brought to bear on scar and burns research improving our understanding and paving the way for better treatments. Please see the Aims and Scopes tab for further information.

This journal is the official journal of the Katie Piper Foundation.

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).


Why publish in Scars, Burns & Healing?

  • Rapid online publication in the only international journal with a specialist focus on scar research
  • Rigorous peer review of your scholarly work
  • No page or color charges
  • A free language editing service for articles from non-English speaking regions


Open access article processing charge (APC) information

The APC for this journal is currently £1500.

The article processing charge (APC) is payable when a manuscript is accepted after peer review, before it is published. The APC is subject to taxes where applicable. Please see further details here.


Submission information

Submit your manuscript today at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/SBH

Please see the submission guideline for more information on how to submit your article to the journal.


Contact

Please direct any queries to Philippa.stevens@sagepub.co.uk

Scars, Burns & Healing is a peer reviewed, open access journal, bringing together the specialist focus of scar and burns research, with the breadth of science and medicine related to healing. Research in diverse fields from tissue engineering to genetics is increasingly brought to bear on scar and burns research improving our understanding of disease in general and paving the way for better treatments.

- It is the only international journal which includes a specialist focus on scar research.
- Its content is designed in such a way to have relevance to a lay audience as well as a clinical and scientific one.
- It is fully peer reviewed and published open access to ensure maximum dissemination; all published content is freely available to view, ensuring the greatest visibility and impact for research in the areas of scars, buns and healing.
- Full colour publication for all articles.
- Affiliation with The Katie Piper Foundation ensures a wide and varied audience for your research

Editor-in-Chief
Kayvan Shokrollahi Mersey Regional Burns Service, Whiston Hospital, Liverpool, UK
Managing Editor
RuthAnn Fanstone Centre for Global Burn Injury Policy & Research, Swansea University
Associate Editor
Andrew Thompson University of Sheffield, UK
Ascanio Tridente Whiston Hospital, St Helens' and Knowsley NHS Trust and The University of Sheffield, UK
Editorial Board
Mark Brewin Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, UK
H. Eray Copcu G-CAT ( Gene, Cell and Tissue Academy), Stembio, Tubitak Marmara Technocity, Gebze, Turkey
Baljit Dheansa Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, UK
William Dickson MBE South West Burn Operational Delivery Network, UK
Peter Dziewulski St. Andrew's Centre for Plastic Surgery and Burns, Mid Essex Hospital Services, UK
Dale Edgar The University of Notre Dame, Australia
Sian Falder Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, UK
Nicolas Frasson Cliniques-STER, France
Gerd Gauglitz Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
Diana Harcourt UWE Bristol, UK
C. Scott Hultman UNC School of Medicine, North Carolina, USA
Frederik Huss Burn Center, Department of Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery, Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden
Jorge Leon-Villapalis Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, UK
Wei Liu Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
Koen Maertens Organisation for Burns, Scar After-Care & Research, Antwerp, Belgium
Peter Moortgat Organisation for Burns, Scar After-Care & Research, Antwerp, Belgium
Ciaran P. O'Boyle Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and The University of Nottingham, UK
Sarah Pape Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Susan Peirce Cedar, Cardiff University School of Engineering, Cardiff, UK
Alan Phipps Pinderfields General Hospital, Wakefield, UK
Warren Matthew Rozen Monash University, Monash Medical Centre, Victoria, Australia
Marcela Vizcaychipi Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, UK
Stuart Watson Canniesburn Plastic Surgery Unit, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, UK
Iain S. Whitaker Swansea University Medical School & Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, Swansea, UK
Amber Young The Healing Foundation Children's Burns Research Centre and South West Children's Burns Centre, Bristol, UK
Editorial Assitant
Rym Alaoui United Kingdom
Lay Reviewer
Julie Campbell Cann United Kingdom
  • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
  • ProQuest
  • PubMed Central (PMC)

 Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Scars, Burns & Healing

  1. Open Access
  2. Article processing charge (APC)
  3. Article Types
    3.1 Title
    3.2 Keywords
    3.3 Abstracts
  4. Editorial policies
    4.1 Peer Review Policy
    4.2 Authorship
    4.3 Acknowledgements
    4.4 Funding
    4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
    4.6 Research ethics and patient consent
    4.7 Clinical Trials
    4.8 Reporting guidelines
    4.9 Data
  5. Publishing policies
    5.1 Publication ethics
    5.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
    5.3 Patient information pages
  6. Preparing your manuscript
    6.1 Word processing formats
    6.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
    6.3 Supplementary material
    6.4 Reference style
    6.5 English language editing services
  7. Submitting your manuscript
    7.1 ORCID
    7.2 Information required for completing your submission
    7.3 Corresponding author contact details
    7.4 Permissions
    7.5 Twitter Handles
    7.6 How to submit your multimedia content
  8. On acceptance and publication
    8.1 Sage Production
    8.2 Continuous publication
    8.3 Promoting your article
  9. How do I cite a Scars, Burns & Healing article?
  10. Further information

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).

SUBMIT NOW: Please read the guidelines below then visit the journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/sbh to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. Remember you can log in to the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your paper through the peer review process.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Scars, Burns & Healing will be reviewed.

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.

Aims and Scope
Scars, Burns & Healing is a peer reviewed, open access journal bringing together the specialist focus of scar and burns research with the breadth of the science and medicine related to healing. It is the official Journal of The Katie Piper Foundation.

A truly multi-disciplinary journal, Scars, Burns & Healing seeks to publish suitable material relevant to all clinical specialties related to scar and burn care, and all clinical and scientific disciplines from genetics and immunology, to nanotechnology and tissue engineering related to wound healing.

Scars, Burns & Healing considers the following kinds of article for open access publication: Original Articles, Reviews, Case Reports and Editorials.

Scars, Burns & Healing welcomes submissions from a range of clinical and academic authors including:

  • Surgeons
  • Psychologists
  • Physiotherapists
  • Occupational Therapists
  • Dieticians
  • Nurses
  • Wound Specialists
  • Epidemiologists
  • Critical Care Physicians
  • Anaesthetists and Intensivists
  • Geneticists
  • Immunologists
  • Haematologists
  • Pharmacologists
  • Microbiologists
  • Physiologists
  • Biomedical Engineers

1. Open Access

Scars, Burns & Healing 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 licence.

The APC for this journal is currently £1500 GBP.

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

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3. Article types

Scars, Burns & Healing considers the following kinds of article for publication: Original Article, Reviews, Case Reports and Editorials.

No word limits are set for submissions; your articles will be assessed for acceptance based on scientific merit. Nevertheless, please do try to make your articles concise and make every effort to reduce the word count. During peer review it will be decided if the word count is appropriate, and whether the number of figures, tables and references is acceptable for the context of the article. Please note that Editors may still request that overly lengthy articles are reduced by the Authors.

3.1 Title

Use titles that describe the main aspect of your study, stimulate interest, are easy to read and concise, and state the design of the study (i.e., randomized controlled trial, case-control study, cohort study etc.). Main findings or interpretation of the study should not be included in the title.

3.2 Keywords

A minimum of 6 keywords will need to be entered when submitting your paper.

3.3 Abstracts

Along with the title and keywords, your abstract is key to ensuring that readers find your article 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 Sage’s Journal Author Gateway Guidelines on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

3.3.1 Structuring your abstract

Your abstract should be no more than 250 words. It is essential that you structure your abstract with headings that follow the structure of the main headings in your article. At the very least for Original Articles, Reviews and Case Reports this should include (but is not limited to); Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion.

Case Reports are best incorporated in the context of a review article with illustrative case examples with a similar format.

Any papers received without a structured abstract will be returned to the corresponding author.

3.3.2 Lay summary

Lay summary are an important feature of the article and must be provided for all articles except Editorials. These should be submitted with your structured abstract during the submission process. Lay summary (max 250 words) are descriptions of the paper that are easily understandable, and will be viewed by researchers and clinicians, as well as the general public (including individuals affected by scars and burns, and their families) plus the media.

These abstracts should avoid both technical terminology and the reporting of statistics. The lay summary will be peer reviewed with your article, and feedback and suggested edits will be made by reviewers and the Editor-in-Chief.

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4. Editorial policies

4.1 Peer review policy

Following a preliminary triage to eliminate submissions unsuitable for Scars, Burns & Healing all papers are sent out for review. The covering letter is important. To help the Editor in his preliminary evaluation, please indicate why you think the paper suitable for publication. The journal’s policy is to have manuscripts reviewed by two expert reviewers. Scars, Burns & Healing utilizes a double-blind peer review process in which the reviewer and author’s names and information are withheld from the other. 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, while maintaining rigor. Reviewers make comments to the author and recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief who then makes the final decision.

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 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.

4.3 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.

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

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, 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.

4.4 Funding

Scars, Burns & Healing 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. 

4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

It is the policy of Scars, Burns & Healing 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.

4.6 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 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.

4.7 Clinical trials

Scars, Burns & Healing 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.

4.8 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.

4.9 Data

Scars, Burns & Healing acknowledges the importance of research data availability as an integral part of the research and verification process for academic journal articles.

Authors submitting to the journal are obliged to provide raw data if requested by the Editor.

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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

Scars, Burns & Healing 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 plagiarized 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.

5.1.2 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.

5.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

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

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

5.3 Patient Information Pages

Authors agree that their articles can be used in whole or in part as patient information which will be hosted on the journal website and the Katie Piper Foundation site, and may also be used for print versions or leaflets with appropriate citation and acknowledgement.

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6. Preparing your manuscript

6.1 Word processing formats

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. 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 10 or 12 point.

6.2 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 color will appear in color online.

6.3 Supplementary 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.

6.4 Reference style

Scars, Burns & Healing adheres to the Sage Vancouver reference style. Please review the guidelines on Sage Vancouver 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.

6.5 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.

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7. Submitting your manuscript

Scars, Burns & Healing is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/sbh 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.

7.1 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.

7.2 Informtion 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. 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).

7.3 Corresponding author contact details

Provide full contact details for the corresponding author including email, mailing address and telephone numbers. Academic affiliations are required for all co-authors. These details should be presented separately to the main text of the article to facilitate anonymous peer review.

7.4 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

7.5 Twitter Handles

As a way of encouraging ongoing discussion within the field, Scars, Burns & Healing authors are offered the option of providing their Twitter handle to be published alongside their name and email address within their article. This way Scars, Burns & Healing readers who have questions or thoughts regarding your paper can tweet you directly. Providing a Twitter handle for publication is entirely optional, if you are not comfortable with Scars, Burns & Healing and/or The Katie Piper Foundation 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 Scars, Burns & Healing, Sage Publications and The Katie Piper Foundation use it in any posts related to your journal article. You may also be contacted by other Twitter users. Scars, Burns & Healing, Sage Publications and the Katie Piper Foundation will have no control over you or your tweets at any time.

If you would like guidance on how to promote your article yourself on Twitter or other Social Media channels please visit this page.

To include your Twitter handle within your article please provide this within the Sage Track Submission form when prompted (please refrain from adding this to the manuscript itself to facilitate anonymous peer review).

7.6 How to submit your multimedia content

How to create and submit video content to be published as an article 

Scars, Burns & Healing accepts and reviews videos, which can be published at article level or as supplementary material. Video content should also include an audio component – be that participants speaking within the video itself or a voiceover.

All authors submitting video content to be published as an article within the main journal should include as part of the submission:

    • A title page with names and contact details for all authors.
    • A structured abstract of no more than 500 words.
    • An audio-visual release form for each individual contributor to the video. This form should be signed, scanned and submitted as ‘audio-visual release form’. Please email mcmillan@sagepub.co.uk for a form.

It is advisable to submit the intended transcript for your video for peer review before recording and submitting the actual video. Scars, Burns & Healing will not edit video material at any stage during the peer review or production process. Any revisions requested by the Editor-in-Chief after peer review of the transcript will need to be made by the author group.

Authors of video content are also required to fulfil all of the standards and conventions expected of a text article, such as declaration of conflicting interest, patient consent and funding acknowledgements.

Video Style 
The video should open with a white-on-black title page, lasting for a few seconds containing:

    • Scars, Burns & Healing (http://sbh.sagepub.com).
    • The video title.
    • The authors and their affiliations.
    • Corresponding author contact information.

The video should close with a white-on-black title page, lasting for a few seconds containing:

    • Scars, Burns & Healing (http://sbh.sagepub.com).
    • The video title.
    • Acknowledgements, funding, conflict of interest and any relevant ethical statements.
    • Corresponding author contact information.

The technical content of the video should be well explained with the use of textual and or audio annotation, as required. Care should be taken to avoid compression artefacts, which impinge on the scientific content of the video; Please be sure to check all graphics carefully after compression, paying particular attention to line graphics – for example graphs with numbered axes.

Video Properties

    • At least 640 by 480 resolution and at least 20 fps.
    • The video compression should be of high quality. The Journal expects compression technology to evolve and so does not wish to be prescriptive over compression types. Today H.264 codec in an MP4 or AVI contained is a good choice. MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 are portable but have lower quality and larger files than the more modern codecs. We expect videos to be able to play on Windows 8 and back, Linux and Mac so proprietary formats, such as WMV and FLV are discouraged.
    • Note the Scars, Burns & HealingEditor-in-Chief reserves the right to request authors to change the compression codec before publication.
    • Videos should be below the 50MB mark and any video over this amount should provide a short preview to be hosted alongside the full file. Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.

How to submit your video 
Video content should be submitted via ScholarOne™ Manuscripts, a web based online submission and peer review system. Please visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/sbh to login and submit your video online.

How to create and submit a podcast to be published as an article 
Scars, Burns & Healing accepts and reviews audio content which can be published at article level as opposed to a component of a text based manuscript.

All authors submitting audio content to be published as an article within the main journal should include as part of the submission:

    • A title page with names and contact details for all authors.
    • A structured abstract of no more than 500 words.
    • An audio-visual release form for each individual contributor to the audio content. This form should be signed, scanned and submitted as ‘audio-visual release form’. Please email mcmillan@sagepub.co.uk for a form.

It is advisable to submit the intended transcript for your podcast for peer review before recording and submitting the actual podcast. Scars, Burns & Healing will not edit podcast material at any stage during the peer review or production process. Any revisions requested by the Editor-in-Chief after peer review of the transcript will need to be made by the author group.

Authors of audio content are also required to fulfil all of the standards and conventions expected of a text article, such as declaration of conflicting interest, patient consent and funding acknowledgements.

Podcast best practice

    • Be considerate to your listeners. Podcasts play in real-time, so be mindful of your users' attention and move the credits listing to the end of the audio recording.
    • Keep your personal discussions personal. Don't expect your listener to continue listening to discussions only relevant to the people creating the podcast.
    • Keep it short. Twenty minutes should be the maximum length for a podcast. Listeners are likely to be listening while exercising, driving or doing something else. Make your content consumable in a time period that fits this use model.
    • Deliver valuable, informative, engaging and entertaining content that your listeners can't get from any other media. Repurposing content may have its benefits, but you should strive to be a unique source of information for your market.
    • Make it easy for your listeners to find links to content you mention during the podcast by including these in the accompanying abstract.

Podcast Style 
The audio content should begin with the following description:

    • This podcast has been published in the journal Scars, Burns & Healing http://sbh.sagepub.com published by Sage.
    • The podcast title.
    • A list of contributors and their affiliations.
    • Corresponding author contact information.
    • A brief description of the podcast content.

The audio content should end with:

    • This podcast (podcast title) has been published in Scars, Burns & Healing, an Open Access journal published by Sage http://sbh.sagepub.com
    • Acknowledgements, funding, conflict of interest and any relevant ethical statements.
    • Corresponding author contact information.

Audio Properties

    • Audio content can be submitted in any of the following formats: asf, avi, flv, mov, mp3, mp4, mpeg, mpg, wav, wma or wmv.
    • The file will should be no larger than 50MB. If you wish to produce a podcast with a larger file size, please discuss this with the Scars, Burns & HealingEditorial Office first.
    • The file should be labelled as follows: SBH_volume year_month of submission_ leading author’s last name.

For example a podcast submitted to Scars, Burns & Healing in August 2015 by John Smith would have the file name: sbh­_2015_ 08_smith.

How to submit your podcast 
Audio content should be submitted via ScholarOne™ Manuscripts, a web based online submission and peer review system. Please visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/sbh to login and submit your podcast online.

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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 check for Sage Production, the corresponding author will be asked to pay the article processing charge (APC) via a payment link. Once the APC has been processed, your article will be prepared for publication and can appear online within an average of 20 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 made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit, or by email to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.

8.2 Continuous publication

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

8.3 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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9. How do I cite a Scars, Burns & Healing article?

Each Scars, Burns & Healing article is citeable using the year of the manuscript's first online posting and the Digital Object Identifier (DOI). DOIs are assigned to all Sage content for use on digital networks; and the metadata associated with that content is registered with the DOI Foundation. DOIs provide a consistent, permanent way to identify manuscripts published in the online environment. Scars, Burns & Healing follows the continuous publication model, so therefore manuscripts should be cited as follows:

Farjo, B, Farjo, N & Williams, G. Hair transplantation in burn scar alopecia. Scars, Burns & Healing 2015. DOI: 10.1177/2059513115607764.

Each article DOI is registered with CrossRef, allowing permanent resolution to each article and giving publishers the ability to link their references to articles whenever they are cited.

10. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Scars, Burns & Healing editorial office as follows:

Kayvan Shokrollahi
kayvan@shokrollahi.co.uk

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