You are here

Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety

Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety


eISSN: 20420994 | ISSN: 20420986 | Current volume: 13 | Current issue: 1 Frequency: Yearly

Journal Highlights 

  • Launched in 2010
  • Gold open access journal – all articles are made freely available online immediately upon publication
  • Rigorous peer review
  • Listed in PubMed and indexed in Web of Science, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Scopus and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts
  • Over 660 000 full article views annually
  • Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety is a peer-reviewed open access journal which focuses on pioneering efforts and innovative studies across all areas of drug safety. Please see the Aims and Scope tab for further information.

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


    Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Statement

    Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety (TADS) promotes inclusive, open science that reflects the disciplinary, human, and geographic diversity of the drug safety community.

    Diversity as a core value embodies inclusiveness, mutual respect, and multiple perspectives.

    We welcome editors, editorial board members, peer reviewers and authors from all backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, nationalities, races, religions, sexes, sexual orientations, gender identities, mental or physical (dis)abilities, ages, career stages, socioeconomic status or any other individual status.

    We are committed to continually improving our editorial and review processes whilst playing our part in eradicating bias and inequality in all forms.

    Submission information

    Submit your manuscript today at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tads. Please see the Submission Guidelines tab for more information on how to submit your article to the journal.


    Open access article processing charge (APC) information

    The APC for this journal is currently 2500 USD. 

    The 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.


    Contact

    Please direct any enquiries to tads@sagepub.co.uk.

    This journal changed its publication mode from subscription to open access in 2019.

Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety delivers the highest quality peer-reviewed open access original research articles, reviews, and scholarly comment on pioneering efforts and innovative studies pertaining to the safe use of drugs in patients. The journal has a strong clinical and pharmacological focus and is aimed at an international audience of clinicians and researchers in drug safety, providing an online forum for rapid dissemination of recent research and perspectives in this area.

The journal is dedicated to publishing clinical research, including qualitative studies. We do not publish preclinical research, including basic laboratory research and animal studies.

Review articles include expert opinion pieces, perspective reviews (including single-drug and drug class reviews), patient perspectives, narrative reviews and therapeutic area reviews. Systematic reviews, meta-analyses, postmarketing and health economic and pharmacoeconomic reviews are also welcomed. The appropriate EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed (e.g. CONSORT for randomized, controlled trials and PRISMA for systematic reviews/meta-analyses). The journal 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.

The journal adheres to a blind review process in which the reviewer's name is routinely withheld from the author unless the reviewer requests a preference for their identity to be revealed. Manuscripts are reviewed by at least two referees.

Editor-in-Chief
Arduino Mangoni MD, MRCP (UK), FRACP, FRCP (London), FRCP (Glasgow), FRCP (Edinburgh) Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders University, Bedford Park, Australia
Managing Editor
Shasha Sharief SAGE Publications Ltd, London, UK
Associate Editors
Joris Berwaerts MD J&J Pharmaceutical Research & Development, USA
Matthew P. Doogue BSc, MBCHB, DipPaed, FRACP Univeristy of Otago Christchurch, New Zealand
Debabrata Roy, PhD Drug Safety Research Unit, Southampton, UK
Roy Soiza MB, ChB. MRCP NHS Grampian, Aberdeen, UK
Stephen Waring BMedSci, MB, BCh, BAO, PhD York Hospitals NHS Trust, UK
Biostatistical Editors
Royes Joseph, PhD School of Medicine, Keele University, UK
Chang-Xing Ma, PhD Department of Biostatistics, University at Buffalo, New York, USA
Mandy Michelle McBroom MPH UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA
Yoshihiro Noguchi, PhD Gifu Pharmaceutical University, Japan
Social Media Editor
Sara Tommasi, PhD Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
Editorial Board
Anna Birna Almarsdóttir PdD, MS, MSc University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Christopher Beer MB, BS, GradCertHPEd, PhD, FRACP Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, WA, Australia
J Simon Bell PhD Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Phil Berry MBBS, Mphil Independent Pharmaceutical Consultant, Geneva, Switzerland
Carlos-Alberto Calderon-Ospina MD, PhD, MSc Pharmacology Unit, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universidad del Rosario, Bogota, Colombia
Kin-Wei Chan MD, ScD, FISPE National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Antonio Cherubini MD, PhD IRCCS INRCA, Ancona, Italy
Bernard Cheung MA, MB BChir, PhD, MRCP, FRCP, FCP, FHKCP, FHKAM (Medicine) The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Claire Davies Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, London, UK
Alex Dodoo B.Pharm, MSc, PhD, FPSGH, FPCPharm University of Ghana Medical School, Accra, Ghana
Phil Hannaford MBChB University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
Manfred Hauben MD, PhD New York, NY, USA
Sarah Hilmer BScMed, MBBS, FRACP, PhD Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, NSW, Australia
Paul Jansen MD, PhD University Medical Centre, Utrecht, Netherlands
Jimmy Jose MPharm, PhD School of Pharmacy, University of Nizwa, Oman
Neil Kaplowitz MD University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Stephen Leslie BSc, MB ChB, PhD, FRCP Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, UK
Sunny Linnebur Pharm.D, FCCO, BCPS, CGP Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado, USA
Mary J Macleod BSc, MBChB, PhD, FRCP University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
Jennifer Martin MA, MBBS, PhD University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Glenn Matfin MB, ChB National Health Service, London, UK
Patricia Mcgettigan MD, FRCPI, FRACP Hull York Medical School, Hull/York, UK
Christoph Meier PhD, MSc University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Yola Moride PhD, FISPE University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada
Vicky Parikh MD, PPH Mid-Atlantic Medical Research Centers, Hollywood, MD, USA
Emilio Perucca University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
Philip Pierce MD Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Titusville, NJ, USA
Munir Pirmohamed BChB, MRCO, PhD, FRCP, FBPharmacolS University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
Thomas M. Polasek BSc, BPharm, PhD Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
Amrit Ray MD, MBA Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals Group, Titusville, NJ, USA
Michael Rieder MD, PhD Childrens Hospital of W. Ontario, London, ON, Canada
Luis Rios-Nogales MD, PhD Rational Vaccines, Boston, MA, USA
Greg Roberts Bpharm Repatriation General Hospital, Daw Park, SA, Australia
Allen Root University of South Florida, USA
Andrew Rowland Flinders University, Australia
Leo Russo MS, PhD Shire Pharmaceuticals, Wayne, PA, USA
Mohammed Salahudeen BPharm, PharmD, MBA, PhD, AFHEA School of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
Marco Sardella, PharmD, EEA QPPV ADIENNE Pharma & Biotech, Monza e Brianza, Italy
Carmelo Scarpignato MD, DSc, FRCP, FACP, FACG University of Parma, Parma, Italy
Rashmi Shah BSc, MBBS, FRCP, FRCP, MD, FFPM, HonFBPhS Rashmi Shah Consultancy Ltd, Gerrards Cross, UK
Michael Sorich Flinders University, Australia
Scott Twaddell BMedSc, BMed, GCClinTox, FRACP University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Allen Vaida PharmD, BSc Institute of Safe Medication Practices, Horsham, PA, USA
Tjeerd Van Staa MD, PhD, MA, MSc Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, London, UK
David Williams PhD, FRCP Royal College of Surgeons, Eire, Ireland
Richard Woodman PhD, MBiostats, MMedSco, BSc Flinders Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
Jane Woolley PhD Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, USA
Patient Advisory Board
Tina Aswani Omprakash Patient Advocate
Trishna Bharadia Patient Advocate, Maidenhead, UK
Anisha Gangotra Patient Advocate, High Wycombe, UK
Dominique Hamerlijnck MPhil, MBA European Patients' Academy (EUPATI), Amsterdam, Netherlands
Sheila Khawaja The World Alliance of Pituitary Organizations (WAPO), Monfalcone, Italy
Paola Kruger European Patients' Academy (EUPATI), Rome, Italy
Rising Stars in Drug Safety
Oisín Kavanagh, MPharm, MPSI, MPSNI, PhD Newcastle University, United Kingdom
Olivia Lounsbury, BS Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA
Sule Ajibola Saka, BPharm; MPharm; PhD, UKZN Faculty of Pharmacy, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Agoiwoye, Nigeria
Vasileios-Periklis Stamatellos, MD, MSc Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Greece
  • Clarivate Analytics: Current Contents - Clinical Medicine
  • Clarivate Analytics: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE)
  • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
  • ProQuest
  • PubMed Central (PMC)
  • Scopus
  • Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety

    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).

    All articles are listed on PubMed.

    Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tads 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 Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety 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.

    Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print 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.

    Citing preprints is permitted if no peer reviewed version of the article has been published.

    1. Open Access
    2. Article processing charge (APC)
    3. Article Types
      3.1 Title
      3.2 Keywords
      3.3 Abstracts
      3.3.1 Structuring your abstract
      3.4 Plain Language Summaries
    4. Editorial policies
      4.1 Peer review policy
      4.2 Clinical trials
      4.3 Reporting guidelines
    5. Declarations
      5.1 Ethics approval and consent to participate
      5.1.1 Ethics approval
      5.1.2 Consent to participate
      5.2 Consent for publication
      5.3 Author contributions
      5.3.1 CRediT
      5.4 Acknowledgements
      5.4.1 Third party submissions
      5.4.2 Writing assistance
      5.5 Funding
      5.6 Competing Interests
      5.7 Availability of data and materials
    6. Publishing Policies
      6.1 Publication ethics
      6.1.1 Plagiarism
      6.1.2 Prior publication
      6.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
    7. Preparing your manuscript for submission
      7.1 Formatting
      7.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
      7.3 Supplementary material
      7.4 Reference style
      7.5 English language editing services
    8. Article publication enhancements
      8.1 Infographics
      8.2 Video abstracts
      8.3 Plain language summaries
    9. Submitting your manuscript
      9.1 Information required for completing your submission
      9.2 ORCID iDs
      9.3 Permissions
    10. On acceptance and publication
      10.1 Sage Production
      10.2 Online First publication
      10.3 Access to your published article
      10.4 Promoting your article
    11. Further information

     

    1. Open Access

    Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety 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.

    Back to top

    2. Article processing charge (APC)

    The APC for this journal is 2,500 USD.

    Back to top

    3. Article Types

    Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety considers the following article types for publication: 

    Original Articles – The Editors will consider clinical interventional and observational studies with clearly stated aims, well-reported methodology (including main outcome measures) results, and a discussion of the results in the context of the published literature. Qualitative studies are also welcomed.

    • Abstract: Maximum 300 words. Should be structured to include:   Background; Objectives; Design; Methods; Results; Conclusion; Registration (if applicable)
    • Plain language summary: structured. Please check section 3.4 for further details.
    • Word count: up to 6000 words (excluding tables, figure legends and references) is recommended (this can be flexible)
    • Figures/Tables: no limit
    • Declarations: please check section 5 for further details.
    • Reporting guidelines: please check section 4.3 for further details.

    Review Articles – These manuscripts are usually commissioned by the Editors but unsolicited reviews will be considered. The following types of high-quality review will be considered:

    (a) General reviews that provide a synthesis of an area that fits within the aims and scope of the journal
    (b) Perspective reviews – review articles that address important new areas of general interest and afford the author the opportunity to present a forward-looking perspective on the topic
    (c) Drug reviews – review articles focusing on the available evidence for the use of a particular drug or combination therapy.

    • Abstract: unstructured, maximum 300 words
    • Plain language summary: unstructured. Please check section 3.4 for further details.
    • Word count: around 4000 – 6000 words (excluding tables, figure legends and references) is recommended. This can be flexible.
    • Figures/Tables: no limit
    • Declarations: please check section 5 for further details.

    Patient Perspectives – Review-style articles that address important new areas of general interest and afford the author the opportunity to present their perspective on the topic and/or incorporate their own experience in the field. These articles must have a minimum of one patient author. Patients who are interested in submitting to the journal are advised to contact the Managing Editor, Jonathan Collin (Jonathan.Collin@sagepub.co.uk) for more information.

    • Abstract: unstructured, 300 words
    • Plain language summary: unstructured. Please check section 3.4 for further details.
    • Word count: 2,000-4,000 words (excluding tables, figure legends and references) is recommended. This can be flexible.
    • Figures/Tables: no limit
    • Declarations: please check section 5 for further details.

    Scoping Reviews – these reviews assess the scope of available literature on a topic through comprehensive synthesis. It may help determine whether a systematic review of the literature is needed. These should be submitted under the Original Research article type and made clear from the title that it is a scoping review.

    • Abstract: Structured, maximum 300 words. Should be structured to include:  Background; Objectives; Eligibility Criteria; Sources of Evidence; Charting Methods; Results; and Conclusions.
    • Plain language summary: structured. Please check section 3.4 for further details.
    • Word count: around 4000 – 6000 words (excluding tables, figure legends and references) is recommended. This can be flexible.
    • Figures/Tables: no limit
    • Declarations: please check section 5 for further details.
    • Reporting guidelines: PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (please refer to section 4.3)

    Systematic Reviews – these should answer a specific research question and involve a comprehensive search strategy aimed at identifying, assessing and summarising all the current evidence on a specific topic.

    • Abstract: Structured, maximum 300 words. Should be structured to include:  Background; Objectives; Design; Data Sources and Methods; Results; Conclusion; Registration (if applicable)
    • Plain language summary: structured. Please check section 3.4 for further details.
    • Word count: around 4000 – 6000 words (excluding tables, figure legends and references) is recommended. This can be flexible.
    • Figures/Tables: no limit
    • Declarations: please check section 5 for further details.
    • Reporting guidelines: PRISMA (please refer to section 4.3)

    Meta-analyses – these include statistical procedures, mainly conducted in the context of a systematic review, that combine the results of multiple independent primary studies addressing the same research question.

    • Abstract: structured, maximum 300 words. Should be structured to include:  Background; Objectives; Design; Data Sources and Methods; Results; Conclusion; Registration (if applicable)
    • Plain language summary: structured. Please check section 3.4 for further details.
    • Word count: around 4000 – 6000 words (excluding tables, figure legends and references) is recommended. This can be flexible.
    • Figures/Tables: no limit
    • Declarations: please check section 5 for further details.
    • Reporting guidelines: PRISMA or MOOSE (please refer to section 4.3)

    Case Reports – these structured reports should describe an unusual case and include a full review of the pertinent literature and a section on implications for clinical care.

    • Abstract: unstructured, maximum 300 words
    • Plain language summary: unstructured. Please check section 3.4 for further details.
    • Word count: up to 2500 words (excluding tables, figure legends and references) is recommended. This can be flexible.
    • Figures/Tables: no limit
    • Declarations: please check section 5 for further details.
    • Reporting guidelines: CARE (please check section 4.3 for further details)

    Case Series – these descriptive structured reports (which do not involve formal hypotheses or pre-specified methodology or analyses) of a small group of patients should include a full review of the pertinent literature and a section on implications for clinical care. 

    • Abstract: unstructured, maximum 300 words
    • Plain language summary: unstructured. Please check section 3.4 for further details.
    • Word count: up to 6000 words (excluding tables, figure legends and references) is recommended. This can be flexible.
    • Figures/Tables: no limit
    • Declarations: please check section 5 for further details.
    • Reporting guidelines: CARE (please check section 4.3 for further details)

    Study Protocols – these can be for forthcoming or ongoing research. Information on trial registration (where applicable) and ethics approval should be included in the manuscript.

    • Abstract: structured, maximum 300 words. Should be structured to include:  Background; Objectives, Design; Methods and Analysis, Ethics (if applicable), Discussion, Registration (if applicable)
    • Word count: up to 6000 words (excluding tables, figure legends and references) is recommended. This can be flexible.
    • Figures/Tables: no limit
    • Declarations: please check section 5 for further details.
    • Reporting guidelines: SPIRIT (please check section 4.3 for further details)

    Letters to the Editor – these brief opinion pieces should be as concise as possible.

    • Abstract: None
    • Word count: Up to 1000 words (excluding references) is recommended
    • Figures/Tables: There is a limit of one figure or one table
    • Declarations: please check section 5 for further details.
    • References: these should not exceed 10 references

    The journal considers the results of rigorous, well-designed studies that demonstrate “no effect” or that fail to replicate previous work (“negative results”) as important to the advancement of science. Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety welcomes short reports on null or negative results as long as the papers are based on strong hypothesis testing.

    Brief reports –these articles should present original research in a concise format. Brief reports should, in general, describe research that builds on previously published data, such as a subgroup or secondary analysis of a larger study, the interim results from ongoing research, or the results of small-scale studies, including pilot and feasibility studies. The suggested format for these articles is listed below.

    • Abstract: Maximum 150 words. Should be structured to include: Background; Objectives; Design; Methods; Results; Conclusion
    • Plain language summary: structured. Please check section 3.4 for further details
    • Word count: up to 2000 words (excluding tables, figure legends and references)
    • Figures/Tables: 2 in total
    • References: a maximum of 20 references
    • Declarations: please check section 5 for further details

    3.1 Title

    Use titles that describe the main aspect of your review or 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 2-10 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 300 words. When submitting an Original Article, Meta-analysis or Systematic Review, it is essential that you structure your abstract with headings that follow the structure described in section 3. No references should be cited in the abstract. Any papers received without a structured abstract will be returned to the corresponding author.

    3.4 Plain Language Summaries

    A plain language summary (PLS) is composed of a title and abstract. PLSs must be provided for all article types except for Study Protocols, Editorials and Letters to the Editor which do not require the addition of a PLS. The PLS should be included in your article upon submission, after the scientific abstract and before the introduction. Plain language titles (approx. 50 words) and plain language summaries (approx. 300 words) are descriptions of the paper that are easily understandable, and will be viewed by researchers and clinicians, as well as the general public plus the media.

    The PLS should be a true reflection of the research presented, written in an engaging and accessible way, without exaggeration. Both merits and limitations should be discussed. However, patronizing language should not be used and the PLS should not be a ‘dumbed down’ version of your study.

    When writing a PLS, please follow these guidelines:

    -    Avoid jargon, use every day English terms to convey your message. If you need to use technical terminology or abbreviations, please explain the term when introduced.

    -  Define the who, what, why, when, where and how of the research. Provide answers to the following questions:

    •    Why was this study done?

    •    What did the researchers do?

    •    What did the researchers find?

    •    What do the findings mean?

    -    Use short, clear sentences, short paragraphs, and bullet points.

    -    Use an active voice rather than a passive voice. For example: ‘we reported several side effects’ instead of ‘several side effects were reported by us’.

    -    Use absolute numbers or percentages instead of statistics.

    -    Ensure that your conclusion/take home message is clear.

    -    Ask patients/carers/non-academics to read your PLS to provide feedback and to ensure that everything is clear.

    The plain language summary will be peer reviewed with your article, and feedback and suggested edits will be made by reviewers and editors.

    Please note that the plain language summary is in addition to the scientific abstract.

    Papers received without a plain language title and summary, where this is compulsory, will be returned to the corresponding author.

    Back to top

    4. Editorial policies

    4.1 Peer review policy

    Manuscripts are reviewed by at least two experts. Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety utilises a single-anonymised peer review process in which the reviewer’s name and information is withheld from the author. Reviewers may at their own discretion opt to reveal their names to the author in their review, but our standard policy 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 who then makes the final decision.

    Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication. 
    Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

    •  The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors
    •  The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper
    •  The author has recommended the reviewer
    •  The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution). 

    4.2 Clinical trials

    Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety 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.

    4.3 Reporting guidelines

    The relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines must be followed depending on the type of study. In addition, alongside your manuscript, you should upload the relevant checklist for your specific study type. Reporting checklists are used by the Editorial team and reviewers during the peer-review process and can be published alongside the final article at the authors’ request. The EQUATOR wizard can help you find the right reporting checklist and appropriate guideline for your type of study.

    • All randomized controlled trials must be reported according to the CONSORT guidelines. A completed CONSORT flow chart must be submitted as a cited figure and the completed CONSORT checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file
    • Systematic reviews and meta-analyses must be reported according to PRISMA guidelines.  The PRISMA flow chart should be included as a cited figure and the completed PRISMA checklist should be uploaded alongside your submission as a supplementary file
    • Meta-analyses of observational studies should be reported according to MOOSE
    • Observational Studies (case-control, cohort, or cross-sectional studies) should be reported according to the STROBE statement
    • Diagnostic or prognostic studies should conform to the STARD statement. The STARD flow diagram must be submitted as a cited figure and the completed STARD checklist should be submitted as a supplementary file
    • Study protocols should be reported according to the SPIRIT statement and the completed checklist submitted as a supplementary file
    • Case series and case reports should follow the CARE guidelines. The CARE checklist should be submitted as a supplementary file
    • Cost and health outcomes evaluations should follow the CHEERS guidelines and should include the completed checklist as a supplementary file

    For a full comprehensive list, please consult the EQUATOR Network website. Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.

    Back to top

    5. Declarations

    All submissions must include a section with the heading ‘Declarations’, including each of the sub-headings listed below. If a declaration is not applicable to your manuscript, you must still include the heading and state ‘Not applicable’ underneath. Please note that you may be asked to justify why a declaration was not applicable to your submission by the Editorial Office.

    • Ethics approval and consent to participate
    • Consent for publication
    • Author contributions*
    • Acknowledgments
    • Funding
    • Competing interests
    • Availability of data and materials

    5.1 Ethics approval and consent to participate

    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.

    5.1.1 Ethics approval

    All papers reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must state that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board approved the study, or waived the requirement for approval, providing the full name and institution of the review committee in addition to the approval number. If applicable, please also include this information in the Methods section of your manuscript. If this is not applicable to your manuscript, please state ‘Not applicable’ in this section.

    5.1.2 Consent to participate

    Please state whether informed consent to participate was obtained from participants and whether the consent was written or verbal. If the requirement for informed consent to participate has been waived by the Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board (i.e. where it has been deemed that consent would be impossible or impracticable to obtain), please state this. If this is not applicable to your manuscript, please state ‘Not applicable’ in this section.

    5.2 Consent for publication

    Submissions containing any data from an individual person (including individual details, images or videos) must include a statement confirming that informed consent for publication was provided by the participant(s) or a legally authorized representative. Non-essential identifying details should be omitted.  Please do not submit the participant’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 to publish 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 in addition to the statement confirming that consent to publish was obtained within the manuscript text. If this is not applicable to your manuscript, please state ‘Not applicable’ in this section.

    5.3 Author contributions

    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. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. 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.

    5.3.1 CRediT

    As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review and publication process, Sage is trialling the adoption of CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) on several of our journals. CRediT is a high-level taxonomy, including 14 roles, which is used to describe each author’s individual contributions to the work.

    You will be asked to list the contribution of each author as part of the submission process. Please include the Author Contributions heading within your manuscript. The information you give on submission will then show under the Author Contributions heading later at the proofing stage.

    5.4 Acknowledgements

    All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in this 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. If you do not have any acknowledgements to make, please state ‘Not applicable’ in this section.

    5.4.1 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 a 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.

    5.4.2 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.

    5.5 Funding

    All authors must 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.

    5.6 Competing Interests

    All financial and non-financial competing interests must be declared in this section. 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.

    5.7 Availability of data and materials

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

    The Journal encourages all authors to submit 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 on how the data can be obtained. This information should include links to third-party data repositories or detailed contact information for third-party data sources. Data available only on an author-maintained website will need to be loaded onto either the journal’s platform or a third-party platform to ensure continuing accessibility. Examples of data types include but are not limited to statistical data files, replication code, text files, audio files, images, videos, appendices, and additional charts and graphs necessary to understand the original research. The editor may consider limited embargoes on proprietary data. The editor can also grant exceptions for data that cannot legally or ethically be released. All data submitted should comply with Institutional or Ethical Review Board requirements and applicable government regulations. If this is not applicable to your manuscript, please state ‘Not applicable’ in this section.

    Back to top

    6. Publishing Policies

    6.1 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.

    6.1.1 Plagiarism

    Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety 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.

    6.1.2 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.

    6.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

    Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety 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.

    Back to top

    7. Preparing your manuscript for submission

    7.1 Formatting

    The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. Word templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

    7.2 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

    7.3 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.

    7.4 Reference style

    Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety 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 or Zotero to manage references, you can download the appropriate output style file to help format your references quickly.

    EndNote: here 
    Zotero: here

    7.5 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.

    Back to top

    8. Article publication enhancements

    8.1 Infographics

    An infographic is a graphic visual representation that provides a snapshot of an article. It is a very effective means of making your article stand out, encouraging readership of your work.

    Infographics must be peer-reviewed and submitted at some point during the peer review process prior to official article acceptance.  We recommend creating an infographic after first decision to ensure it reflects any peer review comments received. However, please let your Sage Editor know as soon as possible if you plan to create and include an infographic in your article.

    Sage is partnered with an external professional vendor. This service can be requested from the Sage Author Services prior to acceptance of your manuscript.

    Please visit our Author Guidelines for Creating and Publishing Infographics for further information on creating and publishing infographics.

    8.2 Video abstracts

    A video abstract is a short video that appears at the top of your article that highlights the key finding of your work. These are a great way of making your article stand out and can be either animations, narrative slide decks or ‘talking heads’.

    Video abstracts must be peer-reviewed, hence, the final video or the written audio transcript must be submitted during the peer-review process prior to article acceptance. If you think that you would like to prepare a video abstract to accompany your paper, please let your Sage Editor know in advance of article acceptance or upon receipt of your initial decision letter.

    You may wish to utilize a professional vendor to create an animated video abstract. Sage is partnered with an external professional vendor if you wish to use them. Read more here.

    Please visit our Author Guidelines for creating and publishing Video Abstracts | Sage Publications Ltd for further information on creating and publishing infographics.

    8.3 Plain language summaries

    Plain language summaries (PLS) are short descriptions of the paper that are easily understandable, making them accessible not only by clinicians and researchers but also by the general public and the media. They therefore increase the accessibility and reach of your research.

    Please visit our Author Guidelines for writing and publishing Plain Language Summaries for further information on creating and publishing infographics.

    You may wish to utilize a professional vendor to create a PLS. Sage is partnered with an external professional vendor if you wish to use them. Read more here.

    Back to top

    9. Submitting your manuscript

    Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety is hosted on Sage Track, a web-based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tads 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.

    9.1 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. 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).

    9.2 ORCID iDs

    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.

    If you already have an ORCID iD, please list this next to your name in this section. You will also be asked to link your ORCID iD 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. Please note that only ORCID iDs validated prior to article acceptance will be authorized for publication, and ORCID iDs cannot be added or amended at a later stage.

    If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

    9.3 Permissions

    Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

    Back to top

    10. On acceptance and publication

    10.1 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. 

    10.2 Online 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.

    10.3 Access to your published article

    Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

    10.4 Promoting your article

    Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

    Back to top

    11. Further information

    Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety editorial office as follows:

    tads@sagepub.co.uk

    For all commercial sales and sponsorship enquiries, including advertising, reprints and supplements, please contact:

    Commercial Sales Team, London, UK Tel: +44 20 7336 1205 Email: reprints@sagepub.co.uk

    Back to top