HSS Journal®

HSS Journal®: The Musculoskeletal Journal of Hospital for Special Surgery

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

HSS Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Please read the guidelines below and visit HSS Journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/hss 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.

Sage Publishing and HSS Journal are committed to disseminating high-quality research and scholarship globally and to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in publishing. We encourage submissions from a diverse range of authors across all countries and backgrounds. Please click here for more information on Sage Publishing’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of HSS Journal will be reviewed.

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in HSS Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication.

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

1. What do we publish?
   1.1 Aims & Scope
   1.2 Article types
   1.3 Writing your paper
   1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

2. Editorial policies
   2.1 Peer review policy
   2.2 Authorship
   2.3 Acknowledgements
   2.3.1 Third-party submissions
   2.3.2 Writing assistance
   2.4 Funding statements
   2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests statements
   2.6 Research ethics and patient consent
   2.6.1 Ethics Statements
   2.6.2 Informed Consent Statement
   2.7 Clinical trials registration
   2.8 Reporting guidelines supplemental files
   2.9 Research data accessibility statement
   2.10 Preprints

3. Publishing policies
   3.1 Publication ethics
   3.1.1 Plagiarism
   3.1.2 Prior Publication
   3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
   3.3 Open access and author archiving

4. Preparing your manuscript
   4.1 Formatting
   4.2 Artwork, figures, and other graphics
   4.3 Supplemental material
   4.4 Reference style
   4.5 English language editing services
   4.6 Guidelines & Checklist for Reporting on Race and Ethnicity in Submissions to HSS Journal

5. Submitting your manuscript
   5.1 ORCID
   5.2 Information required for completing your submission
   5.3 Permissions

6. On acceptance and publication
   6.1 Sage production
   6.2 OnlineFirst publication
   6.3 Access to your published article
   6.4 Promoting your article

7. Further information
   7.1 Appealing the publication decision

1. What do we publish?

1.1 Aims & Scope

Before submitting your manuscript to HSS Journal, please read the Aims & Scope.

1.2 Article types

HSS Journal considers the following article types.

• Original Article

  • In the Introduction, lay out the rationale for your study; provide an adequate review of the literature that demonstrates the gap in knowledge your study will fill.

  • Format your thesis using a “question driven” style: include 2-4 questions or purposes in the Introduction that are then answered in the Results and Discussion sections.

  • Delineate your study design, sampling, and statistical analysis in the Methods section. Describe these in sufficient detail that your study could be replicated.

  • Limit to 3000 words (not including abstract, tables, figure legends, and references) and 50 references.

  • Include a 200-250 word structured abstract (Background, Questions/purposes, Methods, Results, Conclusions) and 3-5 keywords.

  • Include tables and figures that provide greater detail but do not duplicate findings reported in the text.

• Review Article

  • For narrative, systematic, and scoping reviews, lay out the rationale for your review; provide an adequate review of the literature that demonstrates the reason your review is necessary.

  • Use a “question-driven” style: include 2-4 questions or purposes in the Introduction that are then answered in the Results and Discussion sections.

  • Limit to 5000 words (not including abstract, tables, figure legends, and references) and 80 references.

  • Include a 200- to 250-word structured abstract (Background, Questions/purposes, Methods, Results, Conclusions) and 3-5 keywords.

• Case Report

  • The Editors consider case reports featuring a diagnostic dilemma, an unusual challenge in diagnosis or treatment, or unanticipated complications.

  • A representative literature review should be presented as background.

  • Limit to 2000 words (not including abstract, tables, figure legends, and references) and 30 references.

  • No abstract required but include 3-5 keywords.

• Commentary

  • Commentaries address a clinical dilemma or outline personal or professional experience.

  • Limit to 2000 words (not including references) and 20 references.

  • No abstract required but include 3-5 keywords.

• Letter to the Editor

  • Respond to an article published in HSS Journal with a letter of fewer than 500 words, including up to 5 references.

• Evidence Based Review in Orthopedics

  • Analyze a clinical trial published in any journal within the prior year.

  • Review and synthesize the literature on the topic to provide context for the findings.

  • Limit to 2000 words (not including abstract, tables, figure legends, and references) and 25 references.

  • Include a narrative (unstructured) abstract.

• Surgical Technique

  • Report on a surgical innovation in a structured article (Introduction, Technique, Results, Discussion).

  • Introduction: discuss the rationale for, and succinctly describe, the new technique.

  • Present results of the technique and include sufficient numbers of patients, follow-up times, and assessment methods to warrant use by others.

  • Discussion: review advantages and disadvantages of the technique.

  • Submit short videos of the surgery for posting on the Sage site (see instructions for submitting electronic supplementary material).

  • See this recently published example: Butler AJ, Brusko GD, Wang MY. Awake endoscopic transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion: a technical note. HSS J. 2020;16(2):200-204. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11420-020-09748-6

1.3 Writing your paper

The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit the Sage Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

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2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

HSS Journal adheres to a rigorous double-anonymized reviewing policy in which the identity of both the reviewer and author are always concealed from both parties.

Decisions on manuscripts will be made as rapidly as possible. In general, Editors seek advice from 2 or more expert reviewers about the scientific content and presentation of submitted articles. Please note that some invited manuscripts may receive less than two reviews. All manuscripts are reviewed initially by the Editors and only those that meet the scientific and editorial standards of HSS Journal, and fit within its aims and scope, will be sent for outside review.

As standard practice, HSS Journal does not permit the use of author-suggested reviewers.

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

The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in HSS Journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor or Board member will not be involved in the decision-making process. Similarly, reviewers from the same institution as the author(s) are not invited to review their colleagues’ manuscripts.

2.2 Authorship

Papers should be submitted only after all contributing authors have given consent. The author who is submitting the paper should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are included as contributing authors. At this time, only 1 corresponding author is permitted. 

The list of authors should be included on the title page only to facilitate anonymous peer review and should comprise those who can legitimately claim authorship. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. This includes those who:

1. Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work or the 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

Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, multicenter 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. Any changes to authorship, including author order, after submission will require all authors to sign an authorship change form indicating their agreement. 

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 section. Please refer to the ICMJE authorship guidelines for more information.

Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

2.3 Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help or a department chair who provided only general support. Please supply any personal acknowledgements on the title page and not in the main document to facilitate anonymous peer review.

2.3.1 Third-party submissions

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

1. Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company, and level of input

2. Identify any entities that paid for this assistance

3. Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations; e.g., conflicting interests, funding, etc.

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

2.3.2 Writing assistance

Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g., from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and should be included in the Acknowledgements section only. 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 the use of language polishing services.

2.4 Funding statements

HSS Journal requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading on the title page. 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. 

If no funding was received, state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests statements

HSS Journal requires all authors of any submission to declare conflicting interests from the prior 3 years, enabling a "Declaration of Conflicting Interests" statement to be published with each article.

HSS Journal requires each author of an article to complete an individual conflict of interest form, which can be downloaded from the ICMJE. A form for each author should be included at the time of the initial submission and potential conflicts of interest should be listed on the title page.

If no conflict exists, please state that "The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest." For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations here.

2.6 Research ethics and patient consent

Medical research involving human subjects must be conducted according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.

Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals.

We recommend that authors of case reports use the CARE checklist before submission. Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants.

2.6.1 Ethics Statements

1. 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 the statement includes the full name and institution of the review committee.

2. All research involving animals submitted for publication must be approved by an ethics committee with oversight of the facility in which the studies were conducted. The Journal has adopted the ARRIVE guidelines.

2.6.2 Informed Consent Statement

1. For research articles, authors are required to state in the Methods section whether participants provided informed consent, whether the consent was written or verbal, and whether consent was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative.

2. For individual cases or case series, information on informed consent 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,  whether the consent was written or verbal, and whether consent was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative.

Please do not submit the patient’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality. HSS Journal requests that you confirm, in writing, that you have obtained written informed consent but the written consent itself should be held by the authors/investigators themselves, for example in a patient’s hospital record. Confirmation may be provided in a letter uploaded with your submission as a separate file or it may be included on the title page of the manuscript.

2.7 Clinical trials registration

HSS Journal endorses the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrollment. However, consistent with the AllTrials campaign, retrospectively registered trials will be considered if the justification for late registration is acceptable. The trial registry name and URL and registration number must be included on the title page.

2.8 Reporting guidelines supplemental files

The relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type of study.

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 the original 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 the submission as a supplementary file.

The EQUATOR wizard can help you identify the appropriate guideline. If the research involves animals, include confirmation that you have carefully read and adhered to the ARRIVE guidelines.

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

2.9 Research data accessibility statement

HSS Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency, and reproducibility of research and expects authors to share their research data in a suitable public repository. Please read more about Sage’s policies on Research Data Sharing.

2.10 Preprints

HSS Journal will consider submissions of papers that have been posted on preprint servers; please alert the editor-in-chief in your cover letter when submitting 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.

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3. Publishing Policies

3.1 Publication ethics

Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.

3.1.1 Plagiarism

HSS Journal 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.

All submitted articles are checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have copied or inadequately paraphrased other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

3.1.2 Prior publication

If material has been previously published, it is not generally acceptable for publication in the HSS Journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

Before publication, Sage requires the author(s) as the rights holder(s) to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive license agreement, which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and license to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case, copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.

3.3 Open access and author archiving

HSS Journal offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

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4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

4.1 Formatting

Manuscripts should be submitted in Microsoft Word. Please do not submit the manuscript in PDF format.

To facilitate anonymous peer review, the following content should be included in a separate title page. During initial peer review, please do not include this information in the body of the manuscript.

1. Title

2. Author byline. This is a separate line immediately following the title and before the affiliations. The byline includes the full name and highest academic degree(s) for each author, in the order preferred for publication.  

3. Author affiliations. This is a separate section immediately following the author byline. Shared affiliations are allowed.

4. Corresponding author’s contact information

5. Conflict of interest disclosures for each author. If no conflicts exist for any or all authors, the following statement can be used in association with the names of the authors: “[Author name(s)] declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest.” 

6. Funding statement (or a statement reading “Funding: None”)

7. Acknowledgements (optional)

8. Number of figures and tables

9. Word count

10. Keywords

4.2 Artwork, figures, and other graphics

Illustrations, pictures, and graphs, should be supplied in the highest quality and in an electronic format that helps us to publish your article in the best way possible. Please follow the guidelines below to enable us to prepare your artwork for the printed issue as well as the online version.

• Format

• TIFF or JPEG. This is a common format for pictures that contain no text or graphs.
• EPS: Preferred format for graphs and line art, as it retains quality when enlarging/zooming in.

• Submission files

• Figures/charts and tables created in MS Word should be included in the main text rather than at the end of the document.
• For figures created outside Word (i.e., Excel, PowerPoint, JPG, TIFF and EPS), submit a separate file for each figure. The file name should reflect the numbering scheme in the manuscript. Please add a placeholder note in the running text (i.e. “[insert Figure 1.]”)

• Resolution

• Rasterized based files (i.e., those having .tiff or .jpeg extensions) require a resolution of at least 300 dpi (dots per inch).
• Line art should be supplied with a minimum resolution of 800 dpi.

• Dimension

• Check that the artworks supplied match or exceed the dimensions of the journal.
• Images cannot be scaled up after origination.

• Fonts

• The lettering used in artwork should not vary too much in size and type.
• Sans serif font should be used as the default.

4.3 Supplemental material

HSS Journal can host additional materials online (e.g., datasets, podcasts, videos, images, etc.) alongside the full text of the article. For more information please refer to the guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

4.4 Reference style

HSS Journal adheres to a modified AMA style for citations and reference lists. References should be in alphabetical order by author last name. In the case of multiple references by the same authors, those references are further organized by year of publication. In the case of multiple references by the same first author and different co-authors, references are further organized by the last name of the co-author and then by year of publication. 

Please abbreviate and italicize journal titles. 

In-text citations should be numbered according to the alphabetical listing of the reference list and placed within brackets. 

Submissions with reference lists not in alphabetical order or in-text citations not in correct format will be returned and the author will be requested to submit a corrected file.

Examples of formatted references:

Journal article with 5 or fewer authors
Soffin EM, Waldman SA, Stack RJ, Liguori GA. An evidence-based approach to the prescription opioid epidemic in orthopedic surgery. Anesth Analg. 2017;125(5):1704–1713. doi:10.1213/ANE.0000000000002433

Journal article with 6 or more authors
Griswold MK, Chai PR, Krotulski AJ, et al. A novel oral fluid assay (LC-QTOF-MS) for the detection of fentanyl and clandestine opioids in oral fluid after reported heroin overdose. J Med Toxicol. 2017;13(4):287–292.
doi:10.1007/s13181-017-0632-6

Book chapter
Wellington B. Soft tissue, peripheral nerve and brachial plexus injury. In: Clarke S, Snaty-Tomlinson J, eds. Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing: An Evidence-Based Approach to Musculoskeletal Care. 1st ed. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 2014:265–275.

Examples of in-text citations:

• Negotiation research spans many disciplines [3].

• This result was later contradicted by Becker and Seligman [5].

• This effect has been widely studied [1,3,27].

4.5 English language editing services

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

4.6 Guidelines & Checklist for Reporting on Race and Ethnicity in Submissions to HSS Journal

Racial and ethnic disparities in the provision and outcomes of musculoskeletal care have been well-documented within orthopedics. For example, Black patients consistently have shown lower utilization rates than White patients of major surgical procedures including total knee or hip arthroplasty, with worse perioperative outcomes following surgery [1]. Continued research is essential to understanding the complex factors contributing to such disparities, yet authors of clinical trials published in orthopedics journals have not routinely reported the race and ethnicity of populations studied [2].

Therefore, to encourage clarity in the articles we publish—and ultimately to encourage the provision of more equitable musculoskeletal care—HSS Journal is adopting the 2021 guidelines by Flanagin et al published in JAMA [3] on the reporting of race and ethnicity in submissions.

All authors, peer reviewers, and editorial board members should familiarize themselves with these recommendations, and authors should use the following checklist before submitting.

References

1. Chun DS, Leonard AK, Enchill Z, Suleiman LI. Racial disparities in total joint arthroplasty. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 2021;14:434-440. doi: 10.1007/s12178-021-09718-3
2. Paul RW, Lee D, Brutico J, Tjoumakaris FP, Ciccotti MG, Freedman KB. Reporting and analyzing race and ethnicity in orthopaedic clinical trials: a systematic review. J Am Acad Orthop Surg Glob Res Rev. 2021;5(5):e21.00027. doi: 10.5435/JAAOSGlobal-D-21-00027
3. Flanagin A, Frey T, Christiansen SL, AMA Manual of Style Committee. Updated guidance on the reporting of race and ethnicity in medical and science journals. JAMA. 2021;326(7):621–627. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.13304

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5. Submitting your manuscript

HSS Journal is hosted on Sage Track, an online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/hss 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 HSS Journal in the past year, it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

5.1 ORCID

As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process, Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of HSS Journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

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

5.2 Information required for completing your submission

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. The  details in the submission system must match those that appear on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note following the affiliations list on the title page of the paper. All the required statements and declarations must be included with the initial submission and all figures, tables, and supplementary files (including reporting guidelines, where relevant) must be uploaded at this stage.

5.3 Permissions

Please ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures, or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. Materials that required permission must be identified and permission forms must be uploaded with the original submission. Permissions should include online and print use. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

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6. On acceptance and publication

6.1 Sage production

Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. 

6.2 OnlineFirst publication

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

6.3 Access to your published article

Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

6.4 Promoting your article

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

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7. Further information

For questions regarding manuscript submission to HSS Journal, please contact:

Joy Jacobson, MFA, Managing Editor
jacobsonj@hss.edu
(646) 797-8509

7.1 Appealing the publication decision

Editors have very broad discretion in determining whether an article is an appropriate fit for their journal. Many manuscripts are declined with a very general statement of the rejection decision. These decisions are not eligible for formal appeal unless the author believes the decision to reject the manuscript was based on an error in the review of the article, in which case the author may appeal the decision by providing the Editor with a detailed written description of the error they believe occurred.

If an author believes the decision regarding their manuscript was affected by a publication ethics breach, the author may contact the publisher with a detailed written description of their concern, and information supporting the concern, at publication_ethics@sagepub.com.

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