Autism

This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics

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

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Autism 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, 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.

1. What do we publish?
   1.1 Aims & Scope
   1.2 Article types
   1.3 Writing your paper
2. Editorial policies
   2.1 Peer review policy
   2.2 Authorship
   2.3 Acknowledgements
   2.4 Funding
   2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
   2.6 Research ethics and patient consent
   2.7 Clinical trials
   2.8 Reporting guidelines
   2.9 Data
3. Publishing policies
   3.1 Publication ethics
   3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
   3.3 Open access and author archiving
4. Preparing your manuscript
   4.1 Formatting
   4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
   4.3 Supplementary material
   4.4 Terminology
   4.5 Reference style
   4.6 English language editing services
5. Submitting your manuscript
   5.1 ORCID
   5.2 Information required for completing your submission
   5.3 Plain Language Summaries
   5.4 Permissions
6. On acceptance and publication
   6.1 Sage Production
   6.2 Online First publication
   6.3 Access to your published article
   6.4 Promoting your article
7. Further information

 

1. What do we publish?

1.1 Aims & Scope

Before submitting your manuscript to Autism, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

There is no need to submit a pre-submission enquiry to the journal, and in fact we discourage this as our scope is clearly stated at the link above.

It is journal policy for all submitted manuscripts to be screened by an Editor who will decide whether to send the manuscript for review. In this screening process, Editors will focus on:

• fit with the journal aims and scope, and listed Article Types (see below)
• relevance to autistic people’s quality of life
• justification of the research question
• relevance and quality of the methods and analysis methods for the topic under study
• validity of the conclusions in relation to the methods and findings
• quality of the writing
• potential for practical impact

1.2 Article Types

The Journal considers the following kinds of article for publication:

Research Reports. Full papers describing new empirical findings. These papers may present quantitative and/or qualitative data. In each case, the methods should be carefully selected to address the research question being posed, with due justification being given for: needfulness of the research; relevance to autistic people’s quality of life; appropriateness of the sample size and diversity; quality of the methods; robustness of the analysis methods; validity of the conclusions.

Fundamental or basic scientific discoveries can be considered for publication but need to make a convincing case for relevance to autistic people’s lives, especially if future implementation of the discovery is still far off.

Research Reports are generally restricted to a maximum of 6,000 words, including all elements (title page, abstract [200 words maximum], notes, tables, text), but excluding references. Editors may ask authors to make certain cuts before sending the article out for review

Before submitting a Research Report, please make sure to review the author guidelines, and especially section 2.8 for our reporting expectations.

Review Articles. General reviews that provide a synthesis of an area of autism research. These will normally be systematic but narrative and/or focused reviews can be considered if the authors make a convincing case for their ability to address a gap in knowledge.

Review Articles are generally restricted to a maximum of 6,000 words, including all elements (title page, abstract [200 words maximum], notes, tables, text), but excluding references. Editors may ask authors to make certain cuts before sending the article out for review.

Before submitting a Review, please make sure to review the author guidelines and especially section 2.8 for our reporting expectations.

Short Reports. Brief papers restricted to a maximum of 2,000 words with no more than two tables. The title should begin with ‘Short Report’. Short reports also report empirical findings from quantitative and / or qualitative data, but these may be preliminary, low-impact, or otherwise less substantial than a Research Report. Another reason to submit a Short Report is if your rationale, methods and findings are simple and neat. If your paper can be reported within the 2000 word limit we would encourage you to do so.

Letters to the Editors. Readers' letters should address issues raised by articles published in our journal, or issues in the field of autism research more generally. The issues should be contextualised within the literature to permit readers to draw general conclusions. Letters might cover: discussions of existing debates in the literature, articulations of new or controversial ideas, comments on work published in our journal, theoretical perspectives, methodological or conceptual critiques, The decision to publish is made by the Editors, in order to ensure a timely appearance in print. Letters should be no more than 1000 words, with no tables and a maximum of 5 references.

Registered Reports, Pre-Data or Post-Data:   

There are two types of Registered Reports:  

• Registered Reports – Pre-Data, i.e., before any data have been gathered
• Registered Reports – Post-Data, i.e., before already existing data have been examined and analysed.   

These submissions are reviewed in two stages. In Stage 1, a study proposal is considered for publication prior to data collection and/or analysis. Stage 1 submissions should include a complete Introduction, Methods, and Proposed Analyses. High-quality proposals will be accepted in principle before data collection and/or data analysis commences. Once the study is completed, the author will finish the article including Results and Discussion sections (Stage 2). Publication of the Stage 2 submission is guaranteed as long as the approved Stage 1 protocol is followed and the conclusions are appropriate. Full details can be found here. The Journal’s manuscript requirements should be adhered to for the stage 2 submission.

1.3 Writing your paper

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

1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

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2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

Autism operates a strictly anonymous peer review process in which the reviewer’s name is withheld from the author and, the author’s name from the reviewer. The reviewer may at their own discretion opt to reveal their name to the author in their review but our standard practice is for both identities to remain concealed. Each new submission is carefully read by one of the Editors to decide whether it has a reasonable chance of getting published, consulting with other Editors if and when they feel it is necessary. Our Editors strive to make this initial review within two weeks after submission, so that authors do not have to wait long for a rejection. In some cases, feedback may also be provided on how to improve the manuscript, or what other journal would be more suitable. The criteria used by the Editors when determining what to reject or send for review as described here [https://journals.sagepub.com/author-instructions/aut#Aims-Scope]. Each manuscript which passes this initial screening, is sent out for peer review by at least two referees. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, and an editorial decision is generally reached within (e.g.) 6-8 weeks of submission.

2.2 Authorship

All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

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 separately to the main text 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:

•    Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input 
•    Identify any entities that paid for this assistance 
•    Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

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

2.4 Funding

Autism 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.

Important note: If you have any concerns that the provision of this information may compromise your anonymity, you should withhold this information until you submit your final accepted manuscript.

2.4.1 National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded articles

If you have received NIH funding for your research, please state this in your submission and if your paper is accepted by Autism an electronic version of the paper will automatically be sent to be indexed with the National Library of Medicine's PubMed Central as stipulated in the NIH policy.

2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

Autism encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway. In particular, for working reporting on the development or evaluation of interventions the ICJME Conflict of Interest form provides an excellent template for considering a range of potential sources of conflict, and this can be uploaded and submitted with your manuscript if relevant.

Where an Editor of Autism is a lead or contributing author to a paper submitted to publication, the paper is always handled through the peer review process by another member of the Editor team and three reviews are obtained in each case. A statement is also published on each article where this occurs.

2.6 Research ethics and patient consent

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

Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, and all papers reporting animal and/or human studies must state in the methods section that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board provided (or waived) approval. Please ensure that you have provided the full name and institution of the review committee, in addition to the approval number.

For research articles, authors are also required to state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal.

Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative.

Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants

2.7 Clinical trials

Autism conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrolment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.

2.8 Reporting guidelines

2.8.1 Transparent reporting of trials

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.

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) guidelines should be followed when submitting in single-case design (SCD) and meet the standards outlined for internal validity of the SCD. 

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

2.8.2 Sample selection and demographic characteristics

Autism now requires authors to report the following information for all Research Reports (including systematic reviews): 

i.    procedures for sample selection and recruitment; and
ii.    major demographic characteristics, including age, gender, race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. 

Including this information will provide greater clarity regarding sample characteristics and generalisability of the findings, even when such characteristics are not used in the analysis (although we encourage investigation of subgroup differences, where possible). It should also encourage researchers to consider the way in which context and culture contribute to their findings. 

If authors are unable to report some or all of this information, its absence must be acknowledged with a clear statement of explanation (e.g., “specific data on socioeconomic status and educational attainment levels were not recorded”). Manuscripts that contain neither the required information nor an appropriate statement will be returned prior to consideration by the editors. 

2.8.3 Community involvement 

Autism encourages research that is actively carried out ‘with’ or ‘by’ members of the Autistic and autism communities (rather than ‘to’, ‘about’, or ‘for’ them), often referred to as ‘co-production’, ‘participatory research’, ‘patient and public involvement’ or ‘integrated knowledge translation’.

We therefore now require authors to include a community involvement statement at the end of the Methods section for Research Reports, outlining whether autistic people or family members, community providers, policy makers, agency leaders or other community stakeholders were involved in developing the research question, study design, measures, implementation, or interpretation and dissemination of the findings. Community members should be duly acknowledged – as authors or in the acknowledgements section – depending on the extent and nature of their contribution. We recommend that authors follow the BMJ’s editorial guidelines for documenting how community stakeholders were involved in their research.

If community members were not involved in the study, authors should state this. 

For more details about the reasoning behind this journal requirement, and editorial expectations of authors, please download this FAQs document.

 

2.9 Data Policy Statement

Autism supports open research practices and FAIR principles. As such encourages authors to share their data wherever possible and submit their data (or a link to it) and where applicable, their syntax/command files for the analyses presented in the contribution. Authors can make data available through a third party data repository or on the journal website as a supplementary data file. 

If cited data is restricted (e.g. classified, require confidentiality protections, were obtained under a non-disclosure agreement, or have inherent logistical constraints), authors should notify the editor at the time of submission. The editor shall have full discretion to follow their journal’s policy on restricted data, including declining to review the manuscript or granting an exemption with or without conditions. The editor shall inform the author of this decision prior to review.

Where data is sensitive and cannot be shared in an open forum, authors are encouraged to share metadata and provide a contact for requesting access if the raw data itself cannot be made available.

Data can be submitted with your article and hosted on the Sage Autism website where we work with Figshare to host data content. Authors can use a recognised third party data repository service to host their data such as Open Science framework. Authors may use their institution’s data sharing repository. 

Autism also encourages authors to delineate clearly the analytic procedures upon which their published claims rely, and where possible provide access to all relevant analytic materials. If such materials are not published with the article, we encourage authors to share to the greatest extent possible through a digital repository (above).

Autism encourages authors to use data citation practices that identify a dataset’s author(s), title, date, version, and a persistent identifier. In sum, data should be referenced and cited, where possible, as an intellectual product of value.

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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

Autism and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

3.1.2 Prior publication

If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. 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 as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.

3.3 Open access and author archiving

Autism 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

Autism asks that authors use the APA style for formatting. The APA Guide for New Authors can be found on the APA website, as can more general advice for authors.

4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.

4.3 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.

4.4 Terminology

4.4.1 Terminology about autism and autistic people

Autism has researched and produced its own guidance on terminology and language used in autism research. Please consult the guide here: autism terminology guidelines. 

4.4.2 Language used to discuss race and ethnicity

Likewise, Autism has also produced the following guidance to be considered when writing about race and ethnicity. Please consult the guide here: race and ethnicity language guidelines.

4.5 Reference style

Autism adheres to the APA reference style. View the APA guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

4.6 English language editing services

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

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5. Submitting your manuscript

Autism is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/autism to login and submit your article online.

IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created.  For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

5.1 ORCID

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

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

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

5.2 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).

5.3 Plain Language Summaries

As part of your submission, you will be asked to provide a Plain Language Summary of your article. Plain Language Summaries are a brief (max 250 words) description of the paper that is easily understandable. These abstracts will be made widely available to the general public, and particularly to autistic people and their families. As such, Plain Language Summaries should avoid both technical terminology and the reporting of statistics. Examples of Plain Language Summaries are provided in recent issues of the journal.
 
Authors may consider the following questions when composing their Plain Language Summaries. 
a.    What is already known about the topic?
b.    What does this paper add?
c.    Implications for practice, research or policy

Authors may also find the following resources helpful on this topic:

• How to write a summary paragraph
• Self Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center (SARTAC): Plain Language
• Center for Plain Langauage: Five steps to Plain Language 
• Are lay abstracts published in Autism readable enough for the general public? A short report - Lan Yi, Xiaohu Yang, 2023 (sagepub.com)

5.4 Permissions

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

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6. On acceptance and publication

6.1 Sage Production

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

6.2 Online First publication

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

6.3 Access to your published article

Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

6.4 Promoting your article

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

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7. Further information

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

Katie Maras
Department of Psychology
University of Bath, UK
Email: katiemaras.autism@gmail.com