SAGE Open Medicine: Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation
VCA publishes several types of manuscripts including Original Articles, Clinical Studies and Case Reports, Reviews, Commentaries, and highlights from meetings devoted to Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation. Special issues dedicated to particular types of vascularized composite allografts are also anticipated.
It is the purpose of the American Society for Reconstructive Transplantation (ASRT) to provide a platform for the advancement of education, science and practice of composite tissue allotransplantation (CTA) as relevant to reconstructive and transplant surgery.
Introducing VCA
Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation is an emerging new era in transplant medicine and has become a viable reconstructive option for patients with extensive tissue defects and severe dysfunctions. Advances in microsurgical techniques, transplant immunology and the development of novel immunosuppressive agents have enabled the realization of such novel transplants. Over the past decade, a rapidly growing number of face and upper extremity transplantations have been performed worldwide with highly encouraging outcomes.
VCA is the first multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed, international journal to exclusively focus on this new discipline. The content of this journal is directed towards both basic scientists and clinicians, with the aim of delivering the most complete and reliable source of information on current developments and advances in this novel field of transplantation. The journal welcomes high-quality scientific articles on a broad range of topics including organ/tissue preservation, ischemia reperfusion injury, mechanisms of skin rejection, immune regulation and tolerance induction, experimental immunosuppression and immune monitoring, nerve regeneration and cortical reintegration, as well as surgical techniques, and clinical trials and protocols.
VCA publishes several types of manuscripts including Original Articles, Clinical Studies and Case Reports, Reviews, Commentaries, and highlights from meetings devoted to Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation. Special issues dedicated to particular types of vascularized composite allografts are also anticipated. We are welcoming authors, reviewers and readers to join this exciting new venture of VCA.
| Gerald Brandacher, MD | Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA |
| W.P. Andrew Lee, MD | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA |
| Jean-Michel Dubernard, MD | Hôpital Edouard Herriot, HCL, Lyon, France |
| L. Scott Levin, MD | University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA |
| Raimund Margreiter, MD | Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria |
| Bohdan Pomahac, MD | Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA |
| Stefan Schneeberger, MD | Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria |
| Maria Siemionow, MD, PhD | University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA |
| Kodi Azari, MD | David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| Rolf N. Barth, MD | University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA |
| Warren C. Breidenbach III, MD | The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA |
| Peter Butler, MD | University College London, London, UK |
| Linda C. Cendales, MD | Duke University, Durham, NC, USA |
| Daniel J. Ceradini, MD, PhD | New York University, Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, USA |
| Curtis L. Cetrulo Jr., MD | Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA, USA |
| Eric Elster, MD, CAPT MC USN | Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD, USA |
| Scott H. Frey, PhD | University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA |
| Vijay S. Gorantla, MD, PhD | Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA |
| Shehan Hettiaratchy, MD | Imperial College, London, UK |
| Suzanne T. Ildstad | Institute for Cellular Therapeutics, Jewish Hospital, Louisville, KY, USA |
| Jerzy Jablecki, MD | St Hedwig of Silesia Hospital, Trzebnica, Poland |
| Christina Kaufman, PhD | University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA |
| Yur-Ren Kuo, MD, PhD | Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan |
| Josef M. Kurtz, PhD | Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA |
| David Mathes, MD | University of Colorado, Denver, CO, USA |
| Sue V. McDiarmid, MD | David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| Steven L. Moran, MD | Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA |
| Palmina Petruzzo, MD | University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy |
| Eduardo D. Rodriguez, MD, DDS | NYU Langone Medical Center, Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, USA |
| David H. Sachs, MD | Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, USA |
| Jaimie T. Shores, MD | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA |
| Fu-Chan Wei, MD, PhD | Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan |
| Jason Wertheim, MD, PhD | Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA |
This journal has ceased publication and is not accepting new submissions.
This Journal (VCA) 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).
Please read the guidelines below then visit the journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/vca 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 disseminates high-quality research and engaged scholarship globally, and we are committed to diversity and inclusion in publishing. We encourage submissions from a diverse range of authors from across all countries and backgrounds.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of VCA 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.
- Open Access
- Article processing charge (APC)
- What do we publish?
3.1 Aims & scope
3.2 Article types
3.3 Writing your paper
3.3.1 Making your article discoverable - Editorial policies
4.1 Peer Review Policy
4.2 Authorship
4.3 Acknowledgements
4.4 Funding
4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
4.6 Research ethics and patient consent
4.7 Clinical Trials
4.8 Reporting guidelines
4.9 Research Data - Publishing policies
5.1 Publication ethics
5.2 Contributor's publishing agreement - Preparing your manuscript
6.1 Word processing formats
6.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
6.3 Supplemental material
6.4 Reference style
6.5 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
7.1 How to submit your manuscript
7.2 Title, keywords and abstracts
7.3 Information required for completing your submission
7.4 ORCID
7.5 Information required for completing your submission
7.6 Permissions - On acceptance and publication
8.1 Sage Production
8.2 Continuous publication
8.3 Promoting your article - Further information
VCA 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.
2. Article processing charge (APC)
If, after peer review, your manuscript is accepted for publication, a one-time article processing charge (APC) is payable. This APC covers the cost of publication and ensures that your article will be freely available online in perpetuity under a Creative Commons license.
The current article processing charge (APC) is $2000 (+ VAT where applicable).
The article processing charge (APC) is payable when a manuscript is accepted after peer review, before it is published. The APC is subject to taxes where applicable. Tax-exempt status can be indicated by providing appropriate registration numbers when payment is requested. Please see further details here.
Before submitting your manuscript to VCA, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
• Original Articles
• Rapid Communications
• Clinical Studies and Case Reports
• Review Articles
• Guidelines and Consensus Reports
• Letters to the Editor or Correspondence
• Invited Commentaries
• Meeting Reports
Original Articles
Word Limit: 4000 words including abstract but excluding references, tables and figures.
Abstract: 250 words
References: No limit
Rapid Communications
Word Limit: 2500 words including abstract but excluding references, tables and figures.
Abstract: 150 words
References: 30
Clinical Studies
Word Limit: 4000 words including abstract but excluding references, tables and figures.
Abstract: 250 words
References: No limit
Case Reports
Word Limit: 3000 words including abstract but excluding references, tables and figures.
Abstract: 200 words
References: 20
Review Articles
Word Limit: 5000 words including abstract but excluding references, tables and figures.
Abstract: 250 words
References: No limit
Guidelines and Consensus Reports
Authors of guidelines or consensus reports follow the AGREE II and IOM standards.
Letter to the Editor or Correspondence
Word Limit: 500 words excluding references, tables and figures
No abstract, no headings or subheadings
References: Up to 5
Tables and figures: limited to one each
Invited Commentaries
Word Limit: 1000 words excluding references, tables and figures
No abstract required
References: Up to 10
Tables and figures: limited to one each
The Editors may invite commentaries on original articles published in the same issue of VCA
Meeting Reports
Word Limit: 3000 words including abstract but excluding references, tables and figures.
Abstract: 250 words
References: 30
Should focus on meeting or consensus conferences relevant to the field of Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation
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.
3.3.1 Making 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
Following a preliminary triage to eliminate submissions unsuitable for VCA, all papers are sent out for review. The covering letter is important. To help the Editor in their preliminary evaluation, please indicate why you think the paper suitable for publication. If your paper should be considered for fast-track publication, please explain why.
The journal’s policy is to have manuscripts reviewed by two expert reviewers. VCA utilizes a single-blind 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 practice is for their identities to remain concealed. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, while maintaining rigor. Reviewers make comments to the author and recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief or Co- Editor-in-Chief who then makes the final decision.
As part of the submission process you will be asked to provide the names of [X #] peers who could be called upon to review your manuscript. Recommended reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Please be aware of any conflicts of interest when recommending reviewers. Examples of conflicts of interest include (but are not limited to) the below:
• The reviewer should have no prior knowledge of your submission
• The reviewer should not have recently collaborated with any of the authors
• Reviewer nominees from the same institution as any of the authors are not permitted
You will also be asked to nominate peers who you do not wish to review your manuscript (opposed reviewers).
Please note that the Editors are not obliged to invite/ reject any recommended/opposed reviewers to assess your manuscript.
The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor / Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.
VCA 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 VCA 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.
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:
(i) Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,
(ii) Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
(iii) Approved the version to be published,
(iv) Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.
Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.
Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
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.
Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.
4.3.1 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.
VCA requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
It is the policy of VCA to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.
Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’.
For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations.
4.6 Research ethics and patient consent
Medical research involving human subjects must be conducted according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.
Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, and all papers reporting animal and/or human studies must state in the methods section that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board provided (or waived) approval. Please ensure that you have provided the full name and institution of the review committee, in addition to the approval number.
For research articles, authors are also required to state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal.
InInformation 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 do not submit the patient’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 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.
Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants
All research involving animals submitted for publication must be approved by an ethics committee with oversight of the facility in which the studies were conducted. The Journal has adopted the ARRIVE guidelines.
VCA 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 relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type of study. For example, all randomized controlled trials submitted for publication should include a completed CONSORT flow chart as a cited figure and the completed CONSORT checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses should include the completed PRISMA flow chart as a cited figure and the completed PRISMA checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. The EQUATOR wizard can help you identify the appropriate guideline.
Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.
The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.
Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:
- share your research data in a relevant public data repository
- include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
- cite this data in your research
Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.
5.1.1 Plagiarism
VCA and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
5.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published, it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
5.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. VCA 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.
The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
6.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines
Figures supplied in color will appear in color online.
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.
VCA adheres to the Sage Vancouver reference style. Please review the guidelines on Sage Vancouver to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Vancouver output file here.
6.5 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
Terminology: The authors are encouraged to use transplant suitable terminology. For reference please see the glossary maintained by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network at https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/resources/glossary.
7.1 How to submit your manuscript
VCA is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/vca to login and submit your article online.
IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.
7.2 Title, keywords and abstracts
Please supply a title, short title, an abstract and keywords to accompany your article. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article online through online search engines such as Google. Please refer to the information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords by visiting the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidelines on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.
7.3 Information required for completing your submission
Provide full contact details for the corresponding author including email, mailing address and telephone numbers. Academic affiliations are required for all co-authors. These details should be presented separately to the main text of the article to facilitate anonymous peer review.
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).
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
7.5 Information required for completing your submissions
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. The affiliation listed on 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 at the end of the paper. 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).
Please 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 Journal Author Gateway.
8. On acceptance and publication
If your paper is accepted for publication after peer review, you will first be asked to complete the contributor’s publishing agreement. Once your manuscript files have been checked for Sage Production, the corresponding author will be asked to pay the article processing charge (APC) via a payment link. Once the APC has been processed, your article will be prepared for publication and can appear online within an average of 30 days. Please note that no production work will occur on your paper until the APC has been received.
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.
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.
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. In addition, Sage is partnered with Kudos, a free service that allows authors to explain, enrich, share, and measure the impact of their article. Find out how to maximize your article’s impact with Kudos.
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the Manuscript Submission process should be sent to the VCA editorial office as follows:
Erin O'Brien, Publishing Editor
erin.obrien@sagepub.com