Information for Contributors
Palliative Medicine is a highly ranked, peer reviewed scholarly journal
Pallaitive Medicine has a fully web-based system for the submission and review of manuscripts. All submissions should be made online at the Palliative Medicine
SAGETRACKwebsite
Note: Online submission and review of manuscripts is now mandatory for all types of papers.
New User Account
Please log onto the website. If you are a new user, you will first need to create an account. Follow the instructions and please ensure to enter a current and correct email address. Creating your account is a three-step process that takes a matter of minutes to set up. When you have finished, your User ID and password is sent via email immediately. Please edit your user ID and password to something more memorable by selecting 'edit account' at the top of the screen. If you have already created an account but have forgotten your details type your email address in the 'Password Help' to receive an emailed reminder. Full instructions for uploading the manuscript are provided on the website.
New Submission
Submissions should be made by logging in and selecting the Author Center and the 'Click here to Submit a New Manuscript' option. Follow the instructions on each page, clicking the 'Next' button on each screen to save your work and advance to the next screen. If at any stage you have any questions or require the user guide, please use the 'Get Help Now' button at the top right of every screen. Further help is available through ScholarOne's® Manuscript CentralTM customer support at +1 434 817 2040 x 167.
To upload your files, click on the 'Browse' button and locate the file on your computer. Select the designation of each file (i.e. main document, submission form, figure) in the drop down next to the browse button. When you have selected all files you wish to upload, click the 'Upload Files' button
Review your submission (in both PDF and HTML formats) and then click the Submit button
You may suspend a submission at any point before clicking the Submit button and save it to submit later. After submission, you will receive a confirmation e-mail. You can also log back into your author centre at any time to check the status of your manuscript.
Please ensure that you submit editable/source files only (Microsoft Word or RTF) and that your document does not include page numbers; the Palliative Medicine SAGETRACK system will generate them for you, and then automatically convert your manuscript to PDF for peer review. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revisions, will be by email.
If you would like to discuss your paper prior to submission, or seek advice on the submission process please contact the Editorial Assistant, Debbie Ashby, at the following email address: Debbie.Ashby@bristol.ac.uk
Submitting a Revised Submission
Authors submitting revised manuscripts should follow the instructions above to submit through the SAGETRACK system. To create a revision, go to the 'Manuscripts with Decisions' option in your Author Dashboard and select 'create a revision in the 'Action' column. Authors of all revised submissions should, when prompted, provide information explaining the changes in your manuscript as this will be provided to reviewers.
Notes for Authors
Palliative Medicine publishes original articles, reviews, case studies and correspondence on any subject relevant to palliative care. The journal particularly encourages papers of interdisciplinary and nonmedical authorship. The principal criteria for acceptance of material are originality and quality. All material submitted for publication is assumed to be submitted exclusively to Palliative Medicine unless the contrary is stated. Before acceptance, papers will be refereed and may be statistically assessed. All authors will be sent a Transfer of copyright which must be signed before the paper is published.
Priority and time of publication are decided by the Editor, who retains the customary right to edit material accepted for publication.
When preparing your paper:
• Use the minimum formatting.
• Roman, bold and italic type can be used, but use only one typeface and size.
• Capitals should be used only where they are to appear in the finished text.
• The text should be ranged left and unjustified, with hyphenation cancelled.
• Indents, underlining and tabs should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
• Headings and paragraphs should be separated by two carriage returns.
• There should be only one space between words and only one space after any punctuation.
The title page. Give the title of the paper and a running title if the main title is very long. Authors should include their names and initials, their posts at the time they did the work and their current appointments and qualifications. The name and address of the author to whom correspondence, proofs and offprint order are to be sent should be given, together with telephone and fax numbers if possible.
Supply up to six key words, to be subject headings from Index Medicus.
Structure. Manuscripts should be approximately as follows:
review articles, 5 000 - 10 000 words;
original papers, 1 500 - 3 000 words with up to six tables or figures;
case reports, up to 900 words with one table or figure;
letters, up to 600 words;
book reviews, up to 150 words.
Scientific papers should be divided into abstract (approximately 150 words), introduction, methods, results, discussion, acknowledgements, and references. Case reports should be divided into abstract, introduction, case history, discussion, acknowledgements, and references.
Headings. In dividing articles under headings, please grade the headings by writing A, B, or C in the margin:
A - subheading
B - subsubheading
C - subsubsubheading
Please avoid using more than three levels of subheading.
Style.
(i) Generic names should be used for drugs. Authors should be aware of different drug names and availability in the UK, North America and Australia, and give alternative names or drugs in the text.
(ii) Scientific measurements should be given in SI units, but blood pressure should be expressed in mmHg and haemoglobin as g/dl.
(iii) For numbers, adopt a rule that all numbers under 10 should be written as words, except when attached to a unit of quantity (e.g. 1 mm or 3 kg), and that numbers of 10 or more should be written as digits, except at the beginning of a sentence.
(iv) Abbreviations should be kept to a minimum and must be clearly defined when used for the first time. Abbreviations should be typed with no full point.
(v) Avoid excessive capitalization. For the titles of books and articles, capitals should be used for the initial letter of the first word only. However, for the titles of journals and series, the initial letter of all principal words should be capitalized.
(vi) Use italics for emphasis only very sparingly.
Illustrations. All illustrations and graphs should be submitted in the form of completed artwork suitable for reproduction. They should be separate from the typescript with legends also on a separate sheet. Please indicate the position of all figures in the text. All figures should have the 'TOP' marked on the reverse with a soft pencil. The name of the first author should also be clear. When graphs or histograms are submitted the numerical data on which they are based should be supplied.
Line diagrams. No illustrations, including captions, will be given more space than the text area of the journal (i.e. 156 mm x 195 mm). Figures should ideally be drawn for a reduction of one-third, i.e., 3:2 or 150:100 mm. Where possible, all figures should be drawn for the same reduction.
All lines in a drawing should be of even weight. Do not use too fine a tint as this will result in a blotchy appearance after reduction. All lettering should follow the journal's typographical style.
Any colour reproduction costs must be met by the author.
Photographs. Other illustrations should be black and white photographic prints (not negatives, transparencies or X-ray films), and should be trimmed to remove excess material. They should be high-quality glossy prints, showing as much contrast as possible. Patients in photographs should not be identifiable and should have their eyes masked. Any identifiable photograph should be accompanied by written permission from the patient, parent or guardian. Colour photographs can only be accepted if the author bears the cost of reproduction.
Tables should be typed on separate sheets. Indicate in the margin of the text where tables should be positioned. Each table should have an explanatory caption, and be clearly numbered.
Statistics. Numbers of patients or subjects should be given, with percentages in brackets. Means should be expressed as the mean with standard deviation of the mean: where appropriate, authors should also consider supplying the median. Care should be taken that all statistical methods are appropriate, and that it is clear which methods were used for which analyses. Any statistical methods not in common use should be supported by references or described in detail. Results of statistical tests should be reported as well as the p values; where possible, confidence intervals should also be reported.
Ethics. Please state explicitly whether any study being reported to Palliative Medicine has the approval of local ethical committees.
References should always be appropriate: more is not necessarily better. They should be numbered in the order in which they appear in the text, and should be given in the 'Vancouver style' (1). In summary, for articles give names and initials of all authors (unless seven or more, in which case give the first three only then et al.), the title of the article, the journal title abbreviated according to Index Medicus, year of publication, volume number and first and last page number; for chapters in books give authors, chapter title, editors of the book, the book title, place of publication, publisher, year of publication and first and last page number. For examples, see below.
1 International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. Br Med J 1991; 302: 401-405.
2 Lowry S, Smith J. Duplicate publication. Br Med J 1992: 304: 999-1000.
3 Huff D. How to lie with statistics. London: Penguin, 1991.
4 Wade OL. Research ethical committee. In: Duncan AS, Dunstan GR, Welbourn RB eds. Dictionary of medical ethics, second edition. London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1981: 371-74.
Proofs will be supplied only once in the form of page proofs. Please remember that:
(i) Proof corrections are disproportionately expensive. For example, the insertion of three commas on a page will frequently cost as much, or more than, the original setting cost of the entire page.
(ii) If you return proofs even a few days after the date stipulated, it may be too late to include your corrections in the final version of the journal.
Offprints. Access to 25 free e-prints will be provided; the corresponding author will receive one complimentary copy of the journal for each contributor.
SAGE Open:
If you wish your article to be freely available online immediately upon publication (as some funding bodies now require), you can opt for it to be included in SAGE Open upon payment of a publication fee. Manuscript submission and refereeing procedure is unchanged, but on acceptance of your article you will be asked to let SAGE know directly if you are choosing SAGE Open. For further information please visit SAGE Open
English Language Editing Services: Please click here for information on professional English language editing services recommended by SAGE.
