You are here

Clinical Rehabilitation

Clinical Rehabilitation


eISSN: 14770873 | ISSN: 02692155 | Current volume: 38 | Current issue: 4 Frequency: Monthly

Clinical Rehabilitation is a highly ranked, peer-reviewed scholarly journal. It is a multi-professional journal covering the whole field of disability and rehabilitation, publishing research and discussion articles which are scientifically sound, clinically relevant and sometimes provocative.

The journal acts as a forum for the international dissemination and exchange of information amongst the large number of professionals involved in rehabilitation.

The leading journal in its field, Clinical Rehabilitation combines clinical application of scientific results and theoretical aspects in an ideal form. It gives high priority to articles describing effectiveness of therapeutic interventions and the evaluation of new techniques and methods.

Essential reading, Clinical Rehabilitation covers:

  • An ideal combination of theoretical aspects with clinical application;
  • An evidence based approach;
  • An evaluation of treatment procedures and description of new approaches;
  • Well-presented information is based on high quality research and discussion articles.

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

Clinical Rehabilitation is a highly ranked, peer reviewed scholarly journal. It is a multi-professional journal covering the whole field of disability and rehabilitation, publishing research and discussion articles which are scientifically sound, clinically relevant and sometimes provocative.

The journal acts as a forum for the international dissemination and exchange of information amongst the large number of professionals involved in rehabilitation.

The leading journal in its field, Clinical Rehabilitation combines clinical application of scientific results and theoretical aspects in an ideal form. It gives high priority to articles describing effectiveness of therapeutic interventions and the evaluation of new techniques and methods.

Essential reading, Clinical Rehabilitation covers:

· An ideal combination of theoretical aspects with clinical application;

· An evidence based approach;

· An evaluation of treatment procedures and description of new approaches;

· Well-presented information is based on high quality research and discussion articles.

Editor-in-Chief
Avril Drummond University of Nottingham, UK
Editor Emeritus
Derick T Wade OxINMAHR, UK
Associate Editor
Laura Edwards University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Damon Hoad University of Warwick, Warwick, UK
Toby Smith University of Warwick, Warwick, UK
Advisory Board
Kathrin Boerner Department of Gerontology, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA
Audrey Bowen Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Tobias Braun Department of Health, HSD Hochschule Döpfer (University of Applied Sciences), Cologne, Germany
Roshan das Nair Department of Health Research, SINTEF, Trondheim, Norway
Deborah Fitzsimmons Swansea Centre for Health Economics, Swansea University, UK
Erin Godecke Edith Cowan University, Australia
Carl Hanger Burwood Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand
Natasha Lannin Monash University, Australia
Diane Playford Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Warwick, UK
Amy Sullivan Mellen Centre for Multiple Sclerosis, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Hector WH Tsang Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
  • Academic Search Premier
  • Ad Referendum: Geriatrics
  • All-Russian VINITI Abstracts Journal
  • Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ASSIA)
  • Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature CINAHL
  • Current Contents / Clinical Medicine
  • EMCare
  • Fysio
  • Health Care Database
  • Heath Care Database
  • ISI Discovery Agent
  • Index Medicus
  • Index Medicus (Ceased 2004)
  • MEDLINE
  • OTseeker
  • PsycBITE
  • PsycINFO
  • PsycLIT
  • Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection
  • RECAL Bibliographic Database
  • RECAL Current Awareness
  • Research Alert
  • SciVal
  • Science Citation Index
  • Science Citation Index Expanded
  • Scopus
  • VINITI Abstracts Journal

  • This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics

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

    Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/clinrehab 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 Clinical Rehabilitation 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.

    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
    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 Reference style
      4.5 English language editing services
    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 Online First publication
      6.3 Access to your published article
      6.4 Promoting your article
    7. Further information
      7.1 Important ‘Instructions to Authors’ – from the Editor
      7.2 Contact Sage

     

    1. What do we publish?

    1.1 Aims & Scope

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

    1.2 Article Types

    The journal publishes original papers, systematic reviews, Rehabilitation in Practice and Rehabilitation in Theory articles and correspondence relating to published papers. Other article types should be discussed with the editor before submission. Classification is undertaken by the Editor, all artilces should be submitted as original articles.

    For queries regarding the suitability of your submission please contact clinical.rehabilitation@sagepub.co.uk

    1.2.1 Summary of manuscript structure (in order expected):

    • A title page with names and contact details for all authors;
    • A structured abstract of no more than 250 words (the website checks this);
    • The text (usually Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion);
    • Clinical Messages (2-4 bullet points, 50 words or less);
    • Acknowledgements, author contributions, competing interests and funding support;
    • References (Vancouver style);
    • Tables, each starting on a new page;
    • Figures, each starting on a new page;
    • Appendix (if any).

    Open Research Data Policy

    For accepted papers, we also will place original (anonymised) data on the web associated with an article, as ‘Research Data’. Please note that this file type should only be uploaded when your submission is accepted. This file type refers only to the original, source data and not to any summarised data presented in the article (including supplementary data). Anything uploaded under this file type will not be seen by reviewers.

    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.

    Back to top

    2. Editorial policies

    2.1 Peer review policy

    The journal's policy is to obtain at least two independent reviews of each article. It operates a single-anonymize reviewing policy in which the reviewer’s name is always concealed from the submitting author. Referees are encouraged to provide substantive, constructive reviews that provide suggestions for improving the work.

    All manuscripts accepted for publication are subject to editing for presentation, style and grammar. Any major redrafting is agreed with the author but the Editor's decision on the text is final.

    Clinical Rehabilitation 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 Clinical Rehabilitation 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.

    2.2 Authorship

    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:

    • Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,
    • Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
    • Approved the version to be published,
    • 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.

    For multi-authored papers a contributor statement outlining what each party contributed to the authorship of the paper should be included in your submission. Authors should be identified by their initials. An example is shown below.

    BF and NP researched literature and conceived the study. MS was involved in protocol development, gaining ethical approval, patient recruitment and data analysis. BF wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript.

    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.

    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.

    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

    Clinical Rehabilitation 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.

    2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

    It is the policy of Clinical Rehabilitation to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles. Conflicting interests extend beyond purely financial interests, such as evaluating a specific non-commercial therapy developed by an author.

    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, under a heading ‘Conflict of Interest Statement’. 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.

    When making a declaration, the disclosure information must be specific and include any financial relationship that all authors of the article have with any sponsoring organization and the for-profit interests that the organisation represents, and with any for-profit product discussed or implied in the text of the article.

    Any commercial, financial or other personal involvements that might represent an appearance of a conflict of interest need to be additionally disclosed in the covering letter accompanying your article to assist the Editor in evaluating whether sufficient disclosure has been made within the Conflict of Interest statement provided in the article.

    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 Reporting guidelines

    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. Clinical Rehabilitation expects all clinical trials to be registered with a recognised registry, and the name of the registry and the registration number to be given in the paper, usually in the first paragraph in the methods section.

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

    Back to top

    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

    Clinical Rehabilitation 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

    Clinical Rehabilitation 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.

    Back to top

    4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

    4.1 Formatting

    The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. 

    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 Reference style

    Clinical Rehabilitation adheres to the Sage Vancouver reference style. View the Sage Vancouver guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

    If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Vancouver EndNote output file.

    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 using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

    Back to top

    5. Submitting your manuscript

    Clinical Rehabilitation is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit Clinical Rehabilitation 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).

    5.2.1 Publication of twitter handles:

    As a way of encouraging ongoing discussion within the field, Clinical Rehabilitation authors are offered the option of providing their Twitter handle to be published alongside their name and email address within their article. This way, Clinical Rehabilitation readers who have questions or thoughts regarding your paper can tweet you directly. Providing a Twitter handle for publication is entirely optional, if you are not comfortable with Clinical Rehabilitation promoting your article along with your personal Twitter handle then please do not supply it. 

    By providing your personal twitter handle you agree to let Clinical Rehabilitation and Sage Publications use it in any posts related to your journal article. You may also be contacted by other Twitter users. Clinical Rehabilitation and Sage Publications will have no control over you or your tweets at any time. If you would like guidance on how to promote your article yourself on Twitter or other Social Media channels please visit http://www.uk.sagepub.com/journalgateway/files/using_social_media_to_promote.doc.

    To include your Twitter handle within your article please provide this within the Sage Track Submission form when prompted and within your title page.

    Joe Bloggs, Department of Clinical Rehabilitation, Clinical Rehabilitation Hospital, Town, ST1 345, UK.
    Email: JoeBloggs@email.com
    Twitter: @drjoebloggs 
     

    5.3 Permissions

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

    Back to top

    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.

    Back to top

    7. Further information

    7.1 Important ‘Instructions to Authors’ – from the Editor

    Further specific advice on editorial aspects of the journal and of writing for the journal are also available.

    Click here for further information and advice on submitting to Clinical Rehabilitation.

    Individual Subscription, Combined (Print & E-access)


    Institutional Subscription, E-access


    Institutional Backfile Purchase, E-access (Content through 1998)


    Institutional Subscription & Backfile Lease, E-access Plus Backfile (All Online Content)


    Institutional Subscription, Print Only


    Institutional Subscription, Combined (Print & E-access)


    Institutional Subscription & Backfile Lease, Combined Plus Backfile (Current Volume Print & All Online Content)


    Individual, Single Print Issue


    Institutional, Single Print Issue