Sage Path

FAQs

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What is Sage Path?

  • Sage Path is a free article transfer service that helps authors find the right journal for their manuscript. We give authors the ability to search and refine journals according to their preferences using our Journal Recommender. Once the manuscript has been paired with appropriate journals, Sage Path offers transfer links for smooth and easy submission. 

Note:

  • Some participating journals may be “paused” at this time. A journal is paused when the Editor has requested to temporarily stop the reception of new manuscripts through Sage Path. Please note that these paused titles will still display in the results of the Journal Recommender. As a result, you may see a relevant (yet paused) journal in your recommendation results but you will not be able to select it as a preferred title in your submission to Sage Path.
  • If the Journal Recommender gives you a suggestion that is not in the drop down menu, we encourage you to submit directly to that journal or choose one of the available titles.

Author manuscript submissions

If you no longer wish to participate in Sage Path please Contact Us with the subject line, "Please Withdraw [Manuscript ID] and [Title]" with your personalized information filling in the brackets. We receive a high volume of emails, so this will help us quickly find your paper and withdraw it in a timely manner.

PLEASE NOTE: A paper in the “Transferred In” status will eventually archive, so if an author wishes to withdraw, the auto reply they receive from us can be considered a receipt that it is withdrawn.

You can search through a list of recommended and refined titles to find the best fit through our Journal Recommendation Tool. When selecting which of these journals you want us to query on your behalf, please look up and adhere to all submission guidelines, aims and scopes of the journal. You can find specific journal guidelines on the Participating Journals Site.
If you have not previously submitted to Sage Path, and did not received a transfer link from one of our journals, please visit the Submission Site, create an account, and click “Start New Submission.”

Author transfers into Sage Path

The submitting author from the transferring journal will be required to complete the submission in Sage Path. You can access the submission through the Author Center in Sage Path or get in contact with the corresponding author and use the link they received in the transfer email.

The transfer reminder emails are automatic. If you are undecided, we recommend that you approve the transfer (which places the manuscript in Sage Path) so that the option does not expire. Once in Sage Path authors will be prompted to complete the submission within the site – which you can then choose to proceed with or not.

You can also choose to reject the transfer and submit directly to Sage Path as a New Submission when you are ready. Be aware that once the transfer is rejected, you will need to contact the original journal for a new link if you want the previously entered information to transfer over to Sage Path.

If the transfer option has expired, you can reach out to the journal that originally sent the link and ask them to resend it to you. The journal that originally recommended your transfer is the only one that can send you this email. You can also submit your manuscript directly to Sage Path as a New Submission at any time.
In the case that you accidentally reject the “transfer to Sage Path” offer, please reach out to the journal that initially rejected your manuscript and ask them to send you a new Sage Path transfer link. The journal that originally recommended your transfer is the only one that can send you this email.

To submit your manuscript please login to your Sage Path account and go to unsubmitted manuscripts.

For a step by step guide to submission:

  • Login

  • Type in your Username

  • You should have received a password in a previous email. If not, use the 'Forgot Password' link on the login page

  • Once logged in, click on the ‘Author Center’ link

  • Click the 'Transferred Unsubmitted Manuscripts' link in the 'My Manuscripts' list

  • Find your manuscript and click 'Continue Submission'

  • Please complete all required fields to submit the paper

Journal Recommender

If a journal is noted as having an Impact Factor, you can find more information about the exact ranking as well as the journal’s specific indexing and metrics by going to the journal home page and looking in the top right hand corner.

All journal websites follow the formatting of: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/TLA

You can also go to our Participating Journals page, finding, and clicking on your title of choice for a direct link to it’s website home page.

  • Consider improving the title and keywords (see suggestions here)

  • If you selected any filters, consider unselecting them and broadening your preferences

  • If you add “I cannot find a journal, please recommend a journal” as one of your preferences, an admin can recommend relevant journals.

  • Visit the full list of Sage Journals, where you can find journals listed A-Z or by subject

  • Consider using the filters to limit your results to the relevant subject areas

  • Consider making the title and keywords more specific

  • The content is relevant, but your manuscript’s topic is too new, and our journals have not published enough of that type of content to appear as a recommended match.

  • If you add “I cannot find a journal, please recommend a journal” as one of your preferences, an admin can recommend relevant journals.

This could be the result of:

  • Insufficient or irrelevant title or keywords

  • There are no relevant journals (if you applied filters, consider unselecting them and running the search again)

  • The content is relevant, but your manuscript’s topic is too new, and our journals have not published enough of that type of content to appear as a recommended match.

  • Confirm that you did not enter any abbreviations into the title or keywords

  • Enter both the title and keywords for the best results – considering reading up on examples of good versus bad titles and keywords (see suggestions here)

  • The subject, indexing, and journal type filters are there so you can personalize your results and limit to a certain area. However, we recommend running a search without these filters first, for a greater diversity of options that you might not otherwise consider

  • We recommend using the drop down from the journal results and then viewing the journal submission guidelines to make sure your manuscript closely fits the journal’s scope and quality standards.

  • Do not enter any abbreviations into the title or keywords

  • Enter your manuscript title and keywords (see suggestions here) and hit “Find Journals”. You have the option to filter by subject, indexing, and journal type now, or you can do so later.

  • Then the Journal Recommender utilizes an advanced AI technology to recommend journals that have published articles with a similar content to your manuscript, ranking them in the order of the journals that have published the most articles with similar content.

  • Click on each journal to view key journal information, including journal type, subject, indexing, aims and scope. For more details, go to the journal's submission guidelines

  • When you have found a journal, you can submit using our free article transfer service.

Author manuscript status

The status tells you which stage your paper is in. Awaiting Editor Assignment is the most common status. During this stage we are inviting the editors of your selected journals to inquire if they are willing to accept your paper. This can take time as we await those responses.

To get an update on your manuscript please login to your Sage Path account and go to “Submitted Manuscripts”. The status of your manuscript will be listed to the left of your manuscript title.

Step by Step instructions to check the status of your manuscript are:

  • Login

  • Type in your Username

  • Type in your password. If you don’t have your password, use the 'Forgot Password' link on the login page

  • Once logged in, click on the ‘Author Center’ link

  • Click the 'Submitted Manuscripts' link in the 'My Manuscripts' list

  • Find your manuscript and on the left it will show your current status

Author transfers out of Sage Path

Sage Path can no longer withdraw the paper once a manuscript is transferred to its new destination title. The author will have to request that from the new destination title.
Reviews are transferred with your manuscript into the new journal, and it is at the discretion of the journal editor whether it will be sent back out for additional review or not.
Once a paper is transferred out of Sage Path to another journal and the author has accepted the transfer, the author will have to reach out to the new journal to initiate withdrawal. Once the paper has been withdrawn, the author can resubmit to Sage Path. Since your paper will no longer be in the original journal’s system, you will need to Contact Us.
When a transfer is made, a decision letter listing the transferring journal will automatically be sent to the email the corresponding author provided us. If you did not receive this email, please check your spam folder

For journal editors

A PDF of the manuscript is included in every pre-submission query, which should enable the Editor to decide on whether they would like to accept or reject the manuscript. If it is a good fit and you accept the transfer, it will be treated as a new submission and go through the typical peer review process. If you do not think it is a good fit, you can reject the transfer and just note that the quality doesn’t match the level the journal generally accepts.
Sage Path allows high quality papers which were out of scope for your journal to have a chance to easily submit to another, better fit, title rather than just being rejected outright. This is especially helpful if your journal has a high immediate reject ratio due to papers being out of scope.
Papers which may be of high quality, but out of scope for a previous title would normally just be rejected. Now they have a chance to easily find and submit to your journal. We feel it is a win-win for Sage as well as the health of the journal to provide an automatic transfer to a title which may be a better fit.
We use Pre-Submission Queries (PSQ’s) as a way for the editors of a journal to review a manuscript before it is officially transferred to their journal. This gives the editor a chance to accept or reject the paper without it being officially placed in their queue. It also gives the author a chance to quickly find another journal if the editor rejects their manuscript. If you have any additional questions, or would like more information on this process, please Contact Us.

Still have questions? Contact Us.

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