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Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation publishes original articles that report on important trends and developments in physical medicine and rehabilitation and in the wider interdisciplinary field of rehabilitation. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation brings readers authoritative information on the therapeutic utilization of physical and pharmaceutical agents in providing comprehensive care for persons with disabilities and for chronically ill individuals. Archives began publication in 1920, publishes monthly, and is the official journal of the ACRM | American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Its content is cited more often than any other rehabilitation journal.
A steadily increasing rate of submissions has forced the Archives to adopt a policy of restricting its manuscripts to topics that proved new information that may alter clinical practice or represent influential advances in the research. Archives will not review studies involving animal models, healthy normal samples, or small case reports, except in unusual circumstances. We may make exceptions when the clinical implications for populations of persons with chronic illness or disability are compelling. In addition, we will not review studies that report psychometric information of well-established instruments for language-specific applications.
Types of papers
Original Research: Present new and important basic and clinical information, extend existing studies, or provide a new approach to a traditional subject. Manuscripts should be limited to 3000 words of text (Introduction through Conclusions). Figures, tables, and references should be limited to the number needed to clarify, amplify, or document the text.
Brief Reports: Provide preliminary communications of new data, research methods, new ideas, and techniques. Manuscripts should be limited to 1500 words of text (or 1200 words plus 1-2 figures or tables, Introduction through Conclusions), and no more than 10 references. Brief reports should be accompanied by the appropriate reporting guideline and checklist.
The Archives will not consider case reports or animal studies for publication. Please do not submit them.
Commentaries (by Invitation): Focus on issues in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Manuscripts should be limited to 2000 words of text (Introduction through Conclusions). The Editorial Board reserves the right to ensure that the author is qualified, through education and professional experience, to write knowledgeably and appropriately about a particular subject before accepting a Commentary for publication. The Editorial Board will choose the author(s) for Invited Commentaries and the author(s)' identity will be anonymous until publication. Authors of the subject article may submit a response for a subsequent issue.
When submitting an invited commentary please select Editorial as your manuscript type and note the word limit of 2,000 in your cover letter.
Editorials: Editorials published in Archives may only be written by the elected officers of ACRM, or by members of the Editorial Board. Prior to publication, all editorials are approved by the Editorial Board's Executive Committee. Editorials do not represent the opinions or positions of ACRM or the Editorial Board. Editorials should be limited to 1000 words of text.
Information/Education: The ACRM Communications Committee has developed a new feature, Information/Education Pages, which appear in the Organization News section of Archives.
These fact sheets are printed as tear-out pages. They are designed to provide consumer-friendly information on topics relevant to rehabilitation medicine, including basic background or overview, similar to a Wikipedia entry, or brief how-to suggestions. They are targeted toward people with disabilities, their caregivers, or clinicians; and are designed so that a practitioner can tear out and copy, or download the pages, to make them available to patients and caregivers.
Authors are invited to submit Information/Education Page manuscripts or proposals to the Archives' Editorial Office ([email protected]). The ACRM Communications Committee will assess subject matter, content, and target reading level then provide feedback on suitability and instructions on how to proceed directly to the author. Note that this should not be considered an official peer review of the content. For more information go to http://www.acrm.org/publications/archives-of-pm-r/information-education-pages/.
Letters to The Editor: Letters are published at the discretion of the Editorial Board and will only be considered if they directly relate to a published article in the journal. Letters may not reference unpublished studies or reference "in press" studies that are not publicly available. The Editorial Board reserves the right to solicit a response from the authors of the cited article. Letters must be limited to roughly 500 words of text, 1 table, and no more than 5 references.
Measurement Tools: These instrument summaries, which appear in the Organization News section of Archives, are designed to facilitate the selection of outcome measures by trained clinicians. The information contained in this summary represents a sample of the peer-reviewed research available at the time of the summary's publication. The information contained in these summaries does not constitute an endorsement of the instrument for clinical practice. The views expressed are those of the summary authors and do not represent those of authors' employers, instrument owner(s), the Archives, the Rehabilitation Measures Database or the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Authors are invited to submit proposals for new Measurement Tools to the Archives' editorial office ([email protected]) and the office will coordinate with the ACRM Measurement Networking Group for the Rehabilitation Measures Database to determine if the proposal is suitable for publication in the Archives. The Networking Group can assist authors with formatting their article to meet the Measurement Tools requirements.
Review Articles (Meta-Analyses): The Editorial Board welcomes state-of-the-art review articles. Manuscripts should be limited to 5000 words of text (Introduction through Conclusions), exclusive of references. The Archives strongly prefers systematic reviews of the literature.
Special Communications: Provide information or an objective analysis of issues in physical medicine and rehabilitation that does not qualify as a research or clinical paper or commentary. Manuscripts are peer reviewed and should be limited to 5000 words of text, exclusive of references.
Ethics in Publishing
Preprint Policy
The Archives will consider papers that are hosted on a preprint server. Authors should include the server name and a link to the preprint version of their manuscript in their cover letter. The Archives of PM&R reviews submissions on a double-blind basis; posting your work on a preprint server, or similarly posting your work in a registry such as ClinicalTrials.gov or Prospero, will disclose your identity to reviewers. Authors who have posted a manuscript on a preprint server should verify that the license required by the preprint platform is compatible with the Archives' copyright policy, and vice versa.
Authorship
The order of authorship is a joint decision of the coauthors. Archives follows the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals guidelines 1, which state authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to (1) conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, and (3) final approval of the version to be published. Conditions 1, 2, and 3 must all be met. Participation solely in the acquisition of data does not justify authorship, nor does general supervision of the research group. Archives may require authors to justify the assignment of authorship.
Manuscripts with 20 or more authors may be asked to change their authorship listing to a group byline due to the physical restrictions of the printed article. The group name will publish with the title and the full list of authors will appear at the end of the article. All author names will still be indexed individually, displayed, and searchable on the journal website and in indices such as PubMed. All members of the group who are named as authors, either in the authorship position below the title or in a footnote, must fully meet the criteria for authorship as defined above. Group members not meeting these criteria should be listed, with their permission, in the Acknowledgments. Acknowledgments to other investigators for advice or data must be documented by written authorization specifically granting permissions to the authors. Archives expects that authors will be able to supply permissions upon request by the editorial office.
Changes in authorship: After a manuscript has been submitted, any addition, deletion, or change to the order of the authors must be submitted in writing 2 to the Editorial Office ([email protected]). This written statement, explaining the change and listing the old and new author orders, must be submitted with all authors copied (including those who have been removed, if applicable). The corresponding author should instruct all copied authors to respond with their approval of the change in author order. Failure to respond or failure of all authors to agree to the change may lead to suspension of review/publication of the article.
ICMJE form
Archives requires that all authors fill out the ICMJE form. For both new submissions and revisions, the peer-review process will not begin until these documents are completed correctly and submitted as per the instructions below.
Step 1: Archives requires the author submitting the manuscript to complete and upload an ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. By this act, the author submitting the manuscript will serve as the guarantor for all coauthors in presenting accurate disclosures for the author group. The guarantor is expected to consult with all coauthors about the disclosures he/she provides. Any disclosure (i.e. actual or perceived conflict of interest) must be described on the title page of the manuscript.
Step 2: At the point an editor seeks revision of a manuscript, Archives will require, with submission of the revised manuscript, original copies from all coauthors of the ICMJE form. Review of the revision will not commence until the editors have fully and accurately received the completed ICMJE forms from all coauthors. The editors expect the guarantor's group disclosure at submission to be consistent with the individual disclosures received at the revision stage. A written explanation will be required if this is not the case. If it is not possible to provide ICMJE forms from all co-authors at the revision stage, please contact the Editorial Office ([email protected]) for alternative instructions.
Conflict of Interest: Authors must reveal to the Editorial Board any conflicts of interest that the Editorial Board or the Archives readers would reasonably consider relevant to the research, analysis, or interpretation presented in the manuscript. The Board will hold this information in confidence, unless the study is accepted and, in the Board's judgment, readers need to be made aware of the general nature of this possible conflict. In this case, a general description of the conflict will be published with the article.
Device Status: The submitting author must include in the title page to the manuscript any applicable Device Status Statement, as selected in the submission checklist. The statement does not affect the decision to publish a manuscript; that decision is made solely on the basis of the article's content and its value to the journal's readers. The selected statement may be published with the article.
Redundant or Duplicate Publication
Archives, as a primary source periodical, does not consider for publication material that already has been reported in a published article or is described in a paper submitted or accepted for publication elsewhere, in any print or electronic media. Abstracts (250-300 words) of preliminary research findings that are published in conference proceedings are not considered previous publications (except for submissions to the Brief Reports category). This policy does not usually preclude consideration of a manuscript that has been rejected by another journal or of a complete report that follows publication of a preliminary report, usually in the form of an abstract (250-300 words). Press reports on papers presented at a meeting will not usually be considered prior publication, but such reports should not be amplified by additional data or copies of tables and illustrations. Authors submitting manuscripts to Archives must include in their cover letter an explanation of any prior publication (published article, article in press, manuscript under review, published abstract) of the same or substantially similar work, and should explain any circumstances that might cause the Editorial Board to believe that the manuscript may have been published elsewhere (e.g. similar titles). Authors must state whether the paper includes subjects about whom a previous report has been published. Authors must include an electronic copy (upload as Related (un)published manuscripts and/or meeting abstracts) of any published article or an electronic copy of any submitted manuscript that deals in any respect whatsoever with the same patients, same animals, same laboratory experiment, or same data—in part or in full—as are being reported in the manuscript they submit to Archives.
Duplicate Publication: Duplicate publication is the publication of the same paper or substantially similar papers in any medium. Publication more than once of the same study results, whether or not the wording is the same, is rarely justified. Articles previously published in another language will not be considered for publication. The Editorial Board will take appropriate disciplinary action against authors who engage in duplicate publication of the same or substantially similar data. The Editorial Board reserves the right to consult with other journals about the content of the papers in question. Further, the Editorial Board (1) may return manuscripts prior to the review process, (2) may decide not consider any manuscripts from the author(s) for a period of time, (3) may announce publicly in Archives that the authors have submitted a previously published article, or (4) may refer the incident to COPE (The Committee on Publication Ethics) for discussion or advice, or (5) may take any combination of these actions. If the paper is accepted and published before evidence of duplication is discovered, the Editorial Board will announce the duplication in Archives and/or will request that the authors write a letter acknowledging the duplicate publication. The Editorial Board will notify appropriate institutions, ranging from national databases to the authors' departments or university administrators, at its discretion.
Preliminary Release: Preliminary release, usually to the media, of scientific information described in a study that has been accepted by Archives but not yet published violates the copyright agreement between the authors and the journal. The Editorial Board may approve advance release of data (e.g. to warn the public of health hazards) in certain situations. Authors should contact the Editorial Office ([email protected]) to discuss embargoes, as embargoes will preempt conditions of preliminary release.
Simultaneous Submission: Authors should not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than 1 journal. If the Editorial Board learns of possible simultaneous submission, it reserves the right to consult with the other journal that received the manuscript. Further, the Editorial Board may return the manuscript prior to the review process, or may reject it without regard to peer reviewer recommendations and may decide not to consider any studies from the author(s) for a period of time.
Sex/Gender Reporting
Authors are encouraged to provide gender-specific data, when appropriate, in describing outcomes of epidemiologic analyses or clinical trials; or specifically state that there were no gender-based differences. For more information please consult the Institute of Medicine's report on "SEX-SPECIFIC REPORTING OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH", which can be accessed at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK84192/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK84192.pdf.
Human and Animal Rights
If relevant, a statement must be included in the body of the manuscript that human experimentation was approved by the local institutional review board or conforms to the Helsinki Declaration 3, as stated in the section Manuscript Preparation, Methods. Also that guidelines for the care/use of nonhuman animals or other species, approved by the institution, were followed as indicated in the Methods. The species must be named in the Title, Abstract, and Methods section.
Conflict of Interest (ICMJE form)
The Archives utilizes the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest.
During original submission, the corresponding author completes and uploads an ICMJE form. If a revised paper is submitted, all authors must complete the ICMJE form.
If any of the authors do have a conflict of interest, this should be clearly explained on the title page of the manuscript.
Please see the ICMJE author responsibilities regarding conflicts of interest (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/author-responsibilities--conflicts-of-interest.html). It is important to note that a conflict of interest can be actual or perceived.
Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing
The below guidance only refers to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process.
Where authors use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should only use these technologies to improve readability and language. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author, or be cited as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans, as outlined in Elsevier’s AI policy for authors.
Authors should disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by following the instructions below. A statement will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.
Disclosure instructions
Authors must disclose the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. The statement should be placed in a new section entitled ‘Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process’.
Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.
This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.
Submission declaration and verification
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify compliance, your article may be checked by Crossref Similarity Check and other originality or duplicate checking software.
Use of inclusive language
Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Content should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader; contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition; and use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to dominant culture and/or cultural assumptions. We advise to seek gender neutrality by using plural nouns ("clinicians, patients/clients") as default/wherever possible to avoid using "he, she," or "he/she." We recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition unless they are relevant and valid. When coding terminology is used, we recommend to avoid offensive or exclusionary terms such as "master", "slave", "blacklist" and "whitelist". We suggest using alternatives that are more appropriate and (self-) explanatory such as "primary", "secondary", "blocklist" and "allowlist". These guidelines are meant as a point of reference to help identify appropriate language but are by no means exhaustive or definitive.
Reporting sex- and gender-based analyses
Reporting guidance
For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA) into their research design according to funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field. Authors should address the sex and/or gender dimensions of their research in their article. In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research's generalizability. Importantly, authors should explicitly state what definitions of sex and/or gender they are applying to enhance the precision, rigor and reproducibility of their research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer (see Definitions section below). Authors can refer to the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and the SAGER guidelines checklist. These offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome reporting and research interpretation - however, please note there is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender.
Definitions
Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features (e.g., chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external anatomy). A binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth ("sex assigned at birth"), most often based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn. Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities of women, men and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact and how power is distributed in society. Sex and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male or woman/man) and unchanging whereas these constructs actually exist along a spectrum and include additional sex categorizations and gender identities such as people who are intersex/have differences of sex development (DSD) or identify as non-binary. Moreover, the terms "sex" and "gender" can be ambiguous—thus it is important for authors to define the manner in which they are used. In addition to this definition guidance and the SAGER guidelines, the resources on this page offer further insight around sex and gender in research studies.
Authorship
Authors have read the submitted manuscript and vouch for its accuracy. All authors have participated sufficiently in the conception and design of this work and the analysis of the data (where applicable), as well as the writing of the manuscript to take public responsibility for its content. If any author (or group of authors) listed cannot verify substantial contribution, the author's name should be moved to the acknowledgment section. If requested, authors shall produce the data on which the manuscript is based for examination by Archives or its assignees.
Authors warrant the manuscript is original and its essential substance, tables, or figures have not been previously published in part or in whole. The manuscript or one with substantially similar content under declared authorship or the data within it has not been accepted for publication elsewhere and it is not presently under review by any other publisher. The manuscript will not be submitted for publication elsewhere until a decision has been made on its acceptability for publication in Archives. This restriction does not apply to brief abstracts or press reports published in connection with scientific meetings.
Clinical trial
While there may be occasional exceptions, the Archives is committed to the need for clinical trial reports to be accompanied by adequate periods of follow-up. A lack of sufficient follow-up may be detrimental to a paper's acceptance.
As of January 1, 2017 the Archives will only consider clinical trials that have been registered before the first patient is enrolled.
For our purposes, a clinical trial is defined as "any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes" (http://www.who.int/ictrp/en). Thus, cohort and retrospective studies without an intervention do not require registration, and neither do observational studies of clinical care. However, studies of human subjects with prospective assignment of an intervention by the investigators, regardless of the size of the trial or method of assignment, must be registered.
Systematic Review Registration
Beginning January 2021 Archives encourages prospective registration of systematic reviews. The goal of systematic review registration is to avoid duplication of effort and reduce reporting bias by allowing comparison of the completed review with what authors planned in advance. Authors may register reviews through the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) or the Open Science Framework (OSF) Center for Open Science. Please see the editors guidance on this subject here.
Reporting Guidelines and Checklists
To ensure a high and consistent quality of research reporting, original research articles, including brief reports, must contain sufficient information to allow readers to understand how a study was designed and conducted. For review articles, systematic or narrative, readers should be informed of the rationale and details behind the literature search strategy.
To achieve this goal, Archives requires that authors upload a completed checklist for the appropriate reporting guideline during original submission. Taking the time to ensure your manuscript addresses basic reporting prerequisites will greatly improve your manuscript, and enhance the likelihood of publication. These checklists serve as a guide for the editors and reviewers as they evaluate your paper.
The EQUATOR Network (http://www.equator-network.org) is an excellent resource for key reporting guidelines, checklists, and flow diagrams. These guidelines should be especially useful for Archives' authors.
Click on the checklist that applies to your manuscript, download it to your computer, fill it out electronically, "save as," and upload it with your manuscript when you submit. Links to mandatory flow diagrams also are provided. Below are the most commonly used checklists but please note that the Equator Network provides many others (e.g. TRIPOD, SRQR, etc.) and it is up to the authors to select the one most appropriate for their study.
During the submission process when you are prompted to state which checklist is needed please check the appropriate box for your manuscript or check Not Applicable if your paper is a Commentary, Letter to the Editor, etc. Then the system will allow you to select the file type and upload the appropriate checklist and flow diagram. IT IS PERMISSIBLE TO ADD A COLUMN OR SPACE TO THE CHECKLIST THAT SPECIFIES WHERE IN THE MANUSCRIPT EACH COMPONENT HAS BEEN FOLLOWED AND USE THAT FOR YOUR UPLOAD. YOU MAY NEED TO DO THIS FOR STROBE AS WELL AS OTHERS. A MODIFIED STROBE FORM IS AVAILABLE HERE.
Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' and copyright form (see more information on this). An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with the appropriate forms or a link to the online versions of the forms.
Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases.
Author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. More information.
Elsevier supports responsible sharing
Find out how you can share your research published in Elsevier journals.
Role of the funding source
You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, it is recommended to state this.
Page charges
Archives has no page charges.
Open access
Please visit our Open Access page for more information.
Language (usage and editing services)
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the English Language Editing service available from Elsevier's Author Services.
Submission
Manuscripts must be submitted through the journal's online system at https://www.editorialmanager.com/ARCHIVES-PMR/default.aspx. The review process will not begin until authors have complied completely with the submission requirements. Compliance includes submission of separate documents in the following order: (1) cover letter; (2) title page, including acknowledgments and explanation of any conflicts of interest; (3) main text file (manuscript without author identifiers) including a structured or standard abstract, keywords, list of abbreviations, body of the text, suppliers' list, references, figure legends; (4) figures; (5) tables; (6) appendices; (7) supplementary files; (8) checklist; and (9) ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest.
Referees
All submissions will be screened by editors to determine their suitability for further review. Manuscripts that are approved for review will be evaluated by at least one recognized expert in the particular subject matter. Biostatistical review may be obtained. Peer reviewers' assessments are referred to a member of the Editorial Board, who may also critique the manuscript. The assigned Editorial Board Member will then make a final decision and communicate with the corresponding author via e-mail. Decisions are typically communicated within 60 days after the manuscript has been approved for peer review. All reviews are conducted in a double-blind fashion.
Letters to the Editors and Editorials are generally evaluated by an editorial committee, however, external reviews may also be sought.
Published annually without peer review are the ACRM | American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine presidential address and the John Stanley Coulter Lecture. The Editorial Board does not peer review the published abstracts of posters, platform presentations of scientific papers, or audiovisual materials presented at the ACRM annual meeting. Archives also publishes the official documents of ACRM. These documents are not peer reviewed by Archives and include position papers and other materials approved by the ACRM.
Revisions
When submitting your revised manuscript, at the request of the Editorial Board, please include a document, separate from your cover letter, itemizing your response to each of the suggested revisions and any other changes you have made. Use consecutive line numbering in the text and cite line numbers for each change. In addition, highlight each change in the revised manuscript. You will upload this document in the file upload step as the "Detailed Response to Reviewers." Please note that this file should be blinded and should not include author names or institutional letterhead.
If revisions are not received within the time specified in the decision e-mail, the manuscript file will be closed. A revision received after a file has been closed will be handled as a new submission. An extension beyond the deadline may be granted at the Editorial Board's discretion, but only in extenuating circumstances, given the editors' commitment to prompt publication.
Submission of a revised manuscript includes submission of separate documents in the following order: (1) cover letter; (2) title page, including acknowledgments and explanation of any conflicts of interest; (3) main text file with highlighted changes, including an appropriate (structured or standard) abstract, keywords, list of abbreviations, body of the text, suppliers' list, references, figure legends; (4) a clean copy of the main text file with no highlighted changes, including an appropriate abstract, keywords, list of abbreviations, body of the text, suppliers' list, references, figure legends; (5) figures; (6) tables; (7) appendices; (8) supplementary files; (9) checklist; and (10) ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest for each author.
Resubmissions
From time to time an author may receive a decision of "Reject-Resubmit" on their original submission. This is a reject but grants the author the opportunity to revise and resubmit their work under a new manuscript number at any time. The resubmission will be linked to the original submission but there will be no expectation of acceptance. The resubmission will be treated as new.
To submit a resubmission authors should note the following:
1. Select RESUBMISSION as the article type.
2. In your cover letter, please 1) reference this manuscript ID number and include an itemized list of the revisions. 2) Use line numbering in the text and reference the revisions made by page and line number in the cover letter. 3) Highlight changes made in one copy of the manuscript text. Submit another copy with all changes accepted and not highlighted. Please add "marked copy" to the file name of the highlighted version and "clean copy" to the file name of the clean version. Submit both clean and highlighted copies under the category titled Manuscript without author identifiers. Both should remain blinded for the review process.
Additional information
Unless author(s) notify the Editorial Office of alternate preferences, all accepted articles are posted online within 5 business days of release to production. Author(s) should notify the Editorial Office immediately with any requests to delay posting. This posted version will include a fully citable PDF of the author's accepted files, and will be submitted to PubMed. Supplementary material(s), such as raw data, videos, etc., will not be included. Supplementary materials will be included when the article is typeset and published on the Articles in Press platform or in the monthly print/online issue of the journal.
Manuscripts accepted for publication are subject to editing during the production process. Journal style is based on the current AMA Manual of Style. The manuscript will be typeset and the designated corresponding author will receive page proofs for approval. Proofs must be returned to Elsevier by the corresponding author within 48 hours of receipt, as outlined in the e-mail instructions accompanying the proofs.
All accepted manuscripts become the permanent property of Archives and may not be published elsewhere without written permission from the publisher.
Reprints
Reprint order forms are provided to authors by e-mail in a downloadable PDF format. The reprint form is sent with an e-mail acknowledgment to the author from Elsevier confirming receipt of the accepted manuscript. Reprint orders should be submitted within 15 days to ensure delivery within 6 weeks after publication. Archives does not provide complimentary reprints.
Appeal Process
Authors may appeal final decisions to the Editor-in-Chief of Archives. This appeal must: (1) be submitted in writing, (2) rebut the negative decision, and (3) be submitted within 30 days after the decision is rendered. Consideration of the appeal will be based on the appeal letter and the version of the manuscript that was peer reviewed. The Editor-in-Chief will assign the appeal to an Editorial Board member for review. The decision from the appeal is final.
NEW- Submission checklist
Archives requires the completion and upload of a checklist with each manuscript. Please follow the instructions on the checklist to ensure all required manuscript elements are included with your submission. Please note that this submission checklist is NOT the same as a reporting guideline checklist or form noted above. This is a separate item specific to the Archives .
THE SUBMISSION CHECKLIST CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE.
For any further information please visit our customer support site at https://service.elsevier.com.
Authors should prepare manuscripts according to the "Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals" 1 as developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. The Requirements are available at http://www.icmje.org.
Document Formatting
Manuscripts must be double-spaced throughout, including the title page, abstract, text, acknowledgments, references, individual tables, and legends. Use only standard 12-point type and spacing. Use unjustified, flush-left margins. Number the pages of the text consecutively. Put the page number in the upper or lower right-hand corner of each page. Number each line on each page of the text to facilitate peer review.
Authors should format manuscripts for specific attributes such as italics, superscripts/subscripts, and Greek letters. The coding scheme for each such element must be consistent throughout the file.
Text Style: Enter only 1 space between words and sentences. Leave 1 blank line between paragraphs. Leave 2 blank lines between headings and text.
Your Paper Your Way
As part of the Your Paper Your Way service, at initial submission you may choose to submit your new manuscript as a single file to be used in the refereeing process. This can be a PDF file or a Word document, in any format or lay-out that can be used by referees to evaluate your manuscript. It should contain high enough quality figures for refereeing. If you prefer to do so, you may still provide all or some of the source files at the initial submission. Please note that individual figure files larger than 10 MB must be uploaded separately. If your paper is accepted, you will you be requested, at the revision stage, to put your paper in the correct format by supplying individual files for the manuscript, tables, figures, etc. and any other items required for the publication of your article. To find out more, please read the rest of the Preparation section.
NEW SUBMISSIONS
Submission to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts your files to a single PDF file, which is used in the peer-review process.
References
There are no strict requirements on reference formatting at submission. References can be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent. Where applicable, author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter and the article number or pagination must be present. Use of DOI is highly encouraged. The reference style used by the journal will be applied to the accepted article by Elsevier at the proof stage. Note that missing data will be highlighted at proof stage for the author to correct.
Formatting requirements
There are no strict formatting requirements for articles at initial submission (for requirements for revised submissions, please see REVISED SUBMISSIONS section below) but all manuscripts must contain the essential elements needed to convey your manuscript, for example Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusions, Artwork and Tables with Captions.
If your article includes any Videos and/or other Supplementary material, this should be included in your initial submission for peer review purposes.
Divide the article into clearly defined sections.
Please ensure the text of your paper is double-spaced — this is an essential peer review requirement.
Figures and tables embedded in text - Your Paper Your Way
If you choose the Your Paper Your Way option when submitting your manuscript for the first time, please ensure the figures and the tables included in the single file are placed next to the relevant text in the manuscript, rather than at the bottom or the top of the file.
NEW- Peer Review
Archives uses a double-blind peer-review process. The blinded submission should be submitted in a word document and should begin with a title followed by the abstract, keywords, list of abbreviations, body of the text, references, figure legends, and any relevant suppliers' list.
The entire main body of text should be blinded as well including obvious references to institutions and names in the methods section, etc.
REVISED SUBMISSIONS
Please note if you submitted your original manuscript following the Your Paper Your Way format you will now need to put the paper in the correct format by supplying individual files for the manuscript, tables, figures, etc. and any other items required for the publication of your article.
Use of word processing software
Regardless of the file format of the original submission, at revision you must provide us with an editable file of the entire article. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier). See also the section on Electronic artwork.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.
Subdivision
Manuscript files should be structured as follows: (1) Title page, including Disclosure of interest and Acknowledgments, etc.; (2) Manuscript file including Abstract, Keywords, Abbreviations, Main text, References, Legends of figures and tables; (3) Table files; (4) Figure files; (5) Supplementary files; (6) ICMJE forms.
Manuscript Headings
Original Article level 1 headings are: Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions. Articles should include the level 2 subsection heading Study Limitations at the end of the Discussion section. Longer articles may need other level 2 and/or level 3 subsection headings to clarify their content, especially the Results and Discussion sections.
Other types of articles such as Commentaries and Special Communications do not require this format.
Title Page
Include these elements in the title page in the following sequence, double-spaced: (1) Running head of no more than 40 character spaces (no abbreviations); (2) Title (no abbreviations); (3) Author(s) full name(s) and highest academic degree(s); (4) The name(s) of the institution(s), section(s), division(s), and department(s) where the study was performed and the institutional affiliation(s) of the author(s) at the time of the study. An asterisk after an author's name and a footnote may indicate a change in affiliation; (5) Acknowledgment of any presentation of this material, to whom, when, and where; (6) Acknowledgment of financial support, including grant numbers and any other needed acknowledgments. Explanations of any conflicts of interest; (7) Name, address, business telephone number, and e-mail address of corresponding author; and (8) Clinical trial registration number, if applicable. Please note that clinical trial registration will now be required as of January 1, 2016. The grace period will end January 1, 2017 when registration will be mandatory.
Abstract
For articles reporting original data (Original Articles, Brief Reports) and Review Articles (including Meta-Analyses), a structured abstract is required (see the Instructions for Structured Abstracts). Authors should make sure the key elements from the Reporting Guideline (eg. CONSORT, PRISMA, etc.) they followed for their manuscript are included in the abstract as well as the body of the paper.
Structured abstracts for Original Research and for Systematic Reviews/Meta-Analyses should be no more than 300 words in length.
For other manuscripts (e.g., Commentaries, Editorials and Special Communications), include a conventional, unstructured abstract of no more than 250 words.
Keywords
All abstracts must include provide 1 to 10 Keywords identified by the author. Keywords must be selected from the US National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Medical Subject Headings, which is available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html.
Abbreviations
Archives' editorial policy is to minimize the use of abbreviations. Fewer abbreviations make it easier for the multidisciplinary readership to follow the text. Authors should include a list of abbreviations in their manuscript file directly following the keywords (just above the introduction). Archives uses only standard abbreviations with Davis's and Dorland's as our guides. Abbreviations that are used only in tables, appendices, or figures are not included in the list and should be defined in the table, appendix, or figure legend. However, abbreviations that are in the list need not be re-defined in a table footnote or figure legend. All abbreviation lists must be alphabetized. All abbreviations must be defined upon first mention in the body of the manuscript. The abbreviations SD (standard deviation) and SE (standard error) require no definition in Archives.
Main Manuscript
Introduction
State the purpose of the article. Summarize the rationale for the study or observation. Give only pertinent references, and do not review the subject extensively. Do not include data or conclusions from the work being reported. Do not include a heading for this section.
Methods
Describe the selection of the observational or experimental subjects (patients or experimental animals, including controls) clearly. Discuss eligibility of experimental subjects. Give details about randomization. Describe the methods for any blinding of observations. Identify the methods, equipment and materials, and procedures in sufficient detail to allow others to reproduce the results.
Reference established methods, including statistical methods (see below); provide very brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well known; describe new or substantially modified methods, give reasons for using them, and evaluate their limitations. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration.
While there may be occasional exceptions, Archives is committed to the need for clinical trial reports to be accompanied by adequate periods of follow-up. A lack of sufficient follow-up may be detrimental to a paper's acceptance.
When reporting work with human subjects, indicate whether the procedures followed protocol and accord with the ethical standards of the responsible institutional review board, ethics committee or with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2013, as appropriate for the country where the research took place. 2
Do not use patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in any illustrative material. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the procedures followed accord with the institution's committee on animal experimentation or with the National Research Council's guide on the care and use of laboratory animals. Archives may require authors to verify the above procedures.
Describe statistical methods in enough detail to enable knowledgeable readers with access to the original data to verify the reported results. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (eg, confidence intervals [CIs]). Avoid sole reliance on statistical hypothesis testing, such as P values, which fails to convey important quantitative information.
Researchers should report and identify the specific statistical test used and the obtained statistical value. Researchers should supplement the results of any statistical value. Researchers should supplement the results of any statistical significance test with the use of effect size values or CIs. Measures of effect size or CIs should be routinely included in quantitative clinical trials reported in rehabilitation research. The statistical power values and the corresponding type II error probability should always be reported for statistically nonsignificant results.
The investigator should ensure that there is sufficient power to detect, as statistically significant, a clinically meaningful treatment effect of an a priori specified size 4. References for study design and statistical methods should be to standard works (with pages stated) rather than to papers in which designs or methods were originally reported.
Specify any general use computer programs used. Avoid nontechnical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as "random" (which implies a randomizing device), "normal," "significant," "correlation," or "sample." Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and symbols.
When submitting manuscripts on randomized controlled trials (RCTs), authors must include the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards for Reporting Trials) flow diagram. See the Reporting Guidelines.
Results
When data are summarized in the Results section, specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Describe the success of any blinding of observations. Report treatment complications. Give numbers of observations. Report losses to observation (ie, dropouts from a clinical trial). Present results in logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations. Archives aims to publish no more than 5 figures per manuscript so restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain arguments and to assess their support. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables, illustrations, or both; emphasize or summarize only important observations.
While there may be occasional exceptions, Archives is committed to the need for clinical trial reports to be accompanied by adequate periods of follow-up. A lack of sufficient follow-up may be detrimental to a paper's acceptance.
Discussion
Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the introduction or the Results section. Include in the Discussion section the implications of the findings and their limitations, including implications for future research. Authors should address the issue of effect magnitude, in terms of both the statistics reported and the implications of the research. Relate the observations to other relevant studies.
Study Limitations
Include the subsection (Level 2 heading), "Study Limitations" to discuss the limitations of the study.
Conclusions
Link the conclusions with the study's goals but avoid unqualified statements not supported by the data. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that is incomplete. State new hypotheses when warranted, but clearly label them as such. Recommendations, when appropriate, may be included.
Highlights
Highlights are optional yet highly encouraged for this journal, as they increase the discoverability of your article via search engines. They consist of a short collection of bullet points that capture the novel results of your research as well as new methods that were used during the study (if any). Please have a look at the examples here: example Highlights.
Highlights should be submitted in a separate editable file in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point).
Graphical abstract
Although a graphical abstract is optional, its use is encouraged as it draws more attention to the online article. The graphical abstract should summarize the contents of the article in a concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Image size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 531 × 1328 pixels (h × w) or proportionally more. The image should be readable at a size of 5 × 13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi. Preferred file types: TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files. You can view Example Graphical Abstracts on our information site.
Acknowledgments
One or more statements should specify: (1) contributions that do not justify authorship (ie, third-party statistical analysis, writing/editing); and (2) acknowledgments of technical help.
Persons who have contributed intellectually to the manuscript but whose contributions do not justify authorship must be named and their function or contribution described, e.g., "scientific adviser," "critical review of study proposal," "data collection," or "participation in clinical trial." Clerical, administrative, laboratory staff, and participants/subjects in the study should not be acknowledged unless they have contributed significantly to the research, writing, or intellectual quality of the article. Such persons must give permission to be named. Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from persons acknowledged by name because readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions.
Formatting of funding sources
List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:
Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].
It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.
If no funding has been provided for the research, it is recommended to include the following sentence:
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Units
Metric units are required. Blood pressures in millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and all hematologic and clinical chemistry measurements using the International System of Units (SI).
Footnotes
Footnotes other than for references are not allowed in the manuscript body.
Artwork
Preferred file formats are TIFF, EPS, JPEG, and PDF.
300 dpi is minimum resolution to achieve high quality images. Typical desired resolutions are 300 dpi for black and white and color figures; 500 dpi for combination art (combined photo with line art); and 1000 dpi for line art.
Figures should be numbered consecutively in the order they are first cited in the text. If a figure has been published, acknowledge the original source in the reference list and the figure legend, and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. Permission is required, irrespective of authorship or publisher, except for documents in the public domain.
Letters, numbers, and symbols should be clear and even throughout, and of sufficient size that when reduced for publication each item will still be legible. Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends for figures, not on the figures themselves. For multi-part figures, please label each component separately with A, B, C, etc. both in the figure itself and in the legend.
Consistency in size within the article is strongly preferred. Any special instructions regarding sizing should be clearly noted.
Photomicrographs must have internal scale markers. Symbols, arrows, or letters used in the photomicrographs should contrast with the background.
If photographs of persons are used, either the subjects must not be identifiable or the author must obtain and archive permission to publish the pictures and attest that permission has been granted in the cover letter that accompanies the manuscript submission.
The Editorial Board reserves the right to determine which figures are appropriate for publication. There is no charge for publication of black and white illustrations.
Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Preferred fonts: Arial (or Helvetica), Times New Roman (or Times), Symbol, Courier.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Indicate per figure if it is a single, 1.5 or 2-column fitting image.
• For Word submissions only, you may still provide figures and their captions, and tables within a single file at the revision stage.
• Please note that individual figure files larger than 10 MB must be provided in separate source files.
A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available.
You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please 'save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as 'graphics'.
TIFF (or JPG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF (or JPG): Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF (or JPG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low.
• Supply files that are too low in resolution.
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
Color artwork
Color figures (minimum 300dpi) will be published without charge when color reproduction is essential to understanding of the material presented.
Figure legends
A list of figure legends should be provided after the reference list, listing each figure in order by number. Legends/captions should not be embedded in the figure files themselves.
Figure captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.
Tables
Submit each table as a separate file. Accepted file formats are PDF and Word (Please do not upload Excel files). If needed, Excel files will be requested from the authors upon a final editorial decision of accept. Number tables consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text. Include a brief title for each table, include a short or abbreviated heading for each column. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the title or column headings. Explain in footnotes all nonstandard abbreviations that are used in each table. For footnotes, use the following symbols, in this sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, #, **, ††, ‡‡
Identify statistical measures of variations such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean. Do not use internal horizontal and vertical rules. Be sure that each table is cited in the text in order. Using too many tables in relation to the length of the text may produce typesetting difficulties.
Data from another published or unpublished source may only be used with permission and must be acknowledged fully. It is the author's responsibility to obtain such permission.
Supplementary data
Archives accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips, and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com.
Suppliers
Before the References section, provide a Suppliers list with contact information (names and complete mailing addresses) for manufacturers of devices and other non-drug products used directly in a study (ie, do not provide such information for products not directly used in your research but mentioned in studies you cite). Identify equipment and/or materials in text, tables, and legends by superscript lower case letters. List suppliers consecutively in the order they are mentioned in the text.
Manufacturer names and locations should not be listed in the text where the product is introduced. Do not list Suppliers in the References list. Do not list drug manufacturers in the Suppliers list.
References
References in manuscripts accepted by Archives shall include only material that is retrievable through standard literature searches. Number references consecutively in the order in which they first appear in the text. Identify references in text, tables, and legends by superscript Arabic numerals. References cited only in tables or in legends to figures should be numbered in accordance with a sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure.
Try to avoid using abstracts as references; "unpublished observations" and "personal communications" may not be used as references, although references to written, not oral, communications may be inserted (in parentheses) in the text. Avoid "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from a public source. In this case, cite the name of the person and date of communication in parentheses in the text. For scientific articles, authors should obtain written permission and confirmation of accuracy from the source of personal communication.
Include among the references those papers accepted but not yet published; designate the journal and add "In press." Authors must obtain written permission to cite such papers as well as verification that they have been accepted for publication. Editors will request from the author(s) a copy of the letter from the journal accepting the "in press" article if the manuscript in which it is cited is accepted by Archives. Information from manuscripts submitted but not yet accepted should be cited in the text as "(unpublished observations)" with written permission from the source.
The references must be verified by the author(s) against the original documents. List all authors and/or editors for each reference, up to 6 authors. If there are 7 or more authors, truncate the list to the first 3 names and add "et al."
Citations in the running text
Number references consecutively in the order in which they first appear in the text. Identify references in text, tables, and legends by superscript Arabic numerals. References cited only in tables or in legends to figures should be numbered in accordance with a sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure.
Data references
This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.
Preprint references
Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the name of the preprint server, as part of the reference. The preprint DOI should also be provided.
Reference management software
Most Elsevier journals have a standard template available in key reference management packages. This covers packages using the Citation Style Language, such as Mendeley and also others like EndNote) and Reference Manager. Using plug-ins to word processing packages which are available from the above sites, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article and the list of references and citations to these will be formatted according to the journal style as described in this Guide. The process of including templates in these packages is constantly ongoing. If the journal you are looking for does not have a template available yet, please see the list of sample references and citations provided in this Guide to help you format these according to the journal style. For more information about the Citation Style Language, visit http://citationstyles.org.
Reference formatting
There are no strict requirements on reference formatting at submission. References can be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent. Where applicable, author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter and the article number or pagination must be present. Use of DOI is highly encouraged. The reference style used by the journal will be applied to the accepted article by Elsevier at the proof stage. Note that missing data will be highlighted at proof stage for the author to correct. If you do wish to format the references yourself they should be arranged according to the following examples:
Reference style
Text: Indicate references by (consecutive) superscript Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear in the text. The numerals are to be used outside periods and commas, inside colons and semicolons. For further detail and examples you are referred to the AMA Manual of Style, A Guide for Authors and Editors, Tenth Edition, ISBN 0-978-0-19-517633-9 (see http://www.amanualofstyle.com).
List: Number the references in the list in the order in which they appear in the text. Click here for examples of correct reference formats.
Journal abbreviations in references
The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in MEDLINE. Consult List of Serials Indexed for Online Users, which is available from the NLM at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lsiou.html.
Video
Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include citations to these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the file in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 150 MB per file, 1 GB in total. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages.
Research data
This journal encourages and enables you to share data that supports your research publication where appropriate, and enables you to interlink the data with your published articles. Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings. To facilitate reproducibility and data reuse, this journal also encourages you to share your software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project.
Below are a number of ways in which you can associate data with your article or make a statement about the availability of your data when submitting your manuscript. If you are sharing data in one of these ways, you are encouraged to cite the data in your manuscript and reference list. Please refer to the "References" section for more information about data citation. For more information on depositing, sharing and using research data and other relevant research materials, visit the research data page.
Data linking
If you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset. Elsevier collaborates with a number of repositories to link articles on ScienceDirect with relevant repositories, giving readers access to underlying data that gives them a better understanding of the research described.
There are different ways to link your datasets to your article. When available, you can directly link your dataset to your article by providing the relevant information in the submission system. For more information, visit the database linking page.
For supported data repositories a repository banner will automatically appear next to your published article on ScienceDirect.
In addition, you can link to relevant data or entities through identifiers within the text of your manuscript, using the following format: Database: xxxx (e.g., TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN).
Data statement
To foster transparency, we encourage you to state the availability of your data in your submission. This may be a requirement of your funding body or institution. If your data is unavailable to access or unsuitable to post, you will have the opportunity to indicate why during the submission process, for example by stating that the research data is confidential. The statement will appear with your published article on ScienceDirect. For more information, visit the Data Statement page.
Online proof correction
To ensure a fast publication process of the article, we kindly ask authors to provide us with their proof corrections within two days. Corresponding authors will receive an e-mail with a link to our online proofing system, allowing annotation and correction of proofs online. The environment is similar to MS Word: in addition to editing text, you can also comment on figures/tables and answer questions from the Copy Editor. Web-based proofing provides a faster and less error-prone process by allowing you to directly type your corrections, eliminating the potential introduction of errors.
If preferred, you can still choose to annotate and upload your edits on the PDF version. All instructions for proofing will be given in the e-mail we send to authors, including alternative methods to the online version and PDF.
We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.
Offprints
The corresponding author will, at no cost, receive a customized Share Link providing 50 days free access to the final published version of the article on ScienceDirect. The Share Link can be used for sharing the article via any communication channel, including email and social media. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. Corresponding authors who have published their article gold open access do not receive a Share Link as their final published version of the article is available open access on ScienceDirect and can be shared through the article DOI link.
Visit the Elsevier Support Center to find the answers you need. Here you will find everything from Frequently Asked Questions to ways to get in touch.
You can also check the status of your submitted article or find out when your accepted article will be published.
References
1. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. 2013. Available at: http://www.icmje.org. Accessed July June 16, 2014.
2. Committee on Publication Ethics. Flowcharts: Changes in Authorship. nd. Available at: http://www.publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts. Accessed June 16, 2014.
3. 64th WMA General Assembly. WMA Declaration of Helsinki - Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects. Available at: http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/. Accessed June 16, 2014.
4. Ottenbacher KJ. Why rehabilitation research does not work (as well as we think it should). Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1995;76:606–9.
Updated November 5, 2015
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