HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal

Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Health Environments Research & Design

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 https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/herd to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. Remember you can log in to the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your paper through the peer review process.

Sage disseminates high-quality research and engaged scholarship globally, and we are committed to diversity and inclusion in publishing. We encourage submissions from a diverse range of authors from across all countries and backgrounds.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Health Environments Research & Design 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, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, 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. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that Health Environments Research & Design does not accept submissions of papers that have been posted on preprint servers.

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 Research 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 Identifiable information
   4.4 Supplemental material
   4.5 Reference style
   4.6 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 Appealing the publication decision

1. What do we publish?

1.1 Aim & Scope

Before submitting your manuscript to Health Environments Research & Design, please ensure you have read the Aim & Scope:

The Health Environments Research & Design Journal (HERD) is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal whose mission is to enhance the knowledge and practice of evidence-based healthcare facility/environment design by disseminating research findings, discussing issues and trends, and translating research into practice.

The vision of HERD is to improve measurable healthcare outcomes as a result of enhancing healthcare environments for those receiving and providing care.

HERD is the only journal featuring evidence-based articles on the design of health environments and the design-related outcomes associated with safety, clinical results, organizational performance, economics, and the human experience. The commitment to an interdisciplinary design process is reflected in HERD’s interdisciplinary Editorial Board, with representatives from healthcare (including nursing, medicine, and healthcare administration), the design industry (architecture, engineering, interiors, graphics), environmental and behavioural psychology, neurosciences, systems and organizational effectiveness, art, music, and other complementary fields. The journal centralizes knowledge about healthcare innovations and design while addressing significant industry challenges to improve patient outcomes, reduce errors, and enhance the work environments of healthcare professionals.

As a translational journal linking research to practice, HERD features both rigorous research from academic sources and applied research from practice. Submissions from both scholars and practitioners are welcome. All will be held to high standards.

1.2 Article types

HERD accepts the following types of articles:

Research Papers: Research studies can be qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methodology. The following sections are recommended: introduction, significance, aim or purpose, conceptual or theoretical framework guiding the study, review of the literature, methodology (study design, setting, sample, instruments or surveys (questions) used, data analysis methods, findings or results, limitations, conclusions, recommendations for future results, and implications for practice.

All research articles must include a statement in the text about approval for the study from an Institutional Review Board (IRB), administrative approval, or an ethical committee. Authors should indicate methods used for protecting human subjects' rights or methods of protecting animals. Please review the section below Protecting Research Subjects. A scanned file of the IRB or ethics approval should be submitted as a separate file when submitting your manuscript.

Case Studies: Case studies describe and evaluate a particular design method or feature(s) in a healthcare setting. Case studies include the positive and negative experiences or findings related to the design process or final solution. The actual organization or site of the case study must not be stated in the text for blind review.

Theory Papers: Papers that describe the development of theory should include reference to the relevant literature and analysis of previous theory upon which the new theory is built, or analysis of the previous theory the new one is rejecting and/or replacing. Theories should describe, explain, or predict phenomena of interest. The simplest theory is found in a hypothesis; middle range theory is more encompassing and tends to have a relation to grand theory. Grand theory is more abstract and tends to avoid concrete concerns.

Literature Reviews: Literature reviews present a written summary of the existing published research on a topic.

Opinion/ White Paper: Opinion paper should include references to support the author’s perspectives or opinions and recommendations and/or implications for practice.

Project Evaluation: Pre-Occupancy, Post-Occupancy Evaluations, etc. Postoccupancy evaluations (POE) should be third-party evaluations of the strengths or weaknesses of completed/built facilities intended to improve the design of future facilities. The actual organization or site of the POE must not be stated in the text for blind review.

Instrument Development: Papers describing the development of a research instrument or standardized survey should include a review of the relevant literature, description of the antecedents leading to development of the instrument, a concise description of the instrument and its use, description of the response set and how the instrument is scored, and reporting of the psychometric properties (reliability and validity) process and statistical results for the total instrument and any subscales.

Book Reviews: Book reviews present a scholarly review of a book and your impression of its value to practitioners. Please provide a photo of the cover. Please contact one of the editors for your interest in submitting a book review.

Methodology Column: Methodology papers enhance readers’ knowledge of a subject by describing “how,” or the steps of a process. Methodology papers can focus on qualitative or quantitative research methods, measurement of design outcomes, design processes, translating existing research into practice for evidence-based design, or disseminating new knowledge from a completed project. Please contact one of the editors for your interest in submitting a Methodology paper.

Letters to the Editors: The journal welcomes letters to the editors on topics of interest to our readership.

Please visit our Sage Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstracts.

1.3 Writing your paper

The SageAuthor Gateway has some general advice on how to get published, plus links to further resources.

Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance your article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

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2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

SAGE does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication.

Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

• The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors.
• The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper.
• The author has recommended the reviewer.
• The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g., Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution).

The journal’s policy is to have manuscripts reviewed by three expert reviewers. Health Environments Research & Design utilizes a double-anonymized peer review process in which the reviewer and authors’ names and information are withheld from the other. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, while maintaining rigor. Reviewers make comments to the author and recommendations to the Editor who then makes the final decision.

The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the Journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.

Health Environments Research & Design is committed to delivering high quality, fast peer-review for your paper, and as such has partnered with Web of Science (previously Publons). Web of Science is a third-party service that seeks to track, verify and give credit for peer review. Reviewers for Health Environments Research & Design can opt in to Web of Science 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 Web of Science website.

The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the Journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.

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:

1. Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,
2. Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
3. Approved the version to be published,
4. 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, multicenter group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.

Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.

Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

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.

Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

Per ICMJE recommendations, it is best practice to obtain consent from non-author contributors who you are acknowledging in your paper.

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.

2.3.2 Writing assistance

Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g., from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

2.4 Funding

Health Environments Research & Design 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 Health Environments Research & Design to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.

Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’. For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations here.

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 do not submit the patient’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality. The Journal requests that you confirm to us, in writing, that you have obtained written informed consent but the written consent itself should be held by the authors/investigators themselves, for example in a patient’s hospital record. The confirmatory letter may be uploaded with your submission as a separate file.

Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants.

2.7 Clinical trials

Health Environments Research & Design endorses the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrolment. However, consistent with the AllTrials campaign, retrospectively registered trials will be considered if the justification for late registration is acceptable. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.

2.8 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. If your research involves animals, you will be asked to confirm that you have carefully read and adhered to the ARRIVE guidelines.

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

2.9 Research data

The Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.

As a condition of publication authors are required to:

• Share your research data in a relevant public data repository
• Include a data availability statement. This should:
• Indicate if data is available and shared
• In certain cases, indicate if research data is available but not shared, and why. If you cannot share your data and this is a requirement of publication, consult the journal editorial office.
• Indicate if there is an absence of data
• Cite data in your research

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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

Health Environments Research & Design and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the Journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

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 license agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and license 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

Health Environments Research & Design 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.

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4. Preparing your manuscript

4.1 Formatting

The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. A LaTex template is available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

Manuscript Text must be double-spaced in an 8½ x 11-inch format with 1-inch margins in Times New Roman 12-point font. The manuscript text and references should not exceed 20 pages. The author’s name or institution must be deleted from the text for peer review purposes. Text in the manuscript should contain pull-out quotes, highlighted in bold.

References should NOT be older than 10 years old unless the reference is a classical article, a theory paper, or there is no evidence of more recent information on the subject. References are written in APA style (7th Edition) and are placed immediately after the manuscript text. Authors who use EndNote or other type of referencing system should convert the final copy of the paper to a Word document without the EndNote Codes (Convert Citations and Bibliography drop down menu and choose plain text).

One file should be saved and submitted that includes only the text and references as one complete file.

Other Required Files:

Title Page

The Title Page should include the following information:

• Title of article;
• Name, degrees, job title or position, and affiliation of each author in the order of authorship
• Full contact details for the corresponding author including email, mailing address and telephone numbers;
• Acknowledgment of funding or other support (financial and otherwise) and acknowledgement of Conflict of Interest;
• Keywords: Authors are required to submit at least five (5) keywords for their article. Suggested keywords can be found on the Sage Track website (https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/herd).

Abstract (maximum 250 words)

An abstract is required summarizing the article with headings including: (1) objectives, purpose or aim, (2) background, (3) methods, (4) results, and (5) conclusions.

Implications for Practice

Bulleted list (approximately 3-5 bullet points) on how the information in the article can be used in practice.

Tables and Figures:

Tables are WORD documents of data or summarizing information in a table format rather than in full text in the manuscript. Tables are prepared in a 10-point sans serif font (Calibri or Arial), and each table saved as a separate file.

Figures can be artwork, illustrations, drawings, or actual photographs labelled as Figure # and saved as a separate file. Figures can be submitted in Microsoft WORD or PowerPoint format, as a pdf file, or as a .jpg or .tif file for photos.

For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines. Figures supplied in color will appear in color online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For specifically requested color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.

Photo License Agreements and Permission To Reproduce:

Photos/Illustrations

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. Authors must also obtain written permission to reproduce material that has appeared in another publication, including the author's own writings that may have been previously published. If you wish to use any or all of that content in your HERD submission, you must obtain written permission to reproduce those excerpts.

All relevant forms should be submitted concurrent with initial manuscript submission. No article can be published unless all pertinent permissions have been secured.

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.

4.3 Identifiable information

Where a journal uses double-anonymized peer review, authors are required to submit:

1. A version of the manuscript which has had any information that compromises the anonymity of the author(s) removed or anonymized. This version will be sent to the peer reviewers.
2. A separate title page which includes any removed or anonymized material. This will not be sent to the peer reviewers.

See https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/Manuscript-preparation-for-double-anonymized-journal for detailed guidance on making an anonymous submission.

4.4 Supplemental material

This Journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g., datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc.) alongside the full-text of the article. These will be subjected to peer review alongside the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

4.5 Reference style

Health Environments Research & Design adheres to the APA reference style (7th Edition). View the APA guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style. References should NOT be older than 10 years old unless the reference is a classical article, a theory paper, or there is no evidence of more recent information on the subject.

All manuscripts must adhere to the style and format described in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), Seventh Edition (2019) and must be submitted in Microsoft (MS) WORD®. We recommend you use spell and grammar check under the “Review” tab in MS WORD before submitting your article on Scholar One. Manuscripts not meeting the APA guidelines or having numerous spelling and grammar faults will be sent back to the author(s) for correction prior to being sent out to a panel of reviewers.

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

4.6 English language editing services

Authors who are not native English speakers are strongly advised to have the manuscript professionally edited for English usage and grammar. 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.

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5. Submitting your manuscript

Health Environments Research & Design is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/herd 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.

SUBMISSION CHECKLIST

Before electronically submitting your manuscript to HERD Sage Track, please check the following:

• Is the manuscript and references (20 pages or less) prepared in MS Word and saved in a separate file with a .doc or .docx file extension?
• Do your manuscript and references conform to APA style (7th Edition)?
• Is the manuscript text double-spaced in 12-point Times New Roman with 1-inch margins?
• Have you checked that the majority of your references are not older than 10 years and preferably the latest references possible?
• Does your text manuscript highlight pull-out quotes in bold?
• Have you eliminated all information identifying the author(s) and/or study (e.g., facility name and location) from all pages to facilitate the blind review process? This information may be added after peer review.
• Have you provided the following in separate Word files: Title Page, Abstract (250-word max), Tables, Figures, and bulleted list of Implications for Practice?
• Is your Title Page in the correct format and include: acknowledgment of funding or other support; disclosure of any conflicts of interest; and five or more keywords?
• Are Tables or other illustrative text materials in a 10-point sans serif font (Calibri or Arial), and ready to be submitted as separate Word files?
• Are Figures (artwork, photographs, or other images) prepared in separate, high-resolution (300dpi) files in .TIF or .JPEG format?
• Have you specified where you would like the figures and tables to be placed by writing, "[Place Figure/Table X approximately here]"?
• Have you supplied all written permissions to reprint copyrighted material (more than 100-words) that you quote in the text?
• Have you supplied written permission to reproduce or adapt any illustrations or photos that come from another source? Have you identified photographers (note that names in captions should be omitted for peer review but can be added after the article is accepted) and supplied model releases from identifiable people in photos?
• Have you uploaded your IRB or Administrative approval or other documentation of protection of human subjects?

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. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

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.

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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 made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us 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.

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7. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Health Environments Research & Design editorial office as follows:

D. Kirk Hamilton, PhD, FCCM, Emeritus FAIA, FACHA, EDAC

HERD Founding Co-Editor

Professor Emeritus, School of Architecture, Texas A&M University

Faculty Fellow, Center for Health Systems & Design

College Station, TX

khamilton@tamu.edu

Jaynelle F. Stichler, DNS, RN, NEA-BCr, EDAC, FACHE, FAAN

HERD Founding Co-Editor Emerita

Professor Emerita, School of Nursing, San Diego State University

San Diego, CA

jan.stichler@gmail.com

Debbie Gregory, DNP, RN

HERD Co-Editor

Principal, Healthcare Innovation Consulting

Smith Seckman Reid, Inc.

Nashville, TN

dgregory@ssr-inc.com

Naomi A. Sachs, PhD, MLA, EDAC

HERD Co-Editor

Assistant Professor,

University of Maryland Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture

Founding Director,

Therapeutic Landscapes Network

College Park, MD

nsachs@healinglandscapes.org

Ellen Taylor, PhD, AIA, MBA, EDAC

Center for Health Design

Concord, CA

etaylor@healthdesign.org

Laurel S. Curran, MPH, WELL® AP

HERD Editorial Assistant

PhD Candidate, Department of Health Behavior, Texas A&M University

College Station, TX

lcurran@tamu.edu

7.1 Appealing the publication decision

Editors have very broad discretion in determining whether an article is an appropriate fit for their journal. Many manuscripts are declined with a very general statement of the rejection decision. These decisions are not eligible for formal appeal unless the author believes the decision to reject the manuscript was based on an error in the review of the article, in which case the author may appeal the decision by providing the Editor with a detailed written description of the error they believe occurred.

If an author believes the decision regarding their manuscript was affected by a publication ethics breach, the author may contact the publisher with a detailed written description of their concern, and information supporting the concern, at publication_ethics@sagepub.com

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