Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery

The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery welcomes the submission of Special Collection proposals. Special Collections should be relevant to and advance the aims and scope of the journal: https://journals.sagepub.com/aims-scope/JFM, and manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the journal’s submission guidelines: https://journals.sagepub.com/author-instructions/JFM.  

Guest Editors should submit a proposal to the Editors via email at jfms@icatcare.org.  

Papers must be submitted for peer review via the online submission site: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jfms. The peer review process is handled by the journal’s Editors, and is in line with the journal’s standard practice and Sage’s policies and processes. 

The Editors maintain oversight of the Special Collection and have the final say on manuscript decisions. In the event of the Special Collection not reaching the required number of articles, the individual papers may be published as stand-alone articles (at the discretion of the journal Editors).

The journal will consider submissions of manuscripts that have been posted on preprint servers.Please enter the preprint DOI in the designated field when submitting your manuscript. Note that you should not post an updated version of your manuscript on a preprint server while it is being peer reviewed. If your article is accepted, please then link your preprint to the published version in JFMS.

Learn more about our preprint policy.

Table of Contents:

1. Open Access
2. Article processing charge (APC)
3. What do we publish?
   3.1 Aims & scope
   3.2 Article types
   3.3 Writing your paper
4. Editorial policies
   4.1 Peer review policy
   4.2 Authorship
   4.3 Acknowledgements
   4.4 Funding
   4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
   4.6 Clinical and research ethics, and informed consent
   4.7 Reporting guidelines
   4.8 Research data
5. Publishing policies
   5.1 Publication ethics
   5.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
6. Preparing your manuscript
   6.1 Formatting
   6.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
   6.3 Supplementary material
   6.4 Style guide
   6.5 English language editing services
7. Submitting your manuscript
   7.1 How to submit your manuscript
   7.2 Information required for completing your submission
   7.3 ORCID
   7.4 Permissions
   7.5 Information required for completing your submission
8. On acceptance and publication
   8.1 SAGE Production
   8.2 Online publication
   8.3 Promoting your article
9. Further information
10. Appealing the publication decision
11. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery Resident Best Paper Award

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 and then visit the journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jfms to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. You can log in to the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your paper through the peer-review process.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery will be reviewed. As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.

1. Open Access

The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. Each article accepted by peer review is made freely available online immediately upon publication, is published under a Creative Commons license and will be hosted online in perpetuity. Publication costs of the journal are covered by the collection of article processing charges, which are paid by the funder, institution or author of each manuscript upon acceptance. There is no charge for submitting a paper to the journal.

For more information relating to the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery being open access, visit the FAQs page. For general information on open access at SAGE, please visit the Open Access page or view our Open Access FAQs.

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2. Article processing charge (APC)

If, after peer review, your manuscript is accepted for publication, a one-time article processing charge (APC) is payable. This APC covers the cost of publication and ensures that your article will be freely available online in perpetuity under a Creative Commons license.

All AAFP and ISFM members are entitled to a generous 22% off the APC for JFMS. To become a member and take advantage of this saving, as well as a full range of professional benefits, please see the Societies’ membership pages:

American Association of Feline Practitioners: https://catvets.com/members/membership/

International Society of Feline Medicine: https://go.icatcare.org/join-ISFM

The full APC is $1800 USD*. A 50% discount is in place for authors who are an Editorial Board member. A 20% discount is in place for authors who have reviewed for JFMS in the 6 months prior to submission.

The discount applies if any of the authors are eligible.

The APC is payable when a manuscript is accepted after peer review, before it is published. *The APC is subject to taxes where applicable. Tax-exempt status can be indicated by providing appropriate registration numbers when payment is requested. Please see further details here.

Authors may also be eligible for discounted APCs via open access agreements that Sage has with participating institutions. Discounts depend on the terms of the agreement; find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. Eligibility is determined by the corresponding author’s affiliation at the time of manuscript acceptance matching an agreement. Your article may be eligible for a full or partial waiver due to our participation in initiatives to increase accessibility to publication across the international academic community. Click here for more information about discounts and eligibility.

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3. What do we publish?

3.1 Aims & scope

Before submitting your manuscript to the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

3.2 Article types

The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery considers the following article types:

  1. Original Articles

• Main text word limit: 3000 words (excluding abstract, end statements, references, tables, legends and supplementary material)
• References, figures and tables: as many is as needed/relevant

2. Review Articles (which should provide an update on recent advances in a particular field. 

• Main text word limit: 4000 words (excluding abstract, end statements, references, tables, legends and supplementary material)
• References, figures and tables: as many is as needed/relevant

3. Short Communications (reporting relevant research or sufficiently substantial pilot studies)

• Main text word limit: 1500 words (excluding abstract, end statements, references, tables, legends and supplementary material)
• References, figures and tables: as many is as needed/relevant

4. Case Series (minimum of four cases)

• Main text word limit: 2500 words (excluding abstract, end statements, references, tables, legends and supplementary material)
• References, figures and tables: as many is as needed/relevant

5. Letters to the Editor:

• Main text word limit: 800 words
• References, figures and tables: no more than five references  (the letter should be commenting on a paper recently published in the journal; note that the Editors may send the letter to the authors of the original paper for comment so that both letter and reply may be published together).

All abstracts should be 300 words. Please see 6.1 Formatting for important further information per article type in regards to headings and article structure.

Note that Case Reports and Case Series with fewer than four cases should be submitted to the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery Open Reports. Original Articles or Short Communications on well-recognised diseases that report valuable national or regional data on disease prevalence, or other relevant data, should be directed to the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery Open Reports as a Short Communication.

Plain language summaries 

A plain language summary (PLS) is an optional addition that can be submitted for any article type that requires an abstract. The plain language title (approx. 50 words) and plain language summary (approx. 300 words) should describe the article using non-technical language, making it accessible to a wider network of readers. More information and guidance on how to write a PLS can be found on our Author Gateway.  

The PLS publishes directly below the scientific abstract, and are open access making it available online for anyone to read (including on PubMed). Peer review of the PLS will be conducted following our PLS reviewer guidelines. When submitting, authors should enter their plain language title and plain language summary into the box provided in the submission system when prompted. The PLS does not need to be provided in the manuscript text or as a separate file. If you are not submitting a PLS with your submission, please enter ‘N/A’ in each box. 

If you need professional help writing your plain language summary, please visit our Author Services portal.

3.3 Writing your paper

The SAGE Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. More information on preparing an article can be found in section 6.

3.3.1 Making your article discoverable

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

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4. Editorial policies

4.1 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 two expert reviewers. The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery utilizes a single-anonymized peer review process in which the reviewer’s name and information is withheld from the author. Reviewers may at their own discretion opt to reveal their names to the author in their review but the journal’s standard policy practice is for their identities to remain concealed. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, while maintaining rigor. Reviewers make comments to the author and recommendations to the handling editor who then makes the final decision.

If the Editors or members of the Editorial Board ever submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the journal, then 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.

The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 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 the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 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.

Generally the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery does not allow more than one round of major revisions and not more than two rounds of revisions in total during the peer-review process.

4.2 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 and design of the work and/or acquisition of data (e.g. in a multicentre paper, contributing more than 10% of the cases) and/or analysis and interpretation of data; and
2. Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content; and
3. Approved the version to be published; and
4. Have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.

Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgments section (see section 4.3). Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.

Please view our authorship policies, which includes information on criteria for authorship, who should be the corresponding author and more.

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.

4.3 Acknowledgements

Any contributor who does 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.

Per International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendations, it is best practice to obtain consent from non-author contributors who are being acknowleded in a paper.

4.3.1 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 an 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 the third party and approved any statements or declarations (e.g. conflict of interest, funding)

Where appropriate, SAGE reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

4.3.2 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.

4.4 Funding

The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in under a separate ‘Funding’ 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 ‘The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.’ 

4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

It is the policy of the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be included in all published articles. Examples of a conflict of interest that should be declared include if a product manufactured by (or a particular, perhaps unusual, technique performed at) the institution/company/practice of an author is mentioned in the article.

Please ensure that a ‘Conflict of interest’ statement is included in your manuscript. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The authors declaresd no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article’.

For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendations.

4.6 Clinical and research ethics, and informed consent

Authors should read the below guidelines before undertaking their study and prior to submitting their manuscript to the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery in order to ensure requirements have been adequately met.

Circumstances relating to the use of animals in clinical and experimental studies should consider the international standards as set out in:

• The International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals (1985) from the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences, available at https://cioms.ch/shop/product/international-guiding-principles-for-biomedical-research-involving-animals-2/ (or from the Executive Secretary CIOMS, c/o WHO, Via Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland).
• The ARRIVE Guidelines, available at: https://arriveguidelines.org.

In addition to the above, for manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, the Editors would not support publication of:

• Any experimental studies directly resulting in euthanasia of the cats.
• Studies using non-experimental (eg, client-owned) cats that may cause the cat a level of pain, suffering, distress or harm higher than that induced by inserting a hypodermic needle, and/or where the procedure is not part of ‘Recognised Veterinary Practice’. Recognised Veterinary Practice would include investigations, procedures and therapies that are part of normal clinical practice and that would be of direct benefit for the individual cat (or potentially to the group to which it immediately belongs). Where investigations, procedures or therapies are unproven, or where there is deliberate exposure of cats to procedures or interventions that might be deleterious to their welfare (physical, cognitive and emotional) without direct clinical benefit to them, it is highly likely that experimental cats should be used with appropriate attention to their welfare, with the requisite ethical approval (see below). If authors are in any doubt, they are encouraged to contact the Editors prior to manuscript submission.

The Editors would also expect that for all manuscripts submitted:

• Where appropriate, analgesia, sedation and/or anaesthesia must have been used and the authors should have adequately discussed the use of analgesia for the welfare of the cats involved.
• Where antibacterial agents have been used, their use should be justifiable and follow current recommendations (including measures to minimize the development of antibacterial resistance) and/or the use of antibacterials should be critically discussed.
• Any drugs or therapeutic agents used must have been obtained legally and ethically, following all relevant locally applicable regulations.
• Research involving experimental animals must always have received prior approval from an appropriate ethics committee with oversight of the facility in which the studies were conducted, and this may also apply to some studies involving client-owned animals (see 4.6.1 Ethical approval).

If you are in any doubt as to whether your article would be suitable for consideration based on the above, please contact jfms@icatcare.org. The Editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts on ethical or welfare grounds when, in their opinion, studies involve unnecessary pain, distress, suffering, harm or potential harm to animals; and where the above guidelines have not been followed.

4.6.1 Ethical approval

All material published in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery must adhere to high ethical standards concerning animal welfare and meet the above guidelines. Irrespective of the nature of the work (eg, prospective, retrospective or experimental studies, case series or review), the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery requires authors to make an ethical approval declaration in an ‘Ethical approval’ section, stating one of the following (using the exact wording):

1. The work described in this manuscript involved the use of non-experimental (owned or unowned) animals. Established internationally recognized high standards (‘best practice’) of veterinary clinical care for the individual patient were always followed and/or this work involved the use of cadavers. Ethical approval from a committee was therefore not specifically required for publication in JFMS. Although not required, where ethical approval was still obtained, it is stated in the manuscript.
2. The work described in this manuscript involved the use of non-experimental (owned or unowned) animals and procedures that differed from established internationally recognized high standards (‘best practice’) of veterinary clinical care for the individual patient. The study therefore had prior ethical approval from an established (or ad hoc) committee as stated in the manuscript.
   • This statement might, for example, apply to randomized and/or controlled trials (including where established interventions are being compared with each other), as well as studies where novel medications, techniques, devices or interventions established as safe but not currently part of ‘Recognised Veterinary Practice’ are used.
   • Authors must state in the Materials and methods the nature of the institutional, national or international ethical review body used and, if available, the ethical approval number.
   • If an existing ethical review body was not available, authors should state why in the Materials and methods, and should describe the nature of an ad hoc committee that was used (which must have included at least some individuals independent of the institute[s]/clinic[s] involved in the work).
3. The work described in this manuscript involved the use of experimental studies and the study therefore had prior ethical approval from an established (or ad hoc) committee as stated in the manuscript.
   • Authors must state in the Materials and methods the nature of the institutional, national or international ethical review body used and, if available, the ethical approval number.
   • If an existing ethical review body was not available, authors should state why in the Materials and methods, and should describe the nature of an ad hoc committee that was used (which must have included at least some individuals independent of the institute[s]/clinic[s] involved in the work).
4. This work did not involve the use of animals and therefore ethical approval was not specifically required for publication in JFMS.
   • Authors may select this option if, for example, the manuscript is solely a review using previously published data, or reports on questionnaire or in vitro findings. This statement is not suitable for manuscripts containing novel animal-specific data (including retrospective studies).

For any queries regarding the best-fit statement, please contact jfms@icatcare.org

4.6.2 Informed consent and informed consent for publication

The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery requires all authors to make informed consent declarations regarding (1) informed consent for use of animals within a study and (2) informed consent for publication where any animal or person may be identifiable as a result of the publication (eg, a recognizable photograph, description or unique identifiable feature). Authors must therefore in an ‘Informed consent’ section state one of the following (using the exact wording):

1. Informed consent (verbal or written) was obtained from the owner or legal custodian of all animal(s) described in this work (experimental or non-experimental animals, including cadavers, tissues and samples) for all procedure(s) undertaken (prospective or retrospective studies).
2. This work did not involve the use of animals (including cadavers) and therefore informed consent was not required.

• Authors may select this option if, for example, the manuscript is solely a clinical review or clinical guidelines using previously published data, or reports on questionnaire or in vitro findings, and does not involve the publication of any novel animal-specific data.

AND also one of the following (using the exact wording):

1. For any animals or people individually identifiable within this publication, informed consent (verbal or written) for their use in the publication was obtained from the people involved.
2. No animals or people are identifiable within this publication, and therefore additional informed consent for publication was not required.

4.7 Reporting guidelines

The relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type of study. It is recommended that randomized controlled trials submitted for publication include a completed CONSORT flow chart as a cited figure and the completed CONSORT checklist uploaded as a supplementary file. It is also recommended that systematic reviews and meta-analyses include the completed PRISMA flow chart and PRISMA checklist as a supplementary file. The EQUATOR wizard can help you identify the appropriate guideline.

Other resources can be found at National Library of Medicine’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.

Guidelines for papers determining reference intervals in veterinary species can be found at: https://www.asvcp.org/page/QALS_Guidelines.

4.8 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 Policies pages.

Encouragement (share, cite, and linking encouraged)

Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

• Share their research data in a relevant public data repository
• Include a data availability statement linking to their data. If it is not possible to share the data, including a statement to confirm why it cannot be shared.
• Cite this data in their research

If research data needs to be anonymized for peer review, the SAGE Research Data Sharing FAQs provide guidance.
 

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5. Publishing policies

5.1 Publication ethics

SAGE is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record and 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.

5.1.1 Plagiarism

The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery and SAGE take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. They seek to protect the rights of their authors and always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, they 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, they 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.

5.1.2 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 (such as prior presentation of study findings/results at conferences or meetings, which should be described in an ‘Author note’ section). Please refer to the guidance on the SAGE Author Gateway or, if in doubt, contact jfms@icatcare.org.

5.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement

Before publication, SAGE requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery publishes manuscripts under Creative Commons licenses. The standard license for the journal is Creative Commons by Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC), which allows others to re-use the work without permission as long as the work is properly referenced and the use is non-commercial. For more information, you are advised to visit SAGE's OA licenses page. Alternative license arrangements are available, for example, to meet particular funder mandates, made at the author’s request.

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6. Preparing your manuscript

6.1 Formatting

The preferred format for a manuscript is Word. The document should have continuous line numbering, use a standard font (eg, Times New Roman) and have all figures, tables and supplementary material cited in the text in numerical order.

The title (which should be concise [20 words maximum]), the authors’ institutional addresses, the corresponding author’s email address and postnominals, and the article’s keywords (a minimum of four, not including ‘cat’ or ‘feline’) should be included at the beginning of the article. An abstract should follow, using the subheadings and word limits listed for each article type below; the abstract should not contain reference citations. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find an article online through online search engines such as Google. Please refer to the information and guidance on how best to title an article, write an abstract and select keywords by visiting How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

The article should be structured with subheadings based on the article type; the subheadings that should be used are listed below. The journal’s recommended maximum word count, as well as any restrictions around figures, tables and references for each article type are also described below.

1. Original Articles
   • Abstract word limit: 300 words
   • Main text word limit: 3000 words (excluding abstract, end statements, references, tables, legends and supplementary material)
   • References, figures and tables: as many as are needed/relevant
   • Abstract structured with ‘Objectives’, ‘Methods’, ‘Results’ and ‘Conclusions and relevance’ subheadings
   • Main text structured with ‘Introduction’, ‘Materials and methods’, ‘Results’, ‘Discussion’, ‘Conclusions’, ‘Acknowledgements’ (if applicable), ‘Author note’ (if applicable), ‘Conflict of interest’, ‘Funding’, ‘Ethical approval’, ‘Informed consent’ and ‘References’ headings
2. Review Articles
   • Abstract word limit: 300 words
   • Main text word limit: 4000 words (excluding abstract, end statements, references, tables, legends and supplementary material)
   • References, figures and tables: as many is as needed/relevant
   • Abstract either unstructured or structured with subheadings of the author’s choice
   • Main text structured with headings of the author’s choice, followed by ‘Conclusions’, ‘Acknowledgements’ (if applicable), ‘Author note’ (if applicable), ‘Conflict of interest’, ‘Funding’, ‘Ethical approval’, ‘Informed consent’ and ‘References’ headings
3. Short Communications
   • Abstract word limit: 300 words
   • Main text word limit: 1500 words (excluding abstract, end statements, references, tables, legends and supplementary material)
   • References, figures and tables: as many as are needed/relevant
   • Abstract structured with ‘Objectives’, ‘Methods’, ‘Results’ and ‘Conclusions and relevance’ subheadings
   • Main text structured with ‘Introduction’, ‘Materials and methods’, ‘Results’, ‘Discussion’, ‘Conclusions’, ‘Acknowledgements’ (if applicable), ‘Author note’ (if applicable), ‘Conflict of interest’, ‘Funding’, ‘Ethical approval’, ‘Informed consent’ and ‘References’ headings
4. Case Series
   • Abstract word limit: 300 words
   • Main text word limit: 2500 words (excluding abstract, end statements, references, tables, legends and supplementary material)
   • References, figures and tables: as many is as needed/relevant
   • Abstract structured with ‘Case series summary’ and ‘Relevance and novel information’ subheadings
   • Main text structured with ‘Introduction’ (optional), ‘Case series description’, ‘Discussion’, Conclusions’, ‘Acknowledgements’ (if applicable), ‘Author note’ (if applicable), ‘Conflict of interest’, ‘Funding’, ‘Ethical approval’, ‘Informed consent’ and ‘References’ headings
5. Letters to the Editor
   • Word limit: 800 words (including references, tables and legends)
   • References: no more than five
   • Either one table or figure

6.2 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. Tables should be provided in an editable format (eg, drawn in Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel). The minimum image quality required is 300 dpi at 1000 x 1000 pixels (and images should be no larger than 2000 x 2000 pixels) and all figures should be uploaded as individual files.

6.3 Supplementary material

The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images, etc) alongside the full-text of the article. These must be submitted along with the manuscript and will be subject to peer review. For more information, please refer to the SAGE guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

6.4 Reference style and style guide

The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery has its own style guide

The SAGE Vancouver style is used for references; see the above style guide for more information. If those using EndNote to manage references, the SAGE Vancouver EndNote output file can be downloaded.

6.5 English language editing services

Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using SAGE Language Services. Visit SAGE Language Services for further information.

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7. Submitting your manuscript

7.1 How to submit your manuscript

Submissions to the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery are handled on SAGE Track, a web-based online submission and peer-review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jfms to create an account or log in and submit an 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 since 2011 it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

7.2 Information required for completing your submission

Submitting authors will be asked to provide contact details and academic/practice 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 the manuscript. Please check to see if any co-authors already have an account in the SAGE Track system by searching for their email address at the ‘Authors & Institutions’ stage; for any co-authors added at this stage, note that a user account, containing their name, email address and institution/practice, will be created for them in the SAGE Track system. At this stage, please ensure all the required statements and declarations are included and any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant) are uploaded.

7.3 ORCID

As part of their commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process, SAGE are 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. Co-authors are also encouraged to link their ORCID iD to their accounts in SAGE Track by clicking the link in the email they will receive when their account is created and signing into their ORCID account. An ORCID iD will become part of an accepted publication’s metadata, making the work attributable to only that particular author. The ORCID iD is published within the article so that fellow researchers reading this work can link to the ORCID profile and from there link to the particular author’s other publications.

If you do not already have an ORCID ID, please follow this link to create one or visit the SAGE ORCID homepage to learn more.

Please note that only ORCID iDs validated in SAGE Track prior to article acceptance will be authorized for publication, and it is not possible to add or amend ORCID iDs at later stages (eg, at proof stage).

Once an ORCID account is set up, you are able to add papers manually to your account to ensure all your work is accounted for.

7.4 Permissions

Please 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 Journal Author Gateway.

7.5 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 on 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).

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8. On acceptance and publication

If your paper is accepted for publication after peer review, you will first be asked to complete the contributor’s publishing agreement. Once your manuscript files have been checked for SAGE Production, the corresponding author will be asked to pay the article processing charge (APC) via a payment link. Once the APC has been processed, your article will be prepared for publication and can appear online within an average of 30 working days. Please note, however, that no production work will occur on your paper until the APC has been received.

8.1 SAGE Production

Your SAGE Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will made available to the corresponding author via the editing portal SAGE Edit or by email to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly.  Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Conflict of interest, Funding, Ethical approval and Informed consent statements are accurate.

8.2 Online publication

Your article will be published online in a fully citable form with a DOI number as soon as the article processing charge has been paid and the article has completed the production process. At this point it will be completely free to view and download for all.

8.3 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. In addition, SAGE is partnered with Kudos, a free service that allows authors to explain, enrich, share, and measure the impact of their article. Find out how to maximize your article’s impact.

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9. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery Editorial Office at jfms@icatcare.org.

10. 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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11. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery Resident Best Paper Award

This award recognizes quality and excellence for early career authors who publish in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery. Lead authors who are in a recognized veterinary residency program (eg, ABVS, EBVS and ANZCVS residency) at the time of submission of their paper will automatically be eligible for consideration for the award, subject to their paper’s acceptance for publication. Details about this award for interested residents and resident supervisors can be found at: award.jfms.com.