Pediatric and Developmental Pathology

Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pedpath to upload your manuscript. Note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Pediatric and Developmental Pathology will be reviewed.

Manuscript Submission Guidelines

Pediatric and Developmental Pathology is the premier journal dealing with the pathology of disease from conception through adolescence. It covers the spectrum of disorders developing in-utero (including embryology, placentology, and teratology), gestational and perinatal diseases, and all disease of childhood. Studies may be in any field of experimental, anatomic, or clinical pathology, including molecular pathology. Case reports are published only if they provide new insights into disease mechanisms or new information. [Delete as applicable]

This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics

This Journal recommends that authors follow the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal.

Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site [https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pedpath] to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of PDP 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. Article types: Original research, literature reviews, and case reports. Please keep original research and case reports under approximately 4,500 words. Case reports should be no more than 2,000 words.

2. Editorial Policies

2.1 Peer Review: PDP adheres to a rigorous single-blind review policy in which the authors are shielded from the identity of the reviewer. 

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:

(i) Made a substantial contribution to the concept and design, acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data,

(ii) Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,

(iii) Approved the version to be published.

Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.
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.

2.3 Acknowledgments

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.

2.3.1 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.

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

2.4 Funding

PDP requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgments 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

PDP encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway.

It is the policy of PDP 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 acknowledgments 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 also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants

2.7 Clinical trials

PDP conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrolment as a condition of consideration for publication. 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 Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) flow chart as a cited figure, and a completed CONSORT checklist as a supplementary file.

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

2.9 Data

SAGE acknowledges the importance of research data availability as an integral part of the research and verification process for academic journal articles.

PDP requests all authors submitting any primary data used in their research articles [“alongside their article submissions” or “if the articles are accepted”] to be published in the online version of the journal, or provide detailed information in their articles on how the data can be obtained. This information should include links to third-party data repositories or detailed contact information for third-party data sources. Data available only on an author-maintained website will need to be loaded onto either the journal’s platform or a third-party platform to ensure continuing accessibility. Examples of data types include but are not limited to statistical data files, replication code, text files, audio files, images, videos, appendices, and additional charts and graphs necessary to understand the original research. [The editor(s) may consider limited embargoes on proprietary data.] The editor(s) [can/will] also grant exceptions for data that cannot legally or ethically be released. All data submitted should comply with Institutional or Ethical Review Board requirements and applicable government regulations. For further information, please contact the editorial office at 'russo@email.chop.edu'.

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

PDP 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 articles published in the journal. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked using 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 acknowledgment, or where 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.

3.2 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 our Frequently Asked Questions on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway.

3.3 Open access and author archiving

PDP offers optional open access publishing via the SAGE Choice program. For more information please visit the SAGE Choice website. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit SAGE Publishing Policies on our Journal Author Gateway.

3.4 Permissions

Authors are responsible for obtaining 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 visit our Frequently Asked Questions on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway.

4. Manuscript Preparation

4.1 Title, keywords and abstracts: For articles include an abstract of no more than 200words. To facilitate anonymous review, the name, affiliation, mailing address, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of each author should appear in a separate title page that is not included in the main document of a submitted paper. Please also list four to six keywords and any acknowledgments on the title page.

4.2 Maximizing online discoverability: The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article online through online search engines such as Google. Please refer to the information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords by visiting SAGE’s Journal Author Gateway Guidelines on how to Help Readers Find Your Article online.

4.3 Author names, affiliations and corresponding author: Where the family name or surname may be ambiguous (e.g., a multiword name), please indicate this clearly. Author affiliations should only reflect the institution(s) where the research was done and will not be changed post publication. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages, and the corresponding author should list a permanent email address (which is not related to his/her institution) so that readers can reach the corresponding author after any future job/institution shifts.

4.4 Journal style: Prepare manuscripts according to the AMA 10^th Edition. Double-space all material, including the abstract, endnotes, references, quotations, appendixes, and tables. Endnotes and references should follow the text. Each table and figure should appear at the end of the document file.

4.5 References: Here is a quick link to

AMA Manual of Style

Ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa).

4.6 Artwork guidelines: For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit the Artwork Guidelines section in SAGE’s manuscript submission guidelines page. 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 from the production editor.

4.7 Guidelines for submitting supplemental files: This journal is able to host approved supplemental materials online, alongside the full-text of articles. Supplemental files must be provided at submission so that they can undergo peer-review alongside the article. For more information please refer to SAGE’s Guidelines for Authors on Supplemental Files.

4.8 English language editing services: SAGE Language Services can help authors with editing, translation, and formatting of the manuscript prior to journal submission. An author's use of these services in no way guarantees that his or her submission will ultimately be accepted, and any costs incurred are the sole responsibility of the author. For further information, we encourage the authors to visit the SAGE Languageservices link.

5. How to submit your manuscript

PDP is hosted on SAGETRACK : a web-based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you carefully read and adhere to all the guidelines and instructions to authors provided herein, and then simply visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pedpath to login and submit your article online.

Important note: If you are submitting to your journal via SAGE Track, 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.

6. After acceptance

6.1 SAGE Production: SAGE Production Editors maintain regular communication with journal editors and authors throughout the production process. Proofs of the article will be sent to the corresponding author for review.

6.2 E-prints: SAGE provides authors a link to the electronic PDF, as well as opportunities to purchase reprints.[PE: Please edit/remove this if it is not relevant for your journal.]

6.3 OnlineFirst publication: At SAGE we emphasize the highest possible production standards in copy-editing, typesetting, printing, and online publication. For more information please refer to the SAGE production process section on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway.

6.4 Promoting your article: If you think your article may be suitable for promotion, please flag this for the journal editor or your production contact at SAGE as early as possible in the publishing process. We have a variety of different promotional channels at our disposal to ensure your article reaches the widest possible audience. See Promote Your Article for more information.

7. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the PDP editorial office as follows:

'russo@email.chop.edu'