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Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics

Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics

Published in Association with American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society

eISSN: 24730114 | ISSN: 24730114 | Current volume: 10 | Current issue: 3 Frequency: Quarterly

Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics (FAO) is a scholarly journal of the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS). This open access medical journal emphasizes surgical and medical management of foot and ankle disorders with a specific focus on reconstructive, trauma, and sports-related conditions utilizing the latest technological advances. It offers original peer-reviewed articles including: clinical and basic science research, meta-analyses, systematic and contemporary reviews, case reviews, hot topics, research designs and technique tips. FAO is committed to maintaining the same standards of quality and editorial oversight offered by FAI. All papers considered suitable for peer review will undergo a rigorous double-anonymized peer review process, including a minimum of two peer reviewers and the Editor-in-Chief (and an Associate Editor, if warranted). This journal is an ideal resource for orthopaedic surgeons, fellows, residents, and allied health providers interested in providing the latest in evidenced-based foot and ankle care.

FAO publishes Clinical and Biomedical Scientific Manuscripts; Short Scientific Reports; Systematic Review/Meta-Analyses; Contemporary Reviews; Case Reports; Technique Tips; and Letters to the Editor. FAO will not consider the following types of submissions for publication: Bibliometric papers: Qualitative or mixed methods research; and "Learning curve" Manuscripts.

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Please click on Submission Guidelines for instructions.

Submit your manuscript today at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fao.

Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics, a publication of the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society® (AOFAS®), is an open access medical journal that emphasizes surgical and medical management as well as basic and clinical research related to foot and ankle problems. FAO offers peer-reviewed articles emphasizing surgical and medical management as well as basic and clinical research related to foot and ankle problems.

Editor-in-Chief
Charles L. Saltzman, MD University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Executive Editor
Robert B. Anderson, MD OrthoCarolina, Charlotte, NC, United States
Associate Editors
Brad D. Blankenhorn, MD Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School, Providence, RI, United States
John T. Campbell, MD, Senior Editor Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, United States
Timothy R. Daniels, MD, FRCSC University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
James R. Holmes, MD University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
John Y. Kwon, MD Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
Ellie Pinsker, PhD Unity Health Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Stefan Rammelt, MD, PhD Klinik und Poliklinik für Unfall- und WiederherstellungschirurgieUniversitätsklinikum "Carl Gustav Carus", Dresden, Germany
Robert A. Vander Griend, MD, Senior Editor Emeritus, UF Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Institute, Gainesville, FL, United States
Specialty Content Editors
Stephanie R. Albin, PT, PhD Regis University, Denver, CO, United States
Jonathon D. Backus, MD The Steadman Clinic, Vail, CO, United States
Jason T. Bariteau, MD Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States
Gordon L. Bennett, MD Western Reserve Orthopedic Surgery, Akron, OH, United States
Daniel D. Bohl, MD, MPH Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States
Matthew G. Cable, MD Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, United States
Laura Certain, MD, PhD University of Utah Health, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Julia Crim, MD University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States
Graham J. DeKeyser, MD Oregon Health & Sciences University, Portland, OR, United States
Constantine A. Demetracopoulos, MD Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY, United States
Mark E. Easley, MD, Podcast Editor Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States
Sarah Ettinger, MD University Hospital for Orthopedic Surgery, Pius Hospital Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
T. Wade Fallin, MS University of Utah Health, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Ward Glasoe, PhD University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
Jessica E. Goetz, PhD University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States
Daniel Guss, MD, MBA Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
Gregory P. Guyton, MD, Video Editor Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore, MD, United States
Thomas G. Harris, MD UCLA - Harbor, Pasadena, CA, United States
Pooya Hosseinzadeh, MD Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, United States
Raymond Y. Hsu, MD Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School, Providence, RI, United States
Casey J. Humbyrd, MD, MBE University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
A. Holly Johnson, MD Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY, United States
Michael J. Jurynec, PhD University of Utah Health, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
William R. Ledoux, PhD VA Puget Sound, Seattle, WA, United States
Amy L. Lenz, PhD University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Michael S. Pinzur, MD Loyola University Health System, Maywood, IL, United States
Anthony I. Riccio, MD Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, Dallas, TX, United States
Anthony Sakellariou, BSc MBBS FRCS (Orth) Frimley Park Hospital, Camberley, Surrey, United Kingdom
Oliver N. Schipper, MD Anderson Orthopaedic Clinic, Arlington, VA, United States
Glenn G. Shi, MD Mayo Clinic Florida, Jacksonville, FL, United States
Sorin Siegler, PhD Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Richard Sloane, MS, MPH Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States
Jeff D. Swenson, MD University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
H. Thomas Temple, MD University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, United States
Lizzy Weigelt, MD Luzerner Kantonsspital, Lucerne, Switzerland
International Editors
Alessio Bernasconi, MD, PhD, FEBOT Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy
Arne Burssens, MD, PhD Universitair Ziekenhuis Gent, Gent, Belgium
Andrew J. Goldberg, MD, MBBS, FRCS(Tr&Orth) The Wellington Hospital London, University College London, London, United Kingdom
Beat Hintermann, MD Kantonspital Baselland, Liestal, Switzerland
Markus Knupp, MD University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
François Lintz, MD, PhD Clinique de l'Union, St. Jean, France
Marius Molund, MD, PhD Østfold Hospital, Grålum, Norway
Dawson Charles Muir, MB ChB, FRACS(Orth) Grace Orthopaedic Centre, Tauranga, New Zealand
Christopher J. Pearce, MB ChB, FRCS (Tr&Orth), MFSEM(UK) Altius Clinic, Singapore, Singapore
Chamnanni Rungprai, MD Phramongkutklao Hospital and College of Medicine, Bangkok, Thailand
Kelly C. Stéfani, MD, PhD Universidade de São Paulo Hospital das Clínicas, São Paulo, Brazil
Sjoerd A. Stufkens, MD, PhD University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Panos Symeonidis, MD, PhD St. Luke’s Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece
Yuki Tochigi, MD, PhD Laketown Orthopaedic Hospital, Koshigaya, Saitama, Japan
Federico G. Usuelli, MD IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milano, Italy
Alastair S.E. Younger, MB ChB, ChM, FRCSC University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contemporary Review Editors
Christopher P. Chiodo, MD, Senior Editor Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
Elizabeth A. Cody, MD, Assistant Editor Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY, United States
Christopher E. Gross, MD, Assistant Editor Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States
Electronic Media Editorial Board
Shannon F. Alejandro, MD Baylor Scott & White Orthopaedic Associates of Dallas, Dallas, TX, United States
Adam D. Bitterman, DO Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, NY, United States
Monique C. Chambers, MD, MSL Stanford University, Redwood City, CA, United States
Lauren E. Geaney, MD, Chair University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, United States
Arianna L. Gianakos, DO Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
Thomas A. McDonald, MD Orthopedic Associates of Hartford, Hartford, CT, United States
Rachel J. Shakked, MD Rothman Institute, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Managerial Board
Elizabeth A. Cody, MD Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY, United States
Bruce E. Cohen, MD OrthoCarolina, Charlotte, NC, United States
Scott J. Ellis, MD Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY, United States
Kelly K. Hynes, MD WashU Medicine Orthopedics, St. Louis, MO, United States
Harold B. Kitaoka, MD Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States
Joseph S. Park, MD University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA, United States
E. Greer Richardson, MD, ex-officio Memphis, TN, United States
Charles L. Saltzman, MD, ex-officio University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Bruce J. Sangeorzan, MD University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
David B. Thordarson, MD, ex-officio Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States
  • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
  • ProQuest
  • PubMed: PubMed Central (PMC)
  • Scopus
  • Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics (FAO) welcomes articles that contribute to orthopaedic science as it relates to the foot and ankle. Articles are welcome from all countries and all sources under the following conditions:

    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 to this journal.

    Please read the guidelines below then visit the journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fao 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 Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics 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
    2. Article Processing Charge (APC)
    3. Article Types and Word/Artwork Limits
    4. Editorial Policies
      4.1 Peer Review Policy
      4.2 Authorship
      4.3 Acknowledgments
      4.3.1 Writing Assistance
      4.4 Funding
      4.5 Declaration of Conflicting Interests
      4.6 Research Ethics and Patient Consent
      4.7 Clinical Trials
      4.8 Reporting Guidelines
      4.9 Data
    5. Publishing Policies
      5.1 Publication Ethics
      5.1.1 Plagiarism
      5.1.2 Prior Publication
      5.2 Contributor's Publishing Agreement
      5.3 Permissions
    6. Manuscript Preparation
      6.1 Word Processing Formats
      6.2 Artwork, Figures, and Other Graphics
      6.3 Supplementary Material
      6.4 Journal Layout
      6.5 Reference Style
      6.6 English Language Editing Services
    7. Manuscript Submission
      7.1 How to Submit Your Manuscript
      7.2 Title, Keywords, and Abstracts
      7.3 Corresponding Author Contact Details
    8. On Acceptance and Publication
      8.1 SAGE Production
      8.2 Continuous Publication
    9. Further Information

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    1. Open Access

    Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics 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 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.

    The article processing charge (APC) for AOFAS members and articles cascaded from FAI is $650.

    The article processing charge (APC) is $1,000 for direct submissions from non-members.

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    3. Article Types and Word/Artwork Limits

    Scientific Manuscript                                                 4,000 words
    Systematic Review/Meta-Analysis                            4,000 words
    Current Concept Review/Topical Review                  5,000 words
    Case Report/Technique Tip                                       2,000 words
    Number of Tables                                                      4
    Number of Figures                                                    8
    Abstract                                                                     300 words

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    4. Editorial Policies

    4.1 Peer Review Policy

    Following a preliminary triage to eliminate submissions unsuitable for Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics, all papers are sent out for review. The journal’s policy is to have manuscripts reviewed by three expert reviewers, an Associate Editor, and the Editor-in-Chief. FAO utilizes a double-blind peer review process in which the reviewer and author’s 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 editors, who then make the final decision.

    Manuscripts that are transferred to Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics after first submission to Foot & Ankle International will retain the double-blind peer review from first submission.

    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. 

    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 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. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

    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 the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.

    4.3 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.

    4.3.1 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 acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

    4.4 Funding

    Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics 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.

    4.5 Declaration of Conflicting Interests

    It is the policy of Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.

    Each author needs to complete an individual ICMJE disclosure form and include that with the manuscript submission.

    4.6 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

    4.7 Clinical Trials

    Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics 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 in the separate Title Page.

    4.8 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.

    4.9 Data

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

    Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics requests all authors submitting any primary data used in their research articles 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 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.

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    5. Publishing Policies

    5.1 Publication Ethics

    Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics is a member of the Committee on 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.

    5.1.1 Plagiarism

    Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics 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 will 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.

    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. Please refer to the guidance on the SAGE Author Gateway.

    5.2 Contributor's Publishing Agreement

    Before publication SAGE requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics publishes manuscripts under Creative Commons licenses. The standard Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics license is Creative Commons by Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC 3.0), 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.

    5.3 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. 

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    6. Manuscript Preparation

    6.1 Word Processing Formats

    Preferred formats for the text and tables of your manuscript are Word DOC, RTF, XLS. The text should be double-spaced throughout and with a minimum of 3cm for left and right hand margins and 5cm at head and foot. Text should be standard 10 or 12 point. Word templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

    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.

    Figures supplied in color will appear in color online.

    6.3 Supplementary 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 supplementary files, which can be found within our Manuscript Submission Guidelines page.

    6.4 Journal Layout

    Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics conforms to the SAGE house style. Click here to review guidelines on SAGE House Style.

    6.5 Reference Style

    Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics adheres to the AMA reference style with some modifications. References MUST be listed alphabetically and consecutively numbered in the reference section, and that numbering must be used in the reference citations within the text of the article. Follow the instructions below.

    A journal article reference listing breaks down into the following sections:

    [Authors]. [Title]. [Journal Abbreviation]. [Year];[Volume(Issue)]:[Page Range]. doi: 10.1177/1071100713511435.

    The bibliography must be titled “References” and be an alphabetical listing of references that are cited in the preceding text. Titles of foreign-language articles and books should appear in their published language. When citing a book, give the specific pages used unless the entire book was used. If an article has a DOI, it may be included at the end of the reference as shown above.

    In cases where there are more than 6 authors for a given article, list the first 3 authors with an “et al.” after them.

    Reference examples:

    Journal article:

    1. Ostrum RF, Meo PD, Subramanian R. A critical analysis of the anterior-posterior radiographic anatomy of the ankle syndesmosis. Foot Ankle Int. 1995;16(3):128-131. doi: 10.1177/107110079501600304.

    Book:

    1. Basmajian JV. Primary Anatomy. Baltimore, MD: William & Wilkins; 1970.

    All references must be cited in the text. Citations must be superscript and be placed after periods and commas and before semi-colons and colons. For example:

    The foot is connected to the ankle.15

    The foot is connected to the ankle4,6-9,22; the knee,4 thigh,10 and ankle54 are all parts of the leg.

    We no longer accept references of papers given at meetings, personal communications, doctoral theses, or obscure references that cannot be verified.

    6.6 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 on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

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    7. Manuscript Submission

    7.1 How to Submit Your Manuscript

    Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics is hosted on SAGE Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fao 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.

    7.2 Title, Keywords, and Abstracts

    Please supply a title, short title, an abstract and keywords to accompany your article. 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 the SAGE Journal Author Gateway for guidelines on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

    7.3 Corresponding Author Contact Details

    Provide full contact details for the corresponding author including email, mailing address and telephone numbers. Academic affiliations are required for all co-authors. These details should be presented separately to the main text of the article to facilitate anonymous peer review.

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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 check 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 days. Please note that no production work will occur on your paper until the APC has been received.

    8.1 SAGE Production

    When your paper enters the SAGE Production system, your paper will be issued with a 6 digit ID number. Your SAGE Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by email attachment 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 Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.

    8.2 Continuous Publication

    One of the many benefits of publishing your research in an open access journal is the speed to publication. With no issues to fill and no page count constraints, your article will be published online in a fully citable form with a DOI number as soon as it has completed the production process. At this time it will be completely free to view and download for all. Check the ‘Latest Articles’ tab on the journal website for the latest published content. Articles are batched periodically and are then available in the Archive.

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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 Editorial Office: at FAOjournal@aofas.org.

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