Journal of Palliative Care
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
The Journal of Palliative Care is a quarterly, peer-reviewed, international and interdisciplinary forum for practical, critical thought on palliative care and palliative medicine. JPC publishes high-quality original research, opinion papers/commentaries, narrative and humanities works, case reports/case series, and reports on international activities and comparative palliative care.
| Yijin Wu, PhD | Shandong University, Shandong, China |
| Arif H. Kamal, MD, MBA, MHS, FACP, FAAHPM | Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC, USA |
| Katie Neuendorf, MD | Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA |
| Kristi Newport, MD | Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA |
| Eric J. Roeland, MD, FAAHPM | Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA |
| Koji Amano, MD | National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan |
| Bethany Calkins, MD | University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine, Buffalo, NY, USA |
| Carlos Centeno Cortés, PhD | Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Navarra, Spain |
| Pat Coyne, RN, CNS, ACHP | Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA |
| Halena M. Gazelka, MD | Department of Anesthesiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA |
| Breffni Hannon, MB BCh BAO, BMedSci, MMedSci, MCFP | Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Canada |
| Sarah E. Harrington, MD FAAHPM | University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA |
| Rachel D. Havyer, MD, FAAHPM | Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA |
| Carolyn E. Kezar, MD | Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Birmingham, AL, USA |
| Shiao-Yen (Caryn) Khoo, MD | National Cancer Institute (Institut Kanser Negara), Putrajaya, Malasyia |
| Ashley K. Kimeu, APRN, CNP | Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA |
| Thomas W. LeBlanc, MD, MA, MHS, FAAHPM | Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA |
| J. Keith Mansel, MD | University of Mississippi, Jackson, MS, USA |
| Jessica McFarlin, MD | University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, KY, USA |
| Colleen McIlvennan, PhD, DNP | University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA |
| Kathleen McKillip, MD FAAP | Creighton University School of Medicine, NE, USA |
| Tomasz R. Okon, MD | Mayo Clinic Health System, Eau Claire, WI, USA |
| Rab Razzak, MD | University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, USA |
| Charles Rhee, MD | The University of Chicago Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA |
| Tom Smith, MD, FACP, FAAHPM, FASCO | Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA |
| Paul E. Tatum, MD | The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, Austin, TX, USA |
| Meaghann Weaver, MD, MPH, FAAP | Division Chief, Pediatric Palliative Care, Children's Hospital and Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA |
| Sara E. Wordingham, MD | Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ, USA |
| Kelly L. Wu | Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ, USA |
SageThis 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. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Sage Publishing disseminates high-quality research and engaged scholarship globally, and we are committed to diversity and inclusion in publishing. We encourage submissions from a diverse range of authors from across all countries and backgrounds.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Journal of Palliative Care 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
2. Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.6 Research ethics and patient consent
2.7 Clinical trials
2.8 Reporting guidelines
2.9 Data
3. Publishing polices
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving
3.4 Permissions
4. Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Word processing formats
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplementary material
4.4 Journal layout
4.5 English language editing services
5. Submitting your manuscript
5.1 How to submit your manuscript
5.2 ORCID
5.3 Title, keywords and abstracts
5.4 Corresponding author contact details
6. On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
6.2 Access to your published article
6.3 Online First publication
7. Further information
1. Article types
• Original research (3000 words)
• Reviews (4000 words)
• Commentaries (2000 words)
• Case reports (2000 words)
• Letters to the editor (500 words)
• Abstract (250 words)
The word count is from the Introduction to Discussion/Conclusion and does not include the abstract, references, figure legends and table notes. A short list of 6-8 keywords should follow the abstract.
2. Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
JPC adheres to a rigorous double-anonymize reviewing policy in which the identity of both the reviewer and author are always concealed from both parties.
The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.
2.2 Authorship
Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. The mamxium number of authors per manuscript is 25. 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 or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,
(ii) Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
(iii) Approved the version to be published,
(iv) Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.
Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, 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.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
2.3 Acknowledgements
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
2.3.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:
- Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
- Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
- Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.
Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
2.3.2 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance”).
It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.
Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.
2.4 Funding
JPC requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
It is the policy of JPC to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.
Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’.
For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations here.
2.6 Research ethics and patient consent
Medical research involving human subjects must be conducted according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.
Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, and all papers reporting animal and/or human studies must state in the methods section that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board provided (or waived) approval. Please ensure that you have provided the full name and institution of the review committee, in addition to the approval number.
For research articles, authors are also required to state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal.
Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative.
In terms of patient privacy, authors are required to follow the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants. Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying information, including patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that a patient who is identifiable be shown the manuscript to be published.
2.7 Clinical trials
JPC 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.
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
JPC and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive license agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and license to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit our Frequently Asked Questions on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.
3.3 Open access and author archiving
Journal of Palliative Care offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
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. Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Word processing formats
Preferred formats for the text and tables of your manuscript are Word DOC, RTF, XLS. LaTeX files are also accepted. The text should be double-spaced throughout and with one-inch margins on all sides of the text. Text should be standard 10 or 12 point Times New Roman. We welcome submissions of (La)TeX files. Please download the Sage LaTeX template, which contains comprehensive guidelines. The manuscript should include four major sections (in this order): Title Page, Abstract, Main Body, and References.
Sections in a manuscript may include the following (in this order): (1) Title page, (2) Abstract, (3) Keywords, (4) Text, (5) References, (6) Tables, (7) Figures, and (8) Appendices.
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.
4.3 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.
4.5 Reference style
JPC conforms to the reference style specified in the AMA Manual of Style 10th edition. Click here to review the guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style. Please list all authors if six or less, otherwise list first three authors followed by et al. in the Reference list.
4.6 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.
5. Submitting your manuscript
5.1 How to submit your manuscript
JPC is hosted on Sage Peer Review. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pal to submit your article online.
5.2 ORCID
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
5.3 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.
5.4 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.
6. On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF 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.
6.2 Access to your published article
Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.
6.3 Online First publication
Online First allows final revision articles (completed articles in queue for assignment to an upcoming issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a final journal issue which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. For more information please visit our Online First Fact Sheet.
7. Further information
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the JPC editorial office as follows: