Journal of Applied Biomaterials & Functional Materials

Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Journal of Applied Biomaterials & Functional Materials

This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics

This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site
https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jabfm 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 Journal of Applied Biomaterials & Functional Materials 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.

The Journal of Applied Biomaterials & Functional Materials may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal's author archiving policy.

If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.

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 Declarations
4.3.1 Declaration of conflicting interests
4.3.2 Funding 
4.3.3 Acknowledgements
4.3.3.1 Writing assistance 
4.4 Studies involving human research 
4.4.1 Research ethics and patient consent
4.4.2 Clinical trials
4.4.3 Reporting guidelines
4.5 Research Data
5. Publishing policies
5.1 Publication ethics
5.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
6. Preparing your manuscript for submission
6.1 Articles structure
6.2 Word template and guidelines
6.3 Artwork, figures and other graphic guidelines
6.4 Reference style
6.5 Supplementary material
6.6 English language editing services
7. Submitting your manuscript
7.1 How to submit your manuscript
7.2 Title, keywords and abstracts
7.3 Information required for completing your submission
7.4 ORCID
7.5 Permissions
8. On acceptance and publication
8.1 Sage Production
8.2 Online publication
8.3 Promoting your article
9. Further information

1. Open Access

The Journal of Applied Biomaterials & Functional Materials 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 APC for this journal is 2000 USD.

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3. What do we publish?

3.1 Aims & Scope
Before submitting your manuscript to Journal of Applied Biomaterials & Functional Materials please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
3.2 Article types
Please refer to section 6 for full instructions on preparing your manuscript for submission. 

Original research articles

Previously unpublished manuscripts, describing biomaterials or materials and/or processes developed and used for specific applications, pre-clinical and clinical trials reported from the biomaterial perspective, and other relevant investigations, validated analytical methods, and appropriate statistical evaluation.

Reviews

Reviews are solicited by the Editor in Chief on topics that are deemed to be relevant to the audience of the Journal. Containing the current state of knowledge or practice, integrating recent advances with accepted principles and practice, or summarizing and analyzing consensus view of controversial issues in knowledge of practice.

Editorials

The purpose of the editorials is to provide the reader with a balanced overview of relevant and up to date subjects concerning the Journal's aim or future direction.

Correspondence

Letters to the Editor are intended to present opinions or comments on articles published in the Journal. Letters are subject to abridgement and editing for style and content. An abstract is not required.

If you are the corresponding author of an article cited in a Letter to the Editor and receive an email invitation to comment on it, you must log in to the system, accept the invitation immediately, and then upload and submit your reply to the Editorial Office. The response must cite the title of the letter, e.g., “Response to (Title of Letter)”.

3.3 Writing your paper
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources.

3.3.1 Make your article discoverable
When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online

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4. Editorial policies

4.1 Peer review policy

Manuscripts that do not adhere to the guidelines for submission will be returned to the corresponding author for technical revision before undergoing the peer review process. Manuscripts with insufficient priority for publication will be rejected promptly.

Peer review is the process we use to assess the quality of a manuscript to see if it suitable for publication. Independent researchers with similar competencies assess submitted manuscripts for originality, validity and importance to help our Editors determine if a manuscript is suitable for publication in their journal.

We utilise a single-anonymize peer-review system, which is considered to be self-regulating. Reviewers are aware of the names and affiliations of the authors, but the reviewer assessments provided to authors are completely anonymous. The single-anonymize peer review system is the most commonly-used method of review and most Reviewers are comfortable with this approach, as it facilitates an impartial appraisal of a manuscript.

Submitted manuscripts are reviewed by two or more referees who evaluate whether the manuscript is scientifically logical and well-constructed, focussing specifically on if it duplicates previously published work, and if there are clear grounds for it to be considered for publication. The Editors establish their decision based on these reports and, if necessary, they can discuss with members of the Editorial Board.

We aim to provide authors with a first decision (of accept, reject or revisions required whether minor or major) within 4 weeks.

All correspondence related to the submission, including editorial decisions, will be sent by email to the corresponding author. In case of revision, detailed revision instructions will be sent and a point-by-point response will be required. The Journal does not reveal the identity of its reviewers.

Authors can check the status of their manuscript at any time by logging into the journal's submission system, Editorial Manager.

Appeals and complaints
If you would like to appeal a rejection decision or make a complaint, please contact the Publisher who will outline the journal's complaints procedure.

As part of the submission process you will be asked to provide the names of peers who could be called upon to review your manuscript. Recommended reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Please be aware of any conflicts of interest when recommending reviewers. Examples of conflicts of interest include (but are not limited to) the below:

• The reviewer should have no prior knowledge of your submission
• The reviewer should not have recently collaborated with any of the authors
• Reviewer nominees from the same institution as any of the authors are not permitted

You will also be asked to nominate peers who you do not wish to review your manuscript (opposed reviewers).

Please note that the Editors are not obliged to invite/reject any recommended/opposed reviewers to assess your manuscript.

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.

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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:

(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

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.

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 Declarations
At the end of your article the following declaration statements should be included in the order listed below:

DECLARATIONS
Conflicting interests
Funding
Guarantor**
Contributorship
Acknowledgements
Please see the below example of a completed declarations section:

DECLARATIONS
Conflicting interests: MS is an employee of XXX. BF has received grants from XXX.
Funding: This work was supported by the Medical Research Council [grant number XXX].
Guarantor: BF
Contributorship: BF and NP researched literature and conceived the study. MS was involved in protocol development, gaining ethical approval, patient recruitment and data analysis. BF wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript
Acknowledgements: We would like to thank XXX XXXX for his assistance and guidance in this research.
*Please state author names as initials*
** The guarantor is the person willing to take full responsibility for the article, including for the accuracy and appropriateness of the reference list. This will often be the most senior member of the research group and is commonly also the author for correspondence.**

Please read the following information carefully for additional information regarding these declarations.

4.3.1 Declaration of conflicting interests
It is the policy of JABFM 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. 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 refer to the ICMJE recommendations, from where you can download a disclosure of conflicts of interest form.

4.3.2 Funding
JABFM 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. 

4.3.3 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.

Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.

4.3.3.1 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.

4.3.3.2 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 Studies involving human research
4.4.1 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.

For more specific details regarding patients identifying information and the protection of privacy, please refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants.

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

4.4.3 Reporting guidelines
The relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type of study. For example, all randomized controlled trials submitted for publication should include a completed CONSORT flow chart as a cited figure and the completed CONSORT checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses should include the completed PRISMA flow chart as a cited figure and the completed PRISMA checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. The EQUATOR wizard can help you identify the appropriate guideline.

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

4.5 Research Data

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

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

• share your research data in a relevant public data repository
• include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
• cite this data in your research

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5. Publishing Policies

5.1 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

5.1.1 Plagiarism
Journal of Applied Biomaterials & Functional Materials 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 plagiarised 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 or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

5.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
Before publication Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement.  Journal of Applied Biomaterials & Functional Materials 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 for submission

Please ensure that your manuscript is appropriately formatted before proceeding with your submission. Manuscripts that do not adhere to the guidelines for submission will be returned to the corresponding author for technical revision before undergoing the peer review process.

For full guidance on the preparation of your manuscript, including illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please refer to the following sections and Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

6.1 Articles structure

Original research articles

Original research articles should be structured as follows:
•    Title page (title, authors, affiliations, abstract, keywords)
•    Introduction (clearly stating an objective or hypothesis),
•    Methods (describing the study design and methods applied, including the study setting and dates, patients or participants with inclusion and exclusion criteria, and/or participation or response rates, or data sources, and how these were selected for the study),
•    Results (describing the results of the study in context with the published literature and addressing study limitations),
•    Discussion (addressing relevant implications for clinical practice or health policy).
•    Conclusions (reporting the main conclusions of the study).
•    Acknowledgements 
•    References
•    Figure captions 

Words: max 5000 (excluding figures and tables)
Abstract words: max 300
Keywords: max 6
Figures: max 10
Tables: max 10
References: no limit

Reviews

Review should be structured as follows:
•    Title page (title, authors, affiliations, abstract, keywords)
•    Main text
•    Acknowledgements 
•    References
•    Figure captions 

Words: max 10000 (excluding figures and tables)
Abstract words: max 300
Keywords: max 6
Figures: max 10
Tables: max 10
References: no limit

Editorials

Words: max 4000 (excluding figures and tables)
Figures/Tables: max 8
References: No limit

Correspondence

Words: max 500 (excluding figures and tables)
Figures/Tables: 1
References: max 5

6.2 Word template and guidelines

The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. If you wish to use a template for your manuscript, a Word template, containing the guidelines on formatting your manuscript, is available here. LaTeX files are also accepted and a LaTex template is available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway..

6.3 Artwork, figures and other graphics guidelines

Illustrations, pictures and graphs, should be supplied with the highest quality and in an electronic format that helps us to publish your article in the best way possible. Please follow the guidelines below to enable us to prepare your artwork. 

Figures and other files created outside MS Word (i.e. JPEG, TIFF, EPS) shall be submitted separately. It is recommended to add a placeholder note in the running text (i.e. “[insert Figure 1]")

•    Format for pictures (containing no text or graphs): TIFF, JPEG
•    Format for graphs and line art (retains quality when enlarging/zooming in): EPS
•    Tables and charts created in MS Word should be included in the main text.
•    Resolution: Rasterized based files (i.e. with .tiff or .jpeg extension) require a resolution of at least 300 dpi (dots per inch). Line art should be supplied with a minimum resolution of 800 dpi.
•    Caption: insert the list of captions for all figures and tables at the end of the manuscript, after the references list.
•    Dimension: Check that the artworks supplied match or exceed the dimensions of the journal. Images cannot be scaled up after origination.
•    Fonts: The lettering used in the artwork should not vary too much in size and type (usually sans serif font as a default).

6.4 Reference style
Journal of Applied Biomaterials & Functional Materials adheres to the Sage Vancouver reference style. View the Sage Vancouver guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style, If you use  EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Vancouver EndNote output file

6.5 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.

6.6 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. Submitting your manuscript

7.1 How to submit your manuscript
Journal of Applied Biomaterials & Functional Materials is hosted on Sage track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jabfm 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 Information required for completing your submission

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.

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. 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).

7.4 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.

7.5 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.

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 days. Please note 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 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. 

8.2 Online publication
One of the many benefits of publishing your research in an open access journal is the speed to publication. With 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. 

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.

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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 Applied Biomaterials & Functional Materials editorial office as follows: jabfm@sagepub.com

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