Multiple Sclerosis Journal

Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Multiple Sclerosis Journal

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 http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/multiple-sclerosis 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 Multiple Sclerosis Journal will be reviewed.

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

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, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, 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. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that Multiple Sclerosis Journal 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.

1. What do we publish?
   1.1 Aims & Scope
   1.2 Article types
   1.3 Writing your paper
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 Research Data
3. Publishing policies
   3.1 Publication ethics
   3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
   3.3 Open access and author archiving
4. Preparing your manuscript
   4.1 Formatting
   4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
   4.3 Supplemental material
   4.4 Reference style
   4.5 English language editing services
5. Submitting your manuscript
   5.1 ORCID
   5.2 Information required for completing your submission
   5.3 Permissions
6. On acceptance and publication
   6.1 Sage Production
   6.2 Online First publication
   6.3 Access to your published article
   6.4 Promoting your article
7. Further information

1. What do we publish?

1.1 Aims & Scope

Before submitting your manuscript to Multiple Sclerosis Journal, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

1.2 Article Types

Please read the following carefully and ensure that your submission meets the requirements to avoid automatic return or delay in the consideration of your paper.

IMPORTANT: The journal no longer solicits Systematic Reviews.

MSJ is now requiring authors to provide the essential requirements of MRI imaging as supplementary data in order to help replication of studies. If submitting a manuscript using MRI data please use this msj_mri_journal.doc to supply the necessary data in a suitable format.

Original research papers
Original research papers should be no more than 3,000 words and contain the following sections: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Materials (or patients or animals) and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, References, Tables, Figure legends, Figures (see ‘Sections of the manuscript’ for further details).

Case Reports, Short Reports
The Editors will consider for rapid publication Case Reports and Short Reports that illustrate important points. These must not exceed 1000 words in length, must have a title page, a short summary of no more than 100 words, up to 10 references, one figure and one table.

Letters to the Editor
Brief letters raising pertinent issues relating to recently published papers in Multiple Sclerosis Journal or stand-alone letters on topics of interest are welcome. They will be reviewed and may be sent to the first author of the article being discussed for a possible response. They should be in letter format without an abstract.
Stand-alone letters on topics of interest will be reviewed and should be in letter format without an abstract.

Personal Viewpoints
Viewpoints which bring new ideas and stimulate discussion and debate are welcomed by the Editors, in particular those that will be of general interest, and which question or comment on new and significant MS-related studies. These will be reviewed and should be no more than 1,500 words, up to 10 references, one figure and one table (if necessary). 

Topical Reviews
Topical Reviews focus on specific subjects of current interest where there have been recent and significant advances, ranging from basic neuroscience to clinical and more ‘applied’ areas. They are short, factual, focussed updates, comprising: Title page, an Abstract of 100-150 words, 5 or so Keywords, 2,500 words of text (excluding references), a limited number of relevant and recent references (up to 35 or so), and a figure if appropriate. See examples from the journal for more information. Topical Reviews are generally by invitation.

Controversies in Multiple Sclerosis
Controversies focus on current issues, with contrasting contributions from leading experts, and cover topics of debate from basic neuroscience to clinical and more ‘applied’ areas. They necessarily represent an opinion, but are founded on factual evidence. Each Controversy comprises: i) a proposal for a particular view; ii) a presentation of a contrasting view; and iii) an overview/summary. The two opposing views comprise no more than 1,000 words each, supported by no more than 10 key references. The summary piece is based on the opposing statements, and is about 500 words in length. See examples from the journal for more information. We welcome ideas for topics and potential authors, if you have an appropriate idea for a topic and authors to write a Proposal or Rebuttal, please contact the Controversies editors via the editorial office to discuss further: msjjournal@sagepub.co.uk.

Editorials
Editorials may be solicited by the Editors to address particular topics relating to one or more papers in a given issue.

Insights intoInsights into… is a series of short pieces that provide clear, concise and straightforward information into areas that many of us find challenging. They must be no more than 500 words a piece and provided in a collection of related pieces on the same topic (4-6). They should have a title page, a short summary of no more than 100 words (optional), up to 10 references, one figure and one table.

Future Perspectives 
Future Perspectives can provide a forum to help capture the work of groups established to improve or update areas of fundamental importance to MS such as clinical and imaging outcomes. Articles will be reviewed and ideally should be no more than 1,500 words, up to 10 references, one figure and one table (if required).

Book and Meeting Reviews
These reviews are solicited by the Editors. 

Note: While Editorials, Reviews (including book and meeting reviews), and Topical Reviews will usually be solicited by the Editors, suggestions for topics or brief outlines of proposals are very welcome and can be sent to the nearest regional Editor.

Data previously published in un-reviewed format
The Editors will also consider for publication manuscripts containing data already in press elsewhere or published previously in un-reviewed format, such as abstracts or camera-ready papers for proceedings of scientific meetings. The new manuscript should differ from the one previously published and should not contain any identical tables or figures. It will be the responsibility of the senior author to bring to the Editor’s attention details of previous publications and if necessary, attach relevant documents for the use of referees. The existence of such related paper(s) (published or in press) should be mentioned as a footnote to the manuscript or documented with appropriate references. The Editorial decision will take account of the originality of the work submitted for publication and the extent to which readers of Multiple Sclerosis Journal may be expected to have access to the book or journal in which the associated papers have appeared.

Related papers
Related papers either published or in press may be sent with the manuscript for the attention of the Editor.

Short reports on null or negative results 
The journal considers the results of rigorous, well-designed studies that demonstrate “no effect” or that fail to replicate previous work (“negative data”) as important to the advancement of science. MSJ welcomes short reports on null or negative results as long as the papers are based on strong hypothesis testing. 

Table 1: Overview of the requirements for manuscript submissions for MSJ:

*Excludes references, tables and legends
**For reference style please see section 4.4

1.3 Writing your paper

The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

1.3.1 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.

Back to top

2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication. Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

•  The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors

•  The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper

•  The author has recommended the reviewer

•  The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution). 

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:

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. 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.

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.

2.4 Funding

Multiple Sclerosis Journal 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 Multiple Sclerosis Journal 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. Please do not submit the patient’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality. The Journal requests that you confirm to us, in writing, that you have obtained written informed consent but the written consent itself should be held by the authors/investigators themselves, for example in a patient’s hospital record. The confirmatory letter may be uploaded with your submission as a separate file.

Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants.

All research involving animals submitted for publication must be approved by an ethics committee with oversight of the facility in which the studies were conducted. The Journal has adopted the ARRIVE guidelines.

2.7 Clinical trials

Multiple Sclerosis Journal 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 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.

2.9 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

Multiple Sclerosis Journal requests all authors submitting any primary data used in their research articles alongside their article submissions 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 may consider limited embargoes on proprietary data. The editor 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.thors should also follow data citation principles. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway, which includes information about Sage’s partnership with the data repository Figshare.

Back to top

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

Multiple Sclerosis Journal 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.

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 licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence 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 the Sage Author Gateway.

3.3 Open access and author archiving

Multiple Sclerosis Journal 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.

Back to top

4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

4.1 Formatting

The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

Manuscript Preparation: Submitting a new manuscript through the online system:

When making a submission, the following separate, unpaginated documents should be uploaded. Please do not submit one combined document. The separate files will be combined into a pdf in the online system.

1. Title page (title, names of authors, affiliations, keywords, corresponding author)
2. Main document (includes structured abstract, main text, acknowledgements, references)
3. Tables (each as a separate Word document)
4. Figure legends (Word document)
5. Figures (as separate tiff, jpg or eps files)
6. Any supplementary files

Submitting a Revision:
After review the editors may invite submission of a revised manuscript. When submitting a revision, delete the original files (as these are saved with your original submission), and upload your revised manuscript only, following the usual submission guidelines. Changes to the manuscript must be marked using highlighting or track changes, and the authors’ response to the reviewers’ comments should be placed in appropriate box during the submission process.
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 counts as outlined in Table 1 re initial submissions, should still be adhered to.

Title page
The title should be concise with no abbreviations. Please provide the surname, initials, department, institution, city and country of each author, and the name, email address, full mailing address, telephone number and fax number of the corresponding author to whom proofs should be sent. List six to eight keywords (chosen from Index Medicus, Medical Subject Headings if possible).

Abstract
The second page of the manuscript must contain only the abstract, which should be of no more then 200 words and must be clearly written and comprehensive to readers before they have to read the paper.
The abstract should be structured according to the following sub headings: Background, Objective, Methods, Results and Conclusion. Abbreviations should be avoided and reference citations are not permitted. 
Any manuscripts submitted without a structured abstract will be returned to the author immediately without peer review, thus delaying the evaluation process of the manuscript. 

Introduction
The introduction should assume that the reader is knowledgeable in the field and be as
brief as possible. 

Materials and Methods
Methods that have been published in detail elsewhere should not be described in detail. Avoid unnecessary detailed descriptions of widely used techniques. SI Units should be used throughout the text. Reports of experiments involving patients and healthy volunteers must describe the steps taken to obtain consent and to maintain confidentiality. Experiments involving animals must conform to accepted ethical standards. 

Tables
Tables should be submitted in Word, typed on separate pages. Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals, and cited as such in the manuscript.
The preferred placing of tables in the main text should be indicated. Tables should include a brief descriptive title and be self-explanatory. Footnotes to tables indicated by lower-case superscript letters are acceptable, but they should not include extensive experimental details.

4.1.1 Units, Symbols and abbreviation

For detailed advice please refer to the guidelines in Baron, DN (1988). Units, symbols and abbreviations, 4th edn. (Obtainable from The Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London W1M 8AE, UK).

Note that the SI system of units is preferred. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the readership and to avoid confusion, the number of abbreviations in the text should be kept to a minimum. Standard abbreviations acceptable without definition are limited to the following:

- CNS (central nervous system); CSF (cerebrospinal fluid); DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid); HLA (human leukocyte antigen; MRI (magnetic resonance imaging); CT (computerized tomography); MS (multiple sclerosis); RNA (ribonucleic acid).

Nonstandard definitions must be defined in full at their first usage in the abstract and again at their first use in the text.

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.  

Authors should provide artwork and graphics in the best image quality possible. 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. Please be aware that the ability to interpret the figure in black and white is important if colour printing is not chosen. 

4.3 Supplemental material

Multiple Sclerosis Journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

At submission authors are able to provide video abstracts or supplementary material in the format of a video. For further information regarding video abstracts please see the Sage Video Abstract guidelines. 

The video needs submitted along with the submitted manuscript with final decisions made by the Editor in Chief. All videos must be accompanied by written permission of any individuals featuring in all media forms for print and online publication. 
Please note that an audio-visual release from must be completed for each individual contributor to the video. This form should be signed and submitted as 'audio-visual release form'. The form is located here.

Video properties:

• At least 640x480 resolution and at least 20 fps.
• The video compression should be of high quality. The Journal expects compression technology to evolve and so does not wish to be prescriptive over compression types. Today H.264 codec in an MP4 or AVI contained is a good choice. MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 are portable but have lower quality and larger files than the more modern codecs. We expect videos to be able to play on Windows 8 and back, Linux and Mac so proprietry formats, such as WMV and FLV, are discouraged.
• Note the Editors reserve the right to request authors to change the compression codec before publication.
• Videos should be below the 50MB mark and any video over this amount should provide a short preview to be hosted alongside the full file. Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the Editors.
• Format needs to follow the guidelines found here: https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/supplementary-files-on-sage-journals-sj-guidelines-for-authors

4.4 Reference style

Multiple Sclerosis Journal 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.

4.5 English language editing services

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

Back to top

5. Submitting your manuscript

Multiple Sclerosis Journal is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/multiple-sclerosis 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.

5.1 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 persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher 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 recognised.

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.

5.2 Information required for completing your submission

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

5.2.1 Social Media – Twitter @MSJ_Research

MSJ uses Twitter (@MSJ_Research) to engage with debate on Social Media. Authors and readers are encouraged to join the ongoing discussion around the twitter account on issues related to the Journal. MSJ authors are offered the option of providing their Twitter handle to be published alongside their name and email address within their article. Providing a Twitter handle for publication is entirely optional, if you are not comfortable with MSJ promoting your article along with your personal Twitter handle then please do not supply it.

By providing your personal Twitter handle you agree to let MSJ and Sage Publications to use it in any posts related to your Journal article. To include your Twitter handle within your article please provide this within the ScholarOne submission form when prompted and on the separate title page in the format outline below (please refrain from adding it to the manuscript itself to facilitate anonymous peer review).

As an example of how to supply this information please see the example below:

Joe Bloggs, Department of Neuroscience, University Hospital, Town, Zip code, USA
Email: JoeBloggs@email.com
Twitter: @drjoebloggs

5.3 Permissions

Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

Back to top

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 made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us 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 Online First publication

Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

6.3 Access to your published article

Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

6.4 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. 

Back to top

7. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Multiple Sclerosis Journal editorial office as follows: msj.pra@sagepub.com

Business correspondence should be addressed to:

Multiple Sclerosis Journal 
Sage Publications Ltd.,
1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road,
London EC1Y 1SP, UK.
Email: info@sagepub.co.uk 
Tel: +44-(0)20-7324-8500
Fax: +44-(0)20-7324-8600