The Journal of Pain

Your Paper Your Way

We now differentiate between the requirements for new and revised submissions. You may choose to submit your manuscript as a single Word or PDF file to be used in the refereeing process. Only when your paper is at the revision stage, will you be requested to put your paper in to a 'correct format' for acceptance and provide the items required for the publication of your article.
To find out more, please visit the Preparation section below.

Introduction

General Information

The Journal of Pain publishes articles related to all aspects of pain and pain management, including basic, translational, and clinical research, epidemiology, education, and health policy. The Journal of Pain is interdisciplinary in focus and committed to advancing knowledge about pain mechanisms and pain management. The Journal will publish reports of original research, focus articles, reviews, and letters to the editor. We encourage transparent and open science practices, including study registration, transparent reporting, and sharing of relevant data, analytic code and study materials.

The Journal does not publish case reports, studies that include open-label medication trials, uncontrolled studies, reports on the translation of established measures, or meeting announcements/press releases. However, rigorous single case experimental design studies, pilot feasibility studies and replication studies will be considered.

Authorship Requirements

The Journal follows ICJME recommendations on authorship, see https://www.icmje.org/. All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted.

The corresponding author is responsible for communicating with The Journal of Pain and for determining the list of authors. Manuscripts may have only ONE corresponding author. This individual assumes responsibility for listing contributions made by individuals who do not qualify for authorship (in the Acknowledgements section), if necessary. Guest or titular authorship based on assignment—such as department chair—is prohibited.

For transparency, we require corresponding authors to provide co-author contributions to the manuscript using the relevant CRediT roles. The CRediT taxonomy includes 14 different roles describing each contributor's specific contribution to the scholarly output. The roles are: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Roles/Writing - original draft; and Writing - review and editing. Note that not all roles may apply to every manuscript, and authors may have contributed through multiple roles. Please add an Authorship contributions section at the end of the manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the figure legends

Changes to authorship

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.

Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.

Types of Articles

1. Original Research Articles - are considered for publication provided that they describe significant, new and carefully confirmed findings and that adequate methodological and experimental details are given.
2. Reviews

(a) Systematic reviews comprehensively identify all relevant studies on a topic to answer a research question, and most typically will include meta-analysis to combine data from multiple studies.

(b)Focus articles - may present a hypothesis or state a position on a basic scientific or clinical topic related to pain. The position may be provocative, but must be based on scientific evidence. Such articles may outline key concepts and may identify future research needs. Focus articles are typically 3,000- 4,500 words.

(c)Other reviews (e.g., scoping review, mapping reviews) should provide an important new way of understanding a complex body of research literature that does not or cannot lend itself to a systematic review.

3. Commentaries - serve as vehicles for brief presentations of new theories, hypotheses, points of view, or critiques of current research. These are typically invited and are 2,000 words or less.

4. Letters to the Editor - commenting on articles published in the last 12 months are encouraged. Letters should be limited to 500 words or less, though lengthier pieces may be approved by the Editor. A Letter to the Editor may discuss methodological concerns, seek clarification about certain aspects of a published study or its results, or provide a different interpretation of the findings. Letters should engage with published content in an original way, moving the content forward in a novel direction. Letters can raise controversial issues but must not be combative or disparaging. The letter will be shared with the author(s) of the original article, who will have the chance to respond. All letters are subject to editorial review.

5. Special Issues - The journal welcomes proposals for special issues on topics that fall within the scope of the journal. Those wishing to guest edit a special issue should prepare a brief proposal that explains the anticipated contribution of the special issue in advancing our understanding in this area and identify prospective papers and authors. Proposals should be sent to Tonya Palermo ([email protected]).

Data linking

If you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset. Elsevier collaborates with a number of repositories to link articles on ScienceDirect with relevant repositories, giving readers access to underlying data that gives them a better understanding of the research described. There are different ways to link your datasets to your article. When available, you can directly link your dataset to your article by providing the relevant information in the submission system. For more information, visit the database linking page . For supported data repositories a repository banner will automatically appear next to your published article on ScienceDirect. In addition, you can link to relevant data or entities through identifiers within the text of your manuscript, using the following format: Database:(e.g., TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN).

Data statement

To foster transparency, we require you to state the availability of your data in your submission. This may be a requirement of your funding body or institution. If your data is unavailable to access or unsuitable to post, you will have the opportunity to indicate why during the submission process, for example by stating that the research data is confidential. The statement will appear with your published article on ScienceDirect. For more information, visit the Data statement page.

Open Materials and Methods

We encourage authors to share the components of the research methodology that are needed to reproduce the reported procedure(s) and analyses. Guidance for making methods and materials publicly available can be found here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2103238118
To guide the sharing of materials, use the following principles:

• Digitally-shareable and publicly available on an open repository
• Persistent identifier
• In a format that is time-stamped, immutable and permanent (e.g. university repository, registered on Open Science Framework, or an independent repository)
• Infrastructure, equipment, biological materials, or other components that cannot be shared digitally are described in sufficient detail for an independent researcher to understand how to reproduce the procedure
• Sufficient explanation for an independent researcher to understand how the materials related to the reported methodology

Mendeley Data

This journal supports Mendeley Data, enabling you to deposit any research data (including raw and processed data, video, code, software, algorithms, protocols, and methods) associated with your manuscript in a free-to-use, open access repository. During the submission process, after uploading your manuscript, you will have the opportunity to upload your relevant datasets directly to Mendeley Data. The datasets will be listed and directly accessible to readers next to your published article online.

For more information, visit the Mendeley Data for journals page.

Submission of Material

Authors must submit manuscripts electronically, uploading documents to the submission website, https://www.editorialmanager.com/JPAIN/default.aspx. The system will convert documents to PDF files. Authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts in Microsoft Word. TIFF and EPS are the preferred formats for artwork. (See Preparation guidelines below for details regarding the correct order to upload files.)

Submission checklist

You can use this list to carry out a final check of your submission before you send it to the journal for review. Please check the relevant section in this Guide for Authors for more details.

Ensure that the following items are present:

One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address

All necessary files have been uploaded:
Manuscript:
• Include keywords
• All figures (include relevant captions)
• All tables (including titles, description, footnotes)
• Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided
• Indicate clearly if color should be used for any figures in print
Graphical Abstracts / Highlights files (where applicable)
Supplemental files (where applicable)

Further considerations
• Manuscript has been 'spell checked' and 'grammar checked'
• All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet)
• A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare
• Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed
• Referee suggestions and contact details provided, based on journal requirements

For further information, visit our Support Center.

Before you begin

Ethics in publishing

Please see our information on Ethics in publishing.

Human and Animal Rights

Human Subjects

Articles involving research conducted in human subjects must include statements in Materials and Methods indicating that 1) approval by the Institutional Review Board was granted; and 2) informed consent was obtained from participants. Participants should be identified only by number, not name or initials. Authors must follow policies on obtaining permission and releases when including case details or other personal information or images of patients and any other individuals in an Elsevier publication. For more information, please review the Elsevier Policy on the Use of Images or Personal Information of Patients or other Individuals.

Animal Subjects

Articles involving research conducted in nonhuman subjects must include 1) a statement in Materials and Methods indicating approval by the Institutional Review Board and that the care and use of animals conformed to applicable national/international guidelines; 2) information about the source (vendor and location) of animals; 3) description of the sex of the animals. If anesthesia was used, the anesthetic, dose, and duration of surgery must be provided, as well as information about any intra- and/or postoperative drugs (i.e. drug, dose, and interdosing interval, if given more than once).

Decleration of Interest

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. This information should be presented in the Disclosures section. See also https://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest. Further information and an example of a Declarations of Interest form can be found at https://service.elsevier.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/286/supporthub/publishing.

A disclosure section must be placed at the end of the manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the figure legends. Research funding sources must be acknowledged, including corporate, grant, institutional, or departmental funds. If this does not apply, authors must state that no funding sources were provided. In this section, all authors must also disclose any potential conflicts of interest and must include a declaration statement if no conflicts exist.

Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing

The below guidance only refers to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process.

Where authors use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should only use these technologies to improve readability and language. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author, or be cited as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans, as outlined in Elsevier’s AI policy for authors.

Authors should disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by following the instructions below. A statement will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.

Disclosure instructions
Authors must disclose the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. The statement should be placed in a new section entitled ‘Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process’.

Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.

Submission declaration and verification

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify compliance, your article may be checked by Crossref Similarity Check and other originality or duplicate checking software.

Preprints
Please note that preprints can be shared anywhere at any time, in line with Elsevier's sharing policy. Sharing your preprints e.g. on a preprint server will not count as prior publication (see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information).

Inclusion, diversity, equity, antiracism, and accessibility guidelines

The Journal of Pain is committed to addressing pain inequities across the pain scientific community. Please read the editorial from the Antiracism CoaliTION in Pain Research (ACTION-PR) here and plans for implementation at The Journal of Pain. As part of ACTION-PR's efforts, they have developed the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Antiracism, and Accessibility (IDEAA) guidelines. These guidelines were informed by state-of-the-science recommendations from health equity scholars (e.g., Boyd et al., 2020, Health Affairs; Flanagin et al., 2021, JAMA) and insights from stakeholders, including people with lived experience of pain and pain researchers across the translational spectrum. The Journal of Pain will be the first journal to adopt these guidelines which provide a checklist of items to guide authors, reviewers, and editors in promoting equity and transparency in their reporting. Editors from multiple pain journals have banded together to promote equity, inclusion and diversity in pain science, please review the general principles for authors, reviewers, and editors here. Societal oppression occurs globally and can include racism, colorism, sexism, ageism, classism, ableism, biases related to a person's LGBTQ2S+ identity, and limited proficiency in a society's dominant language. These forms of oppression - and their intersections - are detrimental to individuals' well-being, lead to health inequities, and must be addressed through active change. The IDEAA guidelines are designed to help authors submit articles that center the experiences of people living with pain who have additional burdens on physiological processes, well-being, and adequate pain care due to societal oppression. Authors are encouraged to think deeply about how their work can advance equity in the pain field and act beyond strict compliance to the IDEAA guidelines. The full version of the IDEAA guidelines is forthcoming. In the interim, authors are asked to address the following items in their manuscript submissions to The Journal of Pain:

1. Inclusive language. Use language that minimizes bias and holds oppressive systems accountable. Authors should consult available style guides (eg, the APA Style and Grammar Guidelines for Bias-Free Language available here and the AMA Style Manual: Inclusive Language for best practices.
2. Accurate interpretation of race, ethnicity, sex, and gender. Describe and interpret racialized identity and ethnicity as social and cultural constructs. Describe and interpret sex assigned at birth and gender identity as separate constructs.
3. Inclusion and representativeness of study samples (human and animal). Describe efforts (e.g., recruitment strategies, people with lived experience of pain in the research team) to promote diversity and inclusion in the study sample, including inclusion of people who experience racism and/or societal oppression in the country of interest and that improve accessibility (e.g., for a range of abilities/disabilities, language fluency, etc.) in human participants studies, and equal representation of female and male animals in preclinical studies.
4. Comprehensively report sample characteristics. Provide a comprehensive description of the sample's characteristics e.g., reporting of racialized or gender identities (including human participants, human in vitro, non-human animals, and systematic review/meta-analysis studies). Describe how the sample's inclusivity advances or limits progress toward pain equity in the population of interest and the specific steps that will be taken in future work.
5. Describe the level of patient and public involvement in the research. Provide a description in the Methods section of how patients or the public were involved in the study's conceptualization, design and conduct (e.g., choice of outcome measures, recruitment), and/or dissemination of the study results. We fully appreciate that this is a movement in evolution and not all researchers will have involved patients and the public in their studies. We also recognize that for some papers co-production may not be appropriate. For this reason, we continue to consider research papers where there has been no patient or public involvement but we ask that authors state this in the methods section. Please also consider using the GRIPP2 reporting checklist for best reporting of patient and public involvement. When patient/public contributions have been substantial and meet authorship criteria, they should be invited to coauthor the manuscript.See examples of statements of patient and public involvement.

Reporting sex- and gender-based analyses

Reporting guidance
For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA) into their research design according to funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field. Authors should address the sex and/or gender dimensions of their research in their article. In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research's generalizability. Importantly, authors should explicitly state what definitions of sex and/or gender they are applying to enhance the precision, rigor and reproducibility of their research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer (see Definitions section below). Authors can refer to the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and the SAGER guidelines checklist. These offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome reporting and research interpretation - however, please note there is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender.

Definitions
Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features (e.g., chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external anatomy). A binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth (""sex assigned at birth""), most often based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn. Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities of women, men and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact and how power is distributed in society. Sex and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male or woman/man) and unchanging whereas these constructs actually exist along a spectrum and include additional sex categorizations and gender identities such as people who are intersex/have differences of sex development (DSD) or identify as non-binary. Moreover, the terms ""sex"" and ""gender"" can be ambiguous—thus it is important for authors to define the manner in which they are used. In addition to this definition guidance and the SAGER guidelines, the resources on this page offer further insight around sex and gender in research studies.

Copyright

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (see more information on this). An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.

Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases.

For gold open access articles: Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'License Agreement' (more information). Permitted third party reuse of gold open access articles is determined by the author's choice of user license.

Author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. More information.

Elsevier supports responsible sharing
Find out how you can share your research published in Elsevier journals.

Role of the funding source

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, it is recommended to state this.

Note to NIH Grant Recipients: Articles accepted for publication from authors who have indicated that the underlying research reported in their articles was supported by an NIH grant will be sent by Elsevier to PubMed Central (PMC) for public access posting 12 months after final publication. The version of the article provided by Elsevier will be the final peer-reviewed manuscript that was accepted for publication and sent to Elsevier's production department, and which reflects author-agreed changes made in response to peer-review comments. Elsevier will authorize the author manuscript's public access posting 12 months after final publication. Following the deposit by Elsevier, authors will receive further communication from the NIH with respect to the submission.

Language services

Text should be presented in English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who submit to international journals but are not native speakers of English sometimes receive negative feedback regarding language usage. We strongly encourage such authors to have submissions pre-reviewed by colleagues with English fluency, or to be considered by a professional editing service such as https://webshop.elsevier.com/language-editing/.

Open and Transparent Science

The Journal of Pain encourages open and transparent science and will support authors to completely report their research and share their data openly, which includes raw datasets, code, videos, software, models, algorithms and any other methodological material. Below are a number of ways in which we can support you

Checklists and Reporting Guidelines

The Journal of Pain requires the use of an appropriate reporting guideline when writing any manuscript. You must submit a completed checklist for the relevant guideline (and flow diagram if applicable) alongside your manuscript, indicating the manuscript page on which each checklist item is found. Checklists are not simply an administrative hurdle. We ask you to complete a checklist because this helps you to ensure transparent and complete reporting in your paper, an essential element for editors and reviewers to evaluate quality and rigor of the study.

Some common study types and the appropriate guidelines are listed below. We strongly encourage authors to visit the Equator Network for a comprehensive overview of reporting guidelines, and visit www.goodreports.org to assist in identifying the appropriate reporting guideline.

-Systematic review or meta-analysis of the existing literature. Use the PRISMA guideline for systematic reviews or meta-analyses, and the PRISMA-ScR for scoping reviews.
- Qualitative study or focus group. Use the COREQ checklist.
- Animal research. Use the ARRIVE guideline for research on animals in a lab.
- Research into diagnosis. Use the STARD guideline if you compared the accuracy of a diagnostic test with an established reference standard test.
- Multivariable prognostic research. Use the TRIPOD for prognostic model research.

Reporting clinical trials. We encourage authors to enhance the quality of their intervention reporting by using the TIDieR guideline. Specific reporting checklists based on clinical trial design is described below.

Reporting research into an intervention, treatment, exposure, or protective factor on people.

Use the CONSORT guideline or one of its extensions: If you selected your participants before they received the intervention/exposure/etc. under study, AND You controlled which intervention/exposure/etc. they each received, AND You used a random allocation method to decide which intervention/exposure/etc. they each received. ie: a randomized controlled trial.

Randomized controlled trials should be presented according to the CONSORT guidelines. You can use CONSORT checklist extensions (e.g., cluster trials) for different designs and types of trials. At manuscript submission, authors must provide the CONSORT checklist accompanied by a flow diagram that illustrates the progress of patients through the trial, including recruitment, enrollment, randomization, withdrawal and completion, and a detailed description of the randomization procedure.

Use the STROBE guideline or one of its extensions: If you selected your participants after they received the intervention/exposure/etc. under study, OR You selected your participants before they received the intervention/exposure/etc. under study AND you did not control which intervention/exposure/etc. they received (they decided/their doctor decided/life just happened) ie: an observational study.

Use the TREND guideline: If you selected your participants before they received the intervention/exposure/etc. under study, AND You used a non-random way to decide which intervention/exposure/etc. your participants received, such as which hospital they went to or what their clinical symptoms were. ie: a non-randomised trial

Study registration

The Journal of Pain strongly encourages registration of all empirical studies through mechanisms such as the Open Science Framework (www.osf.io), or publication of a protocol. Any pre-registration should be timestamped and available to access at the time of submission. These protocols should include the aims of the research, independent and dependent variables, and measures/methodology used to assess the independent and dependent variables. A full methodology including analysis plan is preferable.

Clinical trials. The Journal will only consider for publication randomized clinical trials that were registered with an appropriate registration agency (such as clinicaltrials.gov) before the first subject was recruited. Registration information must be included at the end of the Abstract.

Systematic reviews. The Journal will only consider for publication systematic reviews and meta-analyses that were registered with an appropriate registration agency such as PROSPERO, an international database of prospectively registered systematic reviews (www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/). Please note that registration should take place prospectively -- before the article search was initiated and if this is not the case, please be transparent about when registration took place and reasons for this. Please include registration information at the end of the Abstract.

Scoping reviews. Although pre-registration of protocols for these reviews is not required, authors are encouraged to pre-register their protocols at Open Science Framework (www.osf.io) and are required to communicate whether the study was pre-registered in the manuscript.

Research Data, Code and Materials

This journal encourages and enables you to share data openly that supports your research publication where appropriate, and enables you to interlink the data with your published articles. Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings. To facilitate reproducibility and data reuse, we encourage use of the FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) data principles.

This checklist may be helpful for authors to facilitate use of FAIR data principles:

• Digitally-shareable and publicly available on an open repository
• Persistent identifier
• In a format that is time-stamped, immutable and permanent (e.g. university repository, registered on Open Science Framework, or an independent repository)

Are the raw data available?

If not, derived data must include descriptions of how the data were constructed or, even better, provide the code used to construct the data

• Is a data dictionary (e.g. a codebook or meta-data describing the data) included with sufficient description for an independent researcher to reproduce the reported analyses and results?
• Does the data have an open license allowing others to copy, distribute and make use of the data while allowing the license to retain credit and copyright as applicable? e.g. Creative commons copyright licenses - CC0, CC-BY etc.)

Are all the collected data available?

If not, and only a subset of the data is available, is it the data used to conduct the reported analyses? It must include descriptions of how the data were reduced from the complete dataset or, even better, provide the code to reduce the dataset.

• Is the data protected access? If so, the repository must publicly describe the steps necessary to obtain the data and detailed data documentation (e.g. variable names and allowed values) must be made available publicly.

This journal also encourages you to share your software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful study materials related to the project.

Below are a number of ways in which you can associate data with your article and make a statement about the availability of your data when submitting your manuscript. If you are sharing data in one of these ways, you are encouraged to cite the data in your manuscript and reference list. Please refer to the "References" section for more information about data citation. For more information on depositing, sharing and using research data and other relevant research materials, visit the research data page.

Submission

Our online submission system guides you stepwise through the process of entering your article details and uploading your files. The system converts your article files to a single PDF file used in the peer-review process. Editable files (e.g., Word, LaTeX) are required to typeset your article for final publication. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, is sent by e-mail.

Editor contact information

The Journal of Pain
[email protected]

Tonya M. Palermo, PhD, Editor
The Journal of Pain
Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development
Seattle Children's Research Institute, M/S Cure-3
P.O. Box 5371
Seattle, WA 98195-6490
USA

Submit your article
Please submit your article via https://www.editorialmanager.com/JPAIN.

NEW SUBMISSIONS

Submission to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts your files to a single PDF file, which is used in the peer-review process.
As part of the Your Paper Your Way service, you may choose to submit your manuscript as a single file to be used in the refereeing process. This can be a PDF file or a Word document, in any format or lay-out that can be used by referees to evaluate your manuscript. It should contain high enough quality figures for refereeing. If you prefer to do so, you may still provide all or some of the source files at the initial submission. Please note that individual figure files larger than 10 MB must be uploaded separately.

References
There are no strict requirements on reference formatting at submission. References can be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent. Where applicable, author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter and the article number or pagination must be present. Use of DOI is highly encouraged. The reference style used by the journal will be applied to the accepted article by Elsevier at the proof stage. Note that missing data will be highlighted at proof stage for the author to correct.

Formatting requirements
There are no strict formatting requirements but all manuscripts must contain the essential elements needed to convey your manuscript, for example Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Conclusions, Artwork and Tables with Captions.
If your article includes any Videos and/or other Supplementary material, this should be included in your initial submission for peer review purposes.
Divide the article into clearly defined sections.

Please ensure the text of your paper is double-spaced and includes page numbers - this is an essential peer review requirement.

Figures and tables embedded in text
Please ensure the figures and the tables included in the single file are placed next to the relevant text in the manuscript, rather than at the bottom or the top of the file. The corresponding caption should be placed directly below the figure or table.

Peer review

This journal operates a single anonymized review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers which they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Any such submission is subject to all of the journal's usual procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups. More information on types of peer review.

REVISED SUBMISSIONS

Use of word processing software
Regardless of the file format of the original submission, at revision you must provide us with an editable file of the entire article. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier). See also the section on Electronic artwork.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.

Article structure

Pages must be numbered consecutively, beginning with the title page. Manuscripts without numbered pages will be returned to authors for correction. Materials should be presented in this order:

• Cover letter
• Manuscript (as a single file that contains the following): title page (include all authors' names and affiliations and disclosures), abstract, perspective, key words, text, acknowledgments (optional), references, figure legends
• Figures
• Tables
• Reporting Checklists

Cover letter
A cover letter must be presented and must include contact information for the corresponding author; this contact information must also be presented on the title page and must match the corresponding author designated in the Elsevier Editorial System upon upload. (When such information differs, manuscripts will be returned to authors for correction.) Any conflicts of interest should be noted, and if no conflicts are present, this should be explicitly stated. Include a statement that all authors are listed and that all have contributed substantially to the manuscript. Authors must state whether manuscripts from the same study were submitted or published. Authors may optionally suggest the names of three potential reviewers who are not close colleagues and who are not in conflict; please include contact information.

Formatting of funding sources
List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

If no funding has been provided for the research, it is recommended to include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Title page (page 1)
The title should be a concise and informative description of the study and should indicate animal species if the research was conducted on nonhuman animal subjects. Within the title, use nonproprietary names for drugs, and descriptions for devices. Brand name may be mentioned only once within the text (upon first reference), unless essential to the study. The title page should include the authors' names, department(s), institution where the work was done, and institutional affiliations of authors. The corresponding author must be clearly identified and phone/fax/e-mail information must be provided. The corresponding author noted on the manuscript's title page must be the same person designated as corresponding author within the Elsevier Editorial System. The title page should include a short running title (45 characters, excluding spaces).

Disclosures
This required section must appear on the title page. Research funding sources must be acknowledged, including corporate, grant, institutional, or departmental funds. If this does not apply, authors must state that no funding sources were provided. In this section, all authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest and must include a declaration statement if no conflicts exist. Conflicts include honoraria, travel to conferences, consultancies, stock ownership (excluding publicly owned mutual funds), equity interests, and patent-licensing arrangements (particularly if a commercial product is noted in the article).

Data Statement should also be included in all manuscripts, outlining availability of the data to readers of the article (if applicable). The Journal of Pain encourages open data at submission.

Study pre-registration statement should also be included in all manuscripts, outlining the registration status of the article and a link to the registration (if applicable). The Journal of Pain encourages pre-registration of all study types.

Open materials statement should also be included in all manuscripts stating if the components of the research methodology needed to reproduce the reported procedure(s) and analyses are publicly available.

Abstract (page 2)
An abstract of 250 words or less should describe concisely the purpose of the study, the main findings, and conclusions, all in one paragraph without subheadings. Abstracts should be specific, clear, unbiased, precise, and balanced. Results of primary and secondary objectives should be included with actual data (e.g., 95% confidence intervals, effect sizes, odds ratios, etc). References may not be included in the abstract.

Perspective
This item, limited to 50 words, should appear at the end of the abstract. The perspective presents a synopsis of the work to facilitate understanding of its significance. Authors of basic science reports should highlight the potential clinical relevance of their results for the benefit of clinical readers. Authors of clinical science reports should highlight the underlying mechanisms for the results, for the benefit of clinical scientists and basic scientists. Example: "Perspective: This article presents the psychometric properties of a new measure of spouse responses to patient chronic pain and well behavior. This measure could potentially help clinicians who seek to assess how spouse responses may contribute to patient pain and disability." References should not be included in the Perspective.

Key words
Five key words should be provided following the Perspective.

Text
Text headings should be as follows:

Introduction: State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results. Limit the introduction to 600 words.
Methods: Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference; only relevant modifcations should be described. Include a statement of patient and public involvement.
Results: Results should be clear and concise.
Discussion: This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature. Limit the discussion to 1500 words.

Subheadings in the Methods, Results, and Discussion sections should be used as necessary to aid organization and presentation, but subheadings and sections should not be numbered. All sections should be written concisely. Note that section labels may not apply to some article types, including Focus Articles and Review Articles.

Essential title page information

• Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
• Author names and affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. You can add your name between parentheses in your own script behind the English transliteration. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.
• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

Highlights

Highlights are optional yet highly encouraged for this journal, as they increase the discoverability of your article via search engines. They consist of a short collection of bullet points that capture the novel results of your research as well as new methods that were used during the study (if any). Please have a look at the example Highlights.

Highlights should be submitted in a separate editable file in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point).

Graphical abstract
Although a graphical abstract is optional, its use is encouraged as it draws more attention to the online article. The graphical abstract should summarize the contents of the article in a concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Image size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 531 × 1328 pixels (h × w) or proportionally more. The image should be readable at a size of 5 × 13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi. Preferred file types: TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files. You can view Example Graphical Abstracts on our information site.

Acknowledgments

Collate acknowledgments in a separate section at the end of the article before the references; do not include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title, or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g, serving on community advisory boards, providing language help, data collection assistance, writing assistance, or proofreading the article). The Acknowledgments section is optional.

Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position of footnotes in the text and present the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article.

Artwork

Artwork
All figures must be cited in the text; figures must be cited in consecutive order (this also applies to individual panels within figures). Within figures, patients' eyes must be masked unless authors receive patient permission. For a consent form, contact the Editorial Office at [email protected].

TIFF and EPS are the preferred formats for artwork. All type fonts used in studio-created artwork must be either "embedded" in the file or supplied separately. All graphic files supplied as bitmap format (not vector format) in TIFF, JPEG, or GIF must be submitted in sufficiently high resolution (240-300 dpi for grayscale or color images and 600-1000 dpi for line art) to allow for printing. See Elseviers website for guidelines for preparing electronic artwork: https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies-and-standards/author/artwork-and-media-instructions.

Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Preferred fonts: Arial (or Helvetica), Times New Roman (or Times), Symbol, Courier.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Indicate per figure if it is a single, 1.5 or 2-column fitting image.
• For Word submissions only, you may still provide figures and their captions, and tables within a single file at the revision stage.
• Please note that individual figure files larger than 10 MB must be provided in separate source files.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available.
You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please 'save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as 'graphics'.
TIFF (or JPG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF (or JPG): Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF (or JPG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low.
• Supply files that are too low in resolution.
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Figure Legends

A legend must be provided for each figure. Figure legends should be brief and not repetitive of description in the text. Legends should be placed in numerical order before the list of references.

Tables

All tables must be cited in the text in consecutive order. Tables should be comprehensive without reference to the text and should not be repetitive of descriptions in the text. Every table should consist of two or more columns; tables with only one column will be treated as lists and incorporated into the text. Each column must have a column heading. Explanatory matter and source notations for borrowed or adapted tables should be placed in a table footnote, not in the title or table body. For tables, files must be uploaded separately, and not embedded within the text of the manuscript.

References

Reference formatting
There are no strict requirements on reference formatting at submission. References can be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent. Where applicable, author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter and the article number or pagination must be present. Use of DOI is highly encouraged. The reference style used by the journal will be applied to the accepted article by Elsevier at the proof stage. Note that missing data will be highlighted at proof stage for the author to correct. If you do wish to format the references yourself they should be arranged according to the following examples:

Citation examples:

Journal articles
Jensen MP, Hakimian S, Sherlin LH, Fregni F: New insights into neuromodulatory approaches for the treatment of pain. J Pain 9:193-199, 2008

Books
Koltzenberg M, McMahon S (eds): Wall and Melzack's Textbook of Pain, 5th ed. Philadelphia, Elsevier, 2006

Chapter/article in book
Begg C: Publication bias. In: Cooper H, Hedges L (eds): Handbook of Research Synthesis. New York, Russell Sage Foundation, 1994, pp 399-409

Software
SAS Institute. SAS/STAT software: Changes and enhancements through release 6.12. Cary, NC: SAS Institute, 1996

Supplement
Dworkin RH, Gnann JW, Oaklander AL, Raja SN, Schmader KE, Whitley RJ: Diagnosis and Assessment of Pain Associated with Herpes Zoster and Postherpetic Neuralgia. J Pain 9(Suppl 1):37-55, 2008

Epub Ahead of Print
Nielsen CS, Staud R, Price DD: Individual differences in pain sensitivity: Measurement, causation, and consequences. J Pain 2009 Feb 8; [Epub ahead of print]

URL
The American Academy of Pain Medicine: The use of opioids for the treatment of chronic Pain: A Consensus Statement. Available at: http://www.painmed.org. Accessed March 9, 2006

For other examples not listed here, please contact The Journal of Pain editorial office at [email protected]

The reference list should appear at the end of the manuscript. The list must be in alphabetical order, according to the surname of the first author. In cases of multiple citations by the same first author, references should be listed by chronological date of the publication. In cases of multiple citations by the same first author and different second, third, etc. authors, references should be cited in alphabetical order according to the surname of the second, third, etc. authors. Within the text, papers should be cited using superscript numbers that correspond to the alphabetized reference list as follows: "Similar changes were demonstrated in the cingulate cortex.¹⁵" All authors must be listed in the references; the use of et al is not permitted. Journal abbreviations should conform to the style used in Index Medicus, National Library of Medicine. Unpublished data, personal communications, and abstracts that cannot be retrieved by readers (eg, some meeting abstracts), and other inaccessible materials may not be listed as references. Unpublished materials may be cited parenthetically within the text, noting the main author and the year in which the research was conducted. For manuscripts containing citations that are in press, authors must have electronic copies immediately available in case reviewers/ editors request these materials. If all or part of this research was presented in Abstract form at an American Pain Society annual meeting, please note this at the end of the Introduction and include the citation in the list of References, citing abstracts published in The Journal of Pain's annual meeting supplemental issue. For information on formatting a specific Abstract reference, contact the Editorial Office at [email protected].

Citation in text
Ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). The abstract may not contain references. Unpublished results and personal communications are not permitted in the reference list but may be mentioned in the text as "Unpublished results" or "Personal communication." For unpublished study results, include the main author’s name and the year during which the research was conducted. In-press references are allowed for initial submission and during the review process only. Revised manuscripts accepted for publication by The Journal of Pain may not include in-press or unpublished materials in the references section; these materials may be cited within the text parenthetically as noted above.

Reference links
Increased discoverability of research and high quality peer review are ensured by online links to the sources cited. In order to allow us to create links to abstracting and indexing services, such as Scopus, Crossref and PubMed, please ensure that data provided in the references are correct. Please note that incorrect surnames, journal/book titles, publication year and pagination may prevent link creation. When copying references, please be careful as they may already contain errors. Use of the DOI is highly encouraged.

A DOI is guaranteed never to change, so you can use it as a permanent link to any electronic article. An example of a citation using DOI for an article not yet in an issue is: VanDecar J.C., Russo R.M., James D.E., Ambeh W.B., Franke M. (2003). Aseismic continuation of the Lesser Antilles slab beneath northeastern Venezuela. Journal of Geophysical Research, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JB000884. Please note the format of such citations should be in the same style as all other references in the paper.

Web references
As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.

Data references
This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.

Preprint references
Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the name of the preprint server, as part of the reference. The preprint DOI should also be provided.

References in a special issue
Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.

Reference management software
Most Elsevier journals have their reference template available in many of the most popular reference management software products. These include all products that support Citation Style Language styles, such as Mendeley. Using citation plug-ins from these products, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article, after which citations and bibliographies will be automatically formatted in the journal's style. If no template is yet available for this journal, please follow the format of the sample references and citations as shown in this Guide. If you use reference management software, please ensure that you remove all field codes before submitting the electronic manuscript. More information on how to remove field codes from different reference management software.

Journal abbreviations source
Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations.

Video

Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include links to these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the file in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 150 MB per file, 1 GB in total. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect. Please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages. Note: since video and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and the print version for the portions of the article that refer to this content.

Data visualization

Include interactive data visualizations in your publication and let your readers interact and engage more closely with your research. Follow the instructions here to find out about available data visualization options and how to include them with your article.

Supplementary material

Supplementary material such as applications, images and sound clips, can be published with your article to enhance it. Submitted supplementary items are published exactly as they are received (Excel or PowerPoint files will appear as such online). Please submit your material together with the article and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If you wish to make changes to supplementary material during any stage of the process, please make sure to provide an updated file. Do not annotate any corrections on a previous version. Please switch off the 'Track Changes' option in Microsoft Office files as these will appear in the published version.

Permissions

To use information borrowed or adapted from another source, authors must obtain permission from the copyright holder (usually the publisher). This is necessary even if you are the author of the borrowed material. It is essential to begin the process of obtaining permissions early; a delay may require removing the copyrighted material from the article. Give the source of a borrowed table in a footnote to the table; give the source of a borrowed figure in the legend of the figure. The source must also appear in the list of references. Use exact wording required by the copyright holder. Send copies of the letter granting permission, identified by table or figure number, to the Editorial Office at [email protected] (a scanned and uploaded copy is fine; please include the manuscript number in the subject line).

To secure permission for materials published in The Journal of Pain, please visit https://www.elsevier.com/authors/obtaining-permission-to-re-use-elsevier-material. For more information about permission issues, contact [email protected] or visit https://www.elsevier.com/permissions.

Cover Images

The Journal of Pain will publish appropriate images on the journal's cover. Selected figures may accompany a submitted manuscript (authors should make a note in the covering letter), or images may be submitted individually. Authors are encouraged to submit art for consideration; materials may be uploaded to https://www.editorialmanager.com/JPAIN/default.aspx.

Proprietary Information

Use nonproprietary names for drugs, and descriptions for devices. Brand name may be mentioned only once within the text (upon first reference), unless essential to the study. For presentation of brand or trade names, include manufacturer's name, city, state and country within parentheses. Upon subsequent reference, use generic drug names or device descriptions only.

After acceptance

Proofs

One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post) or a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download the files themselves. To ensure a fast publication process of the article, we kindly ask authors to provide us with their proof corrections within two days. Elsevier now provides authors with PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download the free Adobe Reader, version 9 (or higher). Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online). The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site.
If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return them to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and scan the pages and return via e-mail. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.

Author inquiries

Visit the Elsevier Support Center to find the answers you need. Here you will find everything from Frequently Asked Questions to ways to get in touch.
You can also check the status of your submitted article or find out when your accepted article will be published.