About the Journal

Pain and Rehabilitation is a peer-reviewed, open access journal published by the Physiotherapy Pain Association, a Professional Network of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. The journal publishes original research, service evaluations, reviews, protocol articles, and a wide range of creative and reflective work that contributes to understanding pain and improving care and rehabilitation for people living with it.

Our mission is to encourage dialogue among rehabilitation professionals, patients, families, caregivers, and policymakers, and to ensure that the voices and experiences of people living with pain are central to the knowledge we publish.

ISSN 2051-0047 (Print) | ISSN 2051-0055 (Online)

Open Access Policy

Pain and Rehabilitation is a fully open access journal. All articles are made freely and permanently available online immediately upon publication, with no subscription fees, registration requirements, or embargo periods for readers. Access to all content is unrestricted worldwide.

This journal complies with the DOAJ definition of open access: the copyright holder grants usage rights to others under an open licence, permitting any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, and to use them for any other lawful purpose. There are no article processing charges or publication fees of any kind. See our Author Guidelines for full details.

Peer Review

Pain and Rehabilitation operates a strictly double-blind peer review process. The reviewer's name is withheld from the author and the author's name from the reviewer. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two independent reviewers with relevant expertise. All articles are assigned to an issue immediately upon acceptance, with no waiting period.

The editorial board oversees the peer review process and sets standards that ensure the quality of the journal. Guest editors of special issues are subject to the same oversight and must adhere to the same peer review standards as regular submissions.

Publication Schedule

Pain and Rehabilitation publishes two volumes per year, typically released in June and January. Articles are made available online as soon as they are ready following acceptance, without waiting for the formal annual issue release. Authors can therefore expect their work to be publicly accessible shortly after the post-acceptance production process is complete.

The journal has been in continuous publication since 1996. Back issues are freely available in the Archives.

Licensing

All articles published in Pain and Rehabilitation are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. This means anyone is free to share and adapt the material for any purpose, provided appropriate credit is given to the original authors and source, a link to the licence is provided, and any changes made are indicated.

Copyright

Authors retain copyright of their work published in Pain and Rehabilitation. By submitting to the journal, authors grant Pain and Rehabilitation the right of first publication. The work is simultaneously licensed under CC BY 4.0, as described above. Copyright terms are consistent with and do not contradict the open access policy or licensing terms of this journal.

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Pain and Rehabilitation is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and takes seriously its responsibility to the integrity of the scholarly record. The journal follows the guidelines and best practice recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and expects all parties involved in the publishing process to adhere to these standards.

Authorship All listed authors must have made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the work, approved the final version, and agreed to be accountable for it. Guest authorship, ghost authorship, and gift authorship are not permitted. AI tools may not be listed as authors. The journal follows the ICMJE criteria for authorship.

Originality and plagiarism Authors must ensure that submitted work is original and has not been published elsewhere. All sources must be appropriately cited. Plagiarism in any form is unacceptable and will result in rejection or retraction.

Duplicate submission Manuscripts must not be submitted to more than one journal simultaneously. Redundant or duplicate publication of the same research is not permitted.

Data integrity Authors are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of all data presented. Fabrication, falsification, or selective reporting of data constitutes research misconduct.

Conflicts of interest Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose any financial, personal, or professional relationships that could influence their work or judgement. Where a conflict of interest exists, the affected party must recuse themselves from relevant decisions.

Peer review integrity Reviewers must treat all manuscripts as confidential and must not use unpublished information for personal advantage. Reviewers must declare any conflicts of interest and decline to review manuscripts where such conflicts exist.

Corrections and retractions The journal will issue corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions where necessary and in accordance with COPE guidelines. Retracted articles remain visible in the archive and are clearly labelled as retracted.

Misconduct Any suspected misconduct by authors, reviewers, or editors will be investigated in accordance with COPE's procedures. The editors reserve the right to contact authors' institutions where serious misconduct is suspected.

Digital Preservation

Pain and Rehabilitation is committed to the long-term preservation of all published content. All published content is continuously deposited with the PKP Preservation Network, ensuring permanent and continued access to all articles in the event of journal discontinuation.

Publisher Information

Pain and Rehabilitation is published by:

Physiotherapy Pain Association A Professional Network of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, c/o Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, 14 Bedford Row, London, WC1R 4ED, United Kingdom. Website: https://ppa.csp.org.uk/ Contact: christopher.seenan@stir.ac.uk

History

Pain and Rehabilitation has been published since 1996 and is the journal of the Physiotherapy Pain Association. It was converted to a fully open access model in 2020.

Get Involved

Join the Editorial Team

Pain and Rehabilitation is actively seeking to expand its editorial board and reviewer pool. We are particularly keen to hear from clinicians, researchers, and people with lived experience who share our commitment to person-centred, rigorous, and inclusive scholarship in pain and rehabilitation.

We are especially interested in applications from practitioners and researchers based outside the United Kingdom, as we are committed to building an editorially diverse and internationally representative board.

We welcome expressions of interest for the following roles:

Editorial Board Member: Providing strategic oversight, contributing to editorial policy, and reviewing manuscripts in your area of expertise.
Peer Reviewer: Reviewing manuscripts on an ad hoc basis in your area of expertise. This is a good starting point for those new to peer review.
Associate Editor: Taking a more active editorial role, including managing peer review for submitted manuscripts.

If you are interested in any of these roles, please contact the Editors-in-Chief with a brief note about your background and area of expertise:

Dr Chris Seenan: christopher.seenan@stir.ac.uk Dr Michael Mansfield: m.mansfield@bham.ac.uk