Pa

Pain

PAIN is the official journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain and publishes original research and scholarly articles on the nature, mechanisms, and treatment of pain, providing a multidisciplinary forum for the dissemination of basic and applied pain research.

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Subject Anesthesiology, Clinical Neurology, Neurosciences
Impact Factor 5.5
Quartile Q1
Open Access Type Closed
ISSN 0304-3959
eISSN 1872-6623
Invitation Only No
Cost Range Article Processing Charge (APC) is payable on acceptance for authors choosing the open access option; current pricing is listed on the Wolters Kluwer Hybrid Open Access Journals page.

Submission Instructions

Pain accepts the following article types. Click on an article type to view submission instructions.

Research Paper

Cover Letter A cover letter is required at submission and must include, for clinical trials, the trial registry name and registration number.
Abstract An unstructured abstract is required with a maximum of 250 words.
Manuscript The main manuscript file must be a numbered .DOCX or .DOC document, double-spaced in an 11–12 pt common font with clearly distinguishable heading levels.
References All authors must be listed for each reference (no “et al.”), journal titles abbreviated per Index Medicus, and URLs/DOIs included for publicly accessible references; no maximum reference count is indicated.
Figures & Tables No maximum figure count is indicated, and any supplemental digital content is uploaded separately from the main manuscript.
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Comprehensive Review

Cover Letter A cover letter is required at submission and must include the clinical trial registry name and number when reporting clinical trial results.
Abstract An unstructured abstract is required, with a maximum of 250 words.
Manuscript Comprehensive Reviews are discouraged from exceeding 6,000–8,000 words for the main body text and should include at least the headings: Abstract (unstructured, 250 words max), Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, optional Conclusion, Acknowledgments, and References.
References References must be listed alphabetically by first author, numbered according to this alphabetical order, cited in text with bracketed numbers, list all authors without et al., and include DOIs/URLs for publicly accessible items; no maximum reference count is indicated.
Figures & Tables Tables must be editable in Microsoft Word, either placed at the end of the manuscript or uploaded as separate files; no maximum table count is indicated.
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Narrative Review

Cover Letter A cover letter is required at submission and must include the clinical trial registry name and number when reporting a clinical trial.
Abstract An abstract is required and must be unstructured with a maximum of 250 words.
Manuscript Narrative Reviews have no specific word limit, but manuscripts longer than 6,000–8,000 words for the main body text are discouraged.
References No maximum reference count is indicated.
Figures & Tables No maximum number of figures or tables is indicated.
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Systematic Review

Cover Letter A cover letter is required at submission, and for clinical trial reports it must include the trial registry name and registry number.
Abstract An unstructured abstract is required with a maximum of 250 words for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.
Manuscript Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis manuscripts use the primary sections: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, optional Conclusion, Acknowledgments, and References, with main body text generally kept within 6,000–8,000 words (no strict word limit).
References References follow AMA style with an alphabetized reference list that is numbered according to this alphabetical order, cited in text with bracketed numbers, listing all authors (no “et al.”), and including DOIs/URLs where available; no maximum reference count is indicated.
Figures & Tables Figures must be uploaded as separate files (one per file) with legends collected at the end of the manuscript after the references, and tables must be editable Word tables placed at the end of the manuscript or uploaded as separate Word files; no maximum number of figures or tables is specified.
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Meta-Analysis

Cover Letter A cover letter is required at submission and must include the clinical trial registry name and number if the meta-analysis reports clinical trial results.
Abstract An unstructured abstract is required with a maximum of 250 words.
Manuscript Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses have no specific word limit, but manuscripts longer than 6,000–8,000 words for the main body text are discouraged.
References All authors must be listed for each reference (no use of “et al.”), journal titles must be abbreviated per Index Medicus, and URLs should be provided for all publicly accessible references; no maximum reference count is indicated.
Figures & Tables Supplemental digital content should be combined into a single captioned PDF where possible and uploaded as supplementary material, with additional non-PDF items (e.g., spreadsheets, audio, video) uploaded separately; no limits on the number of figures or tables are specified.
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Letter to the Editor

Cover Letter A cover letter is required at submission, and for clinical trial reports it must include the trial registry name and registration number.
Abstract Letters to the Editor must not include an abstract; any abstract fields in the system are not required for this article type.
Manuscript Letters to the Editor must be 500–700 words in length for the entire letter.
References All references must include journal title abbreviations per Index Medicus and URLs or DOIs for publicly accessible items, and inaccessible materials such as personal communications should not appear in the reference list.
Figures & Tables Tables must be editable Word tables (not images), placed at the end of the manuscript or uploaded as separate Word files.
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Recent Publications

Hypnosis in chronic pain: from new hope to emerging standard?

Rodrigo R. N. Rizzo, Mark P. Jensen

10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003944
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Cross-lagged longitudinal analysis of pain and fear of cancer recurrence in young female survivors of breast and gynaecological cancers

Louise Sweeney, Lidia Schapira, Sarah Webster, Sam Norton, Laura E. Simons, Rona Moss-Morris, Lauren C. Heathcote

10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003951
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Quantitative sensory testing–based sensory phenotypes align with measures of peripheral nerve damage in patients with painful polyneuropathies

Eleonora Galosi, Caterina Leone, Pietro Falco, Giuseppe Di Pietro, Gianfranco De Stefano, Nicoletta Esposito, Enrico Evangelisti, Daniel Litewczuk, Lorenzo Tramontana, Rocco Costanzo, Giulia Di Stefano, Andrea Truini

10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003948
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Cerebellar gray matter alterations in chronic low back pain and their associations with postural control and pain sensitivity

John R. Gilliam, Sheri P. Silfies, Jennifer M.C. Vendemia, Young Seon Shin, Stephen A. Coombes

10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003949
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Unintended prolonged opioid use: a prospective case–control study

W. Michael Hooten, Darin J. Erickson, Marek Chawarski, Natalie A. Scholz, Jennifer F. Waljee, Chad M. Brummett, Molly M. Jeffery

10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003945
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Frequently asked questions

Is a cover letter required?

A cover letter is required as part of the submission materials and must be provided when submitting a manuscript through the Editorial Manager system.

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What are the publication costs?

The journal operates as a hybrid open access journal in which authors of accepted peer-reviewed articles may choose to pay an Article Processing Charge (APC) to make their article open access; specific APC pricing is provided via the Wolters Kluwer Hybrid Open Access Journals information.

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Research Topics

Pain Mechanisms and Treatments Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation Pain Management and Placebo Effect Pediatric Pain Management Techniques Pain Management and Opioid Use