Stroke (stroke)

Journal positioning

Stroke is the flagship cerebrovascular journal of the American Heart Association / American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA), publishing clinical, translational, and basic research focused specifically on cerebrovascular disease — ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebral small-vessel disease, prevention, acute treatment (thrombolysis, thrombectomy), recovery and rehabilitation, and the vascular biology and neurovascular mechanisms behind them. It serves vascular neurologists, neurointerventionalists, neurosurgeons, and cerebrovascular scientists, and expects cerebrovascular-specific work that advances prevention, acute care, recovery, or mechanism; general neurology without a clear cerebrovascular focus, and underpowered single-center series with no practice or mechanistic advance, are a weak fit. This skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing aid; it is not clinical or regulatory advice and does not replace the journal's current instructions for authors. Before submitting, re-check the live Stroke author instructions.

When to trigger

• The author names Stroke for a cerebrovascular clinical, translational, or basic study and wants a fit/framing check.
• A study must be re-framed around a cerebrovascular-specific question (prevention, acute treatment, recovery, mechanism) for an AHA/ASA readership.
• The author is choosing between Stroke, a broad mechanistic neurology journal, and a clinical-trials neurology journal.
• The author needs the journal's reporting-guideline, registration, and desk-reject expectations for cerebrovascular research.

Scope & topic fit

• Acute ischemic stroke treatment: thrombolysis, endovascular thrombectomy, and imaging-based selection, with clinical outcomes.
• Intracerebral and subarachnoid hemorrhage: management, hematoma/aneurysm outcomes, and complications.
• Stroke prevention: antithrombotics, risk factors, atrial fibrillation, carotid disease, and population/epidemiologic studies.
• Cerebral small-vessel disease, vascular cognitive impairment, and neuroimaging-anchored cerebrovascular studies.
• Stroke recovery, rehabilitation, and neurorepair with functional endpoints.
• Translational and basic cerebrovascular/neurovascular biology (ischemia, blood-brain barrier, vascular biology) with clear disease relevance.

Method & evidence bar

• Clinical studies must be adequately powered with prespecified, patient-centered outcomes (e.g., functional outcome scales such as the modified Rankin Scale where appropriate); surrogate/imaging endpoints need validation and justification.
• The applicable reporting guideline must be followed and its checklist supplied: CONSORT for trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews, STARD for diagnostic accuracy.
• Interventional trials require prospective registration; the registration number and protocol/statistical-analysis plan are expected.
• Translational and basic stroke models need rigorous controls, randomization/blinding, adequate replication, and ARRIVE-aligned reporting; rigor expectations for preclinical stroke (e.g., STAIR-type considerations) strengthen fit.
• Imaging and biomarker claims require an independent validation cohort and an accepted reference standard; reader/operator variability should be reported.
• Observational and registry analyses must address confounding, selection, and competing risks; causal language must match the design.

Structure & house style

• AHA/ASA (Wolters Kluwer) format with a structured abstract and, where required, a graphical abstract; re-check current article types and limits on the live guide.
• The introduction frames a focused cerebrovascular question and its clinical or mechanistic importance; the discussion states the prevention, acute-care, recovery, or mechanistic implication plainly.
• Tables/figures follow AHA statistical-reporting standards; a CONSORT/STROBE/PRISMA flow diagram is expected where applicable; preclinical figures must show randomization/blinding and controls.
• Supplements carry the protocol, full statistical methods, and additional analyses/cohorts.

Official-submission checklist

• Before giving submission-ready advice, read ../../resources/source-basis.md and ../../resources/official-source-map.md; start from the ICMJE/EQUATOR and AHA/ASA anchors, then cite the current Stroke page you checked.
• Search the live site for "Stroke AHA/ASA instructions for authors" and follow the current version.
• Re-check article types, word/figure limits, structured- and graphical-abstract format, and AHA statistical-reporting requirements.
• Confirm trial registration, the reporting checklist (CONSORT/STROBE/PRISMA/STARD), data-sharing statement, and protocol/SAP submission.
• Re-check IRB/ethics and consent, animal-use approval and ARRIVE-aligned (and preclinical-rigor) reporting, ICMJE authorship and conflict-of-interest disclosure, funding, and AI-use disclosure.
• If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win.

Pre-submission self-check

• The study answers a focused cerebrovascular question with a clear prevention, acute-care, recovery, or mechanistic implication.
• The primary outcome is prespecified and patient-centered (e.g., functional scale); surrogate/imaging endpoints are validated.
• The correct reporting checklist (CONSORT/STROBE/PRISMA/STARD) is completed and attached.
• Trials are prospectively registered with the number in the manuscript; protocol/SAP provided.
• Preclinical studies report randomization, blinding, controls, and ARRIVE-aligned details.
• IRB/animal ethics and consent, ICMJE disclosures, and a data-sharing statement are prepared.

Common desk-reject triggers

• General neurology or vascular work with no clear cerebrovascular-specific focus or relevance.
• Underpowered single-center series with limited generalizability and no practice or mechanistic advance.
• Preclinical stroke studies lacking randomization/blinding, adequate controls, or ARRIVE-aligned reporting.
• Imaging/biomarker studies without an independent validation cohort or reference standard.
• Missing trial registration, protocol, or the required reporting checklist; overstated causal claims in observational data.
• Topic better served by a broad mechanistic neurology, clinical-trials neurology, or general-cardiology venue.

Re-routing decision

• Deep disease-mechanism neurology beyond cerebrovascular focus → brain.
• Clinical-trial or observational neurology emphasis without cerebrovascular specificity → jama-neurology.
• Practice-changing, broadly significant trial → general medicine (jama / NEJM / The Lancet in the natural-science bundle).
• Cardiac/atrial-fibrillation focus where the cardiology endpoint dominates → jama-cardiology.
• Cerebrovascular imaging where the imaging method dominates → radiology.

Output format

[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] Stroke (AHA/ASA)
[Cerebrovascular tags] <2–3 closest topics, e.g. thrombectomy trial, ICH outcomes, small-vessel disease>
[Study design / reporting guideline] <RCT-CONSORT / cohort-STROBE / review-PRISMA / diagnostic-STARD / preclinical>
[Method/evidence] <power, functional endpoint, registration, preclinical rigor/validation>
[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
[Official items to re-check] <article type / registration / checklist / animal ethics / disclosures>
[Re-route suggestion] <if not a fit, a better-matched venue>