Goals and content | General information | Open access | Page charge | Types of manuscripts | Preparation of manuscripts | Proofs | Reprints | Theme issues and supplements | Submission of manuscripts | Online Archiving Policy
The aim of the Journal is to promote research in the fields of occupational and environmental health and safety and to increase knowledge through the publication of original research articles, systematic reviews, and other information of high interest. Areas of interest include occupational and environmental epidemiology, occupational and environmental medicine, psychosocial factors at work, physical work load, work-related mental and musculoskeletal problems, aging, work ability and return to work, working hours and health, occupational hygiene and toxicology, work safety and injury epidemiology as well as occupational health services. In addition to observational studies, quasi-experimental and intervention studies are welcome as well as methodological papers, occupational cohort profiles, and studies associated with economic evaluation. The Journal also publishes short communications, case reports, commentaries, discussion papers, clinical questions, consensus reports, meeting reports, other reports, book reviews, news, and announcements (jobs, courses, events etc).
Papers are accepted on the understanding that they are contributed solely to the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health and are subject to editorial revision. By submitting a manuscript, authors agree that the copyright for the manuscript is automatically transferred to the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health at the time of its acceptance for publication unless the open access option is taken. A double-blind peer review process is used. The editors cannot enter into correspondence about papers that are rejected as being unsuitable for publication, and their decision is final.
All submitted papers should conform to the current update of the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" (see: http://www.icmje.org), which is often referred to as the Vancouver style.
The Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health is a hybrid journal, we publish both "locked" and open articles. We offer the possibility for accepted articles to be published as copyright-free open access papers. Once the open access option has been selected, the journal does not place ANY restrictions on how an article can be distributed or shared. It can be published on any data repository, photocopied, emailed or republished as long as the publication information (eg, Scand J Work Environ Health. 2013;39(1):1-4) is included. The review process and criteria for acceptability of a paper are the same for regular and open access articles. Authors can choose the open access option once a paper has been accepted.
There are several ways a paper can be published as open access:
Please note: Scand J Work Environ Health articles are "locked" for two years from the date of PRINT publication. If you have received funding that requires papers to be published open access before two years (eg, NIH or MRC funding), then you are required to purchase open access for the paper. The Journal can no longer "unlock" papers after publication or allow them to be posted on PubMed Central without a fee unless the paper is selected as the Editor's Pick.
Click here for more details.
Due to restrictions on issue length, if an Original Research article or Discussion Paper is longer than 7-printed pages, the author must accept the responsibility for the cost of printing all pages in excess of this. Normally a 7-page article is about 4500 words including the references and abstract and about 3-5 normal-sized tables. The charges are: 8 pages = EUR 143, 9 pages = EUR 286, 10 pages = EUR 858, 11 pages = EUR 1144, 12 pages = EUR 2145 + 429 per additional page after 12 pages. If an author is unable to accept the cost, he or she should advise the Editorial Office. The page charge is waived for Reviews and when individual Open Access is purchased.
Original full paper/communication. These articles should report original research studies that are relevant to occupational and environmental health in a way that is accessible to readers of the Journal. A concise writing style is encouraged. Therefore, the average length of an article should be about 3000 words. If necessary, longer articles will be acceptable as well. However, the Journal has a page charge for articles exceeding seven printed pages.
Short communication. These articles report original data using a limited study question or a topic that can be reported concisely. The maximum length of a short communication is 1500 words and 2 tables or figures.
Reporting of original research articles. The Journal requires authors to follow a pertinent guideline from the current existing guidelines on the reporting of various study types (presented in the table below). If a randomized controlled trial is reported, authors should complete a CONSORT checklist and flow-chart and be prepared to submit it if requested. The Equator network of reporting guidelines provides a more extensive list of links and topics at www.equator-network.org. The Journal instructions provide further advice on format and layout of the manuscript.
| Name of guideline | Topic of guideline |
|---|---|
| STROBE | Observational studies (1) |
| CONSORT | Randomized controlled trials (2, 3) |
| PRISMA | Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of intervention studies (4) |
| MOOSE | Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies (5) |
| TREND | Nonrandomized evaluations of behavioral and public health interventions (6) |
| STARD | Diagnostic studies (7) |
| MIAME | Microarray studies (8) |
| COREQ | Qualitative studies (9) |
Systematic reviews. The Journal views systematic reviews as reports of reviews of the literature on specific questions relevant to occupational health and safety, and environmental health. Therefore, a systematic review is characterized by a well-defined question, concrete inclusion and exclusion criteria, a systematic search of the literature, and well-defined methods of synthesizing the results from individual studies. A meta-analysis is defined as a systematic review that includes a statistical pooling of the results of individual studies.
Cochrane systematic reviews. The Journal invites authors of reviews that have been prepared under the aegis of the Cochrane Collaboration to submit their reviews. These studies will undergo a limited review process since they have already gone through a rigorous review process. Because Cochrane reviews are only published in electronic format in the Cochrane Library, publication in a journal format is sufficiently different to allow publication also in the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. However, the reporting quality of the manuscript will be checked and commented upon.
Other reviews. The Journal prefers systematic reviews whenever such a review can be performed. When a systematic review is not feasible, for example, when the topic is more theoretical, nonsystematic reviews will also be considered. However, a search strategy and criteria for included studies will still be required.
Educational reviews. The Journal also invites authors to submit reviews of a specific approach to a problem in occupational or environmental health practice. This type of review can be a report of a guideline for occupational health professionals, a method for measuring exposure to a specific health hazard, or a preventive approach. We expect the author of an educational review to use at least an introduction and methods section in addition to the main text. The statements made about the approach or the management of the occupational health problem should be evidence-based. Therefore, they should be supported by references to appropriate evidence from scientific research.
Reporting of reviews. The Journal requires authors of systematic reviews on experimental studies to complete the PRISMA checklist and flowchart and be prepared to submit it if requested. When a meta-analysis of observational studies is carried out, authors should use the PRISMA checklist when possible, and, when not possible, the MOOSE checklist should be used.
Research or practical questions relevant to occupational and environmental health can be presented with a free format in a Discussion Paper. These papers can, for example, suggest a new research area; they can also suggest a new approach in research or prevention or treatment practice in occupational health. Typically, a discussion paper presents the practical implementation, or possibilities for the implementation, of research results. Although the format of presentation is more flexible than that of a review, the approach should still be critical and scientifically valid.
Manuscripts should be in English and should be concise as possible without detracting from clarity. The abstract should be structured (maximum 250 words with the titles Objectives, Methods, Results and Conclusions). The acknowledgments should include credit for contributions that do not justify authorship, note of technical help, acknowledgment of financial and material support and disclosure of any relationships that may pose conflicts of interest (financial relationships with industry, affiliation with or involvement in an organization with a direct financial interest in the subject matter, etc). A list of the authors' contributions to the study (i.e., who did what) should be placed at the end of the article along with a 60-word summary of what is new in the paper/what are the policy implications of the paper. A maximum of seven printed pages is recommended for original articles, and the cost of printing all pages in excess of seven will be charged to the author.
Manuscripts should be typewritten, double-spaced (including references and tables), with wide margins. They should normally be divided into cover page [title; names by which each author is known; one academic degree per author; authors affiliations; address for correspondence and reprints (including telefax number and e-mail address); a 60-word summary of what is new in the paper/what are the policy implications of the paper and a running head of no more than 60 characters, along with the number of characters and words (not including tables or figure legends) and the number of tables and figures], abstract and key terms (no more than ten and none that are in the title), introduction, material (or study population) and methods, results, discussion, and references. Each section should begin on a new page. Possible acknowledgments should be placed between the discussion and the references, and any appendix should follow the references.
References should follow the style recommended by the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" (see: Section IV.A.9.). They should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text and identified in the text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in parentheses. Unpublished observations and personal communications cannot be used as references; they can, however, be mentioned in the text in parentheses. If a publication has six or fewer authors, all the authors are listed. If there are more than six, list the first six authors and add "et al".
Examples of typical reference entries:
For a more extensive list of examples see: International Committee of Medical Journal Editors Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Sample References. In addition, Citing Medicine: the NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors and Publishers offers extensive coverage of how to cite references.
When submitting tables, place the tables at the end of the text after the reference list. Do not use tabs or macros in the table. All results sharing a column must be the same type of value (ie, percent, number, standard deviation etc). Do not place Mean and SD in the same column or OR and 95% CI together. Define all acronyms used in the table. Use alphabetical footnoting. Tables should be typed separately, numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals, and accompanied by a title. They should be constructed to fit in one or two columns of the Journal. All tables should be self-explanatory and should supplement the text, not duplicate it. The approximate location of the tables should be marked in the text. See sample tables for direction and also view this simple do’s and don’ts of table construction (document from inera.com website).
All illustrative material should be considered as figures and should accompany the text as separate copy. All figures should be mentioned in the text and numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. Figure legends should be listed together on a separate sheet. One complete set of original figures should accompany the manuscript. The figures should be professionally drawn and photographed or originals (minimum size 127 × 173 mm, maximum size 203 × 254 mm). All the figures should have a minimum resolution of 800 dpi. Letters, numbers, and symbols should be clear and of sufficient size that, when reduced to fit the columns of a printed page, each item will still be legible. All figures should be of the same proportions (ie, drawn and lettered to the same scale). Figures should be saved as PDF files. Color figures will be accepted at the special request of the author, who will then be responsible for paying the extra expenses incurred.
All submitted research articles must include a statement that the study obtained ethics approval (or a statement that it was not required and why), including the name of the ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s), the number/ID of the approval(s), and a statement that participants gave informed consent before taking part. If no formal ethics committee is available, authors should indicate the procedures followed were in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration as revised in 2008. If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study.
Any article that contains personal medical information about an identifiable living individual requires the patient’s explicit consent before it can be published. If consent cannot be obtained because the patient cannot be traced then publication will be possible only if the information can be sufficiently anonymized. Identifying information, including names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that an identifiable patient be shown the manuscript to be published. Authors should disclose to these patients whether any potential identifiable material might be available via the Internet as well as in print after publication. Patient consent should be written and archived with the journal, the authors, or both, as dictated by local regulations or laws. Applicable laws vary from locale to locale, and journals should establish their own policies with legal guidance. Since a journal that archives the consent will be aware of patient identity, some journals may decide that patient confidentiality is better guarded by having the author archive the consent and instead providing the journal with a written statement that attests that they have received and archived written patient consent.
When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether institutional and national standards for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed. Further guidance on animal research ethics is available from the International Association of Veterinary Editors’ Consensus Author Guidelines on Animal Ethics and Welfare.
Authors must declare all conflicts of interest. If there are no, this must also be stated ("Authors declare no conflicts of interest"). Authors must declare all sources of funding and describe the role of the study sponsor(s), if any, in the (i) study design, (ii) the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data, (iii) the writing of the report, and (iv) the decision to submit the paper for publication. If the funder(s) had no such involvement, this should be stated.
Authors will receive a PDF of their article for proofreading. They will be required to pay for any major alterations.
Reprints will be supplied if ordered and must be paid for.
A group of papers focusing on a specific topic (ie, a series of 3 to 6 papers) can be published as a theme within a normal issue. When there is sufficient material, such papers can be published as a special issue or as a supplement of the Journal. Decisions regarding theme issues, special issues, and supplements, including their costs, are provided by the editor.
Only electronic submissions are accepted. Click here to submit your manuscript. If there are any problems, consult the Journal's secretary, Johanna Parviainen (johanna.parviainen@ttl.fi).
In the accompanying letter, the author should include a (i) information on prior or duplicate publication or on submission elsewhere of any part of the work, (ii) financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest, (iii) a statement that the manuscript has been read by all authors, that the requirements for authorship have been met and that each author believes that the manuscript represents honest work, and (iv) any other information that may prove useful to the editor (e.g., the type of article that the manuscript represents).
The Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health permits authors to self-archive their work in open access repositories as "pre- and post-prints". Pre-print versions can be archived immediately without restriction. Archiving of "post-print" (eg, the final published version) manuscripts is permitted with the following restrictions:
SJWEH @SJWEH - 20.06.2018 SJWEH @SJWEH - 17.06.2018 
PWHS @PWHS_UBC - 17.06.2018 SJWEH @SJWEH - 12.06.2018 
