Editor in Chief
Michael S. Morgan
Phone: (206) 685-3221
Fax: (206) 616-2687
mmorgan@u.washington.edu

Assistant Editor Cathi Carol Phone: (206) 616-0545 Fax: (206) 616-2687 ccarol@u.washington.edu

INTRODUCTION

The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene (JOEH) is an international, peer reviewed, professional journal published monthly by JOEH, LLC, a partnership of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, Inc. (ACGIH®). The JOEH focuses on original studies that enhance the knowledge and practice of occupational and environmental hygiene and safety. The JOEH provides a written medium for the communication of ideas, methods, processes, and research in the areas of occupational and environmental hygiene; exposure assessment; engineering controls; occupational and environmental epidemiology, medicine, and toxicology; ergonomics; and other related disciplines.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Only original manuscripts will be considered. Previously published manuscripts or those currently under consideration by another journal will not be considered. If your manuscript was previously posted to the Web not as part of an electronic journal, provide a link to the online paper to the JOEH Editor in Chief. Depending on the nature of the website, you may be contacted with further questions.

Authors should submit a letter to the Editor in Chief disclosing any potential conflicts of interest that may arise on publication of a submitted manuscript (this can be included in a cover letter). Such potential conflicts of interest may include, but are not limited to, any significant financial support obtained from organizations outside the authors' affiliations. The Editor in Chief will determine whether such information must be disclosed when publishing the manuscript.

Authors performing human subjects research must indicate institutional review board approval, including informed consent/assent declarations, with manuscript submission. The JOEH will not publish any research that involves humans as subjects without a signed statement from the author attesting to institutional review board approval of the research. (Research that involves monitoring or studying employees in the workplace environment, and that can be considered part of the employer's existing responsibility to provide a workplace free of recognized hazards to health and safety, does not require such approval.) If questions arise over whether this approval is required, contact the JOEH Editor in Chief. Signed statements of institutional review board approval may be included as a part of a cover letter or e-mailed or faxed to the Editor in Chief.

The JOEH supports and works to conform with the Guidelines on Good Publication Practice and the Code of Conduct for Editors of Biomedical Journals of the UK Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Authors are encouraged to become familiar with the guidelines.

PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPTS

General

Only individuals who have contributed substantially to the research or preparation of the intellectual content of the manuscript may be listed as authors. The acquisition of funding for the project, collection of data, or administrative supervision ordinarily may not, by itself, qualify for authorship.

All copy must be in English. Write in third person; do not use first person.

Define abbreviations using parentheses on first mention; for example, "industrial hygiene (IH)." Avoid using a conversational style in writing. Expressions such as "hands-on" or "for a long time" are fine in talks but not in research papers. The JOEH reserves the right to edit material to improve readability, decrease verbosity, or eliminate redundancies.

Headings should precede each section; place at the left margin of the text. Up to three levels of subheadings may be used. Examples:

Level 1: RESULTS
Level 2: End-Exhaled Air Sampling
Level 3: Skin Absorption

Do not use footnotes; rather, incorporate information in the text or in the references.

Measurements that are normally expressed in English units (e.g., feet per minute) should also be expressed in metric units. However, measurements traditionally shown in metric units need not be converted to English measure equivalents. Abbreviate units of measure.

Number equations/formulae sequentially using Arabic numerals enclosed in parentheses, flush right on the same line as the equation. We recommend that authors use the mathematical equation typographic systems built into Microsoft Word. While they may take time to learn, they produce a more readable equation that is much easier to proofread and to edit.

Text

Organize the text of the manuscript in sections; include (generally) Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Recommendations (if any), Acknowledgments (if any), and References.

Abstract must include the purpose of the work, a brief description of methods, a concise summary of results, and a short statement of conclusions. Do not cite references or use abbreviations or acronyms in the abstract. The abstract must be limited to 325 words.

Introduction should summarize the purpose and rationale for the study, citing pertinent references. Do not include data or discussion of the work being reported in this section.

Methods should contain sufficient detail to allow other investigators to reproduce the study. If published methods are used, they may be cited and described very briefly. Include methods used to select subjects and controls. The manufacturer of major equipment and supplies critical to the methods should be given in parentheses (company, city, state, or country). Statistical methods used should be described this section or in the results section, whichever is more appropriate.

Results presented in the text may be supplemented by figures and/or tables. Figures and tables should be numbered and referred to sequentially in the text.

Discussion should include an evaluation of the hypotheses tested in the investigation and consideration of how the results contribute to the field and support or refute other studies. Where appropriate, the limitations of the study and their impact on the conclusions should be stated. The implications of the findings, along with the authors' opinions, may be presented; however, care should be taken to qualify statements unsupported by the data. If you must use direct quotes in the text, cite them in the references with page numbers.

Conclusions should be presented concisely and should be supported by the data.

Recommendations, if included, should show how the information can be used directly by occupational and environmental hygienists to solve problems in, or arising from, the workplace.

Acknowledgments may be placed at the end of the manuscript. Individuals whose support and cooperation were essential in accomplishing the research but who do not qualify for authorship may be acknowledged. Authors should clearly indicate the project's source of funding. This will normally be a funding agency or an employer. However, if the work was commissioned by a separate party, the source of funding or in-kind support must also be clearly identified. This section may also be used for any disclaimer or special notes about the paper.

References should be numbered sequentially in the order cited in the text. They must appear in text as superscript Arabic numerals enclosed in parentheses and placed to the right of any punctuation. Multiple, sequential references may be cited using the first and last number; for example, (4-8). Publication titles and dates should not be used in the body of the text. References in text should be cited only by superscript number or by author's name and superscript number. Since each reference is cited by the same number each time, "ibid" and "op. cit." need not be used. "Et. al." is acceptable within text; for example, "Smith et. al.(4) found …"

For multi-authored articles, list up to six names; for articles written by more than six authors, list the first three, followed by "et al."

Use only published, accessible peer reviewed references. Requests for exceptions will be considered by the Editor in Chief in unusual cases where they are deemed essential by the author. Extreme care should be taken when citing non-peer reviewed material.

Any unpublished data (including company-specific literature) must be submitted in PDF format with the manuscript files or e-mailed to the JOEH Assistant Editor prior to acceptance of the manuscript. If website addresses are used as references, the date of access by the authors should be included with the reference; if judged necessary by the Editor in Chief, electronic copies of the data obtained from those websites must be provided, since website addresses change periodically.

Avoid citing a "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from a public source. In this case, the name and affiliation of the person and the month and year of the communication should be cited in parentheses in the text. Personal communications should not be included in the reference list.

The corresponding author will be asked to supply any missing bibliographic information.

Examples of reference citations in the proper format are presented in the Reference Citation Formats appendix.

Figures

Figures are illustrations, graphs, artwork, maps, or photographs (anything not reproducible by type alone) used to enhance the text material.

Black and white line drawings are preferable to photographs.

Use Arabic numerals to identify figures. Figure captions should be formatted as in this example:

FIGURE 3. Measured and estimated radon levels

Tables

Tables present important summaries or typical examples. The number of tables should be kept to a minimum and information incorporated into the text wherever possible. Avoid lengthy, highly detailed tables.

Use Roman numerals to identify tables. Follow the table number with a brief title that does not duplicate information provided in column headings. If footnotes are used with tables, each should be identified with a superscript capital letter. Table titles should be formatted as in this example:

TABLE III. Summary of Correlation Results

Supplemental Files

Supplemental files may include more extensive data or spreadsheets. While they will not appear in the print journal, they will be available as part of the electronic journal if the paper is accepted for publication.

SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS

All elements of a manuscript must be submitted through the JOEH online manuscript submission and review website, Manuscript Central.

No e-mailed or mailed hard-copy manuscripts will be accepted.

The Manuscript Central website provides the best results when using Internet Explorer or Safari browsers. If you are unable to gain access to this website, contact Manuscript Central's Helpdesk at (434) 817-2040.

If you do not have an account on the JOEH Manuscript Central website, follow the website prompts to create one by clicking on "Create Account." If you already have an account, log on with your user ID and password, then click on "Corresponding Author Center."

To submit a new manuscript, click on "Submit a Manuscript." Detailed submission instructions are provided online. At any time, you may log off and return later to complete the submission process; log on, then click on "Unsubmitted Manuscripts" under "My Manuscripts."

There are seven steps in the submission process; each is explained below.

1. Type, Title, and Abstract

Select a manuscript type: technical manuscript, column, letter to the editor, commentary, review, meeting summary, topical review, monograph, or supplement.

Most papers will be technical manuscripts. For more information on meeting summaries, topical reviews, monographs, and supplements, see our Proceedings and Special Issues Policy.

Enter the title of your paper into the "Title" field.

In the "Abstract" field, enter a one-paragraph abstract (maximum length: 325 words), identical to the Abstract section of your manuscript text.

2. Attributes

Under "Keyword," enter a minimum of three, but no more than six, key words or short phrases that will assist in cross-indexing the article (do not repeat words used in article title).

3. Authors and Institutions

The website will automatically enter your name and e-mail address under "Author Information" and will designate you "Author 1" unless you specify otherwise.

Enter each co-author's FULL contact information (name, salutation, e-mail address, institution, department, city, state, and country) into the fields provided.

Manuscript Central identifies each user by e-mail address. Verify and carefully type in e-mail addresses; if a co-author already has an account on Manuscript Central, their information will be entered for you automatically.

4. Reviewers

The JOEH strongly encourages you to nominate individuals who are qualified to review your manuscript. Providing names of additional peer reviewers strengthens the resources available to the JOEH and helps to shorten review times for all authors.

5. Details and Comments

A cover letter may be uploaded in the "Cover Letter" field. A cover letter may be used to address potential conflicts of interest or issues with regard to confidentiality; attest to institutional review board approval of human subjects research; give details about work done for hire; and/or identify reviewers who are not to be used.

When submitting a revised manuscript, do not use the "Cover Letter" field to upload a response to reviewers; instead, use the "Response to Decision Letter" field.

Under "Manuscript Information," enter the number(s) of tables and figures and the number of manuscript pages.

Check the box indicating that your manuscript is new, is not under consideration for publication in any other journal, and has not been published elsewhere.

Check the box indicating that you have read the Instructions to Authors (the document you are reading now).

Check the box indicating you have downloaded and prepared a Copyright Transfer Form.

Under the provisions of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976, JOEH, LLC, must obtain a Copyright Transfer Form for each accepted article. To ensure the receipt of this form in a timely manner, the corresponding author is required to submit the signed form at the time of manuscript submission.

Click on the link to download a blank form. Read the instructions page. Fill in, sign, and scan the signature page (to PDF) in preparation for upload to the File Upload section (if scanning is unavailable to you, fax the form to the JOEH Assistant Editor immediately after uploading your manuscript files).

Manuscripts will not be checked in for consideration or peer review until a signed Copyright Transfer Form has been received by the JOEH Assistant Editor. (If a submission is rejected, copyright assignment will be voided.)

If any figures or tables used in a manuscript are copyrighted material, the authors must also upload a copyright release form for each showing permission for publication of the figure or table with the JOEH manuscript. Any costs associated with obtaining this copyright release are the responsibility of the authors.

Check "yes" or "no" to indicate whether you are willing to serve as a reviewer for the JOEH. If you are willing to serve as a reviewer, the Reviewer Center will be added to your Manuscript Central account.

6. File Upload

Format your manuscript files for upload to Manuscript Central by following the JOEH File Upload instructions Upload your manuscript document file(s), the Copyright Transfer Form signature page, and any Supplemental files, such as appendices or PDFs of unpublished references.

7. Review and Submit

Review all data and edit any information that is incorrect or out of date.

Click on "PDF" to check the review proof of your manuscript files. Adobe Acrobat Reader must be installed on your computer; disable pop-up blockers if necessary to view.

You may click on "View MedLine format" to view how your paper would be cited on MedLine.

Click on "Submit" to submit your author information and manuscript files to the JOEH Assistant Editor (after clicking on Submit, you will no longer have access to your information or files). A submission confirmation that includes a manuscript ID number will appear in a pop-up window.

MANUSCRIPT REVIEW

The JOEH Assistant Editor reviews for complete author information; correctly formatted manuscript files; camera-ready, production-quality image files; successful file conversion to an accurate PDF proof for review, and receipt of a signed Copyright Transfer Form before a manuscript enters into peer review. Manuscripts may be returned to the corresponding author with a request for resubmission if submission errors are found.

Manuscripts are initially reviewed by the Editor in Chief and may be rejected if technically inadequate or inappropriate for the JOEH. Manuscripts passing initial review will be reviewed by at least two individuals. Reviewers' comments are provided to authors as well as to the Editor in Chief, who retains final approval authority.

Manuscripts submitted to the JOEH are reviewed in a single-blind format. The single-blind process allows reviewers to know the identity of authors; however, authors will not know the identity of reviewers. The authors are expected to respond to all reviewers' comments and to incorporate any changes into the revised manuscript. These changes then become a part of the manuscript; the author is responsible for all statements made in the manuscript.

To check the status of manuscript review, log onto Manuscript Central and click on your "Corresponding Author Center." Click on "Submitted Manuscripts" to view manuscripts submitted that do not yet have decisions. Title(s), date(s) of submission, and current status will be shown. Note that the status shown on Manuscript Central does not report each step taken in review by the JOEH editorial staff. If you have a question, go to Manuscript Details and click on the name of the "Editorial Office" representative; an e-mail window will pop up to send an inquiry to the Assistant Editor.

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPTS

Accepted manuscripts will be published at the earliest possible date. The JOEH is published on an e-first schedule; that is, articles will be published online as soon as they are finalized. Publication in the print JOEH will follow online publication.

When in proof, only necessary corrections such as for typographical errors or errors of scientific fact may be submitted by the authors. Failure to return proofs by the deadline may result in delayed publication or release for printing without author corrections. Charges for author alterations above minimum standards will be billed to the authors.

The authors are responsible for all statements made in the final proofs, including changes requested by reviewers or editors.

No page charges will be assessed to the authors. A reprint order form will sent to the corresponding author with the e-proof; additional reprints may be purchased later by contacting the publisher.

Authors may contact Associate Editor Sheila Brown at sbrown@aiha.org for production questions, including tentative publication dates.

AUTHOR RETENTION OF DATA

Authors are expected to retain all raw data for a minimum of 3 years following publication. Authors should be willing to provide such information to other investigators interested in reproducing their research. The Editor in Chief may also request that authors supply this information should the veracity of the data ever be questioned.