Instructions for Authors

For guidelines on BMJ Journals policy and submission please click on links below.
Manuscript Formatting
Editorial policies
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Peer Review Process
Online First process

Editorial policy

Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) is an international, peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the broad, multidisciplinary fields of occupational medicine and environmental health. Our goal is to help clinicians, researchers and others keep up to date with the latest developments in occupational and environmental health throughout the world. We publish high-quality original research and peer-assessed reviews in the areas of occupational and environmental epidemiology, medicine, exposure assessment, hygiene, ergonomics, and psychology; and the evaluation of interventions in controlling risks to the health of workers.

Although the journal’s main focus is primary research, we also seek to further the professional education of occupational physicians and other practitioners and to provide a lively forum for discussion of current concerns related to occupational and environmental health.

Because the scope of occupational and environmental health is extraordinarily broad, OEM welcomes original research and systematic reviews on a wide range of health outcomes and their potential determinants. Industry- and population-based epidemiologic studies are considered relevant, as are assessments of workplace or ambient exposures. Clinical trials and other human experimental research into questions relevant to occupational and environmental health are also welcome. Methodological investigations and applications of mathematical modeling are considered, as well. In general, OEM does not publish reports of single clinical cases or results of laboratory-based research that does not include human subjects, unless of extraordinary interest.

Open access/Unlocked articles

Authors are able to make their articles freely available online, immediately on publication, for a fee, using the Unlocked service. This service is available to any author publishing original research in a BMJ Journal for a fee of £1,200(+VAT)/€1,775(+VAT)/$2,220.

Article types and word counts

• Original Articles
• Correspondence
• Reviews
• Short reports
• Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
• Commentaries
• Editorials / Leaders
• Obituary
• World at work
• Supplements

The word count excludes the title page, abstract, tables, acknowledgements and contributions and the references.

Original Article

View an example paper (PDF).

Word count: up to 4500 words.
Structured abstract: up to 300 words.
Tables/Illustrations: up to 5.
References: up to 40 (more may be allowable for systematic reviews).

Correspondence

We are interested in letters to the editor that relate to recent journal content and which help readers to interpret and place it in context. We also welcome discussion, debate, and novel research contributions.

Letters to the editor that respond to an article published in OEM are best submitted as a rapid response via the Journal's website. Contributors should go to the abstract or full text of the article in question. At the top right corner of each article is a "contents box". Click on the "eLetters: Submit a response to this article" link. We aim to post most rapid responses on our website within seven days of receipt. Posted responses are eligible for publication in the print journal and may be reviewed for this purpose. Authors will be contacted by email if their response has been accepted for publication in the print journal and they will receive a proof for checking before publication. Responses to published articles should be under 300 words, with up to five references, including one to the OEM article to which they relate. Please supply each author’s current appointment and full address. We ask authors to declare any competing interest.

We cannot post or publish responses that give information on patients without their written consent or are rude, obscene, libellous or illegal. As a policy, we do not publish those that are trivial or incomprehensible or which represent blatant advertising. The editor has discretion to choose contributions that are likely to be informative and interesting to readers; the editor also reserves the right to edit content that could cause offence. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of what they say in their rapid responses - we cannot check facts or references or undertake extensive editing or enter into lengthy correspondence about rapid responses.

Letters that present research findings and all others that are not direct responses to an article published in OEM may be submitted online via the Journal's website by following the procedure for contributing new papers.

Reviews

We welcome well conducted evidence-based systematic reviews and meta-analyses on topics of importance to occupational and environmental medicine. The manuscript should include a methods section describing the search procedure and methods of analysis and summarization. Review articles are peer-reviewed.

General narrative reviews, although not excluded by policy, are considered less competitive. Fewer of these tend to get published.

View an example review (PDF).

Word count: up to 5000 words.
Tables/Illustrations: up to 5.
References: up to 60.

Short reports

Normally, short reports should not exceed 1500 words including a brief abstract (no more than 250 words). They should comprise sections of Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion with not more than one table or figure and up to 12 references. The format of case reports should be Introduction, Case report, and Discussion.

Please include a box offering a thumbnail sketch of what your article adds to the literature, for readers who would like an overview without reading the whole article. This box should be titled 'What this paper adds' and should consist of 3-5 single-sentence bullet points, as follows: 1-2 sentences summarising the state of scientific knowledge on the subject before the study was done and why the study was needed; 1-2 sentences summarising what we know as a result of this study that wasn't known before, and, where appropriate, 1 sentence noting any important policy or practice implications of the research.

View an example short report (PDF).

Word count: 1500 words.
Abstract: 250 words.
Illustrations: 1 table or figure.
References: up to 12.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

In our educational or CPD series we publish articles by leading experts in their field, dealing with the major topics of established importance in occupational and environmental medicine as well as newly emerging themes. The aim is to educate and to help our readers in their Continuing Professional Development.

The target audience is international and practices in a variety of occupational and environmental disciplines, including: medicine, hygiene, nursing, toxicology, safety, epidemiology, public health, environmental health, psychology and ergonomics.

Contributions should provide an authoritative up to date assessment of a topic, based on published evidence and guidelines, with appropriate theoretical background, a current state of the art exposition and an expert’s glimpse of the future. We like areas of debate to be highlighted in a balanced way and unanswered questions to be clarified.

Contributions are usually commissioned, with a strong preference for single authorship. Specific guidelines are issued with letters of invitation, but in general terms:

• Normally, as a guide, manuscripts should not exceed 3500 words; they should include up to three figures and three tables.
• We encourage their illustration with photographs, graphs, diagrams, summary boxes with bullet statements and key points etc.
• We edit contributions rather more heavily than usual, to achieve a uniform style of grammar, writing, and design.
• We request references in three categories: "key" (10 seminal or groundbreaking studies, or excellent recent reviews); "easily accessible and useful" (10 references); and "relevant" (up to 50 references, web-listed for interested readers)
• Authors need to contribute five questions and answers in MCQ style, based on their article which can be included as a readers’ quiz.
• All articles for the series are peer reviewed. The editor will, as always, make the final decision about publication.

For informal discussion with the Commissioning Editor about potential contributions, please contact the editorial office.

Contributions are usually commissioned, with a strong preference for single authorship.

View published CPD articles.

View an example CPD article (PDF).

Word count: up to 3500 words.
Illustrations: up to 3 figures and 3 tables.
References: 3 categories for references.

Commentaries

Papers may be published with an accompanying commentary of 800 words and 12 references, highlighting important points about the article. In addition, from time to time we publish commentaries that relate more generally to recent content and topics of interest. We are especially interested in commentaries that relate to recent journal content and that help readers to interpret and place it in context.

If we ask you to write a commentary, please provide in the manuscript a title for your piece; a title page giving your name, position, and contact details including email address; statements of competing interests and – if appropriate - contributorship; and funding.

If you have a good idea for an unsolicited commentary, and would like to discuss it informally with the Commissioning Editor, please contact the editorial office.

View an example Commentary (PDF).

Editorials / Leaders

Editorials and Leaders are peer-reviewed before acceptance. They are usually commissioned, but we are happy to consider unsolicited submissions. We are keen to consider contributions, or ideas for contributions, from a broad international authorship.

For informal discussion with the Commissioning Editor about potential submissions, please contact the editorial office.

As a general guide:

• Subject material needs to be of topical interest and clear importance to the field of occupational and environmental medicine.
• We are especially interested in commentaries that relate to recent journal content and which help readers to interpret and place it in context.
• Contributions need to have an evidential basis.
• Areas of debate need to be dealt with in a balanced way and unanswered questions clarified.

Editorials should be about 1000 words long with no more than 12 references. They should include all authors' names, addresses, email addresses, phone and fax numbers.

Obituary

Occasionally the Journal publishes the obituaries of distinguished specialists in the field of occupational and environmental medicine. In each case we need to know the full name of the deceased, main job title, date of birth, date and place of qualification, and exact date of death. We also encourage authors to include the cause of death.

Obituaries will be considered by an editorial committee and may be shortened. We consider it appropriate for authors of obituaries to have consulted the next of kin of the deceased about its content prior to submission.

World at work

OEM welcomes submitted articles for its World at Work series. The aim of each of these articles should be to provide an overview of a job and/or workplace of interest to the occupational health community. This could relate to an emerging job resulting from new technology, changes over time to a traditional job, a small industry with unusual hazards or a job that is specific to a country or region.

World at Work articles should be limited to 2000 words and are not expected to include comprehensive reviews of the literature. The content of the article may vary depending on the job being described and the availability of information, but the following areas are usually covered:

1. Tasks of the job - What do people actually do in this job? Where is the job done, in which industries, and what sort of people do it?
2. Hazards of the job and the workplace - What are the main hazards? How much of a risk to the worker do they pose? If there are specific types of injury or ill health associated with this job, what are they? If there are occupational exposure limits related to this job, they can be briefly mentioned. Figures or tables can be used to list hazards and health effects.
3. Measures to protect workers - What measures are needed and available? This might include controls at source, protective equipment, etc. If health surveillance is recommended, this can be briefly described.

World at Work articles do not require an abstract and there should be no more than 12 references. We encourage the inclusion of photographs depicting the job or workplace.

Supplements

The BMJ Publishing Group journals are willing to consider publishing supplements to regular issues. Supplement proposals may be made at the request of:

1. The journal editor, an editorial board member or a learned society may wish to organise a meeting, sponsorship may be sought and the proceedings published as a supplement.
2. The journal editor, editorial board member or learned society may wish to commission a supplement on a particular theme or topic. Again, sponsorship may be sought.
3. The BMJPG itself may have proposals for supplements where sponsorship may be necessary.
4. A sponsoring organisation, often a pharmaceutical company or a charitable foundation, that wishes to arrange a meeting, the proceedings of which will be published as a supplement.

In all cases, it is vital that the journal’s integrity, independence and academic reputation is not compromised in any way.

For further information on criteria that must be fulfilled, download the supplements guidelines (PDF).