Instructions to Authors Main Page

About your Manuscript

Types of Manuscripts

Manuscripts in any one of the categories below are welcome. See "Manuscript Preparation" for additional details.

Correspondence (letters to the editor; ≤ 1,000 words) should address research or news articles published in the print version of the journal within the previous 6 months. Authors cited in the correspondence will be given the opportunity to respond. Correspondence may include a brief table or small figure, if it is essential to the discussion. It is permissible to include data from or redrawing of previously published materials as long as the work is cited and written permission from the authors and/or publishers has been granted for re-publication in both printed and electronic form. New data should not be included, but authors may recalculate or reanalyze data from a cited paper in support of their point(s). Correspondence is not peer-reviewed and is published at the discretion of the EHP editors. Conclusions and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the policies of EHP.

Research articles (≤ 7,000 words) are original manuscripts reporting scientific research and discovery in the broad field of the environmental health sciences. Original research articles may come from any field of scientific research, from the most basic molecular biology and biochemistry to atmospheric physics, ecology, and engineering, as well as related fields of social science, policy, and ethics. Manuscripts on ethical, legal, social, or policy issues may also be accepted in this category. Research articles are peer reviewed.

Commentaries (≤ 5,000 words) present information and personal insight on a particular topic. Commentaries should not be extended critiques of single articles appearing in EHP or elsewhere. Factual data should be included to substantiate arguments. Commentaries are peer reviewed.

Reviews (≤ 10,000 words) that emphasize recent developments in a particular field of research are highly desirable. Lengthy historical perspectives are not appropriate.

Meeting Reports (≤ 5,000 words) are short synopses of conferences, symposia, workgroup meetings, or workshops describing the scientific objectives, issues, conclusions, and recommendation of a meeting, as well as the background information as a context for the event. In many cases, Meeting Reports may review existing information, summarize research findings on specific topics, and recommend methods, courses of action, or further research needs for the scientific community. Authors are encouraged to consider submitting reports with more extensive background as review articles. De novo data and participant lists are not allowed in Meeting Reports. Meeting Reports should be submitted to EHP no later than 9 months after the events they describe.

Grand Rounds articles (≤ 6,000 words) present discussions of case presentations of patients or community health issues with a clearly established link of relevance to environmental exposures and environmental health. The format requires that a case scenario be presented to illustrate the environmental issues under consideration, followed by a discussion of the clinical and public health implications of these issues. Articles should be divided into an Abstract, Case Presentation (≤ 5,000 words), Discussion, and Conclusion. Visual images (e.g., X rays, microscopic pathology) or other graphics are encouraged.

Case Reports (≤ 6,000 words) differ from Grand Rounds articles in that the diagnosis pertaining to the clinical presentation is not necessarily conclusive. Instead, evidence for an environmental etiology may be indirect—for example, a case report of hepatitis suspected to be related to a chemical that has not been previously linked with hepatitis. Similar to Grand Rounds, Case Reports should include an Abstract, Case Presentation (≤ 5,000 words), Discussion, and Conclusion. Visual images (e.g., X rays, microscopic pathology) or other graphics are encouraged.

Article Length

All word limits include tables, figures, and references. Manuscripts that do not conform to the following word limits will be returned to the author(s) for revision before the review process is initiated.

Correspondence: 1,000 words

Commentaries: 5,000 words

Reviews: 10,000 words

Research articles: 7,000 words

Meeting Reports: 5,000 words

Grand Rounds articles: 6,000 words

Case Reports: 6,000 words.

Authors should assume that each figure or table accounts for 250 words of the total word count.

Depending on the topic and potential impact of a paper, the Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to waive word limits.

Originality of Submission

Contributions submitted to EHP must be original works of the author(s) and must not have been previously published (in print or online) or simultaneously submitted to another publication.

Scientific Integrity

EHP requires assurances that animals used in a study have been treated humanely and with regard for the alleviation of suffering. Research involving humans must have been conducted according to the Common Rule (http://ori.dhhs.gov/education/products/ucla/chapter2/page04b.htm). Research involving humans must also be approved by an appropriate institutional review board and comply with all relevant national, state, and local regulations. For research conducted outside the United States and thus exempt from U.S. federal regulations, authors must perform the research in accordance with principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm).

Public Databases

Manuscripts using microarrays must follow the Minimum Information About a Microarray Experiment (MIAME) guidelines developed by the Microarray Gene Expression Data Society (http://www.mged.org/miame). On acceptance, all integral data supporting the article's conclusions should be submitted to the Array/Express (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/arrayexpress) or GEO (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/) databases.

Competing Interests

EHP has a policy of full disclosure concerning  competing financial and nonfinancial interests.

• Authors must disclose potential competing financial interests, including but not limited to grant support; employment (past, present, or firm offer of future); patents (pending or applied); payment for expert witness or testimony; personal financial interests by the authors, immediate family members, or institutional affiliations that may gain or lose financially through publication of the article; and forms of compensation, including travel funding, consultancies, board positions, patent and royalty arrangements, stock shares, or bonds. Diversified mutual funds or investment trusts do not constitute a competing financial interest. Authors employed by a for-profit, nonprofit, foundation, or advocacy group must also declare employment.
• All potential competing interests occurring during the last 3 years should be reported.

• As a condition of review and publication, authors must certify that their freedom to design, conduct, interpret, and publish research is not compromised by any controlling sponsor.

• Although not necessarily an issue for authors, editors and reviewers should disclose to the Editor-in-Chief any competing financial and nonfinancial interests that occurred within the last 3 years. Competing nonfinancial interests include former or current mentor–student relationships, faculty appointments in the same department or organization, familial relationships, service on advisory boards that oversee the research under review, collaborations, or membership in organizations that hold ideological views that are contradictory to the theme or topic under review.

For each manuscript, authors must submit a declaration of competing interests on behalf of all authors. The form is available online (http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/cfi.pdf). A statement of disclosure must be included in the Acknowledgments section of the manuscript submitted to the journal. If a paper is accepted, a brief disclaimer describing the competing interest or a declaration of no competing interest will be published. Authors of correspondence, editorials, and book reviews will also be required to submit a declaration of competing interests.

Disclosure of competing interests does not imply that the information in the article is questionable or that conclusions are biased. Decisions to publish or reject an article will not be based solely on a declaration of a competing interest.

EHP relies upon the integrity of all authors to provide accurate disclosure statements. However, authors can expect scrutiny of their statements by the editors, reviewers, and readership. Alleged inaccuracies of declared competing interests should be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief.

• EHP will impose a 3-year ban on publication by any authors found to have willfully failed to disclose a competing interest. Implementation of the ban will be made in consultation with the EHP Advisory Board.

• At the discretion of the Advisory Board, a paper may also be retracted or an Expression of Concern published and appended to the online version of the article.