Instructions to Authors Main Page

EHP Style

Plain Language

EHP covers all disciplines engaged in the broad field of the environmental health sciences. Authors should therefore write in a clear and simple manner, in the active voice, avoiding unnecessary jargon, so the article is understandable to readers in other disciplines and to those whose first language is not English. In deference to the breadth of the journal's readership, please define terms that may not be universally recognized among all environmental health scientists.

In-Text References and Reference Lists

In-text references. All in-text references must be in name/date form. Place the citation immediately after the textual information cited, placing name and date within parentheses without a comma.

• Single author: (Wing 2002)

• Two authors: (Wing and Wolf 2000)

• Three or more authors: Use first author's last name plus “et al.” (Wing et al. 2008).

• Different first authors but same last name and date: Use first author's last name plus  initial(s) (Smith A 2000; Smith J 2000)

• Several sources cited at one time: List publications alphabetically by author in the citation. Separate publications by the same author(s) with commas and those by different authors with semicolons:

  (Aldridge et al. 2005; Jameson et al. 2006; Levin et al. 2007; Slotkin 2004a, 2004b; Slotkin et al. 2008)

  For quotations, provide references for any quotations used in the text. For example:

• According to Rubin et al. (2001), "it is only with a multidisciplinary and collaborative  approach that the environmental and public health significance of Pfiesteria will be fully understood."

All manuscripts submitted but not yet accepted, unpublished data, and personal communications—any items that must be cited but are not accessible to the public—must appear in the text in parentheses but should not be listed in the references: (Ramsdell JS, Moeller PDR, personal communication); (Reeves MK, unpublished data).

Reference list. Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy of their references. The list of references should begin on a separate page. All references must include:

• Author/editor last name plus initials (for six or fewer authors; if there are more than six authors, use "et al." after the sixth) or authoring agency

• Year of publication

• Full title of article or chapter (lower case)

• Title of journal (abbreviated according to Biosis or Index Medicus) or book/proceedings in title case

• For books, city/state/country of publication and name of publisher

• Volume and inclusive page numbers

• DOI number, if available with online publication date

If you are uncertain what to include, please include all information.

List references alphabetically by the last name of the first author. If the first author has more than one publication, list references in alphabetical order (letter by letter) of subsequent authors. If the first author shares the last name with another first author (Smith JM versus Smith RB), alphabetize by initials. If you list more than one publication by the same author/group of authors, arrange publications by date, early to late. If you list more than one publication published in the same year by the same author/group of authors, use a, b, c, d, and so on to distinguish the publications.

Sample alphabetical list:

Slotkin TA. 2004a. Cholinergic systems in brain development and disruption by neurotoxicants: nicotine, environmental tobacco smoke, organophosphates. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 198:132–151.

Slotkin TA. 2004b. Guidelines for developmental neurotoxicity and their impact on organophosphate pesticides: a personal view from an academic perspective. Neurotoxicology 25:631–640.

Slotkin TA. 2005. Developmental neurotoxicity of organophosphates: a case study of chlorpyrifos. In: Toxicity of Organophosphate and Carbamate Pesticides (Gupta RC, ed). San Diego:Elsevier Academic Press, 293–314.

Slotkin TA, MacKillop EA, Ryde IT, Tate CA, Seidler FJ. 2007. Screening for developmental neurotoxicity using PC12 cells: comparisons of organophosphates with a carbamate, an organochlorine and divalent nickel. Environ Health Perspect 115:93–101.

Slotkin TA, Persons D, Slepetis RJ, Taylor D, Bartolome J. 1984. Control of nucleic acid and protein synthesis in developing brain, kidney, and heart of the neonatal rat: effects of α-difluoromethylornithine, a specific, irreversible inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase. Teratology 30:211–224.

Slotkin TA, Seidler FJ. 2007. Comparative developmental neurotoxicity of organophosphates in vivo: transcriptional responses of pathways for brain cell development, cell signaling, cytotoxicity and neurotransmitter systems. Brain Res Bull 72:232–274.

Types of references

Journal article, conventional reference
Lewin SW, Arthur JR, Riemersma RA, Nicol F, Walker SW, Millar EM, et al. 2002. Selenium supplementation acting through the induction of thioredoxin reductase and glutathione peroxidase protects the human endothelial cell. Biochim Biophys Acta 1593:85–92.

Journal article, DOI reference
Fanshawe TR, Diggle PJ, Rushton S, Sanderson R, Lurz PWW, Glinianaia SV, et al. 2007. Modelling spatio-temporal variation in exposure to particulate matter: a two-stage approach. Environmetrics; doi: 10.1002/env.889 [Online 17 December 2007].

Journal article, “in press”
Theppeang K, Glass TA, Bandeen-Roche K, Todd AC, Rohde CA, Schwartz BS. In press. Sex and race/ethnicity differences in lead dose biomarkers: predictors of lead in blood, tibia, and patella in older, community-dwelling adults in an urban setting. Am J Public Health.

Chapter in edited book
Clark K, Cousins I, MacKay D, Yamada K. 2003. Observed concentrations in the environment. In: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, Vol 3, Part Q: Phthalate Esters (Staples CA, ed). New York:Springer, 125–177.

Agency as author
Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources. 1996. Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. 7th ed. Washington, DC:National Academy Press.

Proceedings
Zaslavsky I, Pezzoli K, Valentine D, Lin A, Sarabia H, Ellisman MH, et al. 2006. Integrating GIS and portal technologies for assessing environmental health impacts of Hurricane Katrina. In: Proceedings from the Second International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology, 19–22 August 2006, Houston, TX, Vol 2 (Starrett SK, Hong J, Lyon WG, eds). Houston, TX:American Science Press, 385–390.

Additional reference examples are available - click here.

Footnotes

Do not use footnotes. Place all textual information within the manuscript and all references in the proper form both in text and in the reference list.

Abbreviations

All nonstandard abbreviations should be defined in the text at first use: for example, organochlorine (OC) pesticides, LOD (limit of detection), polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Abbreviations for elements (e.g., Fe, Cu) and chemical compounds (e.g., polychlorinated biphenyls, PCBs; carbon dioxide, CO₂) should be spelled out on first use and abbreviated thereafter.

Units of measure should be abbreviated only when a specific amount is given (e.g., "concentration of 10 ng/mL" versus "units of nanograms per milliliter"). A list of standard abbreviations that do not need to be defined in the text is available - click here.