About Emerging Themes in Epidemiology

What is Emerging Themes in Epidemiology?

Emerging Themes in Epidemiology is an open access, peer-reviewed, online journal that aims to promote debate and discussion on practical and theoretical aspects of epidemiology.

Combining statistical approaches with an understanding of the biology of disease, epidemiologists seek to elucidate the social, environmental and host factors related to adverse health outcomes. Although research findings from epidemiologic studies abound in traditional public health journals, little publication space is devoted to discussion of the practical and theoretical concepts that underpin them. Because of its immediate impact on public health, an openly accessible forum is needed in the field of epidemiology to foster such discussion.

Emerging Themes in Epidemiology welcomes submissions from all public health professionals on any subject related to epidemiology. This includes articles from related disciplines that have implications for the conduct of epidemiologic research. In particular the journal encourages articles that introduce methodological and technological advances for the collection and analysis of epidemiological data. Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to:

• novel study designs
• novel applications of statistical or mathematical frameworks
• statistical methods to account for error in epidemiologic studies
• molecular epidemiology, genetic epidemiology and bioinformatics
• applications of new technologies in the field
• ethics in epidemiological research and public health practice
• causal inference and epistemology in epidemiology
• historical articles and re-assessments of classic papers
• introduction of relevant concepts from other disciplines into epidemiologic research frameworks

Also welcome are more discursive pieces that comment critically on epidemiologic practice and present new concepts or theoretical frameworks, whether in general or within a specific speciality. The journal will also consider comprehensive descriptions of study methods - such as those of complex trials or interventions - that require a level of detail not easily accommodated by other journals, but which have implications for future design and conduct of such studies.

Emerging Themes in Epidemiology recognises the valuable contribution that students can make to the scientific community by contributing to current debates in epidemiology and through involvement in the peer review process. If you are a doctoral student and would be interested in reviewing manuscripts for Emerging Themes in Epidemiology, please download our student reviewer information form. Completed forms can be returned by email to ete@lshtm.ac.uk.

Content overview

Emerging Themes in Epidemiology considers the following types of articles:

• Analytic perspectives - articles, which can be epidemiology-based policy analysis, critical analyses of the field and its practices, various contributions to methodology, philosophy, or other perspectives on the field. These articles are not commentary or debate, and do not fit in the format of a research article.
• Commentaries - short, focused opinion pieces on any subject within the journal's scope. These articles are usually related to a contemporary issue, such as recent research findings.
• Debate Articles - present an argument that is not essentially based on practical research. Debate articles can report on all aspects of the subject including sociological and ethical aspects.
• Hypotheses - short articles presenting an untested original hypothesis backed solely by previously published results rather than any new evidence. They should outline significant progress in thinking that would also be testable.
• Methodology articles - present a new experimental method, test or procedure. The method described may either be completely new, or may offer a better version of an existing method. The article must describe a demonstrable advance on what is currently available.
• Reviews - comprehensive, authoritative descriptions of any subject within the journal's scope. These articles are usually written by opinion leaders that have been invited by the Editorial Board.

Peer review policies

Emerging Themes in Epidemiology welcomes submissions from all public health practitioners. Each submitted manuscript is reviewed by an editorial committee composed of 5 doctoral students, which decides if the article is within the scope of the journal. Manuscripts suitable for the journal are sent to two external reviewers - one senior researcher and one research student. Reviewers' reports are sent back to the editorial committee, which makes a recommendation to publish, request revisions as per reviewers' instructions, or reject. Recommendations on final decisions (ie. acceptance/rejection), together with the manuscript and reviewers' comments, are forwarded to an Associate Editor, who either endorses or rejects the committee's recommendation. The Associate Editor's final decision is then conveyed to the submitting authors.

Edited by Peter G. Smith, Emerging Themes in Epidemiology is supported by an international Editorial Board.

Publishing in Emerging Themes in Epidemiology

All articles will be listed in PubMed immediately upon acceptance (after peer review), and will be covered by PubMed Central and Embase.

Articles in Emerging Themes in Epidemiology should be cited in the same way as articles in a traditional journal. However, because articles in this journal are not printed, they do not have page numbers. Instead, they have a unique article number.

The following citation:

Emerg Themes Epidemiol 2004, 2:1

refers to article 1 from volume 2 of the journal.

As an online journal, Emerging Themes in Epidemiology does not have issue numbers. Each volume corresponds to a calendar year.

To keep up to date with the latest articles from Emerging Themes in Epidemiology, why not register to receive alerts? Registration also enables you to customise your subject areas of interest, store your searches, and submit your manuscripts.

Submission of manuscripts

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically to Emerging Themes in Epidemiology using the online submission system. Full details of how to submit a manuscript are given in the instructions for authors.

General journal policies

Emerging Themes in Epidemiology is published by BioMed Central, an independent publisher committed to ensuring peer-reviewed biomedical research is Open Access. That means it is freely and universally accessible online, it is archived in at least one internationally recognised free access repository, and its authors retain copyright, allowing anyone to reproduce or disseminate articles, according to the BioMed Central copyright and licence agreement. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology however, has taken this further by making all its content Open Access.

Emerging Themes in Epidemiology's articles are archived in PubMed Central, the US National Library of Medicine's full-text repository of life science literature, and also in repositories at the University of Potsdam in Germany, at INIST in France and in e-Depot, the National Library of the Netherlands' digital archive of all electronic publications. The journal is also participating in the British Library's e-journals pilot project, and plans to deposit copies of all articles with the British Library.

BioMed Central is working closely with the Thomson Reuters (ISI) to ensure that citation analysis of articles published in Emerging Themes in Epidemiology will be available.

Emerging Themes in Epidemiology is able to deliver summaries of frequently updated content via Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds. These are accessible via the orange "XML" button at the top of the list of recent articles or the list of most accessed articles. For more information about RSS feeds see our publisher's website.

For further information about general policies please see the instructions for authors.