A talk by Ellen Annandale Editor-in-chief Social Science & Medicine BSA Welsh Medical Sociology Group Cardiff University October 24 th 2008

Basics: Founded in Issues each year (500 plus articles) Including Special Issues (no set number) International and Interdisciplinary 2007 Thomson ISI impact factor Ranked 4 out of 28 in Social Sciences, Biomedical Ranked 5 out of 70 in Public, Environmental and Occupational Health (social sciences)

This Talk Our editorial team Scope of journal * International * Interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary What makes for a good submission? Why do submissions get rejected? The editorial process Our Peer Review Policy Publication times

The Editorial Team Editor-in-chief Ellen Annandale Medical Sociology Sarah Nettleton Editorial Assistant Darryl Martin Health Policy Peter Davis (Tim Tenbensel) Editorial Assistant Mardelene Grobbelaar Medical Anthropology Catherine Panter-Brick Editorial Assistant Mark Eggerman Health Economics Stephen Birch Editorial Assistant Cathey Tweddle Medical Geography Sarah Curtis Editorial Assistant Shari Daya Social Epidemiology Ichiro Kawachi (S.V. Subramanian) Editorial Assistant Malvika Subramanyam Health Psychology Frances Aboud Editorial Assistant Alice Petersen Managing Editor Ryan Mowat

United Arab Emirates Bolivia Australia Switzerland Canada France Sweden South Africa Singapore Netherlands Japan Spain Taiwan China Jamaica Denmark Israel Germany BelgiumNorway Ireland Italy Hong Kong Australia Finland Lebanon Kenya Korea Belgium New Zealand United states India Brazil United Kingdom International Scope

Aims and scope International Interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary We Publish: Original research articles (prefer up to 8,000 words) Short reports (2,000-4,000 words) Commentaries and debates on published papers Special Issues (collected papers on a theme, no set number per vol) Virtual special Issues (of already published papers)

SS&M publishes Empirical papers - using quantitative methods - using qualitative methods - using combined methods Theoretical papers

Some recent Special Issues Stigma, Discrimination and Health, edited by J. Stuber et al (2008) Future Health Systems, edited by G. Bloom & H. Standing (2008) Informed Consent in a Changing Environment, edited by M. Boulton and M. Parker (2007) 11 th International Medical Geography Symposium, edited by R. Earickson (2007) Placing Health in Context, edited by R. Dunn & S. Cummins (2007) HIV/AIDS: gender, agency and empowerment Issues in Africa, edited by E. Kalipeni et al. (2007)

What makes for a good medical sociology paper? Studies which are matched by analytic insight and link their findings to their societal context offer the most exciting promise for the discipline. (Sarah Nettleton, 2007) Theoretically informed Inspired by sociological developments (e.g globalisation, risk, complexity and chaos, mobilities, citizenship, embodiment, social informatics etc.) Empirical work that generates enduring ideas and concepts (i.e not simply present empirical findings) Of International relevance At the interface of the social science disciplines

Why do articles get rejected? Not in scope of journal (not social science, insufficient health content) Descriptive rather than analytic Re-inventing the wheel, its all been said before No sense of why this is important, what it adds to knowledge (empirical or theoretical) Badly written and/or disorganised (rambling, no clear message) Poor knowledge of relevant literature For empirical papers: weak methodology

The Editorial Process Screen by Managing Editor/Ed-in-Chief for scope and quality (allocation process to senior editors) 2.Assessment by Senior editor for peer review or not 3.Assigned to 2 more (usually more) peer reviewers 4.Senior editor evaluation of reviewer reports reject or revise (within 2 months ideally)

The Editorial Process 5.Revision received accept revise based on editor review (minor) back to reviewers 6. Possible 2 nd revision, and so on 7.Senior Editor recommends publication to Ed-in-chief 8.Managing Editor and Ed-in-chief check paper, final acceptance given to author

Peer Review Policy Reject without review at Office of Ed-in-chief: Target within 1 week (actual average: 3 days) Reject without review by Senior Editor: Target within 2 weeks (actual average 15 days) Typically the manuscript is reviewed within 2 to 3 months target (actual average 99 days) If necessary revised manuscripts returned to referees target normally within 1 month (actual average 16 days)

About 59% are rejected without review (by Ed-in-chief or Senior Editor) About 23% are rejected after review Overall acceptance rate is about 18% Acceptance rates (July 2007-June 2008)

Publication is quick On average On line in press about 8 weeks after accepted (providing proofs returned swiftly) On-line in an issue in press 13 weeks after accepted In a bound print Issue 4 months after accepted

And getting even quicker…….. Papers going into the next issue (vol 67, issue 11) have been published: In on-line issue 5 weeks after acceptance They will be in the hard copy only 8 weeks after they were accepted

Useful links: Useful Social Science & Medicine links Website: Online submission: Current volume: