A talk by Ellen Annandale
Editor-in-chief
Social Science & Medicine
BSA Welsh Medical Sociology Group
Cardiff University
October 24th 2008
Basics:• Founded in 1967
• 24 Issues each year (500 plus articles)
Including Special Issues (no set number)
• International and Interdisciplinary
• 2007 Thomson ISI impact factor 2.453
• 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 TeamThe Editorial Team
Editor-in-chiefEllen Annandale
Medical Sociology
Sarah Nettleton
Health PolicyPeter Davis
(Tim Tenbensel)
Medical Anthropology
Catherine Panter-Brick
Health Economics
Stephen Birch
Medical Geography
Sarah Curtis
Social EpidemiologyIchiro Kawachi
(S.V. Subramanian)
Health Psychology
Frances Aboud
Editorial Assistant
Shari Daya
Editorial Assistant
Cathey Tweddle
Editorial Assistant
MarkEggerman
Editorial Assistant
Mardelene Grobbelaar
Editorial Assistant
Darryl Martin
Editorial AssistantMalvika
Subramanyam
Editorial Assistant
Alice Petersen
Managing EditorRyan Mowat
United Arab Emirates Bolivia Australia Switzerland Canada France
Sweden South Africa Singapore
Netherlands Japan Spain Taiwan China
Jamaica Denmark Israel Germany
Belgium Norway Ireland Italy
Hong Kong Australia Finland Lebanon Kenya Korea
Belgium New ZealandUnited 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)
• 11th 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, it’s 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 Process5. Revision received accept revise based on editor review (minor) back to reviewers6. Possible 2nd 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:
www.elsevier.com/locate/socscimed • Online submission: http://ees.elsevier.com
/ssm/ • Current volume:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02779536