The International Journal of Drug Policy is a bimonthly multidisciplinary journal for original research, reviews, debate, and critical analysis on the epidemiology and social contexts of drug use and drug policy in a global context. The journal seeks to explore the health and social effects of drug use and drug policy, in relation to both licit and illicit substances. The International Journal of Drug Policy aims to be truly multidisciplinary, for example, considering work in epidemiology, modelling, economics, criminology and law, psychology, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, and historical and policy analyses. The journal is accepting of longer length papers, especially for qualitative, ethnographic and historical analyses, and is encouraging of critical and methodological work. It is the policy of the journal to represent a wide range of material on drug-related matters from around the world.
We are happy to advise you on submissions. Please contact Professor Gerry Stimson (gerry.stimson@gmail.com), Professor Tim Rhodes (tim.rhodes@lshtm.ac.uk) or the Editorial Office at ijdp@elsevier.com.
Following the advice below will expedite the review of your manuscript. This advice is also available on the journal's website:
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/drugpo.
Readership
The journal has a broad readership drawn from the variety of disciplines working in the area of licit and illicit drug use and drug policy, including those working in: public health and epidemiology; social science; evaluation;, community, education and welfare services; criminal justice; policy and advocacy; and human rights. The journal has an international readership.
Types of manuscripts
The journal encourages the submission of the following types of manuscript:
Editorial: These are usually between 1,500 and 2,000 words. Editorials do not have abstracts.
Commentary: These are usually between 2,500 and 4,000 words, and seek to explore in depth a particular topic or issue for debate, and may also include evidence and analysis. The Editor may invite expert responses to commentaries for publication in the same issue. Unstructured abstract.
Review: These are usually between 4,000 and 8,000 words, and seek to review systematically a particular area of research, intervention, or policy.
Research paper: These are usually between 3,000 and 5,000 words, but we also consider longer length papers up to 8,000 words. Research papers are usually based on original empirical analyses, but may also be discursive critical essays. Structured abstract.
Short report: These can be up to 2,000 words, an abstract of no more than 200 words, with one table, and no more than fifteen references. Structured abstract.
Policy analysis: These are focused specifically around contemporary or historical analyses of policies and their impacts, and are usually between 3,000 and 5,000 words, and exceptionally up to 8,000 words. Unstructured abstract.
Viewpoint: Short comments and opinion pieces of up to 1200 words which raise an issue for discussion, or comprise a case report on an issue relevant to research, policy or practice. No abstract.
Response: Responses are short comments on papers published in the current or previous issues. They are usually between 500 and 1,000 words. Responses do not require abstracts.
Conference report: These provide reviews or commentaries on key international or national meetings relevant to drug use research and policy. They are usually between 1,500 and 3,000 words. Conference reports do not require abstracts.
Ethics in publishing
For information on Ethics in publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication see
http://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics and http://www.elsevier.com/ethicalguidelines.
Conflict of interest
All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. See also
http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest.
Submission declaration
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere including electronically in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright-holder.
Changes to authorship
This policy concerns the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship of accepted manuscripts:
Before the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue: Requests to add or remove an author, or to rearrange the author names, must be sent to the Journal Manager from the corresponding author of the accepted manuscript and must include: (a) the reason the name should be added or removed, or the author names rearranged and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, fax, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed. Requests that are not sent by the corresponding author will be forwarded by the Journal Manager to the corresponding author, who must follow the procedure as described above. Note that: (1) Journal Managers will inform the Journal Editors of any such requests and (2) publication of the accepted manuscript in an online issue is suspended until authorship has been agreed.
After the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue: Any requests to add, delete, or rearrange author names in an article published in an online issue will follow the same policies as noted above and result in a corrigendum.
Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see
http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information.
An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement'
form or a link to the online version of this agreement. Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations (please consult
http://www.elsevier.com/permissions).
If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit
the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.
Retained author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details you are referred to:
http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.
Role of the funding source
You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then this should be stated. Please see
http://www.elsevier.com/funding.
Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose articles appear in journals published by Elsevier, to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit
http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.
Language and language services
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageservices or our customer support site at http://support.elsevier.com for more information.
Submission
Submission to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts source files to a single PDF file of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF files at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail removing the need for a paper trail.
Referees
Please submit, with the manuscript, the names, addresses and e-mail addresses of three potential referees. Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used.
Essential title page information
• Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
• Author names and affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address. Contact details must be kept up to date by the corresponding author.
• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.
Abstracts
• On the second page, include the title of the paper, between 3-6 keywords, and an abstract of between 150 and 300 words.
• Structured abstract: We recommend these for: Research papers, Review papers, Policy Analysis, and Short reports. Please adhere to the following mandatory abstract headings: background, methods, results, conclusion.
• Unstructured (plain) abstract: We recommend these for: Commentaries, Historical Analysis, Review Essays, as well as for Research and Review papers where a plain abstract is better suited, as is the case with some social science submissions.
• No abstract: Editorials, Responses, Case Reports, Conference Reports.
House style
• Please write in a clear style for an international readership. We are an international journal and many of our readers do not have English as a first language. Avoid (or explain) colloquialisms.
• Keep the text style and sub-headings simple. Text should preferably be in Times New Roman or Arial, 10-12 font, with double line spacing.
• Spelling is English (not American)
• All pages should be numbered at the bottom
• We do not normally like footnotes (but recognise that they are necessary for some styles of writing). Only use footnotes when absolutely necessary (otherwise incorporate into text).
• Keep tables simple. Do not duplicate information in the text. Include all tables and figures on separate sheets at the end; indicate in the text where these should be placed.
• Include in the acknowledgements any funding source for the work
• IJDP favours clear organisation of papers, an economical writing style, and a modest tone.
• IJDP requires all submissions to incorporate a clear and sufficiently detailed account of methods of data collection and analysis, including in Review Papers, Policy Analysis and Historical Analysis. IJDP encourages qualitative and ethnographic research submissions to sufficiently account for, and reflect upon, how data were analysed.
Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Save text in illustrations as 'graphics' or enclose the font.
• Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times, Symbol.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
• Submit each figure as a separate file.
A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website:
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, please 'save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as 'graphics'.
TIFF: Color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is'.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimised for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
References
Text: Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the American Psychological Association. You are referred to the Publication Manual; of the American Psychological Association, Fourth Edition, ISBN 1-55798-243-0, copies of which my be ordered from PAP Order Dept, P.O.B. 2710 Hyattsville, MD 20784, USA or APA, 3 Henriette Street, London EC3E 8LU, UK.
Details concerning this referencing style can also be found at
http://humanities.byu.edu/linguistics/henrichsen/APA/APA01.html
List: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters "a", "b". "c" etc placed after the year of publication.
Examples
Reference to a journal publication:
Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J.A.J., & Lupton, R.A. (2000). The art of writing a scientific article. Journal of Scientific Communications,163, 51-59
Reference to a book:
Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E.B. (1979). The elements of style. (3rd ed.) New York: Macmilllan, (Chapter 4).
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
Mettam, G. R., & Adams, L. B. (1994). How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In B. S. Jones, & R. Z. Smith (Eds), Introduction to the electronic age (pp.281-304. New York: E-Publishing inc.
Reference to a website must contain the date on which the information was retrieved:
Gerlach R, Schneider W. Injecting room at INDRO, Munster, Germany. Retrieved 2nd June 2002 from
http://www.indro-online.de/sir.htm
Supplementary data
Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect:
http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted
material is directly usable, please provide the data in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic
format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit
our artwork instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Submission of manuscripts
The International Journal of Drug Policy uses an online, electronic submission system. By accessing the website
http://ees.elsevier.com/drugpo/ you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various
files. When submitting a manuscript to Elsevier Editorial System, authors need to provide an electronic version of their manuscript.
Authors may send queries concerning the submission process, manuscript status, or journal procedures to the Editorial Office:Elsevier Ireland Ltd., Brookvale Plaza, East Plaza, Shannon, Co. Clare, Ireland, Fax: +353 61 709250, ijdp@elsevier.com. This address should also be used to submit multimedia files
Once the uploading is done, the system automatically generates an electronic (PDF) proof, which is then used for reviewing. All correspondence, including the Editor's decision and request for revisions, will be by e-mail.
Authors' responsibilities
By submitting material for publication the authors warrant
• that it is their original work and that it has not been published in whole or in part elsewhere and is not under consideration by any other journal. If any part of the material has been or is being published elsewhere the authors should state this in an accompanying letter.
• that all persons named as authors have made a major contribution to the work reported, and are prepared to take public responsibility for its contents. Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship.
All authors must give signed consent to publication.
Submission checklist
The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following items are present:
One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers
All necessary files have been uploaded, and contain:
• Keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations
• Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-checked'
• References are in the correct format for this journal
• All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)
• Color figures are clearly marked as being intended for color reproduction on the Web (free of charge) and in print, or to be reproduced in color on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white in print
• If only color on the Web is required, black-and-white versions of the figures are also supplied for printing purposes
For any further information please visit our customer support site at http://support.elsevier.com.
What happens after we receive your manuscript?
Manuscript acknowledgement
Corresponding authors will be sent an acknowledgement that their manuscript has been received.
Review of manuscripts
Initial review: On receipt all manuscripts are seen by one of the Editors to assess overall suitability for publication in IJDP in terms of topic area and quality. A paper may be rejected at this stage if it falls outside the journals aims and scope; if there are obvious problems with presentation, argument or research; or if it is unoriginal. The Editor will seek advice from another Editor, Associate Editor, or member of the Editorial Board before making a decision to reject at this stage.
Full peer review: After passing initial review, submissions are assigned to one of the Editors or Associate Editors. Manuscripts are sent to peer reviewers and the Author is not blinded to the Reviewer. Reviewers advise the Editors, who are responsible for the final decision to accept or reject a manuscript. Peer reviewers are asked to respond within three weeks and are asked to rate the paper and to include comments for the Editors and for the authors. We aim to get a quick decision for authors, but review and appraisal by the editors is normally a minimum of eight weeks and can on occasions be longer. We aim to inform you if there is a delay. If you want information about progress please email the editorial office. All material accepted for publication may be subject to editorial revision. If your article is accepted for publication you will receive a proof copy from the Publisher. It is your responsibility to read, correct and return the proof within 48 hours.
Proofs and page charge
One set of proofs will be sent to the corresponding author. No alteration of the substance of the text, tables, or figures will be allowed at this stage. Corrected proofs should be returned to the publisher within two days of receipt. Authors who submit to the journal will be given access to Elsevier's On-Line Author Status Information System (OASIS). They will receive a personal identification code together with the acknowledgement letter sent upon receipt of their manuscript. This code will grant them access to the OASIS site on the internet, allowing them to track the status of their manuscript. Authors may also access Elsevier's central Log-in Department e-mail address for any specific questions they may have regarding the publication of their manuscript. The International Journal of Drug Policy carries no page charges.
Offprints
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use.
Use of the Digital Object Identifier
The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly 'Articles in press' because they have not yet received their full bibliographic information. The correct format for citing a DOI is shown as follows (example taken from a document in the journal Physics Letters B):
doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2010.09.059
When you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, the DOIs are guaranteed never to change.
For inquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission) please visit this journal's homepage. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, will be provided by the publisher. You can track accepted articles at
http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle.
You can also check our Author FAQs ( http://www.elsevier.com/authorFAQ) and/or contact Customer Support via http://support.elsevier.com.