Scope

Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences (EPS) is an international, peer reviewed journal intended to provide updated data and scientific information to epidemiologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, statisticians and other research and mental health workers primarily concerned with public health and epidemiological and social psychiatry.

Priority is given to original research and systematic reviews about mental health service research, aimed to improve the quality of everyday practice.

Editorial Policy

Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences publishes the following articles:

Original articles*: These should be no more than 4000 words (excluding abstract, references, tables/figures, which should be uploaded as separate files). The abstract should be structured using the subheadings Aims, Methods, Results, Conclusions, and should not exceed 400 words. The article should contain no more than a combined total of six tables and/or figures. Authors must also select four keywords to be included. All submissions are via the online submission system detailed below.

Editorials**: These should be no more than 3000 words, plus a non-structured abstract of 300 words, references, tables and figures. Four keywords are required for Editorials. Authors will be invited via the online submission system to submit Editorials, and these should not be submitted speculatively.

Special Articles*: These should be no more than 4000 words, plus a structured abstract of 400 words using the subheadings Aims, Methods, Results, Conclusions, plus references, tables and figures. The article should include no more than a combined total of six tables and/or figures. Authors must also select four keywords to be included. Both invited Editorials and Special Articles are intended to keep up with the changing world of epidemiological psychiatry and to consider new perspectives. Authors will be invited via the online submission system to submit Special Articles, and these should not be submitted speculatively.

Letters to the Editor**: EPS accepts submission of Letters to the Editor to support post-publication discourse around research and work previously published in EPS. These should be no more than 2500 words, and all comment/discussion must relate to a piece of work previously published in EPS. No novel research or findings should be presented in a Letter to the Editor. As with other article types, all Letters will be subject to editorial review, and acceptance or rejection for publication is at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.

The following Sections may also appear in the journal:

Contemporary Outsider Art** (edited by Carole Tansella). This Section of Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences is dedicated to all forms of creative production born of an intimate and individual urge, often secretive, unbound from the conventional art system rules. Through short descriptions of the Outsider art work of prominent artists and new protagonists often hosted in community mental health services, this section intends to investigate the latest developments of the contemporary art scene, where the distances between the edge and the center are becoming more and more vague.

These contributions are written in house by the Section Editor or commissioned by the Section Editor. Authors will be invited via the online submission system to submit to this section, and these papers should not be submitted speculatively. (These should be no more than 2000 words, plus references. Authors must also select four keywords, and may include up to ten references and four high-resolution images. No abstract is required). Please note that authors must have the relevant permissions from copyright holders to use any images or photographs included, and are required to confirm this by signature of the publishing agreement. Figure captions and attribution must also be included.

Epidemiology for Clinical Psychopharmacology* (edited by Corrado Barbui). This Section of Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences focusses on the role of the epidemiological approach to promoting advances in the field of clinical psychopharmacology, with particular attention given to controversial findings. The ultimate aims are: to help develop a more critical attitude towards the results of research studies published in the international literature; to promote original research projects with higher methodological standards; and to implement the most relevant results of research in everyday clinical practice.

These contributions are written in house by the Journal's Editorial team or commissioned by the Section Editor. Authors will be invited via the online submission system to submit to this section, and these papers should not be submitted speculatively (these should be no more than 1000 words, plus a short 200 word unstructured abstract, maximum of fifteen references, one Table or Figure. Authors must also select four keywords to be included).

Epidemiology for Behavioural Neurosciences* (edited by Paolo Brambilla). This Section of Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences focusses on the relevance of epidemiology for behavioural neurosciences, reporting the results of studies that explore the use of an epidemiological approach to provide a better understanding of the neural basis of major psychiatric disorders and, in turn, the utilisation of the behavioural neurosciences for promoting innovative epidemiological research. The ultimate aim is to help the translation of most relevant research findings into everyday clinical practice. These contributions are written in house by the journal's editorial team or commissioned by the Section Editor. Authors will be invited via the online submission system to submit to this section, and these papers should not be submitted speculatively. (These should be no more than 1000 words, plus a short 200 word unstructured abstract, maximum of fifteen references, one Table or Figure. Authors must also select four keywords to be included).

* All or part of the publication costs for these article types may be covered by one of the agreements Cambridge University Press has made to support open access. For authors not covered by an agreement, and without APC funding, please see this journal's open access options for instructions on how to request an APC waiver.

** No APCs are required for these article types.

Open Access

From 2020, all articles published by EPS are Gold Open Access: freely and permanently accessible online, immediately upon publication, under licensing that allows anyone to redistribute, re-use and adapt the content as long as they provide attribution. For more information on licensing and funding options for Gold OA, please see this journal’s open access options.

Submission of Manuscripts

Authors may submit their Original Articles or Letters to the Editor online via the website:

http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/eaps

All other paper types require the author to be invited via the online submission system, and should not be submitted online without consultation with the appropriate Editor as detailed above.

If you have any questions about the submission of your manuscript please contact the Editorial Office at [email protected]

A covering letter should give full mailing and email contact details of the author who will handle correspondence (for more details on the role and responsibilities of the corresponding author please see the guidelines here). Submission of a paper will be held to imply that it contains original work that has not been previously published and that it is not being submitted for publication elsewhere.

All contributions (excluding invited Editorials) are accepted for publication based on feedback during external peer review.

Title Sheet: The following information must be given on the first page (title sheet): (1) title and short title for running head (not more than 60 characters): (2) authors' names (only the initial of each author's first name/s should be given, followed by the surname/s), (3) department in which the work was done, (4) word count of text excluding abstract, tables/figures and reference list.

Generally papers (Special articles, Original articles) should not have text more than 4000 words in length (as outlined above) and should not have more than a combined total of six tables and/or figures. Papers shorter than these limits are encouraged. For papers of unusual importance the editors may waive these requirements.

A structured abstract of no more than 400 words should be given at the beginning of Special articles, Original articles, and Instruments, using the headings: Aims; Methods; Results; Conclusions. Short unstructured abstracts should precede Editorials (no more than 300 words), and should be no more than 200 words for articles in the Sections of Epidemiology for Clinical Psychopharmacology, and of Epidemiology for Behavioural Neurosciences.

The name of an author to whom correspondence should be sent must be indicated and a full postal address given in the footnote.

All submissions must be in English and should include, at the end of the text (before the References section), the Required Statements (Acknowledgements, Financial support, Conflicts of Interest, Ethical Standards) outlined below.

Contributors should also note the following:

1. S.I. units should be used throughout in text, figures and tables.
2. Authors should spell out in full any abbreviations used in their manuscripts.
3. Foreign quotations and phrases should be followed by a translation.

Peer Review

All submissions are initially assessed for suitability by the Editorial Office. After the initial assessment, submissions are single-blind peer-reviewed by a minimum of two independent, anonymous expert referees and recommendations made to the assigned Associate Editor, who then makes a recommendation to the Editor-in-Chief for a decision. Find out more about what to expect during peer review here

All research articles in the journal are peer-reviewed. No person is permitted to take any role in the peer-review of a paper in which they have an interest, defined as follows: fees or grants from, employment by, consultancy for, shared ownership in, or any close relationship with, an organisation whose interests, financial or otherwise, may be affected by the publication of the paper.

Authorship

Authorship confers credit and has important academic, social, and financial implications. Authorship also implies responsibility and accountability for published work. Authors submitting to Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences are asked to follow the ICMJE guidelines for Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors to ensure that authors and non-author contributors are correctly designated as such.

Reporting Guidelines

Authors must check the EQUATOR Network site (http://www.equator-network.org/) for any reporting guidelines that apply to their particular study design and ensure they include any required information recommended by the relevant guidelines.

Study Protocol Registration

In accordance with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors' Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (ICMJE Recommendations 2013), Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences will not consider reports of clinical trials unless they were registered prospectively before recruitment of any participants. The registration details should be added to the last line of the abstract.

Even though there are no well-established rules about the registration of studies other than for clinical trials, Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences supports the registration of protocols in publicly accessible registries for all types of clinical studies, including observational studies and systematic reviews. The registration details, if the observational study has been registered, should be added to the last line of the abstract.

Data Sharing

As we are keen to maximise the usefulness and usage of data and promote transparency and accountability, for all research articles (randomized controlled trials, observational studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses) authors are encouraged to link their articles to the raw data from their studies. We encourage authors to ensure that their datasets are either deposited in publicly available repositories (where available and appropriate) or presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files whenever possible. All authors must include an "Availability of Data and Materials" (see below) section in their manuscript detailing where the data supporting their findings can be found. Authors who do not wish to share their data must state that data will not be shared, and give the reason.

Manuscript Formatting

Authors should follow carefully the following instructions:

• Divide the manuscripts into headings (e.g. for experimental studies: Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion);
• Underline words and phrases in the text that should be printed in italics;
• Use a dot before a decimal rather than a comma (English style) both in the text and in tables and figures (e.g. 0.08);
• Cite in the text only the references that are included in the reference list. For articles by a single author, provide the surname and year of publication (e.g. Reissland, 2000). For articles published by two authors, provide both surnames, with the symbol '&' between them and the year of publication (e.g. Evans & Huxley, 2001). For articles by more than two authors, provide only the first name followed by et al. and the year of publication (e.g. Atkinson et al., 1997). If there is more than one reference by the same author(s) in the same year of publication, indicate this with letters a, b, c after year of publication both in the text and in the reference list (e.g. Jones, 1999a; Jones, 1999b; etc.). More detailed referencing instructions are found in the next section

References

1. The Harvard (author date) system should be used in the text and a complete list of References cited given at the end of the article. In a text citation of a work by more than two authors cite the first author's name followed by et al. (but the names of all of the authors should be given in the References section). Where several references are cited together they should be listed in rising date order.

2. The References section should be in alphabetical order. Examples follow:

   Brown GW (1974) Meaning, measurement and stress of life events. In Stressful Life Events: Their Nature and Effects (ed. BS Dohrenwend and BP Dohrenwend), pp. 217-244. John Wiley: New York.

   Brown J (1970) Psychiatric Research. Smith: Glasgow.

   Brown J, Williams E, Wright H (1970) Treatment of heroin addiction. Psychological Medicine 1, 134-136.

   Note: authors' names should be in bold font; journal titles should always be given in full and should be in italics.

3. References to material published online should follow a similar style, with the URL included at the end of the reference, with the accession date, if known. Authors are requested to print out and keep a copy of any online only information, in case the URL changes or is no longer maintained. Examples follow:

   Acute Health Care, Rehabilitation and Disability Prevention Research. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/profiles/acutecare/default.htm). Accessed 7 June 2004.

   British Psychological Society Research Digest, Issue 12. (http://lists.bps.org.uk/read/messages?id=1423). Accessed 17 February 2004.

NOTE: Authors in any doubt of appropriate reference style are recommended to view the many freely available recent papers and use the reference lists as a guide.

Figures and Tables

Only essential figures and tables should be included. Further tables, figures, photographs and appendices, may be included with the online version as supplementary material on the journal website.

To ensure that your figures are reproduced to the highest possible standards and your article is published as quickly and efficiently as possible, Cambridge Journals recommends the following formats and resolutions for supplying electronic figures. Please note that submitting low quality figures may result in a delay in publishing your valuable research. If you request colour figures in the printed version, you will be contacted by CCC- Rightslink who are acting on our behalf to collect Author Charges. Please follow their instructions in order to avoid any delay in the publication of your article.

Please ensure that your figures are saved at final publication size (please see the latest papers of the journal for column widths) and are in our recommended file formats. Following these guidelines will result in high quality images being reproduced in both the print and the online versions of the journal.

Line artwork
Format: tif or eps
Colour mode: black and white (also known as 1bit)
Size: please size to final publication size
Resolution: 1200 dpi

Combination artwork (line/tone)
Format: tif or eps
Colour mode: grayscale (also known as 8bit)
Size: please size to final publication size
Resolution: 800 dpi

Black and white halftone artwork
Format: tif
Colour mode: grayscale (also known as 8bit)
Size: please size to final publication size
Resolution: 300 dpi

Colour halftone artwork
Format: tif
Colour mode: CMYK colour
Size: please size to final publication size
Resolution: 300 dpi

All graphs and diagrams should be referred to as figures and should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. Captions for figures should be typed double spaced on separate sheets. Tables should be numbered consecutively in the text in Arabic numerals and each typed on a separate sheet after the References section. Titles should be typed above the table.

Required Statements

Financial Support

Please provide details of the sources of financial support for all authors, including grant numbers. For example, "This work was supported by the Medical research Council (grant number XXXXXXX)". Multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma and space, and where research was funded by more than one agency the different agencies should be separated by a semi-colon, with "and" before the final funder. Grants held by different authors should be identified as belonging to individual authors by the authors' initials. For example, "This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (A.B., grant numbers XXXX, YYYY), (C.D., grant number ZZZZ); the Natural Environment Research Council (E.F., grant number FFFF); and the National Institutes of Health (A.B., grant number GGGG), (E.F., grant number HHHH)."

Where no specific funding has been provided for research, please provide the following statement: "This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors."

Competing Interests

Authors should include a Competing Interests declaration in their manuscript. Competing Interests (or Conflicts of Interest) are situations that could be perceived to exert an undue influence on an author’s presentation of their work. They may include, but are not limited to, financial, professional, contractual or personal relationships or situations. Conflicts of Interest do not necessarily mean that an author’s work has been compromised. Authors should declare any real or perceived Competing Interests in order to be transparent about the context of their work. If the manuscript has multiple authors, the author submitting the manuscript must include Competing Interests declarations relevant to all contributing authors.

Example wording for your Competing Interest declaration is as follows: “Competing Interests: Author A is employed at company B. Author C owns shares in company D, is on the Board of company E and is a member of organisation F. Author G has received grants from company H.” If no Competing Interests exist, your declaration should state “Competing Interests: None”.

Ethical Standards

Where research involves human and/or animal experimentation, the following statements should be included (as applicable): "The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 200." and "The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional guides on the care and use of laboratory animals."

Availability of Data and Materials

Please provide details of where the data supporting the findings of your study (clinical trials, observational studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses) can be found. Authors who do not wish to share their data must state that data will not be shared, and give the reason.

Acknowledgements

You may acknowledge individuals or organisations that provided advice, support (non-financial). Formal financial support and funding should be listed in the Financial Support section.

Seeking permission to use copyrighted material

If your article contains any material in which you do not own copyright, including figures, charts, tables, photographs or excerpts of text, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder to reuse that material. As the author it is your responsibility to obtain this permission and pay any related fees, and you will need to send us a copy of each permission statement at acceptance. Please find more information here.