Authors

Injury Prevention adheres to the highest standards concerning its editorial policies on publication ethics, scientific misconduct, consent and peer review criteria. To view all BMJ Journal policies please refer to the BMJ Author Hub policies page. More information on copyright and authors’ rights.

As a matter of conformity with BMJ policy (BMJ. 2001; 322(7298):1320-1321) this Journal does not permit the use of the word 'accident' except where it appears in a formal title e.g. Child Accident Prevention Trust.

Injury Prevention is a Plan S compliant Transformative Journal. Transformative Journals are one of the compliance routes offered by cOAlition S funders, such as Wellcome, WHO and UKRI. Find out more about Transformative Journals and Plan S compliance on our Author Hub.

Articles are published under an exclusive licence or non-exclusive licence for UK Crown employees or where BMJ has agreed CC BY applies. For US Federal Government officers or employees acting as part of their official duties, the terms are as stated in accordance with our licence terms. Authors or their employers retain copyright. Open access articles can be reused under the terms of the relevant Creative Commons licence to facilitate reuse of the content; please refer to the Injury Prevention Author Licence for the applicable Creative Commons licences".

When publishing in Injury Prevention, authors choose between three licence types – exclusive licence granted to BMJ, CC-BY-NC and CC-BY (Creative Commons open access licences require payment of an article processing charge). As an author you may wish to post your article in an institutional or subject repository, or on a scientific social sharing network. You may also link your published article to your preprint (if applicable). What you can do with your article, without seeking permission, depends on the licence you have chosen and the version of your article. Please refer to the BMJ author self archiving and permissions policies page for more information.

Preprints foster openness, accessibility and collaboration by allowing authors to make their findings immediately available to the research community and receive feedback on an article before it is submitted to a journal for formal publication. BMJ fully supports and encourages the archiving of preprints in any recognised, not-for-profit server such as medRxiv. BMJ does not consider the posting of an article in a dedicated preprint repository to be prior publication.

Preprints are reports of work that have not been peer-reviewed; Preprints should therefore not be used to guide clinical practice, health-related behaviour or health policy. For more information, please refer to our Preprint policy page.

Articles submitted to Injury Prevention are subject to peer review. In most instances we aim for two external opinions (and often additional statistical assessment) for reasons of fairness and science. The journal is not prepared to compromise on this stance. The journal operates single anonymised peer review whereby the names of the reviewers are hidden from the author; Manuscripts authored by a member of a journal’s editorial team are independently peer reviewed; an editor will have no input or influence on the peer review process or publication decision for their own article. For more information on what to expect during the peer review process please refer to BMJ Author Hub – the peer review process. Submitting authors are encouraged to provide the names of 2-4 people who could be approached to provide an independent review of their manuscript. It is recommended that authors do not nominate reviewers from their home institution and they should consider suggesting at least one reviewer from a country other than their own.

BMJ requests that all reviewers adhere to a set of basic principles and standards during the peer-review process in research publication; these are based on the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. Please refer to our peer review terms and conditions policy page. BMJ is committed to transparency. Every article we publish includes a description of its provenance (commissioned or not commissioned) and whether it was internally or externally peer reviewed. During the submission process, authors must not suggest reviewers who are current or recent colleagues of themselves or their co-authors. For more information about suggesting reviewers please visit our Author Hub. Plagiarism is the appropriation of the language, ideas or thoughts of another without crediting their true source and representation of them as one’s own original work. BMJ is a member of CrossCheck by CrossRef and iThenticate. iThenticate is a plagiarism screening service that verifies the originality of content submitted before publication. BMJ runs manuscripts through iThenticate during the peer review process. Authors, researchers and freelancers can also use iThenticate to screen their work before submission by visiting www.ithenticate.com.

Injury Prevention adheres to BMJ's Tier 2 data policy. We strongly encourage that data generated by your research that supports your article be made available as soon as possible, wherever legally and ethically possible. We also require data from clinical trials to be made available upon reasonable request. To adhere to ICMJE guidelines, we require that a data sharing plan must be included with trial registration for clinical trials that begin enrolling participants on or after 1st January 2019. Changes to the plan must be noted in the Data Availability Statement and updated in the registry record. All research articles must contain a Data Availability Statement. For more information and FAQs, please see BMJ's full Data Sharing Policy page.

BMJ encourages active patient and public involvement in clinical research as part of its patient and public partnership strategy. To support co-production of research we request that authors provide a Patient and Public Involvement statement in the methods section of their papers, under the subheading ‘Patient and public involvement’. We appreciate that patient and public involvement is relatively new and may not be feasible or appropriate for all papers. We therefore continue to consider papers where patients were not involved. The Patient and Public Involvement statement should provide a brief response to the following questions, tailored as appropriate for the study design reported (please find example statements here:

• At what stage in the research process were patients/the public first involved in the research and how?
• How were the research question(s) and outcome measures developed and informed by their priorities, experience, and preferences?
• How were patients/the public involved in the design of this study?
• How were they involved in the recruitment to and conduct of the study?
• Were they asked to assess the burden of the intervention and time required to participate in the research?
• How were (or will) they be involved in your plans to disseminate the study results to participants and relevant wider patient communities (e.g. by choosing what information/results to share, when, and in what format)?

If patients were not involved please state this. In addition to considering the points above we advise authors to look at guidance for best reporting of patient and public involvement as set out in the GRIPP2 reporting checklist. If the Patient and Public Involvement statement is missing in the submitted manuscript we will request that authors provide it.

Injury Prevention mandates ORCID iDs for the submitting author at the time of article submission; co-authors and reviewers are strongly encouraged to also connect their ScholarOne accounts to ORCID. We strongly believe that the increased use and integration of ORCID iDs will be beneficial for the whole research community. Please find more information about ORCID and BMJ’s policy on our Author Hub.

Multimedia files: Authors are encouraged to submit multimedia files, including videos. Further details can be found in our Manuscript preparation guidelines. Sharing of data collection tools: If you have used a non-proprietary data collection tool in your research or you developed a survey, checklist, or assessment form, please consider uploading and sharing that tool through the SAVIR Instrument Library on SafetyLit.org. Shared data collection tools allow investigators in our field to work more efficiently and to generate directly comparable research results.

BMJ is committed to ensuring that all good quality research is published. Our article transfer service helps authors find the best journal for their research while providing an easy and smooth publication process. If authors agree to transfer their manuscript, all versions, supplementary files and peer reviewer comments are automatically transferred; there is no need to resubmit or reformat. Authors who submit to the Injury Prevention and are rejected will be offered the option of transferring to another BMJ Journal, such as BMJ Public Health or BMJ Open.

Please note that the article transfer service does not guarantee acceptance but you should receive a quicker initial decision on your manuscript. Contact the Transfer Editor at transfers@bmj.com

During submission, authors can choose to have their article published open access for 3,410 GBP (exclusive of VAT for UK and EU authors). Publishing open access has multiple benefits including wider reach, faster impact and increased citation and usage. There are no submission, page or colour figure charges.

If authors choose to publish their article open access, an APC waiver may be available. Before applying for an APC waiver please consider: (1) Does your institution have an open access agreement with BMJ? If it does, then this may cover all or part of the APC for your article. Check BMJ’s open access agreements page to find out whether your institution is a member and what discounts you may be entitled to. (2) Have you received funding from a funder with an open access mandate or policy that covers paying APCs? If so, BMJ expects that the APC will be paid in full. If neither (1) nor (2) above apply then consider (3) Are all the authors of your article based in low-income countries*? If so, you are eligible to apply for a full or partial waiver from BMJ. Visit our author hub to learn more about our waivers policy and how to request one. Please note that regardless of the funding situation, authors can still choose to publish with us at no cost, and articles will be made available to our subscribers. *This list is reviewed annually and is based upon HINARI Core Offer Groups A and B, and the World Bank Country and Lending Groups.

A rapid response is a moderated but not peer reviewed online response to a published article in Injury Prevention; it will not receive a DOI and will not be indexed. Find out more about responses and how to submit a response.

Please review the below article type specifications including the required article lengths, illustrations, table limits and reference counts. The word count excludes the title page, abstract, tables, acknowledgements, contributions and references. Manuscripts should be as succinct as possible.

For further support when making your submission please refer to the resources available on the BMJ Author Hub. Here you will find information on writing and formatting your research through to the peer review process and promoting your paper. You may also wish to use the language editing and translation services provided by BMJ Author Services.

Original research articles Short report research articles Methodology articles Systematic review and meta-analyses State of the art review Protocol Special feature Editorials and commentaries Supplements

Most manuscripts published by Injury Prevention describe original research. The journal publishes research that is either quantitative or qualitative in nature. Please note that we require registration of clinical trials and reporting of randomised clinical trials according to the CONSORT guidelines. We also ask that authors follow the STROBE guidelines when reporting observational studies. Although not required for publication in Injury Prevention, authors are encouraged to review similar published guidelines for reporting systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and diagnostic test assessments. Templates for CONSORT, STROBE and other reporting guidelines are available through the Equator Network. Use of any guideline should be mentioned explicitly in the Methods section of the manuscript. Completed checklists can be included in supplemental material, which will be made available online. Injury Prevention requires a structured abstract for its original research articles. The word count for the Abstract is separate from that for the main manuscript. The first sentence of the abstract should describe the general issue being addressed, with the second sentence stating the specific objectives of the work presented in the manuscript. Injury Prevention requires a summary of the key messages of your article in point form after your Abstract using the following headings. This section should be no more than 3-5 sentences distinct from the Abstract; be concise, specific and accurate. It should be written in a thoroughly readable and understandable way by a general readership without them having to read your entire manuscript. This section is not included in the main manuscript word count.

• What is already known on this topic - summarise the state of scientific knowledge on this subject before you did your study and why this study needed to be done.
• What this study adds - summarise what we now know because of this study that we did not know before
• How might this study affect research, practice, or policy - summarise the study's implications.

This will be published as a summary box after the Abstract in the final published article. See the information below for specific guidance on writing and focusing these key messages for Injury Prevention. Following the lead of The BMJ and its patient partnership strategy, Injury Prevention encourages active patient involvement in setting the research agenda. As such, we require all authors of Original Research Articles to add a Patient and Public Involvement statement in the Methods section. Please see more details above. Injury Prevention also requires all papers to formally consider the ethical and privacy implications of the presented data. All authors must include a specific ethics statement in the main body of their manuscript to ensure that their work entirely agrees with the BMJ research ethics policies (Human participants and animals). Placed at the end of the Methods, this needs to provide specific information about ethics approval for the work. Even when ethics approval was not obtained, reasons for this need to be stated and relevant ethical considerations still discussed. The main text and the Abstract should both use the following four headings: Background, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions. Specific formatting information for all manuscripts published in Injury Prevention is given below after the manuscript type list. Papers will be returned to authors if they do not fully follow all requirements of the stated journal style. Word count: up to 3000 words for quantitative studies and up to 4000 words for qualitative studies Structured Abstract: up to 250 words Tables/Illustrations: up to 6 References: up to 40

Short reports are intended to highlight interesting findings that do not warrant the space required for an original article. They differ from Correspondence in that they present new data or findings that stand on their own rather than referring to a work already published. They can present pilot or preliminary data, provided this is novel in nature and with rigorous methodological standards. Injury Prevention requires a structured abstract for its Short Report articles. The word count for the Abstract is separate from that for the main manuscript. Please include a summary of the key messages of your article after your Abstract using the following headings. This section should be no more than 3-5 sentences and distinct from the Abstract; be concise, specific and accurate. It should be written in a thoroughly readable and understandable way by a general readership without them having to read your full manuscript. This section is not included in the main manuscript word count.

• What is already known on this topic - summarise the state of scientific knowledge on this subject before you did your study and why this study needed to be done.
• What this study adds - summarise what we now know because of this study that we did not know before
• How might this study affect research, practice, or policy - summarise the implications of this study.

Injury Prevention also requires all papers to consider the information's ethical and privacy implications formally. All authors must include a specific ethics statement in the main body of their manuscript and ensure that their work entirely agrees with the BMJ research ethics policies (Human participants and animals). Placed at the end of the Methods, this needs to provide specific information about ethics approval for the work. Even when ethics approval was not obtained, reasons for this need to be stated and relevant ethical considerations still discussed. The main text and the Abstract should both use the following four headings: Background, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions. Specific formatting information for all manuscripts published in Injury Prevention is given below after the manuscript type list. Papers will be returned to authors if they do not fully follow all requirements of the stated journal style. Length: up to 1500 words Structured Abstract: up to 250 words Tables/Illustrations: up to 4 References: up to 20

New methodological contributions and studies or appraisals of existing/emerging methodological approaches are important to this field. Papers with this focus are reviewed in the same manner as Original Articles. Detailed items (large tables or graphs) can be included with the submission, but may be published as supplementary files. Injury Prevention requires a structured abstract for its Methodology articles. The word count for the Abstract is separate from that for the main manuscript.  Please include a summary of the key messages of your article after your Abstract using the following headings. This section should be no more than 3-5 sentences and distinct from the Abstract; be concise, specific and accurate. It should be written in a thoroughly readable and understandable way by a general readership without them having to read your full manuscript. This section is not included in the main manuscript word count.

• What is already known on this topic – summarise the state of scientific knowledge on this subject before you did your study and why this study needed to be done.
• What this study adds – summarise what we now know because of this study that we did not know before
• How might this study affect research, practice, or policy? Summarise the implications of this study.

This will be published as a summary box after the Abstract in the final published article. Word count: up to 3000 words Structured Abstract: up to 250 words Tables/Illustrations: up to 6 References: up to 40

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are welcomed. Detailed items (large tables or graphs) can be included but may be published as supplementary files. Injury Prevention requires a structured abstract for its Systematic Reviews and meta-analysis articles. The word count for the Abstract is separate from that for the main manuscript. Please include a summary of the key messages of your article after your Abstract using the following headings. This section should be no more than 3-5 sentences, distinct from the Abstract; be concise, specific and accurate. It should be written in a thoroughly readable and understandable way by a general readership without them having to read your entire manuscript. This section is not included in the main manuscript word count.

• What is already known on this topic - summarise the state of scientific knowledge on this subject before you did your study and why this study needed to be done.
• What this study adds - summarise what we now know because of this study that we did not know before
• How might this study affect research, practice, or policy? Summarise the implications of this study.

This will be published as a summary box after the Abstract in the final published article. Word count: up to 4000 words Structured Abstract: up to 250 words Tables/Illustrations: up to 6 References: up to 60

These are intended to be comprehensive, evidence-based summaries of topics at the leading edge of injury prevention research. They are usually commissioned, but unsolicited reviews are welcomed. State of the Art Reviews should follow this structure: Introduction: An outline of why this topic is important. Critical issues: The specific cutting-edge, topical, or problematic elements of the subject that make this a 'hot' topic. Each issue should be stated, and the evidence (for/against) should be included. Gaps in the literature: Indicating where more research needs to be done. Recommendations: Advice for injury prevention professionals, based on the currently available evidence summarised in the article. Future directions: Advice for researchers, outlining the next steps to advance the field.

Special Feature is a category reserved for papers that do not fit neatly in any of the other categories. Authors with what they believe to be such papers should communicate with the Editor about their item's suitability before submission. A Special Feature item need not follow the customary structure of a research or review paper.

Editorials are usually commissioned or written by Injury Prevention Editors and Editorial Board members. However, we are happy to consider unsolicited editorials or commentary items on any relevant topic. Intending authors should correspond with the Editor about this before submission. Editorial items should critically discuss prominent issues in the field and identify areas where more information is needed. Content should be of topical interest and evident importance to injury and violence prevention in a global context. Areas of debate need to be dealt with in a balanced way, and unanswered questions need to be clarified.

All editorials will undergo peer review, and an invitation to submit will not guarantee acceptance.  Word count: up to 1500 words Abstract: none Tables/illustrations: up to 2 References: up to 20

The BMJ Publishing Group journals are willing to consider publishing supplements to regular issues. Supplement proposals may be made at the request of:

• The journal editor, an editorial board member or a learned society may wish to organise a meeting, sponsorship may be sought and the proceedings published as a supplement.
• The journal editor, editorial board member or learned society may wish to commission a supplement on a particular theme or topic. Again, sponsorship may be sought.
• The BMJPG itself may have proposals for supplements where sponsorship may be necessary.
• A sponsoring organisation, often a pharmaceutical company or a charitable foundation, that wishes to arrange a meeting, the proceedings of which will be published as a supplement.In all cases, it is vital that the journal's integrity, independence and academic reputation is not compromised in any way.

For further information on criteria that must be fulfilled, download the supplements guidelines. When contacting us regarding a potential supplement, please include as much of the information below as possible.

• Journal in which you would like the supplement published
• Title of supplement and/or meeting on which it is based
• Date of meeting on which it is based
• Proposed table of contents with provisional article titles and proposed authors
• An indication of whether authors have agreed to participate
• Sponsor information including any relevant deadlines
• An indication of the expected length of each paper Guest Editor proposals if appropriate

All manuscripts submitted to Injury Prevention are expected to follow the BMJ formatting guidelines at a minimum (see Formatting your paper). Manuscripts that do not also comply with the specific requirements outlined below will be returned to the authors for correction before being accepted formally for publication in the journal. Injury Prevention is a genuinely global journal with a broad authorship from around the globe. Its readers are also worldwide, and all manuscripts must be easily readable by this diverse audience. Specific journal requirements to enhance and facilitate this are listed below. Injury Prevention is also highly committed to helping develop early-mid-career researchers' skills and careers as they begin their journey as injury prevention researchers with impact. Similarly, the journal aims to support the development of research capability and capacity in emerging researchers from low-middle income categories. Some helpful BMJ guidance, specifically for early career researchers, can be found here. The information below is aimed mainly at these new and developing researchers who wish to publish their research, but it also applies to all authors of manuscripts to be published by Injury Prevention. Please see full guidance and specific formatting and article structure requirements for all authors of manuscripts to be published in Injury Prevention.