Author Guidelines

All authors and co-authors should carefully review the following author guidelines prior to submitting a manuscript to the Journal of System Safety. Acknowledgement and acceptance of journal policies is a required part of the submission process.

Access

Journal of System Safety is a peer-reviewed Gold Open Access journal. This means that published articles are immediately made available on the journal website. Published articles are available without any subscription, registration, or viewing fees. Articles are licensed for sharing or reuse per the JSS Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Licensing Policy.

The journal is published triannually.

Costs

JSS does not charge any Article Processing Charges (APC), submission fees, or any other form of author payments. This completely free open publishing model is sometimes referred to as Diamond Open Access. Details of the journal funding may be found in Business Model and Revenue Sources

Submissions

JSS accepts the following types of manuscripts:

  • Original Articles: Experimental research, theoretical studies, case studies, or other scholarly papers that advance the theory and practice of system safety (peer reviewed)
  • Review Articles: Papers reviewing and analyzing an existing body of scholarly literature relevant to system safety, often with a focus on improving application of existing theories (peer reviewed)
  • Letters to the Editor: Short pieces in response to recent articles or editorials in the journal (not peer reviewed)
  • Guest Editorials: Usually invited by the editor, an article or essay that provides an expert perspective on a current area of research, theory, application, or case study (not peer reviewed)
  • Columns: Invited by the editor, a series of articles or essays (either open- or closed-ended) that provides an expert perspective on a chosen theme(s) within system safety. (not peer reviewed)
  • Book Reviews: Often (but not necessarily) authored by a JSS editor, a short review of a book relevant to system safety (not peer reviewed)
  • System Safety in the News Items: Short news items of interest to a system safety audience that prompt scholarly discussion.

Manuscript submissions that do not fit within the stated Aims and Scope of the journal may be rejected by the editors prior to peer review..

Manuscripts that have been previously published in another peer-reviewed journal are generally not acceptable for JSS. When in doubt, please contact the editor.

Submissions to JSS should be made via the “Make a Submission” button on the JSS website. Authors are required to register on the JSS website in order to make a submission.

Policies

Prior to making any submission, authors are asked to confirm that they have reviewed and accepted the following important JSS policies:

Preparing Your Manuscript

JSS authors are required to have an ORCID ID prior to publication. ORCID, which stands for Open Researcher and Contributor ID, is a unique, persistent identifier provided free of charge to researchers. ORCID helps support transparent and ethical publishing practices.

Manuscripts should be prepared per the JSS Manuscript Template and the JSS Style Guide. These documents includes requirements and recommendations for text styles, formatting, figures, citation styles, and more.

Authors must ensure that they have received permission from copyright holders to reproduce any tables, figures, photos, or large sections of text in their article.

During submission, the submitting author will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors and identify who is to be the corresponding author.

After Submission

Upon successful submission, the Peer Review Process will commence. The peer review process will result in a decision to Accept, Revise, or Reject.

If a manuscript is rejected, and the author(s) believe the process was unfair, biased, or otherwise unethical, the authors may file an appeal per the Complaints and Appeals process.

Upon acceptance of the manuscript, the typesetting and publication process will commence. During this process, authors are expected to respond to queries and review requests in a timely manner to ensure speedy publication.

After Publication

As a Gold Open Access journal, JSS strongly encourages authors to share and promote their research per our Author Promotion Guide.

If the authors become aware of significant errors in the manuscript after publication, they have a duty to notify the editor via the Post-publication Inquiries and Corrections.