JRS submission requirements
JRS template
Instructions for Authors
When preparing to submit to the Journal of Road Safety (JRS), Carefully read and follow the Instructions for Authors, prepare your manuscript following the template in Word, and ensure your manuscript complies with the submission checklist at the end of the template before you submit.
The JRS is Open Access and free for authors and readers. To assist the JRS to continue to provide this free publication, the onus is on authors regarding English editing, format compliance and proofreading of submissions. Manuscripts that do not fully meet the requirements as per JRS template and Instructions for Authors will be repeatedly returned to authors for revision prior to peer/editorial review until it fully complies with JRS submission requirements. All papers submitted to the JRS undergo a peer-review process with subject matter experts. See detailed review process under Reviewer instructions.
Submit your paper online at Scholastica using the button above. For help with the submission system, see the Scholastica Author Guide here. If you have any issues using this online system please contact the JRS Managing Editor, Dr Chika Sakashita, at journaleditor@acrs.org.au
Please note: by making a submission to the JRS, all authors understand and are agreeing to the licenses, copyright terms and publication ethics of the JRS – please read under Editorial Policy.
JRS article types
Original Road Safety Research
For papers presenting road safety data or findings that are original. Original Road Safety Research articles allow authors to showcase ground breaking research and/or innovative approaches to improving road safety based on original data and analyses in any field of road safety e.g. road infrastructure, vehicle technology, enforcement practices. Start the manuscript with Key Findings using 3-5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point), describing the essence of the research (e.g. results or conclusions) and highlighting what is distinctive about it.
- Word count: up to 5000 words, including key findings and references.
- Abstract: up to 250 words.
- Key words: up to 6.
- Tables/Figures: up to 6.
- References: up to 40.
Road Safety Data, Research & Evaluation Methods
For papers focused on new methodological contributions, studies/appraisals of existing methodological approaches (e.g. cost-benefit analysis), or data management in road safety. Start the manuscript with Key Findings using 3-5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point), describing the essence of the research (e.g. results or conclusions) and highlighting what is distinctive about it.
- Word count: up to 5000 words, including key findings and references.
- Abstract: up to 250 words.
- Key words: up to 6.
- Tables/Figures: up to 6.
- References: up to 40.
Road Safety Case Studies
Papers illustrating road safety projects/programs with measurable results and the process of implementation or translation of evidence-based interventions into specific local settings and contexts. These papers must highlight any insights gained from successful and/or non-successful initiatives to assist others with similar implementation challenges (e.g. program features associated with success; political, economic or technical barriers to success and strategies to address them; references to resources that will assist in the replication of evidence-based best practice; priority research questions that need to be resolved to advance the field). Case studies from low and middle income countries are particularly welcome. Start the manuscript with Key Findings using 3-5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point), describing the essence of the experience (e.g. results or conclusions) and highlighting what is distinctive about it.
- Word count: up to 5000 words, including key findings and references.
- Abstract: up to 250 words.
- Key words: up to 6.
- Tables/Figures: up to 6.
- References: up to 40.
Road Safety Evidence Review
Papers reviewing the evidence/literature including systematic reviews and meta-analyses should try to adhere as close as possible to the principles set out in the PRISMA checklist. Start the manuscript with Key Findings using 3-5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point), describing the essence of review findings (e.g. results or conclusions) and highlighting what is distinctive about it.
- Word count: up to 5000 words, including key findings and references.
- Abstract: up to 250 words.
- Key words: up to 6.
- Tables/Figures: up to 6.
Road Safety Best Practice Guidance
A practical guidance paper on how to (not academic literature review) translate research evidence into policy and/or implementation in a particular field of road safety e.g. how to apply successful speed management solutions in Australia in a low- or middle-income country; evidence based best practice in road law and enforcement of it.
- Word count: up to 5000 words, including key findings and references.
- Abstract: up to 250 words.
- Key words: up to 6.
- Tables/Figures: up to 6.
Road Safety Theory
Formulation, refinement and critical analyses of theories which may guide research, policy and practice in road safety.
- Word count: up to 5000 words, including key findings and references.
- Abstract: up to 250 words.
- Key words: up to 6.
- Tables/Figures: up to 6.
- A practical guidance paper on how to (not academic literature review) translate research evidence into policy and/or implementation in a particular field of road safety e.g. how to apply successful speed management solutions in Australia in a low- or middle-income country; evidence based best practice in road law and enforcement of it.
Road Safety Media Review
Papers that critically review newspapers, TV, radio, advertising, online and other media related to road safety and that highlight practical implications which could assist in improving road safety. Start the manuscript with Key Findings using 2-3 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point), describing the essence of the review and highlighting what is distinctive about it.
- Word count: up to 2000 words, including key findings and references.
- Abstract: up to 150 words.
- Key words: up to 6.
- Tables/Figures: up to 2.
Commentary on Road Safety
Brief, accessible, and informative pieces covering a wide variety of timely topics of relevance to road safety. The commentary should have a depth of analysis, novel insight, and sound argument. Authors who are experts in their fields and can draw on their depth of knowledge and experience to enlighten the road safety community are sought. Promotional material about a person, program, institution, or plan; elaboration of unproven hypotheses; rehash of issues that have already been covered extensively; consensus statements are not accepted. Start the manuscript with Key Findings using 2-3 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point), describing the essence of your commentary and highlighting what is distinctive about it. The Managing Editor in consultation with the Executive Officer, Peer-review Editor, and/or Editorial Board as needed, decides the acceptance of Commentary and may be peer-reviewed depending on the Commentary submitted.
- Abstract and keywords are not required for Commentary on Road Safety.
- Word count: up to 1000 words, including key findings and references.
- Tables/Figures: 1 or 2.
Correspondence (Letters to the Editor)
Brief communications relating to material that has been recently published in the journal. Statements that may be viewed as slanderous or libelous are not permitted. Letters that are off topic, redundant or unlikely to be of interest to the general readership are not considered. The Managing Editor in consultation with the Executive Officer, Peer-review Editor, and/or Editorial Board as needed, decides which Correspondence to accept and may be peer-reviewed depending on the letter submitted.
- Abstract and keywords are not required for Correspondence.
- Word count: up to 300 words, including references.
- Tables/Figures: up to 4.
Editorial Policy
The Journal of Road Safety (JRS) published by the Australasian College of Road Safety (ACRS) applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license to articles and other works we publish. Authors retain the copyright in their papers. However, by submitting their work for publication in the JRS, authors agree to have the CC-BY applied to their work. Under this license, you as the author agree that anyone can reuse their article in whole or part for any purpose, for free, or even for commercial purposes. Anyone may copy, distribute, or reuse the content as long as the author and original source are appropriately cited. In addition, in submitting your paper for publication in the JRS, authors give their permission to the ACRS to make minor editorial changes to conform to the ACRS in-house style, to print the article in the Journal of Road Safety (ISSN 2652-4260), to send it for indexing, to make the full text of the paper available online (ISSN 2652-4252) through the ACRS and Journal websites, and to promote the paper.
If information or content from other copyrighted works are included (e.g. photos, images, figures, tables, proprietary protocols, code, etc.), the author(s) must a) obtain written permission from the copyright owners to use it and publish it under the CC-BY license, and b) credit the source(s) in the article. If the author does not have owner permission, the material should not be included it in the submitted paper or it can be replaced with other content owned by the author or which they have permission to use. All JRS authors are responsible to ascertain what rights they have to use contents they include in their manuscript.
The ACRS reserves the right to remove any content from any article, whether before or after publication, if concerns are raised about copyright, license, or permissions and the authors are unable to provide documentation confirming that appropriate permissions were obtained for publication of the content in question under a CC-BY license.
Repositories
Authors are allowed to deposit their articles in an institutional or other repository. However, if the repository has stated licensing policies, the policies should not be more restrictive than the Creative Commons Attribution CC-BY license.
Research and Publication Ethics
JRS authors are expected to be aware of, and comply with, best practice in publication ethics including authorship, dual submission, plagiarism, manipulation of figures, competing interests and compliance with policies on research ethics. This includes when reporting on research that involves human subjects, human material, human tissues, or human data.
Human Research Ethics
Human research is research conducted with or about people, or their data or tissue. Human participation in research is therefore to be understood broadly, to include the involvement of human beings through:
• taking part in surveys, interviews or focus groups;
• undergoing psychological, physiological or medical testing or treatment;
• being observed by researchers;
• researchers having access to their personal documents or other materials (e.g. Coronial data, autopsy reports, CT scans, toxicology reports, etc.);
• the collection and use of their body organs, tissues or fluids (e.g. skin, blood, urine, saliva, hair, bones, tumour and other body specimens) or their exhaled breath (e.g. breathalyser tests);
• access to their information (in individually identifiable, re-identifiable or nonidentifiable form) as part of an existing published or unpublished source or database.
Authors must declare that the investigations involving humans were carried out following the rules of the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki regarding ethical principles for research involving human subjects https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/. According to point 23 of this declaration, an approval from an ‘independent’ ethics committee should have been obtained before undertaking the research. At a minimum, a statement including the project identification code, date of approval, and name of the ethics committee or institutional review board should be stated in the article.
Examples of an ethics/review board statement:
“All subjects gave their informed consent for inclusion before they participated in the study. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee (Review Board) of XXX (Project identification code).”
Publication Ethics
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 or as an electronic preprint), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically.
Authorship must be based on the people who made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, execution, analyses, or interpretation of the reported study; drafted the article or revised it critically for intellectual contents; and who have given final approval of the version to be published. The definitive list of authors must be entered with the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted. To request such a change, the Managing Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all (added and removed) authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement.
Reviewers and editors are required to treat manuscripts fairly and in confidence, and to declare any conflicts of interests. Submissions from editor(s) and/or Editorial Board member(s) are assigned to an editor who is not one of the authors of the submission. Reviewers are asked in the invitation letter to declare any conflict of interest and to decline the peer-review invitation if there is a conflict of interest. Authors must 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 teh writing of the paper; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. Reviewers and editors are asked to notify the JRS if they identify duplicate submissions or publications or any plagiarism during the review process (see section below).
The JRS is a member of COPE and all authors must adhere to the Guidelines issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Authors are obliged to promptly notify the Managing Editor and cooperate with the Editor to retract or correct the paper when an author discovers significant errors in their own published works. Statements of compliance are required if the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use.
These COPE guidelines include the:
• Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers
• Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing
• Cooperation between research institutions and journals on research integrity cases: guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
• Retraction guidelines
• Guidelines for the Board of Directors of Learned Society Journals
• Guidance for Editors: Research, Audit and Service Evaluations
• Sharing of Information Among Editors-in-Chief Regarding Possible Misconduct
• How to deal with text recycling
• A_Short_Guide_to_Ethical_Editing
• COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers
• How to handle authorship disputes: a guide for new researchers
• Guidance for Editors
Plagiarism
Authors must write entirely original works, and appropriately and accurately cite the work and/or words of others to ensure originality and avoidance of plagiarism. The manuscript automatically undergoes a duplicate submission check. If plagiarism is detected during the peer review process, the manuscript may be rejected unless rectified by the author(s). If plagiarism is detected after publication, we will issue a correction or retract the paper, as appropriate. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:
• Directly copying text from other sources without appropriate citation.
• Copying ideas, images, or data from other sources without appropriate citation.
• Reusing text from your own previous publications without appropriate citation (see COPE guidelines on text recycling). Reusing text from the Methods section in the author’s previous publications, with attribution to the source, is acceptable.
• Using an idea from another source with slightly modified language without appropriate citation .
Complaints
If you would like to report any issues identified above or make a complaint about the Journal of Road Safety, please contact the Journal Managing Editor on journaleditor@acrs.org.au.
Advertising
Please note that the Journal of Road Safety (JRS) does not accept any article types that are deemed to be an advertisement of a product or service. However, we accept advertising and sponsorship of the JRS. This assists us with offsetting the Open Access publication costs.
Visit the ACRS website for advertising rates. For more information about advertising or becoming a JRS sponsor, please contact the Journal Managing Editor at journaleditor@acrs.org.au.