Instructions for Authors

Terms of publishing papers in the journal “Medycyna Pracy. Workers’ Health and Safety”
for authors of manuscripts in English

Bimonthly titled “Medycyna Pracy. Workers’ Health and Safety” (hereinafter referred to as the “Medycyna Pracy”) has been published since 1950 – since 1990 by Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine (Łódź, Poland) under the auspices of the Polish Society of Occupational Medicine (Łódź, Poland). The rules governing the procedure of publishing papers in the journal are adjusted to the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals) stipulated by the International Committee of Medical Journals Editors (ICMJE).

I. GENERAL
In the event of any discrepancy between the provisions of the Terms of publishing papers in the journal “Medycyna Pracy. Workers’ Health and Safety” for authors of manuscripts in English accepted by the author/co-authors on the date of submission of the manuscript to the “Medycyna Pracy. Workers’ Health and Safety” by the Editorial System and the provisions of the Agreement entered into by the author/co-authors, the provisions of the Agreement shall prevail, with the provision that the fees charged to the author/co-authors indicated in the Agreement shall be the fees in effect on the date of submission of the manuscript to the “Medycyna Pracy. Workers’ Health and Safety.”
1. “Medycyna Pracy” publishes original papers, review papers, case studies, and standards – guidelines in Polish and in English (for instructions concerning articles in Polish: Regulamin ogłaszania prac w czasopiśmie dla autorów manuskryptów w języku polskim). Special preference is given to papers concerning occupational medicine and public health, including occupational pathology, physical, chemical and biological agents at workplace, toxicology, mutagenesis, health policy, health management, health care, epidemiology, etc. The journal also includes reports from national and international scientific conferences on occupational medicine and letters to the editor. Manuscripts must be original and previously unpublished (it also applies to repositories). Manuscripts that do not meet the requirements specified in the Terms are returned to authors for redrafting before evaluating their contents. Only manuscripts written in correct English will be accepted.
2. The articles submitted to “Medycyna Pracy” are screened for plagiarism and then reviewed. The principles for the reviewing and the review form are available from: Instructions for Reviewers.
The Publisher’s policy allows the publication in the journal of articles whose authors/co-authors are chief editors, their deputies and associate editors. By respecting COPE’s recommendations regarding ethics, the Publisher ensures that the review process is always conducted in a transparent manner and in accordance with the good publishing practice. Entrusting an article authored/co-authored by editors-in-chief, their deputies or associate editors, to other persons as appropriate and submitting it to independent reviewers for evaluation minimizes the conflict of interest.
3. The use of the articles is set forth by the license CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International), and the publisher recommends that the authors depositing their works in the domain and institutional repositories should use the official published version of the article (VoR) posted on the journal website (https://medpr.imp.lodz.pl/en) – see Copyright and self-archiving policy.
4. The manuscript should be submitted via the Editorial System.
5. The article processing charge (APC):
1) The publisher of “Medycyna Pracy” collects the following fees from the authors:

Payment received in EUR or USD, which exceeds the amount set in the price list will be returned and the refund/repayment will be reduced by bank transfer costs. The APC receivables paid are non-refundable up to EUR 25/USD 30.
2) Fees indicated in the “Terms of publishing papers” in force on the day the article is submitted are subject to change based on the offers/promotions effective at the time, if their conditions are met.
3) The fees include VAT (23%). It does not apply to foreign companies subject to VAT who settle VAT in their own country.
4) Letters to the editor are exempted from payment of the fees.
5) Payment information:
Payment from Poland: 23 1240 3028 1111 0000 2822 2749
Instytut Medycyny Pracy im. prof. J. Nofera
ul. św. Teresy od Dzieciątka Jezus 8
91-348 Łódź, Poland
II Oddział Banku Pekao SA w Łodzi

Payment from other countries:

in EUR – IBAN: PL89 1240 6292 1978 0011 0293 4790, SWIFT: PKOPPLPW
in USD – IBAN: PL55 1240 6292 1787 0011 0311 8582, SWIFT: PKOPPLPW

Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine
sw. Teresy 8
91-348 Lodz, Poland
II Oddział Banku Pekao SA w Łodzi

payment title: APC (article number in the Editorial System, name of the first author)

6) The cost of bank charges is incurred by the authors.
7) The Author of the initially accepted manuscript who provided the invoice data to the Editorial System, will receive a link to the invoice with a 14-day payment term.
8) In the case of withdrawal of the article accepted for publication before the publication, the authors are reimbursed in the amount equivalent to 70% of the APC. The reimbursement may take place only on condition that the authors have sent to the publisher’s e-mail address: mp@imp.lodz.pl a completed and signed Request for reimbursement of APC.
9) The APC for Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine employees is defined in separate internal regulations.
6. Articles not sent back to the publisher will be withdrawn:

II. SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Transfer of Copyright Agreement
1) The Agreement is generated in the Editorial System after the article has been initially accepted for publication in the journal. The corresponding author receives a link to the Agreement in the decision letter.
2) The Agreement, signed by all co-authors, should be submitted to the Editorial System within 14 days after the information that the article is initially accepted for publication in the journal has been sent to the corresponding author. Submission of the Agreement means that the authors agree with the stipulations set forth in Clause III hereof.
3) In case copyrighted materials are used (e.g., adaptation, translation, reprint of already published materials and others), the authors are obliged to attach to the Agreement the consent of the owner of the proprietary rights – in accordance with the stipulations set forth in Clause III.1.7 hereof (Appendices to the Agreement – at the bottom of this page). If the publisher of the material makes use of his own form, the consent should be submitted on the publisher’s own form.
4) The Agreement contains input of the individual authors (research concept, research methodology, collecting material, statistical analysis, interpretation of results, references), declared by authors while submitting the publication via the Editorial System. Ghostwriting and guest authorship, which constitute scientific misconduct, will be publicized by the publisher by notifying the institutions employing the authors, scholarly societies, etc.
2. The Title Page
It must contain: 1) the title of the paper (concise but informative); 2) a running title (max 50 characters, including spaces); 3) full names of the authors (the order of authors’ names as in the Editorial System – this is the order to be published; it is not possible to change the order of names after signing the agreement); 4) affiliations (institution name, city, country, department name and organizational unit); 5) author contributions (as in the Editorial System – this is the contribution to be published; it is not possible to change the author contributions after signing the agreement); 6) corresponding author’s data (name and surname, institution name and address, e-mail address and telephone number); 7) funding source data: the number and title of the program/research/grant under which the study has been carried out and the funding sources used for the publication, the manager/chief investigator of the program/research/grant data (name and surname, degree); 8) information on a potential conflict of interest; 9) acknowledgments: a) contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, such as support by a departmental chair; b) acknowledgments of technical help.
3. Manuscript Arrangement
The authors should submit the editable electronic copies of: 1) body of manuscript, 2) title page, 3) tables, 4) figures, 5) appendixes (e.g., forms, questionnaires, surveys, etc.). The publisher accepts works prepared in Microsoft Word, 12-point Times New Roman font, 1.5-spaced, A4 format. The figures should be prepared in the format described in the paragraph titled FIGURES.
The manuscripts should be submitted with good English. The English language articles and English language parts of the articles in Polish will not be copyedited nor proofread. The publisher offers copyediting and copyediting/proofreading services for an additional fee for initially accepted articles (Editing and translations). The cost calculation is provided on request (mp@imp.lodz.pl).
Manuscript length restrictions and additional fees

tables:
max 6 tables, each additional – PLN 100 (for domestic payments only)/EUR 30/USD 40,
figures:
max 5 figures, each additional – PLN 100 (for domestic payments only)/EUR 30/USD 40,
body text characters (body text – without abstract, tables, figures and references) – counted in the text accepted for publication:

review papers:
max 40 000 characters, including spaces, each additional range 1–1800 characters started – PLN 60 (for domestic payments only)/EUR 20/USD 30,
original papers:
max 30 000 characters, including spaces, each additional range 1–1800 characters started – PLN 60 (for domestic payments only)/EUR 20/USD 30,

number of characters of references that exceeds the acceptable number of items – counted in the text accepted for publication:
each additional range 1–1800 characters started – PLN 60 (for domestic payments only)/EUR 20/USD 30.

Other article types report to the limits applied to the original papers.

HIGHLIGHTS: 3–5 bullet points (max 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point):
Highlights consist of a short collection of bullet points that capture the novel results of the research as well as new methods that were used during the study (if any). Don’t try to capture all ideas, concepts or conclusions. Highlights should be submitted into the Editorial System.

ABSTRACT: Up to 300 words:
The abstract should provide the context or background for the study and should state the study’s purpose, basic procedures (selection of study participants, settings, measurements, analytical methods), main findings (giving specific effect sizes and their statistical and clinical significance, if possible), and principal conclusions. It should emphasize new and important aspects of the study or observations, note important limitations, and not overinterpret findings.

Original papers: the abstract should have a structured form, i.e.: Objectives, Material and Methods, Results, Conclusions.
Review papers: the abstract should be descriptive, i.e., containing most important information on the scope and type of review, methods of collection and selection of literature, as well as a short summary of the results of the review, with an indication for further research.

KEY WORDS: 6 key words – according to the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), each one started with a capital letter.

ORIGINAL PAPERS: These should present the methods and results of authors’ own research and thorough evaluation and the reference to other research on the topic. They should include:

Introduction: It should give a clear, concise account of the background of the problem and the rationale behind the investigation. Only references with a direct bearing on the work submitted should be cited.
Material and Methods: This section should be detailed so as to give the reader a clear idea of what has been done. Full names of drugs, chemicals, etc., should be specified, together with the sources from which they have been obtained. A chemical’s full name should precede its trade, common-usage name, or its abbreviation. Non-metrical measurement units, if used during the investigation, must be accompanied by their metric (SI) equivalents.

Ethics: When reporting experiments on human subjects, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of a responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration as revised in 2013. Do not use patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the institution’s or a national research council’s guidelines or any national law on the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.
Statistics: Describe statistical methods with enough detail to provide a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results. When possible, quantify the findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Avoid relying solely on statistical hypothesis testing, such as the use of p values, which fails to convey important quantitative information.

Results: These should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and figures. Do not repeat in the text all data given in tables or figures; emphasize or summarize only important observations.
Discussion: Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and a comprehensive interpretation of the results obtained against the background of the existing knowledge. Quotations should be restricted to those with immediate relevance to the author’s findings. A review-like approach should be avoided. Strengths and limitations of the study should be pointed out.
Conclusions: Should refer to the established aims of the paper.

REVIEW PAPERS: They are intended to provide a condensed presentation of results of recently published works on a given topic (or their chronological presentation) and a thorough assessment of the current state of knowledge. They should include:

Introduction: A clear and concise description of the scope of the review, outline of the research problem and the current state of knowledge in a given field, and a clear presentation of the aims and reasons for undertaking the review.
Methods: Precise description of the criteria for selection and exclusion of reference works with an indication of their limitations and/or advantages, indication of methods used to search the literature (searching of electronic databases, browsing of magazines), key words used, time period covered by the review (year of publication of the analyzed articles), language of publications, etc.
Results: Concise, clear, consistent and impartial description of new information, ideas, methods and prospective research in the discussed field.
Conclusions: They should indicate perspectives for further research and theoretical and/or practical implications of new findings or discoveries reported in the work.

Concise but clear intertitles should be used in the text to facilitate browsing of the paper by the readers. It is advisable to include most important data in tables and figures – the information contained there should not be repeated in the text.

REFERENCES: Up to 60 items in the review paper, 30 items in the original study and other article types – references, prepared according to the Vancouver style, should take into account the full references of all of the publications (including legal acts, websites, etc.) as referred to by the author in the text. Avoiding citation of the author’s own publications is recommended to preserve the author’s anonymity in the process of paper evaluation by reviewers. Reference should be numbered consecutively (Arabic numerals in square brackets) in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. In the case of another citation of the same item, the same number should be given. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used for MEDLINE. Additionally, if the article/book has a DOI number, it should be included in the references.
Exemplary references – consistent with the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE):

paper in the journal:

standard article: Śliwińska-Kowalska M. Exposure to organic solvent mixture and hearing loss: Literature overview. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2007;20(4):309–14. https://doi.org/10.2478/v10001-007-0032-2.
more than 6 authors: Jędrychowski W, Pac A, Choi H, Jacek R, Sochacka-Tatara E, Dumyahn TS, et al. Personal exposure to fine particles and benzo[a]pyrene. Relation with indoor and outdoor concentrations of these pollutants in Kraków. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2007;20(4):339–48. https://doi.org/10.2478/v10001-007-0035-z.
article not in English: Ellingsen AE, Wilhelmsen I. Sykdomsangstblantmedisin- ogjusstudenter. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2002;122(8):785–7. Norwegian.
optional: Stępka E, Basińska MA. [Temperament vs. chronic fatigue in police officers]. Med Pr. 2015;66(6):793–801. https://doi.org/10.13075/mp.5893.00205. Polish.
unpublished material: Tian D, Araki H, Stahl E, Bergelson J, Kreitman M. Signature of balancing selection in Arabidopsis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. Forthcoming 2002.

books and chapters in the book:

o personal author: Pałczyński C. Occupational allergy in healthcare workers. Łódź: Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine; 2002.
editor: Gilstrap LC 3rd, Cunningham FG, VanDorsten JP, editors. Operative obstetrics. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002.
chapter in the book: Kopias J. Principles of organizing and exercising preventive health care over the working population. In: Byczkowska Z, Dawydzik L, editors. Occupational medicine in medical practice. Łódź: NoferInstitute of OccupationalMedicine; 1999. p. 148–60.

electronic sources:

homepage/website: World Health Organization [Internet]. Geneva: The Organization; 2016 [cited 2016 Mar 1]. Available from: http://www.who.dk.
part of a homepage/website: World Health Organization [Internet]. Geneva: The Organization; 2016 [cited 2016 Mar 1]. Highlights on health in Czech Republic 2005. Available from: http://www.euro.who.int/en/countries/czech-republic/publications3/highlights-on-health-in-czech-republic-2005.
monograph on the Internet: Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2016 Jun 15]. Available from: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309074029/html.

conference proceedings: Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour Conference; 2001 Sep 13–15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.
conference paper: Christensen S, Oppacher F. An analysis of Koza's computational effort statistic for genetic programming. In: Foster JA, Lutton E, Miller J, Ryan C, Tettamanzi AG, editors. Genetic programming. EuroGP 2002: Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Genetic Programming; 2002 Apr 3–5; Kinsdale, Ireland. Berlin: Springer; 2002. p. 182–91.
dissertation: Kaplan SJ. Post-hospital home health care: The elderly’s access and utilization [dissertation]. St. Louis: Washington University; 1995.
legal material: [Regulation of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy of 6 June 2014 on the maximum admissible concentrations and intensities for agents harmful to health in the working environment. J Laws 2014, item 817]. Polish.

Complete rules concerning literature are available in the recommendations set out by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
The publisher does not interfere with the references.

TABLES: Tables should be prepared in one file, typed on separate pages, developed using the tools to create tables in Microsoft Word. Tables should be numbered consecutively (Arabic numerals), in the order of their first citation in the text. The place of referring to the table in the main text should be marked with its number (e.g., Table 1). The file with tables should include: a) the number of the table with the title concerning content of the table (which should make the table comprehensible without reference to the text), b) explained abbreviations used in the table.
FIGURES: Figures should be black and white, made in the vector format (EPS, SVG, PDF, CDR or AI) and sent via the Editorial System in the bitmap format (JPG, GIF, TIF, BMP or PNG) or DOC/XLS file (preferably in one file). The publisher will request for sending figures in the vector format after the article has been accepted for publication in the journal. Figures should be numbered consecutively (Arabic numerals), in the order of their first citation in the text. The place of referring to the figure in the main text should be marked with its number (e.g., Figure 1). The file with figures should include: a) the number of the figure with the title concerning content of the drawing (which should make the figure comprehensible without reference to the text), b) legend and explained abbreviations used in the figure.
APPENDIXES: Forms, questionnaires, surveys, etc. should be prepared in one file and placed on separate pages, using Microsoft Word tools to create tables or as required for figures, depending on their form. They may adopt a single language version, e.g., Polish only or English only, or be prepared in Polish and English (as separate versions in Polish and English or in a bilingual version, analogously to tables). The place of reference to the appendix should be marked in the main text (e.g., appendix 1).
SOURCE OF DATA: The source of origin should be indicated for all data from other publications or unpublished sources quoted in the main text of the article, tables and figures. In case copyrighted materials are used it is necessary to obtain the consent of the owner of the proprietary rights – in accordance with recommendations set forth in Clause II.1.3 and stipulations set forth in Clause III.1.7 and III.3.3 hereof.
4. Author’s Proof and a Copy for the Author
Following the composition of the text, the corresponding author receives the article in a PDF file. The author, within the deadline set by the publisher, is obliged to prepare and send to the publisher the author’s proof, which includes only the corrections of small errors. If the proof is not returned within the deadline set by the publisher, the latter shall have the right to issue and distribute the article in the form sent for the author’s proofreading, and the author shall not have the right to make any claims in respect of any uncorrected errors. Following the publication of the journal issue, the publisher sends an electronic imprint of the author’s copy and the link to the article in the PDF format to the e-mail address of the corresponding author. The addressee is obliged to make it available to the co-authors.

III. RESERVATIONS
1. Submission to the publisher the signed Agreement as referred to in Clause II.1 hereof means that the authors warrant that:
1) they accept the full text of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (also known as CC BY 4.0);
2) the article, including tables/figures/photographs/appendices (except for those listed under item 7 of this paragraph), is the result of their original creative work, and they are entitled to exclusive and unrestricted copyright to the article and that by the date of the Agreement they have not taken any commitments that would limit or waive their right to the article;
3) they are not members of an organization of collective management of copyright and they have not entered into an agreement with an organization of such kind for the management of the copyright;
4) they have placed in the article, on the title page, full information about the funding source (including the number and title of the program/research/grant under which the study has been carried out and the funding sources used for the publication, the manager/chief investigator of the program/research/grant data (name and surname, degree) and other financial relationships with any organization or person with a direct financial contribution to the subject of the research or examined materials discussed in the article (e.g., through employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria); they have placed in the article, on the title page, full information about competing interests, if there is any;
5) the article has not been previously published (see Copyright and self-archiving policy);
6) the article does not contain statements inconsistent with the law;
7) all the necessary permits for the citations of other sources (citations beyond the so-called quotation law as referred to in Article 29 § 1 of the Act of 4 February 1994 on Copyright and Related Rights) and others will be obtained by the authors and attached to the Agreement with the publisher of “Medycyna Pracy”;
8) there are no other circumstances that could expose the publisher to any liability to any third parties arising from the publication or distribution of the article;
9) they accept the publisher’s rights to make technical and linguistic editing without consulting it with the authors as well as to shorten the submitted manuscripts.
2. The authors bear full responsibility for the veracity of these warrants. In the event a third party makes claims against the publisher in connection with the use of the article or disposal of the rights to the article, the author/co-authors shall participate in the court proceedings on behalf of the publisher as soon as they are informed of this fact by the publisher as well as to pay immediately, not later than within 14 days of the receipt of a written notice from the publisher, any costs incurred in this respect by the publisher and in particular the cost of damages, remedies, court costs and costs of legal assistance. This obligation includes the obligation of the authors to cover all documented damages, including those resulting from the judicial or extra-judicial settlements or court ruling.
3. The publisher of “Medycyna Pracy” agrees to publish the article provided that:
1) the content analysis of the article has proven no infringement of other entities’ copyrights,
2) the article has been accepted following the review procedure,
3) the authors have incurred the APC and submitted to the Editorial System the correctly filled in Agreement that has been signed by all co-authors, including all required permissions in case copyrighted materials are and/or an image is used.

Editorial Office:
Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine
Publishing Office
św. Teresy 8, 91-348 Łódź, Poland
tel. +48 42 6314 717
e-mail: mp@imp.lodz.pl
Editorial System: https://www.editorialsystem.com/medpren
Journal website: https://medpr.imp.lodz.pl/en
FB: oficynawydawniczaimp

Last update: August 1, 2024

Documents:
Request for reimbursement of APC (DOC)
Appendices to the Agreement (PDF)

Terms of publishing papers:
Terms in force until 2024 July 31 (PDF)
Terms in force until 2024 May 23 (PDF)
Terms in force until 2024 Feb 7 (PDF)
Terms in force until 2023 Dec 31 (PDF)
Terms in force until 2023 Oct 12 (PDF)

Terms and conditions of the promotions:
Terms and conditions promotion MP spring 1.03-17.04.2023 (PDF)

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