Acceptance Decisions
SJOH operates two levels of acceptance decision, each representing a distinct stage in the path to publication:
Editorial Accept
A provisional acceptance issued when the handling editor is satisfied with the scientific content of the manuscript. This triggers a round of final formatting and technical checks before full acceptance is confirmed.
Formal Accept
The definitive acceptance issued once all formatting and technical requirements have been fulfilled. At this point the journal office will send a formal acceptance notification and the manuscript will proceed to production.
Final Technical Checks
Following the editorial accept decision, journal staff carry out a thorough review of the manuscript to confirm it meets all formatting and technical requirements. Elements verified at this stage include:
- Author names and affiliations
- Funding statement
- Competing interests statement
- Data availability statement
- Figure and table formatting
- File names for figures, tables, and supporting information
You can help speed up this stage by reviewing our submission guidelines in advance and responding promptly to any queries from the journal team.
Sharing Your Review History
Once your submission is accepted for publication, you will be invited to opt in to publishing the peer review history of your manuscript via a form in our submission system. The peer review history package contains the editorial decision letter for each round of revision, together with the reviews and your responses to reviewer comments, including any attachments. Read more about published peer review history.
Author Proofing
You will receive an author proof prior to publication. This is your opportunity to verify that the manuscript is scientifically accurate before it goes live. When your proof is ready, you will receive an email notification with access instructions. Please monitor your inbox for this message and add the sender address to your address book to ensure delivery.
Connecting to Your Preprint
If you chose to forward your manuscript to bioRxiv or medRxiv for consideration as a preprint, and received confirmation that it was posted, the preprint will automatically link to your published article once it appears online. Read more about preprints at SJOH.
Article Version Tracking
SJOH participates in the CrossMark service, a multi-publisher initiative that provides a standard mechanism for readers to locate the most current version of an article. By displaying the CrossMark logo, SJOH is committing to keeping the content it publishes up to date and to notifying readers of changes as and when they occur.
Clicking the CrossMark logo on any article will show you the current publication status of that document and may also provide additional publication record information.
Media and Press
Accepted manuscripts are under embargo until 2 p.m. Eastern Time on the date of publication. The embargo lifts at the moment the article becomes available online.
When is my manuscript considered "in press"?
A manuscript is considered "in press" once it has been formally accepted by the journal.
Each week, the journal identifies research to feature in a press release. You may also choose to issue a press release independently or through your institution. Read more about press releases.
Can I discuss my research before it is published?
You may discuss your research prior to publication for scientific purposes only. This includes presenting your findings at conferences or sharing them on preprint servers.
Please do not discuss your research with the press until after your manuscript has been accepted and assigned a publication date.
Indexing and Archiving
All published articles will be deposited in PubMed Central. Read about our other indexing and archiving services.
Reprints and Reuse
All SJOH content is published Open Access. You are free to print as many copies as you wish and to reuse the content for any purpose at no cost, provided the original source is properly cited in accordance with the CC BY licence terms.