WPSAR Editorial Policy
WPSAR aims and objectives
The aims of WPSAR are to:
- to provide an open access journal to publish articles on the surveillance of and response to public health events and emergencies in the WHO Western Pacific Region and in areas with relevance to the Western Pacific Region; and
- to build capacity in communicating epidemiological and operational research within the WHO Western Pacific Region.
Our objectives are to:
- to provide a platform for people working in surveillance and response in the Western Pacific Region to share their scientific and operational findings;
- to publish a broad range of articles not limited to conventional research articles:
- to disseminate short reports on outbreak investigations
- to publish analyses of surveillance data on communicable diseases
- to encourage the publication of evaluations of new and existing surveillance systems
- to promote the use of risk assessment for public health by facilitating risk assessment articles
- to support preparedness and response to public health events and emergencies through the dissemination of lessons learnt from such events; and
- to build capacity in communicating epidemiological and operational findings in the Western Pacific Region through pre-submission assistance.
Scope
WPSAR covers all activities related to the surveillance of and response to public health events and emergencies, with a focus on topics that are relevant to the Western Pacific Region. Public health events may be acute or ongoing and can fall under any of the following areas: communicable diseases, natural disasters, food safety, bioterrorism, and chemical and radiological events. Other events and topics may also be considered. Response activities include those for acute events, e.g. responding to natural disasters, or for response to cases or epidemics of disease.
Audience
WPSAR is aimed at people working in or studying the surveillance of and response to public health events, both within the Western Pacific Region and globally. Our audience includes people conducting field epidemiology or operational research, public health professionals working in regional, national and subnational health departments or academic institutions, laboratory and other scientists and medical practitioners. WPSAR is also targeted at Field Epidemiology Training Programme fellows and graduates.
Humanitarian workers, logisticians and others involved in response activities for public health emergencies are also included.
Indexing
All articles are indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Western Pacific Region Index Medicus (WPRIM), EBSCO and Google Scholar. We have also been accepted into MedLine/PUB Med pending technical requirements.
Why publish in WPSAR?
WPSAR is not limited to conventional research articles. It publishes a broad range of articles, including short outbreak investigation reports, lessons from the field, analyses of surveillance data, evaluations of surveillance systems and risk assessments for public health events. There are limited opportunities to publish these types of articles in other journals. We also accept the more traditional original research, perspectives and case reports/case series articles.
WPSAR is an open access journal, meaning it is free of charge for both readers and authors. It is also a continuous publication, which means articles are published as soon as they have completed the review and editing process.
WPSAR accepts all articles that fit the scope of the journal and that meet the minimum publication standards. We are especially interested in field epidemiology and operational research.
WPSAR also aims to build capacity in scientific writing and encourages submissions from authors with little or no experience in publishing in peer-reviewed journals. The Coordinating Editor often works with new authors on their submissions to ensure that articles fit the scope of WPSAR and meet the minimum standards for publication.
Peer review process
Every article is initially screened by the Editorial Team to ensure it fits the scope of the journal. All articles, with the exception of regional analyses, letters to the editor, news items and meeting and conference reports, then undergo external peer review by two reviewers. This blind peer review process ensures that the reviewer does not know the identity of the author(s) and the author(s) do not know the identity of the reviewer.
Upon receipt of reviews, the Coordinating Editor assesses the comments and recommendations made by the reviewers, and then decides the outcome of the peer review. The authors are advised of this outcome, and if revisions are required, are invited to revise their article according to the reviewer comments. Upon resubmission, a second round of review may be required. Once all reviewer comments have been adequately addressed, the article is copyedited, proofread and approved by the Editorial Team. The article is not formally accepted until these stages have been completed. After the author approves the final version, it is published on the WPSAR website.
Publication
Articles are published on the WPSAR website as soon as the review and editing process is complete. Articles are batched at the end of each quarter and presented as a issue on the WPSAR website. Printed copies of the journal can be made available for areas with limited Internet access.
WPSAR is published in English. All abstracts and most articles are also translated into Chinese.
Copyright notice
© World Health Organization 2010
All rights are reserved. The information presented on the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific website is issued by the World Health Organization for general distribution, and is protected under the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literature and Artistic Works, under other international conventions and under national laws on copyright and neighbouring rights.
Extracts of the information on the website may be freely reviewed, reproduced or translated for research or private study but not for sale or for use in conjunction with commercial purposes. Any use of information on the website should be accompanied by an acknowledgment of WHO as the source, citing the uniform resource locator (URL) of the article. Reproduction or translation of substantial portions of the website, or any use other than for educational or other non-commercial purposes, requires explicit, prior authorization in writing. Applications and inquiries should be addressed to publications@wpro.who.int.
License to publish
Western Pacific Surveillance and Response requires each author of a article to grant exclusive licence to WPSAR to help ensure international protection against infringement of copyright, in particular unauthorized photocopying, digital distribution, and other use by third parties, and so that it can handle requests from third parties to reproduce contributions or parts of contributions. This is done by signing the WPSAR Licence to publish form.
Disclaimer
The designations employed and the presentation of the information on this website do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the World Health Organization concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers' products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by the World Health Organization in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. Errors and omissions excepted, the names of proprietary products are distinguished by initial capital letters.
Links to third-party web sites
Links to third-party websites The World Health Organization does not warrant that the information contained on the website is complete and correct and shall not be liable whatsoever for any damages incurred as a result of its use.
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World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Office P.O. Box 2932 1000 Manila Philippines wpsar@wpro.who.int