Authors publishing in the JOEH are encouraged to provide supplemental materials to accompany their manuscripts. These online materials are available to readers via a “Supplemental” tab located alongside the final published article. Final manuscripts with these additional supporting documents are typeset with a link to the supplemental materials in the footer of the article’s first page. When including these materials, authors should also include reference to “online supplemental” materials within the manuscript text, where appropriate.
Why provide supplemental materials?
Authors may choose to report supplemental information for a variety of reasons. In some cases, reviewers might suggest removing duplicate or extraneous information from the main body of a manuscript, and putting these materials in as supplemental materials which allows the authors to share this information or back up statistical analyses. Examples include data analysis tables to document when findings are not significant or to include a data table that contains the same information as a graph that was included in the manuscript body.
In other cases, a sufficiently dense methodological description might detract from the main objective of a manuscript, and putting procedures[Citation1–3] or supporting equations[Citation4] in the supplemental materials makes the manuscript easier to read while providing supporting evidence of the scientific merit of the study to readers. Furthermore, customized software,[Citation5] computer or spreadsheet coding,[Citation6] or data processing techniques[Citation7] used to generate or analyze data may need to be explained in more detail than is reasonable within the body of the manuscript.
Finally, authors may want to use the supplemental materials to comply with a grant funder’s required “data management plan” to make data readily available after publication. Some authors have included raw data in tables[Citation8,Citation9] or graphs,[Citation10] which become available to other researchers, say for inclusion in future meta-analyses.
When an author includes supplemental materials with their manuscript, it must be included with the submission to be included in the peer review process. However, if authors have a data repository that already contains this data, the JOEH can provide a link in the article to allow readers to access the associated data in the repository. Authors merely need to link the data in the repository to the final digital object identifier (the article’s DOI number), and our publisher will coordinate with the repository, via DataCite, to include the link in your manuscript. Please include a note about this request when submitting the manuscript.
What not to do
Supplemental materials are included in the peer review process for a submitted manuscript. Reviewers will consider additional materials that specifically support the scientific evidence of the study. As such, authors should include only materials that supplement the work described in the manuscript under consideration. Submitting the equivalent of a “second manuscript” as a paper’s supplement is an undue burden on reviewers; the editorial staff may return the manuscript to the authors, without review, if this happens.
As with the manuscript, authors should refrain from identifying study participants in these supplemental materials, in conformance with their human subjects agreements.
Supplemental material formatting
The publisher does not typeset supplemental materials and they upload the documents to the web directly “as is”. Thus, docx (Microsoft Work) or PDF (Adobe) files should be formatted as you want them to appear online. Those submitting a Word document should ensure metadata are removed and all track changes and comments are removed. Additional file types that can be provided as supplemental materials are listed on our publisher’s website.[Citation11]
For documenting text-based supplemental materials, include the title of the accompanying manuscript, along with an indication that this file contains supplemental materials. Tables and figures should be numbered sequentially in the supplement with an “S”, which makes their location clear to readers if they are referenced in the main manuscript. Authors should provide context to tables and figures in the supplemental file; typically a brief few sentences for each is all that is needed. Include a short narrative that explains to the reader why you are providing these details: the recent manuscript by Drudge et al, 2018[Citation12] does this well.
Editor-in-Chief, JOEH
References
- Lindsley, W.G., T.L. McClelland, D.T. Neu, et al.: Ambulance disinfection using Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI): Effects of fixture location and surface reflectivity. J. Occup. Environ. Hyg. 15(1):1–12 (2018).
- Floyd, E.L., J. Wang, and J.L. Regens: Fume emissions from a low-cost 3-D printer with various filaments. J. Occup. Environ. Hyg. 14(7):523–533 (2017).
- Grabinski, C.M., M.M. Methner, J.M. Jackson, et al.: Characterization of exposure to byproducts from firing lead-free frangible ammunition in an enclosed, ventilated firing range. J. Occup. Environ. Hyg. 14(6):461–472 (2017).
- Lewis, R.D., K.H. Ong, B. Emo, J. Kennedy, J. Kesavan, and M. Elliot: Resuspension of house dust and allergens during walking and vacuum cleaning. J. Occup. Environ. Hyg. 15(3):235–245 (2018).
- Jayjock M. and A.A. Havics: Residential inter-zonal ventilation rates for exposure modeling. J. Occup. Environ. Hyg. 15(5):376–388 (2018).
- Arnold, S.F., Y. Shao, and G. Ramachandran: Evaluation of the well mixed room and near-field far-field models in occupational settings. J. Occup. Environ. Hyg. 14(9):694–702 (2017).
- Boyce, C.P., S.N. Sax, and J.M. Cohen: Particle size distributions of lead measured in battery manufacturing and secondary smelter facilities and implications in setting workplace lead exposure limits. J. Occup. Environ. Hyg. 14(8):594–608 (2017).
- Fent, K.W., D.E. Evans, K. Babik, et al.: Airborne contaminants during controlled residential fires. J. Occup. Environ. Hyg. 15(5):399–412 (2018).
- Fries, M., P.R.D. Williams, J. Ovesen, and A. Mayer: Airborne exposures associated with the typical use of an aerosol brake cleaner during vehicle repair work. J. Occup. Environ. Hyg. 15(7):531–540 (2018).
- Phan, L.T., and R.M. Jones: Chicago transit authority train noise exposure. J. Occup. Environ. Hyg. 14(6):D86–D91 (2017).
- Taylor & Francis Author Services: “Enhancing your article with supplemental material.” Available at https://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/enhancing-your-article-with-supplemental-material/ (accessed October 31, 2018).
- Drudge, C., J. Johnson, E. MacIntyre, et al.: Exploring nighttime road traffic noise: A comprehensive predictive surface for Toronto, Canada. J. Occup. Environ. Hyg. 15(5):389–398 (2018).
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