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Editorial policy

1. Editorial line

Perspectives interdisciplinaires sur le travail et la santé (PISTES) is a scientific journal focusing on the social and human aspects of work from the perspective of human health and safety. The title could be translated as follows : Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Work and Health. PISTES is particularly interested in innovative themes on work and health. It publishes research results from empirical and theoretical work as well as interdisciplinary thematic issues that can contribute scientifically to the debate on issues that link work and health. Since its creation in 1999, the journal has been published in electronic format with free access and disseminates texts in French in order to promote exchanges between researchers and practitioners from the French-speaking world. In order to make the published work more widely known, each article is accompanied by a summary in English and Spanish and, in some cases, a complete translation of the article into English.

PISTES publishes unpublished documents twice a year : in May and November. The topics covered concern : workplaces, their determinants and their consequences on health (work conditions and organization, prevention, professional reintegration, etc.) ; work, its transformations and the major problems associated with it (ageing workforce, precarization, new technologies, etc.) ; the methodological approaches used in research on work and health, whether qualitative or quantitative. Although the journal is open to all disciplines interested in documenting the links between health and work with a view to prevention, rehabilitation and/or well-being at work, the majority of its collaborators come from the following fields : work ergonomics/psychology, sociology/anthropology, work organization/management and training/education.

2. Scope and main guidelines of the journal

The Journal PISTES is characterized by these overarching principles :

  • Interdisciplinary : a great variety of disciplines allows of dialogue within a wide spectrum of social sciences and humanities, notably ergonomics, sociology, anthropology, psychology, industrial relations, economy, statistics, management sciences, philosophy, demographics and physiology.

  • Based on a rigorous scientific requirement : which informs the exacting selection of articles.

  • Open to the concerns of society, workers and enterprises : PISTES is a scientific journal dedicated to the social and human aspects of work from the vantage point of the health of persons and the well-functioning of organizations. It is interested particularly in innovative approaches to work and health, within a perspective of the development of people and improvement of business performance.

  • Publishes original and innovative content : the Journal PISTES publishes only original articles.

  • Principally francophone : to promote a dissemination of scientific work in French.

  • Multilingual : to give to a wider readership access to scientific scholarship, the journal offers, for each article, abstracts in English and Spanish along with keywords in English, and in most cases Spanish. Certain articles are available in their entirety in French and in English.

  • Solely in electronic form : the Journal PISTES has moved from its original home site – occupied since 1999 – to the Revues.org platform, a move which has allowed for an ever-increasing readership. PISTES is now one of the most consulted among the more than 400 journals already on this platform. Moreover, from being read essentially by francophone countries, it has garnered a readership in the Ukraine, Russia, China and Germany, all of which helps to solidify the dissemination of scientific work in French.

  • Nothing but free access : because we think knowledge is a common good.

3. Scientific contributions published in the journal

Due to the complexity of the themes covered, the journal accepts various types of scientific contributions, providing the authors properly justify their conclusions. While all types of approaches that produce research results are admissible ― including literature reviews and summaries ― it is PISTES’ mandate to heighten the visibility of the following work :

  • case studies ;

  • intervention or action research aiming to change work situations and to evaluate its effects ;

  • documents with methodological or theoretical reflections on professional and research practice ;

  • articles on work experiences based principally on workers’ commentary.

4. Selection and peer review process

The selection process takes place as follows :

1) Selection, assessment, and peer review process for submitted material

2) Peer review

3) Peer review evaluation criteria

4) Rigour in the selection process of themes, editorial experts in charge of the thematic issues, and articles

4.1. Selection, assessment, and peer review process for submitted material

The selection, assessment, and peer review process is presented to ensure the credibility and enhance the appeal of the Journal PISTES (Perspectives interdisciplinaires sur le travail et la santé). It displays a concern for fairness, rigour, and transparency which motivates all its collaborators.

The average time between submission and publication is 40 weeks

Each article submitted is the responsibility of one member of the editorial board or of the international scientific committee. This person undertakes to have it evaluated by two peers who are experts in the field and who work anonymously.

The Journal PISTES shall avoid all conflict of interest between authors, reviewers, and editorial board members and members of the international scientific committee.

The Journal PISTES will not assign an evaluation to an author/expert who has submitted an article due to appear in the same issue. The exception to this rule occurs in thematic issues. Given the restrained pool of experts in a thematic field, the journal may find itself having to assign an evaluation to an author who is also submitting a scientific contribution to the same issue at the same time. However, given that the journal is online, there is no need to limit the number of articles ; the authors and reviewers are thus not in competition in this sense. Peer review remains anonymous in every case for both regular issues and thematic issues.

Reviewed articles are treated confidentially by reviewers and members of the editorial board and international scientific committee.

The submitted articles will be assessed for their conformity with the journal’s editorial policy. They may employ a variety of methods and approaches, may broach theoretical and/or methodological questions, and should make a substantial new contribution to theoretical or empirical issues.

At this point, the editor responsible for the article’s assessment process draws up a summary of the evaluations. This is sent to the authors so that they may make corrections and clarify points as directed by the expert reviewers.

All authors are obliged to make the requested changes and correct mistakes. When changes are asked for, the authors have a certain timeline for submitting their modifications. In each case, the authors and reviewers will come to a common understanding of the deadline, based on the nature and quantity of the requested changes.

Finally, the reworked articles are carefully read by the editorial board members, who will reach a decision on the article’s suitability for publication and, more generally speaking, on the content of the issue which will include it. If there are difficulties, it can sometimes happen that the editorial board or the person in charge of the article will ask another expert for advice regarding the decision or in asking for further clarifications from the author. The selection process can take up to 6 to 12 months.

The articles accepted for publication undergo a linguistic revision before being published ; the same is true for abstracts in English and Spanish.

In the case of a refusal, if an author appeals a decision, the editorial board will suggest changes to be made before the article is re-submitted. The new version will be treated as a new article and follow the selection process from the beginning.

The journal consents to furnish a response to every submission. The editorial board shall always be willing to publish clarifications, corrections, retractions, and apologies when needed.

At each step of the selection process, the editors and reviewers shall be careful to identify any case of misconduct.

In the case of misconduct, the editorial board deals with the different cases by following the appropriate COPE recommendations presented in the Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement.

4.2. Peer review

The journal requires potential reviewers to have scientific expertise or significant work experience in a relevant field. They must have recently conducted research and/or work and have acquired recognized expertise by their peers.

The reviewers are selected by the editor or the designated member of the editorial board in charge of finding two reviewers for each article. They can find reviewers from the reviewer data base or through a board member’s recommendation.

All types of contributions are subjected to an exacting peer review.

All scientific contributions listed below receive an individual, anonymous assessment by at least two expert reviewers in the field.

A double-blind peer review by expert reviewers is in effect for the following articles :

  • case studies ;

  • intervention or action research aiming to change work situations and to evaluate the effects ;

  • methodological or theoretical reflections on professional and research practice ;

  • articles on work experiences based primarily on workers’ commentary.

A peer review is done by one or more members of the editorial board for the selection of those contributions which are not submitted to double blind peer reviews, namely book reviews. The review is done transparently, not anonymously. The Statement guidelines must also be followed in these cases.

4.3 Peer review evaluation criterias

All the submitted scientific papers ― presented in keeping with the instructions for authors (https://journals.openedition.org/pistes/6121) ― will be anonymously evaluated by at least two experts. Once the evaluation is completed, a summary of all the key elements of the evaluation will be produced. This summary will be sent to the authors.

The following guidelines are presented to the reviewers to direct and structure their evaluations.

The theme, its relevance, the theoretical framework, originality, and context

Clear research question and statement of the problem

Well-defined objectives

Extensive, up-to-date literature review

Identification of the article’s contribution to the advancement of knowledge

Presentation of the theoretical framework (where necessary)

Appropriate concept definitions (where necessary)

Methodology

Rigour and relevance, choice of method (qualitative or quantitative) consistent with the research questions

References

Sample (criteria, number of cases, subject characteristics, etc.)

Data collection : tools used, conditions, context, and length of the study, etc.

Analysis techniques and procedures, validity criteria

Ethics

The main text

Presentation of the results in relation to the research questions

Clear presentation of data (including responses and participants)

Clear and suitable visual support : tables, figures, quotations, etc.

Discussion

Summary and analysis of the results

Discussion of the results and literature review

Contribution to the advancement of knowledge, presentation of new hypotheses

Extent and limits of the contribution, transfer possibilities

Conclusion, perspectives, future research, and practical implications

Summary of the study and its contribution

Main message

Unanswered questions, future research avenues

General structure and writing quality

Coherent organization of the text

Suitable title

Suitable abstract

Well-constructed and well-identified tables

Clear, well-written French with good spelling and punctuation and appropriate terms

A summary of the evaluation process is presented in the following three figures.

Figure 1. Step 1 of the evaluation process : initial review (editorial policy) and identification of the person in charge

Image 1000020100000402000002223E39BF3BFEA3A1A7.png

Figure 2. Step 2 of the evaluation process : review by peers and production of a summary

Image 10000201000003FF00000203E7C0AF58C33AB744.png

Figure 3. Step 3 of the evaluation process : final review and preparation for publication

Image 10000200000002F9000001C230EBB2AE3B5571CB.png

Authors whose articles are selected may then be asked to make corrections. Finally, the revised articles, accompanied by a document indicating how the authors have taken into account the experts’ suggestions, will be reviewed by the editorial committee which will then decide whether or not to publish the article.

As the journal’s founders have always tried to bring together practitioners and researchers and foster exchanges between them, PISTES also offers its readers the following features :

PISTES pioneers: in-depth interviews with people who have led the way or have greatly contributed to developing knowledge in fields related to work and health ;

A look back in time: historically important papers on work and health are re-examined, using contemporary issues to shed new light on these papers ;

PISTES (Eng. tracks) to follow: recent literature reviews ;

Company cases: summaries of interventions conducted in companies by students during work placements.

4.4 Rigour in the selection process of themes, editorial experts in charge of the thematic issues, and articles

Honouring the complexity of the themes covered, those scientific contributions accepted will be of diverse kinds and their authors will need to justify their conclusions.

Several themes explored result from themed symposia or thematic elements in international scientific conferences. The journal ensures thereby that its theme issues are current, cutting edge, and endorsed by such reliable entities as the scientific committees responsible for the programming of such conferences.

For every thematic issue, a brace of invited editors is engaged, mostly from among the organizers of the scientific conference event in question. They, then, oversee all the usual aspects of bringing out an issue : identification of potential authors, deadline for receipt of articles, handling of the articles and their evaluation. Theme issues are subject to the same rigorous assessment procedure as regular issues.

The Editorial Board is deeply involved in supporting the work of the invited editors. It approves, for instance, the choice of evaluators, possibly helping identify them, a not insignificant challenge for a thematic issue when the specificity of the subject matter or the collaboration of many writers in the field limits the available pool. The invited editors have international recognition for their scientific output in the domain of the issue’s theme.

5. Visibility and impact of the journal

Since its start 19 years ago, PISTES has published 44 issues containing more than 310 scientific articles. The journal is consulted and has an impact in the French-speaking world, whether it be in France, Quebec, Belgium, Switzerland, or in North or Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to its scientific and academic readership, workplaces also figure as regular readers of the journal. Figure 4 provides an overview of the readership’s country of origin.

Figure 4. Countries of origin of the Journal PISTES’ readership in 2016

Image 1000020100000386000001408193FDE2CFE7C7C4.png

The journal’s statistics (https://logs.openedition.org/awstats.pl ?config =pistes) show a constant improvement in visits since 2013 (12,000 visits in 2013, 18,000 in 2016, see Figure 5). PISTES’ readership is still growing.

Figure 5. History of monthly visits of the Journal PISTES in 2016

Image 100002010000027A000001FAD34103BD53CEC71B.png

6. Coverage by indexing/abstracting services and registries

The Journal and/or the articles can be found in these resources. Please note that PISTES will be present in the GALE databases from September 2018.

6.1 Limited access

Academic OneFile (Gale)*

Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database (ProQuest)

Canadian Periodicals Index (Gale)

Gale OneFile: Health and Medicine (Gale)

Ergonomics Abstracts (EBSCO)

ProQuest Central

PsycINFO (American Psychological Association)

Scopus

Social Science Database (ProQuest)

Social Science Premium Collection (ProQuest)

Social Services Abstracts (ProQuest)

SocINDEX (EBSCO)

Sociological Abstracts (ProQuest)

Sociology Source Ultimate (EBSCO)

6.2 Open access

Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE)

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

Directory of Open Access scholarly Resources (ROAD)

European Reference Index for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (ERIH PLUS)

FreeFullPDF

Google Scholar

ISIDORE

Mendeley

Microsoft Academic Search

Mir@bel

OpenAIRE EXPLORE

scinapse.io

7. Financial partners of the journal

PISTES receives financial aid in the form of annual subsidies from the following organizations : Fond de recherche du Québec Société et culture (FRQSC). PISTES thanks them for their support.

Requests for information should be sent to the journal’s electronic address: revue-pistes@uqam.ca

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