Researchers, clinicians and patients: submit a manuscript on ME to WORK journal

ME/CFS Skeptic

ME/CFS Skeptic

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
ME Action posted this message on social media:

"Researchers, patients and clinicians are invited to submit a manuscript for consideration in a special issue of WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation (IOS Press), which will focus exclusively on the area of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Submissions are due Sept. 13, 2019."
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More in the full article: https://www.meaction.net/2019/08/07...ts-submit-a-manuscript-on-me-to-work-journal/

I don't get it: 13 September that's like next month. Who will be able to write a decent paper in a period of 1 month? Why would reputable scientists stop what they are doing now to try to make the deadline for this special issue of this journal (impact factor 1)?

I've asked ME Action for more information because I don't see anything about this special issue on ME/CFS on the journal's website (they speak of a special issue on Robotics for Occupational Ergonomics). https://www.iospress.nl/journal/work/

I was, however, intrigued, thinking that a review of randomized trials in CFS that used employment as an outcome could be interesting. Treatments such as GET an CBT are so often described as rehabilitative treatments that outsiders will get the impression that these treatments help to get ME/CFS patients back to work. It might be useful to get a nice, clean overview of this. But then, is it worth trying to do it for this journal on such a short notice?
 
Jonathan Edwards said:
I think this is a SPAM publishing house. You pay to get stuff published that would not be published anywhere much else - except in one of another 100 similar places, for a fat fee.
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I don't see publishing fee at all, this is not a fee-to-publish open access journal.

They are not on any of the lists of predatory publishers either.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_Press
https://predatoryjournals.com/

However, that doesn't mean that there aren't more suitable/higher quality journals to submit an article to. "Work" is not PMC listed, which generally means the study will be ignored in systematic reviews. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/
 
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Snow Leopard said:
I don't see publishing fee at all, this is not a fee-to-publish open access journal. "Work" is not pubmed listed, which generally means the study will be ignored in systematic reviews. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/
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It is usually quit hard to find out out that you are going to be stung for $600 until the proof stage I find. Page charges are never mentioned up front.

If the journal is not PubMed listed it pretty much has to be a new commercial outfit that is not going to make its money out of subscriptions and libraries as journals used to. Unless of course it has funding from a vested interest. This policy of inviting submissions for special issues on topics is typical of commercial rags. It cannot possibly produce anything of quality with that sort of deadline.
 
Jonathan Edwards said:
If the journal is not PubMed listed it pretty much has to be a new commercial outfit that is not going to make its money out of subscriptions and libraries as journals used to.
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The publisher has existed in the Netherlands since 1987 and this particular journal since 1990
https://content.iospress.com/journals/work/1/1

The problem is that if many universities don't have access to the article (this is a paywalled journal), then no one will ever read the paper.
 
Having had a look in detail I see my first instinct was wrong. The proposal seemed very amateur and not consistent with a meaningful medical science journal. I now see that it appears to be an occupational therapy journal (even if billed as 'interdisciplinary'). I think the aims statement gives an idea of the level of material:

... editorial board especially encourage the publication of research studies, clinical practice, case study reports, as well as personal narratives and critical reflections of lived work experiences (autoethnographic/autobiographic scholarship), ... Narrative Reflections on Occupational Transitions, a new column, is for persons who have successfully transitioned into, between, or out of occupations to tell their stories in a narrative form.

This is not a medical science approach. I would interpret it as a moral support journal for professionals involved in delivering 'rehabilitation' designed to reassure them that they are doing a good job.
 
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