(Updated November 2023)

Original Work

Only papers that have been not published elsewhere in the open literature—whether in print, electronic, or other medium—in the same form, in any language, may be submitted. Suitably revised papers printed in the proceedings of certain technical meetings may be submitted for consideration, including HFES Annual Meeting papers.

FAQ: Publication of Accepted Work in the Proceedings

May I publish the research in my HFES Annual Meeting Proceedings paper in Human Factors and the Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making?

Suitably revised papers printed in the HFES Annual Meeting Proceedings may be submitted for consideration in Human Factors and the Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making.

What does "suitably revised" mean?

Human Factors and the Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making publish original, previously unpublished work that represents theoretical and practical advances. Papers published in these journals must adhere to the ethical guidelines regarding duplicate publication as described in the code of conduct of the American Psychological Association (the Publication Manual of the APA has a detailed discussion).

Although duplicate publication of data is generally prohibited (in part because of issues raised for meta-analyses), the ethical standards allow for some exceptions when the data that were previously published are presented in a different way that represents a significant advance of theory or practice, and there is proper acknowledgement that the data were previously published elsewhere. Solely adding length to a proceedings paper typically is not sufficient to warrant publication in the journals. The key consideration is whether the publication represents a significant advance beyond what has been published previously, such as introducing new data or reanalyzing or reframing previous data in light of current theory and practice. Authors who are uncertain about whether their paper is suitably revised may contact the journal's editor in chief.

For the HFES Proceedings, can I publish a summary of the Annual Meeting proposal I submitted for review?

Yes. Once a proposal for a conference presentation is accepted for the HFES Annual Meeting, authors have the option to publish a five page proceedings paper, or up to a one-page abstract of the proposal. Regardless of the eventual publication option chosen by the authors, a full proposal must be submitted for consideration by the peer reviewers recruited by Technical Program Chairs so that they have sufficient information to determine the quality of the work for presentation at the HFES Annual Meeting. These strategies may help mitigate future concerns about duplicate publication in Human Factors and the Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making.

Copyright

Papers submitted to HFES that are not in the public domain will be copyrighted in the name of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. The HFES Copyright Transfer Form(PDF) must be executed before an accepted manuscript can be published. The form is not required until the final draft of the paper has been accepted for publication.

Permissions

Please read the SAGE guidelines for reprint permission. There you will find links to permission request forms.

Coauthor Consent

All authors named in the work must consent to submission and (upon acceptance) publication of the work. If at any time consent is withdrawn by any named author, it is the primary author’s responsibility to notify HFES immediately.

Should the work be withdrawn from consideration, evidence must be submitted to HFES indicating that all authors of the work consent to its being withdrawn.

Internal Clearance

Do not submit your manuscript until you have obtained any necessary clearance or authorization that your institution requires.

Ethical Guidelines

Submissions to HFES publications should be consistent with the ethical guidelines published in the American Psychological Association's Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (2002, inculding 2010 Amendments), section 8, Research and Publication (or the most current available draft of that document). In addition, the following HFES guidelines should be observed:

Publications Submitting authors generally have the obligation to report their work to the general scientific community and to give credit to those who have contributed on a professional level to that publication.

Submitting authors give credit, proportional to their contribution, to all those responsible for the formulation, experimental design, analysis, or other treatment of the material if their contribution was on a professional level. Such credit should be extended by a listing of all contributors' names in the publication. That listing can be in the form of joint authorship with the name of the most substantial contributor listed as senior author, or by a footnote or introductory statement when the contribution is minor. This Principle deals with credit for professional contributions only and in no way affects copyright ownership.

Submitting authors ensure that their work is reported factually, bearing professional responsibility for all elements of their reportage, including the accuracy of analysis, quotation from other works, and conclusions drawn. Authors maintain the highest standards of scientific experimentation and analysis.

Use of Generative AI Tools and LLMs

DISCLAIMER: HFES reserves the right to revise these guidelines and will review them at least annually.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Individuals who want to use Generative AI tools or Large Language Models (LLMs) are prohibited from using tools that will take ownership of the material submitted to the tool.

When authors submit a manuscript they must attest that they have complied with the guidelines below, and have not violated ethical principles or copyright law.

Authors

• LLMs may be used solely to improve readability and language of the text (the role of a copyeditor)
• LLMs may not be used to generate content that requires original, creative, analytical or critical thought
• If LLMs are used to create or modify images, figures, graphics, it must be in accordance with copyright laws
• Authors are accountable for all contents, and must review and ensure accuracy of AI-generated content
• The manuscript must not list or cite AI as an author
• Authors are responsible for ensuring that the work is original and there is no plagiarism, that requirements for authorship are met, that third-party rights and ethical principles have not been violated
• Authors must disclose in the manuscript whether and how generative AI tools or LLMs were used. Refer to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (example policy on AI: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/resources/publishing-policies. It is not necessary to disclose spell-checking or grammar-checking software, citation software, or plagiarism detectors.
• Authors must attest that above requirements are met upon submission of manuscript

Reviewers & Editors

• Reviewers and editors  may not upload any part of a manuscript or any communications about the manuscript (e.g., reviews, decision letters) into a Generative AI tool that retains information or violates proprietary or copyright of the work, even to improve readability and language. Manuscripts and communications about them are confidential and uploading them into an AI tool will violate this confidentiality as well as proprietary and data privacy rights.

Subject Precautions

Submitting authors have the responsibility of treating both human and animal subjects humanely and in accordance with federal, state, and local laws or regulations, as well as the generally accepted procedures within the scientific community.

Submitting authors determine, through consultation with colleagues or institutional review committees, that the exposure of human or animal research subjects to hazards, stress, divulgence of history or preferences, or tedium is commensurate with the significance of the problem being researched.

Submitting authors determine the degree of hazard present in the exposure of human or animal research subjects, avoiding any exposures to human subjects that may result in death, dismemberment, permanent dysfunction or extreme pain, and utilize the lowest levels of exposure to both human and animal subjects consistent with the phenomenon under consideration.

Submitting authors ensure the ethical treatment of human and animal research subjects by collaborators, assistants, students, and employees.

Submitting authors establish an informed consent with human research subjects when required by institutional, state, or federal codes or regulations, making explicit in plain language the terms of participation, particularly with respect to any elements of risk or stress involved, and adhere to those terms throughout the experiment. One of these terms must be that the subject has the right to terminate participation at any time without prejudice.

Submitting authors do not coerce potential human research subjects to participate as subjects, nor do they use undue monetary rewards to induce subjects to take risks they would not otherwise take.

Submitting authors preserve the confidentiality of any information obtained from human research subjects that, if divulged, may have harmful effects on those subjects.

HFES Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism is the copying of ideas, text, data, and other creative work and presenting it as original work without proper citation. Plagiarism extends to the use of ideas that have been presented in prior work, regardless of whether or not the ideas are expressed using the same words, tables, or images.

The following guidelines are to be employed in preparing work for publication.

• Word-for-word copying of the work of others must be clearly identified. Short segments of text, a few words to a sentence or two, should be put in quotes or italicized; longer segments should be indented or italicized. In both cases, the quoted work must be followed by a citation. Extensive copying of the work of others, even if clearly indicated, is not allowed.
• Extensive word-for-word copying of one's own published work is permitted, with permission of the holder of any copyright, but must be clearly indicated.
• Reuse of empirical data to support new analyses must clearly identify the original source of the data and the degree to which the data is being reused or analyzed.
• Except for mathematical models and algorithms that are commonly employed, credit must be given for mathematical ideas just as it is for other contributions.

Manuscripts found to contain plagiarized content will be rejected and the authors of such manuscripts may face additional penalties. If a case of plagiarism is discovered after a manuscript has been published, the journal will publish a correction that identifies plagiarized content and gives credit to the actual source.

Because plagiarism can sometimes occur unintentionally–for example, when authors cite a source that itself contains plagiarized content–all authors are strongly encouraged to make use of automated plagiarism screening tools to detect problems prior to submission.

Conflict of Interest

It is the responsibility of the author to indicate any conflict(s) of interest with regard to funding or sponsorship of the research reported in the article, as well as the name and nature of the relationship with the funder/sponsor. The text of such disclosures should appear in the Acknowledgments section of the paper.

Manuscript Formatting

Unless otherwise indicated in the Instructions for Authors for the relevant publication, manuscripts should be prepared according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Only manuscripts that are prepared according to these instructions will be considered for publication.

HFES Due Diligence

Though the likelihood of such action is extremely rare, HFES reserves the right at any time to review any material submitted to any HFES publication for reasons including, but not limited to, suitability, methodological soundness, ethics, or risk of legal consequences to the Society. This right extends even to material previously accepted by the editor. In such a case, the Society may refer the manuscript for review by legal counsel or other qualified individuals