Hi everyone,

Last month, ACS Chemical Health & Safety (https://pubs.acs.org/journal/achsc5) published a call for papers on lab design. The full editorial is published here Safe Lab Design: A Call for Papers (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chas.1c00034), and below is a short excerpt that summarizes what the special issue is hoping to accomplish:

"The planning and designing of a laboratory greatly influence the building's operation and, ultimately, researchers' ability to conduct productive and safe lab work. On its face, laboratory design is primarily about the features that researchers consider important for advancing their sciences, but timing and financial restraints, as well as many regulatory requirements, influence design and operational procedures of new construction or renovation projects. Depending on one's point of view, juggling these requirements can clarify needs, increase safety, or introduce impediments and frustrations.

This call for papers asks lab users, designers, builders, maintainers, and overseers to contribute to a practical and technical body of knowledge on laboratory design. Our hope is by documenting lessons learned and lab design influences, we can help facilitate conversations among the diverse set of stakeholders and inform future lab design projects."

In plain speak, I want the journal to record the good, the bad, and the ugly about lab design projects. For many of you on this Listserv, that means documenting your real-life lessons for future EHS professionals and scientists. These incredibly valuable lessons likely fall into one of three types of articles the journal publishes:

Commentary - Commentaries are scholarly discussions of a topic of interest to the chemical health and safety community that include the opinions of the author(s). The manuscript should provide sufficient information for readers to understand the topic or formulate their own opinions. Commentaries may undergo peer review at the direction of the assigned editor.

Case Study - Case Studies are scientific reports to the community that describe and analyze a scenario. Studies should provide discussion in the context of other sources, identify key problems or challenges, and provide recommendations, lessons learned, or conclusions using supporting evidence. Topics may include accidents, near misses, organizational changes, new programs, application of existing techniques to new environments, regulatory consequences and implementation, or other topics.

Research Article - Research Articles should describe work related to preserving the safety of individuals who work with chemicals or in the workplace of the chemistry enterprise. This may include methods, protocols, or best practices for safety procedures, provided that the manuscript has sufficient data and a comprehensive review of relevant sources. Research Articles should cover their subjects with thoroughness, clarity, and completeness but should be as concise as possible, describing original work that has not been previously published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

If you would like to get an idea of these different types of articles, I recommend you take a look at these papers on lab design:

Commentary

1.       Code Considerations for the Design of Laboratories Which Will Also House Pilot Plants (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chas.0c00053)

Research article

2.       Planning and Building Laboratories: A Collaboration among Many (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chas.0c00081)

3.       Controls for University Fabrication Laboratories=97Best Practices for Health and Safety (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chas.0c00093)

Case Study

4.       Design and Practice of an Organic Analysis Laboratory to Enhance Laboratory Safety ( https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chas.1c00008)

Please feel free to contact me with any questions about articles you might consider writing. If you have never published before do not let that deter you, reach out and I will do what I can to help support you and make you successful.

Sincerely,