Editors publishing in their own journals : A systematic review of prevalence and a discussion of normative aspects

Journal editors are the main gatekeepers in scientific publishing. Yet there is a concern that they may receive preferential treatment when submitting manuscripts to their own journals. The prevalence of such self-publishing is not known, nor the consequences for reliability and trustworthiness of published research. This study aimed to systematically review the literature on the prevalence of editors publishing in their own journals and to conduct a normative ethical analysis of this practice. A systematic review was performed using the following databases: Medline, PsycInfo, Scopus and Web of Science. Articles that provided primary data about editors publishing in own journals were included. We identified 15 studies meeting inclusion criteria. There was large variability of self-publishing across fields, journals and editors, ranging from those who never published in their own journal to those publishing extensively in their own journal. Many studies suffered from serious methodological limitations. Nevertheless, our results show that there are settings where levels of self-publication are very high. We recommend that editors-in-chief and associate editors who have considerable power in journals refrain from publishing research articles in their own journals. Journals should have clear processes in place about the treatment of articles submitted by editorial board members.Peer reviewe

Risk compensation and bicycle helmets : A false conclusion and uncritical citations

Some researchers and many anti-helmet advocates often state that when cyclists wear a helmet they feel safer and take more risks. This hypothesis-risk compensation - if true, would reduce, annul or even reverse the assumed benefits of helmets in reducing head injuries. Consequently, this hypothesis is often used to oppose mandatory helmet laws. In this article, we illustrate how one of the few studies that attempted to experimentally test the hypothesis in relation to bicycle helmets arrives at a false conclusion. As a result it is often cited as evidence of risk compensation. Given the lack of experimental studies in this research area, the impact of a single study in shaping the opinions of the general public and of policy makers can be significant. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Bicycle helmet effectiveness is not overstated

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Suicide by crashing into a heavy vehicle : a focus group study of professional drivers

Professional heavy vehicle drivers can experience a traumatic event at work when suicidal drivers deliberately crash into their vehicles or a pedestrian jumps in front of them. This study adopts a qualitative approach, aiming to gain an understanding about the psychological and other consequences that these crashes have liar this occupational group. We organized a semi-structured focus group meeting with six drivers who reported experiencing a deliberate crash into their vehicle. The meeting was moderated by two psychologists. The participants reported that avoiding the crash was difficult. These events can have long-lasting effects on drivers' well-being although individual differences in the response to the event and coping strategies do exist. Participation in our meeting was regarded as a positive experience. This encourages us to believe that organizing similar meetings that allow drivers under the supervision of professionals to share their own experiences with those who experienced similar events, could perhaps be one way of providing support to such drivers who experienced a traumatic event at work.Peer reviewe

Bicycle helmet law does not deter cyclists in Finland

Bicycle helmet legislation (BHL) in Finland went into effect in January 2003 and applies to cyclists of all ages. There are no mechanisms to fine cyclists riding without a helmet; however, helmet wearing rates are 64% in Helsinki and 42% across Finland. Our aim was to discuss possible effects of BHL on cycling in Finland. We used data from the 1998/1999, 2004/2005 and 2010/2011 Finnish National Travel Surveys. Data across three surveys suggest cycling has declined from before to after BHL. In a 2004/2005 survey, however, only 0.063% (95% CI: 0.02-0.10%) of responders identified helmet use as their most important obstacle to cycling. It is unlikely BHL is a causal factor in the downward trend in Finnish cycling. Lack of cycling infrastructure and concerns for safety are much more common reasons given. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Using personal cars for emergency transport of patients with life-threatening medical conditions : A pilot study

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Bicycle Helmets and the Experimenter Effect

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Women judging: is a young male drunk driver perceived as more negligent than a young female drunk driver?

Objective: It is well established that young men are the riskiest group of all drivers, and men in general more often drive under the influence of alcohol. However, potentially oversimplified representations such as a young male problem and drunk driving as a male problem can influence action and reinforce existing attitudes by selectively directing attention to stereotypically consistent behavior. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis of possible bias toward young male drivers in the context of drunk driving.Methods: We have created a scenario study investigating whether the sex of an imaginary young drunk driver would be associated with a different perceived negligence (ranging from 0=not negligent at all to 10=extremely negligent) among our participants. These participants were a representative sample of Finnish female driver's license holders. The data for the study were gathered as part of a larger survey study on women's drinking and driving culture.Results: Perceptions of how negligent a person was depended on the age of the respondents such that the older the respondent, the higher the perceived negligence. Perceived negligence was similar for male and female drivers in the scenario; however, there was an interaction effect between driver sex and the age of respondents. The youngest (20-29 years) and 2 oldest (50-69 years) groups of our respondents found the young woman to be more negligent, whereas the opposite occurred for the other 2 groups.Conclusions: The results of our imaginary scenario study of a representative sample of Finnish female driver's license holders do not support a hypothesis that there would be a negative bias toward young male drivers in the context of drunk driving behavior.Peer reviewe

Fatigued driving : prevalence, risk factors and groups, and the law

Fatigue and sleepiness are major causes of road traffic accidents. However, precise data is often lacking because a validated and reliable device for detecting the level of sleepiness (cf. the breathalyzer for alcohol levels) does not exist, nor does criteria for the unambiguous detection of fatigue/sleepiness as a contributing factor in accident causation. Therefore, identification of risk factors and groups might not always be easy. Furthermore, it is extremely difficult to incorporate fatigue in operationalized terms into either traffic or criminal law. The main aims of this thesis were to estimate the prevalence of fatigue problems while driving among the Finnish driving population, to explore how VALT multidisciplinary investigation teams, Finnish police, and courts recognize (and prosecute) fatigue in traffic, to identify risk factors and groups, and finally to explore the application of the Finnish Road Traffic Act (RTA), which explicitly forbids driving while tired in Article 63. Several different sources of data were used: a computerized database and the original folders of multidisciplinary teams investigating fatal accidents (VALT), the driver records database (AKE), prosecutor and court decisions, a survey of young male military conscripts, and a survey of a representative sample of the Finnish active driving population. The results show that 8-15% of fatal accidents during 1991-2001 were fatigue related, that every fifth Finnish driver has fallen asleep while driving at some point during his/her driving career, and that the Finnish police and courts punish on average one driver per day on the basis of fatigued driving (based on the data from the years 2004-2005). The main finding regarding risk factors and risk groups is that during the summer months, especially in the afternoon, the risk of falling asleep while driving is increased. Furthermore, the results indicate that those with a higher risk of falling asleep while driving are men in general, but especially young male drivers including military conscripts and the elderly during the afternoon hours and the summer in particular; professional drivers breaking the rules about duty and rest hours; and drivers with a tendency to fall asleep easily. A time-of-day pattern of sleep-related incidents was repeatedly found. It was found that VALT teams can be considered relatively reliable when assessing the role of fatigue and sleepiness in accident causation; thus, similar experts might be valuable in the court process as expert witnesses when fatigue or sleepiness are suspected to have a role in an accident’s origins. However, the application of Article 63 of the RTA that forbids, among other things, fatigued driving will continue to be an issue that deserves further attention. This should be done in the context of a needed attitude change towards driving while in a state of extreme tiredness (e.g., after being awake for more than 24 hours), which produces performance deterioration comparable to illegal intoxication (BAC around 0.1%). Regarding the well-known interactive effect of increased sleepiness and even small alcohol levels, the relatively high proportion (up to 14.5%) of Finnish drivers owning and using a breathalyzer raises some concern. This concern exists because these drivers are obviously more focused on not breaking the “magic” line of 0.05% BAC than being concerned about driving impairment, which might be much worse than they realize because of the interactive effects of increased sleepiness and even low alcohol consumption. In conclusion, there is no doubt that fatigue and sleepiness problems while driving are common among the Finnish driving population. While we wait for the invention of reliable devices for fatigue/sleepiness detection, we should invest more effort in raising public awareness about the dangerousness of fatigued driving and educate drivers about how to recognize and deal with fatigue and sleepiness when they ultimately occur.Yleistajuinen tiivistelmä Älä aja väsyneenä! Oletko koskaan nukahtanut katsoessasi tylsää elokuvaa tai pitkällä matkalla auton takapenkillä tai jollain tylsällä luennolla? Suurin osa meistä on. Yleensä tämä ei kuitenkaan haittaa, sillä suurimmassa osassa tapauksista kukaan ei loukkaannu tai häiriinny, tietenkin edellyttäen ettet kuorsaa liian kovaa. Mutta oletko koskaan nukahtanut autoa ajaessasi? Kyselyssämme edustavalle joukolle suomalaisia kuljettajia 20 % vastasi kysymykseen myöntävästi. Jos nukahdat ajaessasi, vaarannat oman turvallisuutesi lisäksi myös muiden tiellä liikkujien turvallisuuden. Aineistomme osoittaa, että 8-15 % kuolonkolareista vuosina 1991 – 2001 liittyi väsymykseen. Jos olet nukahtanut ajaessasi ilman mitään vakavia seuraamuksia, olit onnekas. Toivottavasti opit läksysi, eikä sama tapahdu uudestaan. Suomen laki eksplisiittisesti kieltää väsyneenä ajamisen. Tulostemme mukaan Suomen poliisi ja oikeuslaitos rankaisevat noin yhtä kuljettajaa päivässä väsyneenä ajamisesta. Tämä on huomattava määrä ottaen huomioon, ettei ole olemassa validoitua ja luotettavaa laitetta väsymyksen tason havaitsemiseen (vertaa alkometri alkoholin määrän mittaamiseen). Keitä ovat suuressa rattiin nukahtamisriskissä olevat kuljettajat? Suuressa riskissä ovat: yleisesti miehet, mutta erityisesti nuoret mieskuljettajat mukaan lukien varusmiehet; vanhemmat kuljettajat iltapäivisin erityisesti kesällä; ammattikuljettajat, jotka rikkovat työ- ja lepoaikasäännöksiä; sekä kuljettajat, joilla on taipumus nukahtaa helposti. Milloin rattiin nukahtamisriski on suurin? Tietenkin yöaikaan, jolloin ihmiset kokevat suurinta tarvetta nukkua, mutta myös iltapäivisin, kun normaalin vuorokausivaihtelun takia vireystaso laskee. Tulosemme osoittavat, että myös kesäkuukausina rattiin nukahtamisriski on kohonnut. Syy tähän ei ole selvillä, mutta muutokset elämäntavoissa luultavasti ovat merkittävässä osassa. Kuten tiedämme, kesäaikaan suomalaiset osallistuvat moniin ulkoilmatapahtumiin, juhlivat ja juovat sekä ajavat useammin pitkiä matkoja. Kesäkuukausina alkoholin lisääntynyt kulutus saattaa vaikuttaa välillisesti joihinkin väsymykseen liittyviin onnettomuuksiin. Aineistossamme oli joitain kuljettajia, jotka nukahtivat ja aiheuttivat kuolemaan johtavan kolarin iltapäivän tunteina edellisen yön juhlimisen ja juomisen jälkeen, vaikka onnettomuushetkenä heillä ei enää ollut alkoholia veressä. Suurin osa ihmisistä tietää alkoholin heikentävän ajosuoriutumista. Tietävätkö he kuitenkaan että pienetkin alkoholimäärät tai alkoholin rauhoittavat jäännösvaikutukset yhdessä kohonneen uneliaisuuden kanssa ovat vaarallisia yhdistelmiä? Voit olla lain mukaan alkoholin kannalta ajokunnossa (veren alkoholipitoisuus alle 0,5 promillea), mutta jos esimerkiksi ajat myöhään yöllä juhlista kotiin, sinun kohonnut uneliaisuutesi voi voimistaa alkoholin rauhoittavia vaikutuksia. Tutkimuksemme mukaan suuri osa (jopa 14,5 %) suomalaisista kuljettajista omistaa alkometriä ja monet käyttävät sitä heti juomisen jälkeen. Tämä huolestuttaa, koska nämä kuljettajat selvästi keskittyvät enemmän ”maagisen” 0,5 promillen rajan alapuolella pysymiseen kuin ajokyvyn heikkenemisestä huolestumiseen. Ajokyvyn lasku saattaa kuitenkin olla suurempi kuin he tajuavatkaan juuri uneliaisuuden ja vähäisen alkoholin käytön yhteisvaikutusten takia. Rattijuopumus on jo pitkään ollut sosiaalisesti epäsuotavaa. Kuitenkin, vaikka tutkijat ja liikenneturvallisuustyöntekijät ovat jo jonkin aikaa varoitelleet väsymyksen liikenteessä olevan yhtä vaarallista kuin alkoholin, meidän pitää yhä tehdä työtä jotta ihmiset tajuavat, ettei heidän tule ajaa väsyneenä. Älä aja väsyneenä

Do people prefer cycling policy aiming at extending or saving lives? : An experimental survey study

We investigated the preference between transport policies aiming at extending vs. saving lives. In a 2 x 2 experimental survey study participants randomly received one of four possible policy combinations. The saving lives policy included saving five (250 life-years saved) or ten (500 life-years saved) lives of cyclists who are about 30 years of age. The extending lives policy through the promotion of cycling and associated health benefits was set to extend lives by two ratios (10:1 or 20:1) in relation to life-years saved of the life-saving strategy. Participants were representative of Finnish-speaking residents older than 15 years (N = 1025). In total, 45.5% of the participants preferred a policy aimed at saving lives, 36% preferred an extending lives policy, and 18.2% were undecided. These figures remained essentially the same independent of the benefit-to-cost ratio of cycling (in terms of saved life years) and whether the saving life policy meant saving five or ten lives. Women and the elderly preferred a policy aimed at saving lives, while cyclists preferred an extending lives policy. The results are discussed in the context of Vision Zero and a new transport paradigm called Vision Plus.Peer reviewe