Overview
Submission Instructions
Recent Publications
Frequently Asked Questions
Research Topics
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HR
Harm Reduction Journal is an open access, community-focused journal covering research on reducing risks and harms associated with drug use, gambling, online platforms, and other risky behaviors. It emphasizes evidence-based health equity and social justice, addresses public health issues including alcohol, incarceration, road trauma, and law enforcement, and welcomes research and commentary on harm reduction programs, policy, and effectiveness.
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Subject
Substance Abuse
Impact Factor
4
Quartile
Q1
Open Access Type
Open
eISSN
1477-7517
Invitation Only
No
Cost Range
£2490.00 GBP / $3390.00 USD / €2890.00 EUR APC; subject to VAT or local taxes where applicable.
Submission Instructions
Harm Reduction Journal accepts the following article types. Click on an article type to view submission instructions.
Research Article
Cover Letter
A cover letter is required. Cover letter must explain why the manuscript should be published in Harm Reduction Journal, address any issues relating to journal policies, declare any potential competing interests, confirm all authors approved the submission, confirm the content has not been published or submitted elsewhere, and name the special issue if applicable.
Abstract
An abstract is required. Abstract must not exceed 350 words. Abstract must be structured. Abstract must include the headings Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions, and must also include a Trial registration section for reports of health care interventions on human participants.
Manuscript
Manuscript must include the section headings Title page, Abstract, Keywords, Background, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, List of abbreviations, Declarations, Footnotes, and References. Manuscript must include three to ten keywords, a Declarations section with the subheadings Ethics approval and consent to participate, Consent for publication, Availability of data and materials, Competing interests, Funding, Authors' contributions, and Acknowledgements, with 'Not applicable' used where a required subsection is not relevant, and any use of a Large Language Model must be documented in the Methods section or a suitable alternative part.
References
References must use Vancouver style. Only published or in-press articles, clinical trial registration records, abstracts, or publicly available e-prints or preprints may be cited, unpublished abstracts, unpublished data, and personal communications must not appear in the reference list, web links and URLs must be numbered and included in the reference list in full with title, URL, and access date, journal abbreviations must follow Index Medicus/MEDLINE, and publicly available datasets should be cited with persistent identifiers expressed as full URLs.
Figures & Tables
Tables less than one page may be placed within the manuscript, tables larger than one page may be placed at the end of the document, figure titles and legends must be provided in the main manuscript rather than in the graphic file, and figures must be uploaded separately in the order first cited. Multi-panel figures must be submitted as a single composite file, tables must be created using the word processor's table function rather than embedded as figures or spreadsheet files, and footnotes must be used instead of endnotes with text footnotes numbered consecutively.
Review
Cover Letter
Cover Letter requirements are not specified.
Abstract
Abstract must not exceed 350 words.
Manuscript
Main text may be divided into short, informative subsections, and Reviews must include a title page, a Conclusions section, and a Declarations section with the specified subheadings. Reviews must include three to ten keywords, an Availability of data and materials statement, and declaration-related sections including Competing interests, Funding, Authors' contributions, Acknowledgements, and optional Authors' information, with 'Not applicable' used for any irrelevant Declarations subsection.
References
References must follow Vancouver style. Web links and URLs must be assigned a reference number and included in the reference list rather than in the text.
Figures & Tables
Tables shorter than one page may be placed within the manuscript, while tables longer than one page may be placed at the end of the document and cited in the text where they should appear. Footnotes must not contain figures or tables, and table footnotes must use superscript lower-case letters or asterisks for significance values and other statistical data.
Systematic Reviews
Cover Letter
A cover letter is required. Cover letter must explain why the manuscript should be published in Harm Reduction Journal, address any journal policy issues, declare any potential competing interests, confirm all authors approved submission, and confirm the manuscript has not been published or submitted elsewhere.
Abstract
An abstract is required. Abstract must not exceed 350 words. Abstract must be structured. Abstract must use the headings Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions, and Registration, and registered reviews should include the registration number as the last line.
Manuscript
Manuscript must include separate Background, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Declarations, Competing interests, Authors' contributions, Acknowledgements, and Availability of data and materials sections, with Results and Discussion presented separately. Manuscript must include three to ten keywords, a Declarations section with all required subheadings using 'Not applicable' where relevant, an Availability of data and materials statement, a Competing interests section, an Authors' contributions section, an Acknowledgements section, a list of abbreviations if abbreviations are used, and disclosure of any Large Language Model use in the Methods or another suitable section.
References
References must follow the Vancouver style. Only published or publicly available articles, clinical trial registration records, and abstracts may be cited, unpublished abstracts, unpublished data, and personal communications must not appear in the reference list, journal abbreviations must follow Index Medicus/MEDLINE, and web links must be numbered and listed in full with title, URL, and access date.
Figures & Tables
Tables shorter than one page may be placed within the manuscript, longer tables may be placed at the end of the document, and figures must be uploaded separately in the order first cited. Figures and tables must be numbered in sequence, multi-panel figures submitted as a single composite file, figure titles and table titles must not exceed 15 words, figure legends and table legends must not exceed 300 words, and tables must be created with the word processor table function rather than embedded as figures.
Brief Report
Cover Letter
A cover letter is required. Cover letter must explain why the manuscript should be published in Harm Reduction Journal, address any issues relating to journal policies, declare any potential competing interests, confirm all authors approved the submission, confirm the manuscript has not been published or submitted elsewhere, and name the special issue if applicable.
Abstract
An abstract is required. Abstract must not exceed 250 words. Abstract should be unstructured and briefly summarize the aim, findings, or purpose of the article.
Manuscript
Main text should contain the body of the article and may be broken into subsections with short, informative headings. Manuscript must include three to ten keywords, a Declarations section with all required subheadings using 'Not applicable' where relevant, an Availability of data and materials statement, a Competing interests section, a funding declaration, an Authors' contributions section, an Acknowledgements section, and documentation of any Large Language Model use in the Methods or a suitable alternative section.
References
References must follow Vancouver style. Only published, in-press, or publicly available e-print or preprint articles, clinical trial registration records, and abstracts may be cited; unpublished abstracts, unpublished data, and personal communications must not appear in the reference list; web links and URLs must be numbered and included in the reference list; and journal abbreviations must follow Index Medicus/MEDLINE.
Figures & Tables
Tables shorter than one A4 or Letter page may be placed within the manuscript, tables longer than one page may be placed at the end of the document, and figure titles and legends must be provided in the main manuscript rather than in the graphic file. Figures must be numbered and uploaded in the order first mentioned, multi-panel figures must be submitted as a single composite file, tables must be numbered and cited in sequence, tables must not be embedded as figures or spreadsheet files, and footnotes must not contain figures or tables.
Case Report
Cover Letter
Cover letter is required. Cover letter must explain why the manuscript should be published, address any journal policy issues, declare potential competing interests, confirm all authors approved submission, confirm the work has not been published or submitted elsewhere, and name the special issue if applicable.
Abstract
Abstract is required. Abstract must not exceed 350 words. Abstract must be structured. Abstract must include the headings 'Background', 'Case presentation', and 'Conclusions'.
Manuscript
Manuscript must include 'Background', 'Case presentation', 'Discussion and Conclusions', and a 'Declarations' section with the subheadings 'Ethics approval and consent to participate', 'Consent for publication', 'Availability of data and materials', 'Competing interests', 'Funding', 'Authors' contributions', and 'Acknowledgements'. Manuscript must include three to ten keywords, provide a list of abbreviations if abbreviations are used, document any Large Language Model use in the Methods section or a suitable alternative section, and include 'Not applicable' under any Declarations subheading that is not relevant.
References
References must follow Vancouver style. Only published or publicly available articles, clinical trial registration records, and abstracts may be cited, unpublished abstracts or personal communications must not appear in the reference list, web links must be cited as numbered references in the list, dataset citations should include a persistent identifier such as a DOI, and journal abbreviations must follow Index Medicus/MEDLINE.
Figures & Tables
Tables shorter than one page may be placed within the manuscript and longer tables may be placed at the end of the document, while figure titles and legends must be provided in the main manuscript and figures uploaded separately. Figures and tables must be numbered in the order cited, multi-panel figures must be submitted as single composite files, tables must be created using the word processor's table function rather than embedded as figures or spreadsheet files, and footnotes must not contain figures or tables.
Case Study
Cover Letter
Cover letter is required and must explain why the manuscript should be published, address any journal policy issues, declare potential competing interests, confirm all authors approved submission, and confirm the content has not been published or submitted elsewhere. Cover letter must explain why the manuscript should be published, address any journal policy issues, declare potential competing interests, confirm all authors approved submission, and confirm the content has not been published or submitted elsewhere.
Abstract
Abstract is required. Abstract must not exceed 350 words. Abstract must be structured. Abstract must include the headings 'Background', 'Case presentation', and 'Conclusions'.
Manuscript
Manuscript must include a Background section, a Case presentation section, a Discussion and Conclusions section, and a 'Declarations' section with the required declaration subheadings. Manuscript must include three to ten keywords, an Availability of data and materials statement, declaration subheadings under 'Declarations' with 'Not applicable' where irrelevant, a list of abbreviations if abbreviations are used, and documentation of any Large Language Model use in the Methods or another suitable section.
References
References must follow Vancouver style. Web links and URLs must be cited with a reference number and included in the reference list, footnotes must not contain bibliographic reference details, and identifiable author names should be included for web links where applicable.
Figures & Tables
Tables shorter than one page may be placed within the manuscript, whereas tables longer than one page may be placed at the end of the document with their intended location indicated in the text. Figures must be uploaded separately in text order with titles and legends provided in the manuscript, and tables must be numbered in sequence and created using the word processor's table function rather than embedded as figures.
Correspondence
Cover Letter
Cover letter must include why the manuscript should be published, any issues relating to journal policies, any potential competing interests, confirmation that all authors approved submission, and confirmation that the content has not been published or submitted elsewhere. Cover letter must explain the manuscript’s suitability for publication, address any journal policy issues, declare any potential competing interests, confirm all authors approved submission, and confirm the content has not been published or submitted elsewhere.
Abstract
Abstract is required and must not cite references. Abstract must not exceed 250 words.
Manuscript
Manuscript must include a title page and a Declarations section with the subheadings Ethics approval and consent to participate, Consent for publication, Availability of data and materials, Competing interests, Funding, Authors' contributions, Acknowledgements, and optional Authors' information. Manuscript must provide three to ten keywords, define abbreviations at first use with a list of abbreviations if used, include all required Declarations subheadings with 'Not applicable' where irrelevant, and document any Large Language Model use in the Methods section or another suitable section if no Methods section is available.
References
Only published or publicly available articles, clinical trial registration records, and abstracts may be cited, unpublished abstracts/data/personal communications must be excluded from the reference list, journal abbreviations must follow Index Medicus/MEDLINE, and web links must be numbered and included in the reference list in full.
Figures & Tables
Tables shorter than one page may be placed within the manuscript, larger tables may be placed at the end of the document, and figure titles and legends must appear in the main manuscript rather than in the graphic files. Figures and tables must be numbered in the order cited, multi-panel figures submitted as a single composite file, tables must not be embedded as figures, footnotes must not contain figures or tables, and table footnotes must use superscript lower-case letters or asterisks for significance values and other statistical data.
Recent Publications
“Chill packs” self-administered olanzapine as psychiatric harm reduction for methamphetamine-induced psychosis: a narrative review of the existing evidence base
Isabelle Ruedisueli, Carla Marienfeld, Casey Tiefenthaler, Allison Lee, Alicia Harvey-Vera, Steffanie Strathdee, Joseph R. Friedman
10.1186/s12954-026-01475-1
View Publication
Emergence of synthetic drugs in South America: insights from Brazil, Chile, and Colombia
Ignacio Bórquez, Bruno Pantaleão, Gabriela Brogim, Ana Paula da Cunha, Noa Krawczyk, Francisco I. Bastos
10.1186/s12954-026-01480-4
View Publication
Mapping needles, reducing harm: Findings from a geospatial, community-based needle collection and naloxone training initiative in Saskatchewan, Canada
Nelson Pang, Shiny Mary Varghese, Vidya Dhar Reddy, Tashia Acoose, Erin Hidlebaugh, Sandra Kwan, Megan Rowe, Priscilla Medeiros, Paul A. Shuper, Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco, Daniel Grace, Andrew D. Eaton
10.1186/s12954-026-01477-z
View Publication
Implementation and sustainability of hospital-based harm reduction delivery: a qualitative analysis
Leslie W. Suen, Leah Fraimow-Wong, Taylor Baisey, Kelly R. Knight, Laura Thomas, Ro Giuliano, Oanh Kieu Nguyen, Marlene Martín
10.1186/s12954-026-01476-0
View Publication
Correction: A sea of need: provider accounts of strategies used to manage admission demands to safer opioid supply programs in Ontario
Carol Strike, Katherine Rudzinski, Rose A. Schmidt, Gillian Kolla, David Kryszajtys, Melissa Perri, Nat Kaminski, Adrian Guta
10.1186/s12954-026-01473-3
View Publication
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to publish?
Submission to first decision (median): 15 days.
Reformat to Harm Reduction Journal using Livewrite PremiumIs a cover letter required?
A cover letter is required and should explain why the manuscript should be published in Harm Reduction Journal, address any issues relating to journal policies, declare potential competing interests, confirm that all authors approved the submission, confirm the work has not been published or submitted elsewhere, and identify any special issue if applicable. Authors may also suggest preferred or non-preferred peer reviewers in the cover letter.
Reformat to Harm Reduction Journal using Livewrite PremiumWhat are the publication costs?
An article processing charge applies for each accepted article. The current APC is £2490.00 GBP / $3390.00 USD / €2890.00 EUR, subject to VAT or local taxes where applicable.
Reformat to Harm Reduction Journal using Livewrite PremiumResearch Topics
HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk
Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
Forensic Toxicology and Drug Analysis
HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
Smoking Behavior and Cessation
Hepatitis C virus research
Homelessness and Social Issues
Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research
Sex work and related issues
Psychedelics and Drug Studies
Hepatitis B Virus Studies
Gambling Behavior and Treatments
Pain Management and Opioid Use
Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects
Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
Health Policy Implementation Science
Poisoning and overdose treatments
Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Study
Mental Health and Patient Involvement
Diabetes Management and Education
Pharmaceutical Quality and Counterfeiting
Behavioral Health and Interventions
Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology