EDGE Papers
The best safety work in industry is unpublished.
It lives in one mine, one plant, one refinery. The person who led it moves on, and the lesson goes with them. EDGE Papers
Why a third place
Academic journals will not take practitioner work. The format is wrong, the audience is wrong, and the review cycle outlasts most careers. Trade press will take it, but only six hundred words of it.
EDGE Papers are the publishing arm of Safety On The EDGE: short, rigorous papers on advanced safety concepts and what happens when they are applied. They are written for line managers, supervisors, superintendents and safety managers, and for the executives they report to.
An EDGE Paper sits below the academic journal and above the opinion piece. Rigorous enough that a professor would not object to it. Readable enough that a shift supervisor would finish it.
Four kinds of paper
Choose the one that fits your material. Papers run 2,500 to 6,000 words. If it needs 10,000, it is probably two papers.
Concept Paper
An advanced idea from safety science, psychology, systems theory or organisational theory, explained for a capable
colleague from another discipline, and what it means on the ground.
3,000–5,000 words
Application Paper
A real intervention, honestly reported. The setting, what was done, what happened, what did not work, and what transfers.
3,000–6,000 words
Practice Guide
A structured way of applying a concept: the steps, the tools, the pitfalls, and where it will not apply.
2,500–5,000 words
Critical Review
A hard look at a metric, method or practice that everyone uses and few question, tested against what it claims to do.
3,000–5,000 words
Who should write one
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You led a substantial intervention in your organisation and can show what happened.
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You wrote a book and want its core idea in a form a superintendent will finish.
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You tested a concept in the field and can report the results, including the ones you did not want.
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You hold a well-developed position on a contested issue and have the evidence to defend it in print.
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No academic affiliation is required. Something worth saying, and the evidence to support it, is.
What we will not publish
- Marketing for a product, service or consultancy
- Literature reviews with no practical conclusion
- Personal reflection without evidence
- Restatements of standards, regulations or well-known frameworks
How it works
01
Send an outline
Two to three hundred words: the paper type, the claim, the evidence you have, and why it matters to operational readers. You will hear back within two weeks.
02
Submit the paper
A Word manuscript, figures supplied separately, and a short declaration covering permissions and any commercial relationships.
03
Editorial review
One editorial board member and one practitioner reader. Four questions: Is the claim clear? Is the evidence adequate? Would an operational manager use it? What would make it better? Expect a response within six weeks.
04
One round of revision
Editorial suggestions are suggestions. Where you disagree, say why.
05
Publication
Copy-edited, set in the Edge Papers format, published on this site and distributed to the SOTE alumni network. You keep your copyright. Selected papers are presented at the Global Forum.
Start with an outline
Send two to three hundred words to the editors.
If you know someone who did the work and never wrote it down, send them this page.