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Updates to author instructions: seeking non-pejorative, person-first language

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Substance Abuse journal supports the mission of the Association of Medical Education Research in Substance Abuse (AMERSA), which is “to improve health and well-being through interdisciplinary leadership in substance use education, research, clinical care, and policy.” The Editorial Team believes that improving health and well-being requires interdisciplinary leadership regarding the language that we use in our scholarship. We ask authors, reviewers, and readers to carefully and intentionally consider the language used to describe alcohol and other drug use and disorders, the individuals affected by these conditions, and their related behaviors, comorbidities, treatment, and recovery in our publication. Specifically, we make an appeal for the use of language that:

  • Respects the worth and dignity of all persons (“people-first language”)
  • Focuses on the medical nature of substance use disorders and treatment
  • Promotes the recovery process
  • Avoids perpetuating negative stereotype biases through the use of slang and idioms

For an overview of each of the above principles, examples of preferred and non-preferred terms, and discussion of some the nuances and tensions that inherently arise as we give greater attention to the issue of how we talk and write about substance use and addiction, please refer to our 2014 editorial in Substance Abuse journal, entitled, “Confronting Inadvertent Stigma and Pejorative Language in Addiction Scholarship: A Recognition and Response,” which is available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08897077.2014.930372

In sum, the Editorial Team does not seek to issue a formal or final dictum on language use for authors and reviewers, but instead, to encourage thoughtful and deliberate consideration of language that is most consistent with operationalizing respect for personhood in Substance Abuse journal’s policies and practices. Authors and reviewers are encouraged to contact the Managing Editor with related questions about this policy.

These comments are also available under Author Instructions – Editorial Policies.