Focus and Scope

The Scandinavian Journal of Optometry and Visual Science (SJOVS) is a forum for promoting research amongst optometrists and other researchers in optometry and visual science in the Scandinavian and European countries.

SJOVS considers original papers, reviews and other scientific articles that deal with any aspect of visual science, physiological optics, clinical optometry and applied matters relevant to the practice and application of optometry. The material may be experimental, observational, theoretical or historical in nature, and case studies are also of interest. Examples of relevant topics are: clinical techniques, public health, epidemiology, optometric instrumentation, optometric education, development of vision, use of vision under specific conditions such as driving and use of visual displays, design of spectacle and contact lenses, ocular pathology and the use of drugs. While emphasis is given to matters of importance to optometrists and vision scientists, many of the topics discussed are of interest to visual psychologists, physiologists, and others concerned with the development, use and restoration of vision.

Readership: optometrists, vision scientists, ophthalmologists, orthoptists, visual psychologists, physicists, neuroscientists and medical libraries. 

Peer Review Process

Scandinavian Journal of Optometry and Visual Science is a peer reviewed journal.

Reviews will be done continuously, but at the latest within 6 weeks after the submission of manuscripts.

Editors will email selected reviewers the title and abstract of the manuscript, as well as an invitation to log in to the journal website to complete the review. Reviewers enter the journal web site to agree to do the review, to download manuscripts, submit their comments, and select a recommendation.

Authors may log in to the journal web pages, and follow the stages of the review process.

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

The Scandinavian Journal of Optometry and Visual Science follows the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and Journal Publishers.

As the journal follows the ICMJE’s Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, it is expected of authors, reviewers and editors that they follow the best-practice guidelines on ethical behaviour contained therein in addition.

SJOVS is a peer-reviewed academic publication. All submissions, unless they are desk-rejected by the editors or guest-editors, undergo an evaluation by external reviewers with the proper subject expertise. While under review, the process is single-blind; editors mask the identities of peer reviewers. SJOVS’s editors assure this process. If an editor submits a paper, the evaluation must follow the same blind process. The editors are responsible for deciding which manuscripts submitted should be published.

Editors’ decisions will only be reversed if problems of intellectual property or copyright, plagiarism, redundant publication or other misconducts are identified within the submission.

All authors have an obligation to declare that their submission have not been previously published or submitted simultaneously to other journals and that their paper is based on original research. They have to state explicitly whether potential competing interests do exist. Submission of a manuscript to SJOVS implies that all authors have agreed to the journal’s policies.

Reviewers must follow SJOVS’s policies and participate to the good evaluation of the manuscript.

SJOVS takes seriously allegations of misconduct pre-publication and post- publication. Authors or reviewers are invited to contact the Managing editor or editors to address their allegations.

In case of retraction, a notice mentioning the reason and basis for the retraction will be published.

In case of correction, clarification, retraction or apologies, SJOVS’s editors will publish a notice mentioning the reasons.

Publication Frequency

Scandinavian Journal of Optometry and Visual Science will publish two issues per year, one in November/December and one in June/July. The first issue published as Open Access through Open Journal System was published in December 2010.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Scientific Level 1

Scandinavian Journal of Optometry and Visual Science is now registered by the Norwegian Social Science Data Service (NSD) at scientific level 1. NSD is responsible for the Norwegian register of scientific journals, which form the basis for research publications that have an impact on the funding of academic institutions. You can search for authorized publication channels here.

Journal History

Scandinavian Journal of Optometry and Visual Science was founded by The Norwegian Association of Optometry in 2008. Three issues were published in 2008 and 2009. The current editors were assigned at the end of 2009. They moved the journal to Open Journal Systems (OJS) for managing and publishing online in 2010 and the first issue was published through OJS in December 2010. The Italian Association of Optometry Società Optometrica Italiana SOPTI became a joint owner from January 2020.