INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

• Submission of papers |
• Conditions of submission |
• Manuscript format and style guide |
• Copyright |
• Proofs |

Submission of papers

The Journal of Public Health Policy welcomes unsolicited original scientific and policy contributions on all topics relevant to public health (meaning population health). We seek manuscripts focused on policy issues of interest to public health professionals, policymakers, program participants, advocates, and scholars. We are eager to publish new scientific results, but our primary interest is in presenting insightful and original papers that contain important discussions of and contributions to policy thinking for protecting or improving the health of populations around the world. Studies of the delivery, organization or financing of medical care are among priorities for publication in JPHP only if these are linked to the health of populations. Because public health is a diverse field, readability, general interest, and utility for our global readership are centrally important to us. We ask authors to be explicit about the policy implications of their work, and whenever possible, to point to lessons that may be of use in other countries or under other conditions. We also ask authors to avoid use of acronyms or references to programs, institutions, geography, or other features that may not be easily understood by readers from other parts of the world. As English is not the maternal language of many JPHP readers, we ask authors to avoid or explain terms or idioms likely to be difficult to translate.

All submissions to the Journal of Public Health Policy should be made online at http://jphp.msubmit.net. Please read the instructions given on the web submission site carefully before commencing your submission.

We welcome short questions or inquiries about the appropriateness of manuscripts for JPHP. Please send inquiries to the Editors at jphp@umb.edu.

Conditions of submission

Manuscripts are reviewed with the understanding that they:

• are original;
• are not under consideration by any other publisher;
• have not been previously published in whole or in part;
• have not been previously accepted for publication;
• have not been previously reviewed by the Journal of Public Health Policy;
• will not be submitted elsewhere until a decision is reached regarding their publication in the Journal of Public Health Policy.

Manuscript format and style guide

When the Editors send manuscripts for external review, they are double-blind reviewed. Thus, please ensure that no authors names are given on the first page of the manuscript and that author names have been taken out of the "File-Properties" screen in Word.

All manuscripts should be double-spaced. Margins should be one inch (2.5cm) at the top, bottom and sides of the page. Font size should be 12 point or larger. We ask that submissions be limited to 4000 words of text, unless an exception has been granted based on discussion with the Editors in advance of submission. Please contact the Editors at jphp@umb.edu. We give preference to shorter pieces.

In general, the Editors solicit commentaries, book reviews, and other feature articles. We do, however, welcome written inquiries about material that might be appropriate for the Journal. Please contact the Editors at jphp@umb.edu. We welcome short, unsolicited letters to consider for publication.

Title page

The title page should list the title of the article and suggestions for a short running title of no more than 40 characters (including spaces). Also include the authors names, affiliations and contact details (including email address) for the corresponding author.

Abstract

Authors are asked to supply an unstructured abstract of no more than 150 words. Abstracts should be informative for non-specialists.

Please be sure that the abstract page does not contain any information identifying the author(s). Also, please take care to create a title and an abstract that are direct and ‘reader-friendly’.

Keywords

Include up to six keywords that describe your paper for indexing and for web searches of your manuscript.

Active not Passive Voice

Our readers want to know and therefore, JPHP style requires that authors, thoughout the article, including the abstract, tell who has made decisions or taken actions by using the active voice (‘The research team decided’ or ‘The Department of Health implemented…’), and avoiding the passive voice (‘It was decided…’ or ‘The policy was implemented…’). Be sure to state by whom any action was taken or decision made.

Text

The introduction should state clearly the objective of the paper as well as the context of the research or analysis. A literature review should inform readers where the JPHP author's new material fits in the evolution of the topic being addressed. The conclusion should summarize key findings and state their importance to the field, including implications for policy or future research. Endnotes must provide the references crucial for placing the new contribution in the field, but should not include any that are not essential for that purpose. All endnotes and references should be placed at the end of the manuscript in endnotes in the form specified below. Substantive comments, including references to “personal communications” or other items that do not fit within the reference style noted below should be integrated within the text. No substantive information should be included in the references or as independent endnotes. JPHP does not use footnotes for references or for substantive notes.

References

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of all references. References are to be numbered sequentially (one number per reference) as each appears in the text for the first time; tables and figure legends should be double-spaced. Only articles that have been published or are “ in press” may be included in the references. These should follow the Vancouver format and abbreviations of journal names should conform to the Index Medicus style. Examples appear just below. (For the full set of “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals” go to www.icmje.org. For more detailed information on reference style, please consult the US National Library of Medicine's “Citing Medicine” guide at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=citmed.TOC&depth=2.

The examples below should be sufficient guidance for most authors; we provide the link for the unusual circumstance where the examples below do not provide enough information). For references with more than six authors, list the first six names, followed by et al.

Reference styles:

• Journal article

  • Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.
  • Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res. 2002;935(1-2):40-6.
  • Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002;40:679-86.

• Books

  • Heilman KM, Valenstein E. Clinical Neuropsychology. New York: Oxford University Press; 1995.
  • Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.

• Conference proceedings

  • Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour Conference; 2001 Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.

• Reports

  • WHO/IUATLD Global Project on Anti-Tuberculosis Drug Resistance Surveillance. Anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in the world, Report No. 3. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2004.

• Online Documents

  • Food and Drug Administration. Pharmaceutical cGMPs for the 21st Century - A Risk Based Approach. Available at http://www.fda.gov/oc/guidance/gmp.html, accessed 8 November 2003.
  • Guidance for citation of blogs and blog postings is available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=citmed.section.61024

Figures and tables

Ensure that every table or figure is referred to in the text. The table or figure will be placed after the first mention in the text. Legends should be short, descriptive and define any acronyms, abbreviations or symbols used.

Figures

Figures should be submitted electronically as TIFF or JPEG files at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi and preferably in black and white. Number figures with Arabic numerals in order of appearance.

Tables

Tables should be submitted in their original Word format. Number each table consecutively with Arabic numerals in order of appearance. Avoid using vertical rules. Horizontal rules should be used only above and below column headings and at the bottom of the table.

Spelling

Use either US or UK spellings consistently throughout. For UK spellings, take as a guide the new edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors; Websters Collegiate for US spellings. UK spellings will therefore prefer '-ize' to '-ise', as a verb ending (e.g. realize, specialize, recognize, etc.).

Copyright

Clearing Permissions. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright holders for reproducing through any medium of communication those illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. Add your acknowledgements to the typescript, preferably in the form of an Acknowledgements section at the end of the paper. Credit the source and copyright of photographs or figures in the accompanying captions.

To enable the Publisher to protect the copyright of the journal, authors must assign copyright in their manuscripts to Palgrave Macmillan. If you are unable to assign copyright, we will ask you to sign a grant of licence. Authors must confirm on submission that the article is original, is not under consideration by another journal, has not previously been published elsewhere and that its content has not been anticipated by previous publication. Authors retain their rights to republish this material in other works written or edited by themselves subject to full acknowledgement of the original source of publication.

The journal mandates the Copyright Clearance Center in the USA and the Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK to offer centralised licensing arrangements for photocopying in their respective territories.

Proofs and offprints

Following acceptance, the corresponding author will be sent an email with a link to a PDF file of their typeset article proof, which must be carefully checked and returned. The publisher will also provide an offprint order form with these proofs. Charges for reprints ordered at a later date are necessarily higher.