Information for Authors

OVERVIEW OF THE JOURNAL

Mission

The Journal of Public Health Management and Practice (JPHMP) is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed journal focused on practice-based research. JPHMP also publishes peer-reviewed special supplements and/or special topical sections in the Journal each year that are sponsored by organizations interested in promulgating their work. Our mission is to advance and disseminate impactful, practice-based evidence to inform initiatives and policies to improve population health. We welcome submissions from public health researchers, academics, policy makers, and practitioners.

Accepted papers will be made available on the JPHMP website approximately eight weeks after final acceptance as a publish-ahead-of-print article. These uncorrected, early released electronic publications can be cited using the date of access and the unique DOI number. While these articles have been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication, they are posted online before issue publication, which means that these articles may contain statements, opinions, and information that have errors in facts, figures, or interpretation. Accordingly, Wolters Kluwer, the editors, and authors and their respective employees are not responsible or liable for the use of any such inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or information contained in these uncorrected articles. Articles will also be indexed in the appropriate databases (ie, PubMed) at this time. Any final changes in manuscripts will be made at the time of issue publication and will be reflected in the final electronic version of the issue. Final corrected articles will then be published in the next available issue of the Journal. Uncorrected early released articles will then be replaced by the corrected versions of record.

Objectives

JPHMP publishes eight types of articles: Commentaries, Editorials, Practice Full Reports, Practice Brief Reports, Research Full Reports, Research Brief Reports, Case Studies, and –by invitation only — Systematic Reviews. For more information about each article type, read our Author Guidelines.

To get a sense of whether your work is a good fit for JPHMP, consider our primary objectives. We are interested in work that

focuses on public health practice by describing and evaluating initiatives to promote community health;
examines administrative methods utilized by public health agencies and provides guidance for achieving more effective, more efficient methods of operation;
provides detail planning, operation, and evaluation of preventative initiatives addressed at populations;
presents views of leaders and practitioners of public health on effective approaches to contemporary issues;
examines the role of prevention in a health care delivery system undergoing changes of managed care and health care reform;
evaluates methods for collecting and utilizing data to assess and monitor health;
explores the use of automated registry and tracking systems in improving public health services including immunization, tuberculosis, and lead poisoning;
translates the principles of assessment, policy, and assurance into practical and effective measures to be employed by the public health agency;
provides models to guide the implementation of population-based health programs to promote health promoting behaviors, prevent morbidity, or delay mortality;
provides information on the development of health indicators to assess community need and guides and evaluates the development of necessary community programs;
explores a range of health promotion activities that can be applied to a population base by governmental and non-governmental public health practitioners;
details the everyday practice of public health with an emphasis on the most current and feasible approaches.

BEFORE PUBLISHING WITH JPHMP

Requirements for Authorship

All authors must meet minimum requirements for authorship as described in the AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors (11th edition). Also see ICMJE’s recommendations for defining the role of authors and contributors. As such, an Author Agreement is included as a step during manuscript submission for the corresponding author and must be completed before the manuscript can be submitted. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, co-authors will be emailed a link to the Copyright Transfer and Author Agreement forms. Both forms must be completed prior to publication. As such, be very careful that the correct e-mail address is entered for all co-authors and that co-authors are aware of the requirement.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

For Authors:

The Journal does not consider Artificial Intelligence authoring tools to meet the requirements for Authorship as recommended by the ICMJE. The use of such tools may be included in the article’s Acknowledgements.

For Reviewers:

Use of AI during the review process that results in a suggestion to accept or reject the manuscript under review is not permitted. Suggestions to accept or reject manuscripts can only be made by human reviewers. Uploading or otherwise entering the manuscript under review into any AI tool is not permitted. The text of the review itself may be manipulated using AI tools, provided this use does not inform the reviewer’s accept-reject suggestion. This policy is in accordance with guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). More information is available here.

Group and Collaborative Authorship

The Journal will accept articles written by groups that adhere to the following guidance from the AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors (11th edition): “Group or collaborative authorship usually involves multicenter study investigators, members of working groups, and official or self-appointed expert boards, panels, or committees. Such group-author papers are also referred to as collaborative, corporate, and collective author papers. These groups can comprise hundreds of participants and often represent complex, multidisciplinary collaborations, and therefore, decisions about listing group authorship pose several problems and dilemmas for authors, editors, journals, librarians, and bibliographic databases.

Large trials and studies are often best known and frequently referred to by their study name (eg, Women’s Health Initiative) or by their abbreviation (eg, WHI). As a result, these groups often include the official name of the study group in an article’s byline (ie, the position on an article’s title page where authors are listed). However, not all members of a study group may meet authorship criteria, and having the group name in the byline does not distinguish those members of the group who qualify for authorship from those who do not. In addition, without a single person named as author, no individual person can take responsibility and be held accountable for the work. For this reason, at least 1 individual (eg, corresponding author or the principal investigator) should be named as corresponding author or guarantor. To address these concerns, members of a writing team or a subgroup are often identified as the authors for large groups.

For group-author articles, providing appropriate credit and accountability for the many individuals involved — authors and nonauthors — and ensuring proper citation and online searching and retrieval of the articles are important considerations. The guidelines that follow may help authors and editors determine who should be listed and where.

One or more authors may take responsibility for a group (as the authors or writing team). In this case, the names of individual authors are listed in the byline with a designation that these authors are writing on behalf of or for the group. Those members of the group who do not qualify for authorship would not be listed in the byline but may be listed in the Acknowledgement at the end of the article. In this case, the byline might read as follows:

Jacques E. Rossouw, MBChB, MD: Garnet L. Anderson, PhD; for the Women’s Health Initiative

Writing Group for the Women’s Health Initiative

In the latter example, the writing group members are the authors for the group, and their names should be listed in the author affiliation or Acknowledgement section (with their specific contributions identified). Note: In these cases the formal group-author name (eg, Women’s Health Initiative) should be coded in the journal’s online version and in bibliographic databases so that the results of online searches for articles from this group will include articles that combine individual names or subgroup (eg, the Writing Group) with the formal group name in the byline. The other nonauthor group members and their contributions may then be listed separately in the Acknowledgement section. Some authors and groups might prefer that only the group name appears in the byline to emphasize the collaborative nature of their effort. Thus, another option is for the byline to list only the group name followed by an asterisk, which refers to a list of specific authors or a writing committee for the overall group: eg, Clinical Outcomes Trial Investigators*

The asterisk in the byline corresponds to another asterisk and note on the same printed page of the article or linked affiliation in the online version that identifies a list of authors who take responsibility for this article. This location of the list of authors must be clearly indicated so that readers can identify the authors and indexers of bibliographic databases can identify and properly index the names of all authors. The note might read as follows:

*Authors/Clinical Outcomes Trial Investigators are John Smith, Mary Broadbent, Timothy Bowman, Jane Swanson, David Pearce, and Joan Wallace.

*Authors/Writing Committee Members for the Clinical Outcomes Trial Investigators are listed at the end of this article.

In the second example above, the names and affiliations of all authors/writing committee members and their specific contributions may be listed at the end of the article. Some journals may choose to publish long lists of authors from a group in a box or separate list within the article. To ensure that authors are cited appropriately in bibliographic databases, explicit use of the term Authors or Writers is preferred.

Authorship can be attributed to an entire group, although this practice is less common than the examples given above. However, as with all articles, clear justification for all members of the group, meeting all criteria and requirements for authorship must be made, and for journals that publish authors’ individual contributions, all members of the group must identify their specific contributions. In this case, the byline might read as follows:

Clinical Outcomes Trial Investigators

In cases in which every member of a large group qualifies for authorship and the group name appears in the byline, the individual members of the study group should be listed separately in the

Acknowledgement section or in a clearly identified position within the article, such as a box set off by rules.

If the group name appears in the byline, it is recommended that at least 1 person, usually the corresponding author, be named as an individual who will coordinate questions about the article. This person can be named in the affiliation footnote as corresponding author. In this case, the byline might read:

Clinical Outcomes Trial Investigators

and the affiliation footnote might read:

Author Affiliations: A complete list of the authors in the Clinical Outcomes Trial Investigators appears at the end of this article. Corresponding Author: James S. Smith, MD, Department of Neurology, University of Chicago Medical School, 555 S. Main St., Chicago, IL 60615 (smithjs@umc.edu).

Publishing the names of all authors and their specific contributions, no matter how many, with the specific article is preferred. However, a long list of investigators and affiliated centers could occupy several journal pages and may be of questionable value to readers. Yet it is important to publish the names of each author with the article, for reasons of accountability and credit and to allow proper searching and retrieval of articles by individual author names in bibliographic databases. If the identical list of authors has been published previously in a group list in an indexed and retrievable journal, the editor may choose to cite and link to that publication in an affiliation footnote or acknowledgement rather than republish the entire list. A journal that is simultaneously publishing 2 or more articles from the same group of authors may consider publishing the list of authors in the initial article and then citing that article in, and linking to that article from, the other related articles. Another option is to publish the list in the journal’s online version of the article, as long as there is clear indication (citation and linking) of this list in the printed article. The same options apply to long lists of other collaborators who are not authors.

Study or other group participants should not be promised authorship status and a place in the byline merely for performing activities that alone do not qualify for authorship (eg, cooperating in a study, collecting data, attending a working conference, lending technical assistance). However, performing any of those activities in addition to writing or critically revising the manuscript and approving the version to be published would be sufficient to merit authorship. Editors and authors should assess the need to publish lengthy lists of authors and other group participants on an individual basis.”

Expectations of Authors

Authors who publish with JPHMP rely upon their experienced peers in the field to carefully review their manuscripts and offer written comments that may improve the authors’ work. Publishing in peer-reviewed journals requires an ongoing search for qualified reviewers without whom the practice of publishing in highly reputable journals could not exist. As such, JPHMP expects authors who publish with the Journal to be good literary citizens who understand the importance of reviewing articles. Therefore, publishing with JPHMP requires corresponding authors and lead authors to agree to provide at least one manuscript review in kind.

Participant Anonymity and Informed Consent

It is the policy of the JPHMP that an Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviews all investigations meeting the criteria for human subjects research. The review process should be explicitly noted in the “Methods” section of the manuscript. It is our strong preference that all designations of exemption are rendered by an IRB. A full explanation of the JPHMP policy may be found elsewhere (MacCubbin & Moore, 2014). It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that a participant’s anonymity be carefully protected and to verify that any experimental investigation with human subjects reported in the manuscript was performed with informed consent and following all the guidelines for experimental investigation with human subjects required by the institution(s) with which all the authors are affiliated. If patient photographs are included, authors should mask patients’ eyes and remove patients’ names from figures unless they obtain written consent from the patients and submit written consent with the manuscript.

Ethical/Legal Considerations

Each person listed as an author is expected to have participated in the study to a significant extent. If more than 6 authors are listed, a specific justification for each additional author must be listed and will be subject to the editor’s approval. Although the editor and referees make every effort to ensure the validity of published manuscripts, the final responsibility rests with the authors, not with the Journal, its editors, or the publisher.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors must state all possible conflicts of interest in the manuscript, including financial, consultant, institutional, and other relationships that might lead to bias or a conflict of interest. If there is no conflict of interest, this should also be explicitly stated as none declared. All sources of funding should be acknowledged in the manuscript. All relevant conflicts of interest and sources of funding should be included on the title page of the manuscript with the heading “Conflicts of Interest and Source of Funding.”

Example:

Conflicts of Interest and Source of Funding: A has received honoraria from Company Z. B is currently receiving a grant (#12345) from Organization Y, and is on the speaker’s bureau for Organization X – the CME organizers for Company A. For the remaining authors, none were declared.

In addition, all authors must complete the Journal’s Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA), which includes the disclosure of potential conflicts of interest based on the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” (www.icmje.org). The agreement is included as a step during manuscript submission for the corresponding author and must be completed before the manuscript can be submitted. Co-authors will be emailed a link to the Copyright Transfer Agreement and Author Agreement (see below) upon manuscript submission, and both agreements must be completed prior to editorial or peer review. As such, be very careful that the correct e-mail address is entered for all co-authors and that co-authors are aware of the requirement.

SUBMITTING WORK TO JPHMP

Original Manuscripts

Authors are encouraged to submit original manuscripts that are prepared in accordance with our Author Guidelines (see here). An original submission means that the manuscript has not been written by Artificial Intelligence authoring tools, previously published elsewhere (except as an abstract or a preliminary report), is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and, if accepted, will not be published elsewhere in similar form, in any language, without the consent of our publisher Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Duplicate submissions of this nature are not acceptable.

Preprints

A preprint is an early version of a manuscript that is made available to the public before peer-review by depositing it in one of several internationally recognized preprint servers. A preprint is not considered prior publication of the manuscript.

If you have used a preprint server for your paper, you must disclose that in the cover letter of the submission and include it in a section labeled “Publication history.” For example:

“Publication history: This manuscript was previously published in bioRxiv: doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/307788125.”

Also, if your manuscript is accepted for publication in the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice, it is your responsibility to update the preprint with the DOI and a link to the final published version of the manuscript.

Permissions

Express written permission is required for use of any previously published materials appearing in manuscript submissions, including, but not limited to, previously published results, numerical information, tables, figures, or images. Authors are responsible for obtaining signed letters from copyright holders granting permission to reprint material being borrowed or adapted from other sources, including previously published material of their own or from Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. This includes forms, checklists, cartoons, text, tables, figures, exhibits, glossaries, and pamphlets; concepts, theories, or formulas used exclusively in a chapter or section; direct quotes from a book or journal that are over 30% of a printed page; and all excerpts from newspapers or other short articles. Without permission from the copyright holder, these items may not be used. Authors are responsible for any permission fees to reprint borrowed material.

Manuscript Categories. (For a complete description of each category with accompanying guides, read our AUTHOR GUIDELINES.)

Commentary: <1500 words, 3 or fewer authors, no abstract or Implications for Policy & Practice, no more than 1 table or figure, although additional tables/figures as supplemental digital content may be included. Example: CLICK TO VIEW
Editorial: <800 words, 2 or fewer authors, no abstract or Implications for Policy & Practice, no tables or figures. Example: CLICK TO VIEW
Practice Full Report: 1500-3500 words (not including abstract, Implications for Policy & Practice, tables, figures, or references), no more than 5 tables or figures, although additional tables/figures as supplemental digital content may be included. Tools: How to Write a Practice Full Report (PPT) (Viewed best in Google Chrome) Guides: Guided Template — CLICK TO VIEW (PDF) / Blank Template — CLICK TO VIEW (DOC)
Practice Brief Report: 1000-1500 words (not including abstract, Implications for Policy & Practice, tables, figures, or references), no more than one table or figure, although additional tables/figures as supplemental digital content may be included. Tools: How to Write a Practice Brief Report (PPT) (Viewed best in Google Chrome) Guides: Guided Template — CLICK TO VIEW (PDF) / Blank Template — CLICK TO VIEW (DOC)
Research Full Report: 1500-3500 words (not including abstract, Implications for Policy & Practice, tables, figures, or references), no more than 5 tables or figures, although additional tables/figures as supplemental digital content may be included. Tools: How to Write a Research Full Report (PPT) (Viewed best in Google Chrome) Guides: Guided Template — CLICK TO VIEW (PDF) / Blank Template — CLICK TO VIEW (DOC)
Research Brief Report: 1000-1500 words (not including abstract, Implications for Policy & Practice, tables, figures, or references), no more than one table or figure, although additional tables/figures as supplemental digital content may be included. Tools: How to Write a Research Brief Report (PPT) (Viewed best in Google Chrome) Guides: Guided Template — CLICK TO VIEW (PDF) / Blank Template — CLICK TO VIEW (DOC)
Case Study: <3500 words (not including abstract, tables, figures, or references), no Implications for Policy & Practice, no more than five tables or figures, although additional tables/figures as supplemental digital content may be included. Example: CLICK TO VIEW

Submissions By Invitation Only

Systematic Review: Authors interested in submitting a systematic review are required to query the editor-in-chief Justin B. Moore, PhD, MS.

Details: <3500 words (not including abstract, Implications for Policy & Practice, tables, figures, or references), no more than one table or figure, although additional tables/figures as supplemental digital content may be included. Tools: How to Write a Systematic-Narrative Review (PPT) (Viewed best in Google Chrome) Guides: Guided Template — CLICK TO VIEW (PDF) / Blank Template — CLICK TO VIEW (DOC)

To Query: Send your manuscript for pre-review and approval to justin.b.moore@wfusm.edu.

How to Prepare Manuscripts

Electronic files are required for all text as Microsoft Word documents. (Authors may also submit high-resolution, camera-ready artwork electronically by following instructions “How to Submit Additional Files” outlined below.) Manuscript pages should be numbered and double spaced (including quotations, lists, references, footnotes, figure captions, and all parts of tables). Author biographies are no longer required. Written permission for any borrowed text, tables, or figures should be provided if applicable (see Permissions above.) All forms are available at https://www.editorialmanager.com/jphmp/. Each manuscript should begin with a title page. Research Full Reports, Research Brief Reports, Practice Full Reports, Practice Brief Reports, and Systematic Reviews must include an abstract and a new section called Implications for Policy & Practice (see below). All manuscripts reporting original data or secondary data analyses must include a human participant compliance statement.

Title page

The first page of the manuscript should be the title page, to include 1) title of the article, 2) author names (with academic credentials), 3) affiliations (including title(s), department, and name and location of institutions of primary employment), and 4) any acknowledgments, credits, or disclaimers.

If more than 6 authors are listed, a specific justification for each additional author must be given at the time of submission and will be subject to approval by the Editor-in-Chief.
The title page must also include disclosure of funding received for this work. This is especially important if funding was received from any of the following organizations: National Institutes of Health (NIH); Wellcome Trust; Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

Abstract

Full length articles that report original data are required to utilize the structured abstract format. The structured abstract must be written in 300 words or fewer and contain the following headings: Context (if necessary), Objective, Design, Setting, Participants, Intervention (if applicable), Main Outcome Measure(s), Results, and Conclusions.

Other submissions, including Case Studies and Brief Report articles, should employ an unstructured format. These unstructured abstracts should contain no more than 150 words and attempt to convey as much of the information requested in the structured abstract format as applicable. Editorials and Commentaries do not require an abstract.

The abstract must be factual and comprehensive. Limit the use of abbreviations and acronyms, and avoid general statements (eg, “the significance of the results is discussed”). The abstract should follow the guidelines presented in section 2.5 of the AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors (11th edition).

At the end of the abstract, include 3-5 key words that describe the contents of the article like those that appear in the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) or the National Library of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). Abstracts reporting original data should report sample statistics (eg, means, frequencies) and measures of dispersion (eg, standard deviation) rather than simply reporting statistical significance.

Implications for Policy & Practice

For Research Full Reports, Research Brief Reports, Practice Full Reports, Practice Brief Reports, and Systematic Reviews, please provide a summary (100-200 words max) of the Implications for Policy & Practice. These implications may address relevance to the development, adoption, implementation, or evaluation of public health policy or the practice of implementing such public health policies or practices in “real world” settings. The authors should avoid speculation and over-generalization. Implications for Policy & Practice sections should conform to the following general guidelines:

Each article should include a clearly delineated section titled “Implications for Policy & Practice.” This includes a bold heading that introduces the section so it is easily found and should appear in the document after the “Discussion” section but before the “References” section. If there are no direct implications for policy or practice because the article introduces a new research method or conceptual framework, it is still important for the author(s) to identify the relevance of the work to future policy or practice work. Manuscripts that address topics for which this relevance cannot be articulated may not be suitable for the JPHMP.
Format the section using bullets (not a paragraph), adhering strictly to 200 or fewer words of text, which are not included in the article’s total word count.

Human Participant Compliance Statement

A statement of compliance with human participants’ protection must be included in the “Methods” section of the manuscript. In accordance with the recommendations of the American Medical Association, all manuscripts that report studies involving human participants must clearly indicate that the study protocol has been reviewed and approved by an institutional review board (IRB) or other independent ethics committee and that informed consent has been obtained for all participants. A full explanation of the JPHMP policy may be found here (MacCubbin & Moore, 2014). More detail regarding general recommendations may be found in the AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors (11th edition) on pages 226-229.

Reporting Race and Ethnicity

JPHMP follows the recommendations of the AMA Manual of Style, which recently updated its guidance on the reporting of race and ethnicity in scientific articles. For more information, read this post on JPHMP Direct.

Data Availability Statement

In any articles that report results derived from research data, the Journal requires authors to include a Data Availability Statement on the title page. The provision of a Data Availability Statement will be verified as a condition of publication. Data Availability Statements should include information on where data supporting the results reported in the article can be found including, where applicable, hyperlinks to publicly archived datasets analyzed or generated during the study. Where research data are not publicly available, this must be stated in the manuscript along with any conditions for accessing the data. Data Availability Statements must take one of the following forms (or a combination of more than one if required for multiple types of research data):

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are publicly available.
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not available.

How to Format Manuscripts

Manuscripts should fall under the predetermined categories outlined above.
Pages should be numbered.
Unless otherwise stated (ie, the Practice Report formats), submissions should follow an IMRaD (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion) format.
Word/table/figure limits are prescribed for each article type but may be flexible depending on individual circumstances. Table/figure limits DO NOT include those items submitted as supplemental digital content (SDC).
Supplemental Digital Content (SDC) is material housed on the Journal Web site for readers to download and linked in the published digital document. Therefore, materials that are valuable but are not essential for the comprehension of the final article (eg, figures), should be submitted as SDC. If authors feel that the quality of a manuscript will be negatively affected by adhering to the prescribed word limits, they may contact Editor Justin B. Moore, PhD, MS, at Justin.B.Moore@wfusm.edu. (See more about SDC below).

Stylistic Guidelines of JPHMP (See also: Manuscript Style Tips)

Medication Names. Use generic medication names followed by the trade name in parentheses if appropriate.
Numbers. Cite values such as weight and temperature in both metric and non-metric terms. Numbers should be presented with spaces rather than commas (eg, “500 000” rather than “500,000”).
Statistics. Statistical significance (ie, P values) should be expressed to 2 digits to the right of the decimal point unless the P value is less than .01, in which case the P value should be expressed to 3 digits to the right of the decimal point. Whenever possible, authors should include measures of effect (ie, effect sizes, odds ratios) with confidence intervals, not simply P-values or declarations of statistical significance. Where point or effect estimates are on an uninterpretable scale (ie, values were log transformed), the authors should provide an explanation of practical significance (rather than statistical significance). Authors should never attempt to describe results that fail to achieve significance at the a priori threshold for statistical significance, such as suggesting that the results “approached significance” or displayed a “trend towards significance.” Similarly, statistics are never “highly significant.”
Abbreviations. Write out the full term for each abbreviation at its first use unless it is a standard unit of measure. Avoid error-prone abbreviations; see the following Web site for a complete list http://www.ismp.org/Tools/errorproneabbreviations.pdf.
Race. When presenting information about the race and ethnicity of participants, authors should describe how the information was defined (eg, self-reported) and collected (eg, investigator-derived checklist). Unless otherwise justified, ethnicity should be categorized as Hispanic or Latino/non-Hispanic or Latino, and race should be categorized as American Indian or Alaska Native Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, or White or European American. Caucasian should not be used.
References. References must be cited in text and styled in the reference list according to the AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors (10th edition). References should not be created using Microsoft Word’s automatic footnote/endnote feature. Using bibliographic software (eg, Endnote, ProCite, RefWorks) is acceptable. In short:
- In-text citations should be presented as superscript numbers (eg, “It is well known1”).
- Numbers should be placed after periods, exclamation, and question marks but before colons and semicolons.
- Page numbers should appear with the text citation following a specific quote.
- References should be included on a separate page at the end of the article and should be double spaced.
- References should be numbered consecutively in the order they are cited; reference numbers can be used more than once throughout an article.

Examples of correctly styled reference entries:

Journals: Author, article title, journal, year, volume, inclusive pages.

Doe J. Allied medical education. JAMA. 1975;23:170–:184. Doe J. Drug use during high school. Am J Public Health. 1976;64(5):12–22.

Books: Author, book title, place of publication, publisher, year.

Farber SD. Neurorehabilitation: A Multisensory Approach. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders; 1982. Winawar S, Lipkin M. Proliferative abnormalities in the gastrointestinal tract. In: Card WI, Creamer B, eds. Modern Trends in Gastroenterology. 4th ed. London, England: Butterworth & Co; 1970.

For multiple authors in journals and books:

If 6 or fewer, list all authors.

If more than 6, list the first 3 followed by et al.

Footnotes. Footnotes may be used in Author Affiliations. See 2.3.3, Author Affiliations in AMA Manual of Style. However, footnotes should not be used within the body of the article. Such explanatory material should be incorporated into the text parenthetically.

How to Submit Manuscript Files Electronically

All manuscripts must be submitted online through our submission portal Editorial Manager. JPHMP does not charge any submission or publication fees. If authors would like to retain copyright for their work, they may choose the Open Access option (below).

First-time users follow these instructions: (All first-time users must register.)

Click the REGISTER button from the menu above and enter the requested information.
On successful registration, you will be sent an e-mail indicating your username and password. Print a copy of this information for future reference.*
If you experience any problems, contact Managing Editor Sheryl Monks at Sheryl.Monks@Advocatehealth.org.

*Note: If you have received an e-mail from us with an assigned user ID and password, or if you are a repeat user, DO NOT REGISTER AGAIN; simply log in as a Returning Author (see below). Once you have an assigned ID and password, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO RE-REGISTER, even if your status changes (that is, author, reviewer, or editor).

Returning authors follow these instructions:

Click the LOGIN button from the menu at the top of the page and log in to the system as an Author.
Submit your manuscript according to the author instructions. You will be able to track the progress of your manuscript through the system.
If you experience any problems, contact managing editor Sheryl Monks at Sheryl.Monks@Advocatehealth.org.

How to Submit Additional Files

Figures should be submitted as separate files.

Digital Artwork

Learn about the publication requirements for Digital Artwork: http://links.lww.com/ES/A42.
Create, Scan, and Save your artwork, and compare your final figure to the Digital Artwork Guideline Checklist (below).
Upload each figure to Editorial Manager in conjunction with your manuscript text and tables.

Digital Artwork Guideline Checklist

Before submitting digital artwork:

Save artwork as TIFF, EPS, or MS Office (DOC, PPT, XLS) files. High resolution PDF files are also acceptable.
Crop out any white or black space surrounding the image.
Diagrams, drawings, graphs, and other line art must be vector or saved at a resolution of at least 1200 dpi. If created in an MS Office program, send the native (DOC, PPT, XLS) file.
Photographs, radiographs, and other halftone images must be saved at a resolution of at least 300 dpi.
Photographs and radiographs with text must be saved as postscript or at a resolution of at least 600 dpi.
Each figure must be saved and submitted as a separate file. Figures should not be embedded in the manuscript text file.

Remember:

Cite figures consecutively in your manuscript.
Number figures in the figure legend in the order in which they are discussed.
Upload figures consecutively to the Editorial Manager Web site, and enter figure numbers consecutively in the Description field when uploading the files.

Color Figures

Authors may choose to pay to publish color figures in the print issue of the journal. There is a per figure color charge. Upon submission to production, authors will be given the option to choose to pay for color in print. If an author does not want to pay for color, the publisher will convert the images for print to black and white for free. All color figures will appear in the online version of the article at no cost to the author.

Tables (See also: Formatting Figures & Tables)

Each table should be in a separate document.
Number tables consecutively, and supply a brief title for each.
Include explanatory footnotes for all nonstandard abbreviations. For footnotes, use the following symbols, in this sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ll, **, etc.
Cite each table in the text in consecutive order.
If you use data from another published or unpublished source, obtain permission and acknowledge fully. Include “Source: Author” on tables that you created.

Supplemental Digital Content

Supplemental Digital Content (SDC). Authors may submit SDC via Editorial Manager to LWW journals that enhance their article’s text to be considered for online posting. SDC may include standard media such as text documents, graphs, audio, video, etc. On the Attach Files page of the submission process, please select Supplemental Audio, Video, or Data for your uploaded file as the Submission Item. If an article with SDC is accepted, our production staff will create a URL with the SDC file. The URL will be placed in the call-out within the article. SDC files are not copyedited by LWW staff; they will be presented digitally as submitted. For a list of all available file types and detailed instructions, please visit http://links.lww.com/A142.
SDC Call-outs. Supplemental digital content must be cited consecutively in the text of the submitted manuscript. Citations should include the type of material submitted (audio, figure, table, etc.), be clearly labeled as “Supplemental Digital Content,” include the sequential list number, and provide a description of the supplemental content. All descriptive text should be included in the call-out, as it will not appear elsewhere in the article.
- Example: We performed many tests on the degrees of flexibility in the elbow (see Video, Supplemental Digital Content 1, which demonstrates elbow flexibility) and found our results inconclusive.
List of Supplemental Digital Content. A listing of supplemental digital content must be submitted at the end of the manuscript file. Include the SDC number and file type of the supplemental digital content. This text will be removed by our production staff and will not be published.
- Example: Supplemental Digital Content 1.wmv
SDC File Requirements. All acceptable file types are permissible up to 10 MBs. For audio or video files greater than 10 MBs, authors should first query the Journal office for approval. For a list of all available file types and detailed instructions, please visit http://links.lww.com/A142.
See also: Citing Supplemental Digital Content (SDC) in Your Manuscript Submission

MANUSCRIPT REVIEW PROCESS

It is understood that articles are submitted solely to JPHMP and have not been published previously. The JPHMP is a peer-reviewed journal. Manuscripts are screened on submission to determine if they warrant peer review. Approximately 50% of manuscripts screened are advanced to peer review. Manuscripts that are deemed high priority and of high initial quality upon screening are designated for peer review. All manuscripts are reviewed by at least 2 qualified peer reviewers. Manuscript evaluation is based on the following criteria:

Concise, logical ordering of ideas;
Sound argument and defense of original ideas;
Accuracy of content;
Adequacy of documentation;
Consistency with the purpose of the Journal.

Manuscripts undergo a “single blind” review process. Reviewers are appointed through the Editorial Manager system, and their evaluation is solicited according to the above criteria. Reviewers rely upon numbered manuscript pages to comment on manuscripts, so it’s important to number pages carefully. The comments of both reviewers are sent to the Journal editor. The anonymous reviewers’ comments and the editor’s summary, indicating the Editor’s evaluation of the article, are then returned to the author. The editor(s) makes a decision regarding acceptance of the article for publication based on the comments and recommendations of the peer reviewers.

For a detailed explanation of the peer-review process, read “Understanding the Peer Review Process” on JPHMPDirect.com here.

Responding to Peer Reviews & Resubmitting

Respond to each reviewer’s comments, even if no changes were made. In this instance, provide a justification for why the authors declined to incorporate the suggested change.
Create a table with two columns, one for reviewers’ comments and one for author responses. (See example.)
In the revised manuscript, use italics to indicate changes made according to comments and responses in your table. (See example.)
Resubmit the manuscript in Editorial Manager along with a cover letter and the table with your responses.
See example and template on JPHMP Direct here.

AFTER ACCEPTANCE

Page Proofs and Corrections

Corresponding authors will receive electronic page proofs to check the copyedited and typeset article before publication. Portable document format (PDF) files of the typeset pages and support documents (eg, Reprint Order Form) will be sent to the corresponding author by e-mail. Complete instructions will be provided with the e-mail for downloading and printing the files and for faxing the corrected page proofs to the publisher. Those authors without an e-mail address will receive traditional page proofs. It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that there are no errors in the proofs. Changes that have been made to conform to Journal style will stand if they do not alter the authors’ meaning. Only the most critical changes to the accuracy of the content will be made. Changes that are stylistic or are a reworking of previously accepted material will be disallowed. The publisher reserves the right to deny any changes that do not affect the accuracy of the content. Authors may be charged for alterations to the proofs beyond those required to correct errors or to answer queries. Proofs must be checked carefully and corrections faxed within 24 to 48 hours of receipt, as requested in the cover letter accompanying the page proofs.

Reprints

Authors will receive a reprint order form and a price list with the page proofs. Reprint requests should be faxed to the publisher with the corrected proofs, if possible. Reprints are normally shipped 6 to 8 weeks after publication of the issue in which the item appears. Contact the Reprints Department, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 530 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, Phone: 1-215-521-8557, with any questions.

Open Access

LWW’s hybrid open access option is offered to authors whose articles have been accepted for publication. With this choice, articles are made freely available online immediately upon publication. Authors may take advantage of the open access option at the point of acceptance to ensure that this choice has no influence on the peer review and acceptance process. These articles are subject to the Journal’s standard peer-review process and will be accepted or rejected based on their own merit. Authors of accepted peer-reviewed articles have the choice to pay a fee to allow perpetual unrestricted online access to their published article to readers globally, immediately upon publication.

Corresponding authors must complete a License to Publish (LTP) form when selecting Open Access. Contact the managing editor Sheryl Monks to get a copy of the form.

Authors Retain Copyright

Authors retain their copyright for all articles they opt to publish open access. Authors grant LWW a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher.

Creative Commons License Articles opting for open access will be freely available to read, download, and share from the time of publication. Articles are published under the terms of the Creative Commons License Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivative 3.0, which allows readers to disseminate and reuse the article, as well as share and reuse the scientific material. It does not permit commercial exploitation or the creation of derivative works without specific permission. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0.

Compliance with NIH, RCUK, Wellcome Trust, and other research funding agency accessibility requirements

A number of research funding agencies now require or request authors to submit the post-print (the article after peer review and acceptance but not the final published article) to a repository that is accessible online by all without charge. As a service to our authors, LWW identifies to the National Library of Medicine (NLM) articles that require deposit and transmits the post-print of an article based on research funded in whole or in part by the National Institutes of Health, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, or other funding agencies to PubMed Central. The revised Copyright Transfer Agreement provides the mechanism. LWW ensures that authors can fully comply with the public access requirements of major funding bodies worldwide. Additionally, all authors who choose the open access option will have their final published article deposited into PubMed Central.

Open access and free access through PMC are two separate things. Open Access (OA) refers to the authors (or organization) retaining copyright of the work. This requires payment. Authors of articles funded by the CDC, NIH, and other agencies may deposit the author’s peer-reviewed, journal-accepted manuscript in PMC, but the journal retains copyright. This fulfills most federal mandates.

In short, you do not need to pay for OA to be compliant and may submit the final peer-reviewed, journal-accepted manuscript in PMC at this link: https://www.nihms.nih.gov/login/?next=/submission/.

RCUK- and Wellcome-funded authors can choose to publish their paper as open access with the payment of an article process charge (gold route), or opt for their accepted manuscript to be deposited (green route) into PMC with an embargo.

With both the gold and green open access options, the author will continue to sign the Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA) as it provides the mechanism for LWW to ensure that the author is fully compliant with the requirements. After signature of the CTA, the author will then sign a License to Publish where they will then own the copyright. Those authors who wish to publish their article via the gold route will be able to publish under the terms of the Attribution 3.0 (CCBY) license. To view of a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/. Those authors who wish to publish their article via the green route will be able to publish under the rights of the Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 (CCBY NC) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/).

It is the responsibility of the author to inform the editorial office and/or LWW that he or she has RCUK funding. LWW will not be held responsible for retroactive deposits to PMC if the author has not completed the proper forms.

FAQ for open access http://links.lww.com/LWW-ES/A48.

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