Manuscript Submission Guideline

Journal of Nepal Public Health Association (JNEPHA)

General Requirements of Manuscript as Guidelines to the Authors

SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPT

Manuscripts need to be prepared as per the specific format of the original article, review articles and others (these can be downloaded from the journal website (nepha.org.np/journal) or requested to the editor through Email: journalnepha@gmail.com). Manuscript complying with the guideline should be submitted through electronic mail with 1) Covering letter 2) Contributors form 3) Checklist 4) Title Page 5) Abstract and 6) Text/manuscript detail including the lists of references used. In addition, Ethical Approval Letters and other accessory documents have to be submitted (only on the request of the Journal Editorial Board). Submit an article (including references) as electronic copy through Email: journalnepha@gmail.com

Type of article accepted: The accepted types of articles are original article, review article, perspectives, debates, view point, field reflections, case studies and letter to the editor. Indicate the type of article before submission.

THE EDITORIAL PROCESS

The manuscripts submitted by authors will be reviewed for publication with the understanding that they are not submitted to any other journal and have not been published, simultaneously submitted or accepted for publication elsewhere. The peer reviewing process of JNEPHA is usually completed within roughly six weeks. The manuscript submitted to the journal email is forwarded to assigned editors. Manuscripts, not able to satisfy JNEPHA or not in the range are immediately rejected, destroyed and granted the permission to submit anywhere else for publication. After review by managing editor, the manuscript is sent to the editorial board along with peer reviewers for reviewing. Reviewed manuscripts are returned to authors for necessary corrections and should be returned back to editorial office. The returned manuscripts are once again reviewed by managing editor. The process may goes on till the final acceptance of the paper. Page proofs are again sent to the corresponding author, which has to be returned within three days. Non-response to proof copy may delay the publication of the same article, may publish proof copy article as it is or may even get rejected from the JNEPHA. The editorial board reserves the right to do necessary modifications in the text, photographs and illustrations to improve understanding without affecting the original essence of the manuscript. 

Author Withdrawal Policy

The journal editorial team do not encourage withdrawal of the article during the peer-review or during the production stage as the editorial resources are wasted during the review and that it is not a good scientific practice. Occasionally, an author may wish to withdraw a manuscript after submitting it if there are any competing interests or there are any scientific reasons in doing so. However, it is advised that any competing interests among the authors are resolved before the submission of the manuscript.

Formatting Guidelines for All Types of Articles

File: Microsoft Word

Font: Times New Roman

Space: Double Space (2)

Title of the article: Size 16, bold, alignment center, title case

Author: Size 12, alignment center

Affiliation/Address: Size 12, regular, title case, bold

Correspondence: Size 10, regular

Heading first order: Size 14, bold, capital letters

Heading second order: Size 12, title case

Text: Other text regular, size 12

Margins: Adjusted, top 1 inch, bottom 1 inch, left 1 inch, right 1 inch

Page no.: Times New Roman, size 12, alignment centre, bottom of page

Title of article: It should be clear, concise and not too long (max 20 words)

Name(s) of author(s): Include the email address and the affiliation of all the authors. Indicate the corresponding author and their mailing address.

Abbreviation: As there are no universally accepted abbreviations, authors should use familiar ones and should define them when used first in the text.

  1. ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

Each of the following sections of original article should be clearly depicted.

ABSTRACT: Should be structured as background, methods, results and conclusion. The word limit is 250 words. KEY WORDS: Normally 3-6 items

INTRODUCTION: This section should introduce the subject in brief. Provide a context or background for the study (that is, the nature of the problem and its significance). It should clearly define the problem with reference to other studies in the field. It should be succinct, with no subheadings. This is where you state what is known in the field and what is lacking by identifying gaps in current/prior research and practice. It should mention the central objective of the study.

METHODS: It should describe in detail the standardized procedures the authors have applied. It should include relevant details on the study design, research methods, study population, sampling strategy, data collection techniques and tools, study variables including operational definitions, and data analysis techniques.

RESULTS: This section should present results of the study. It should be in text, while tables and/or figures can be included as relevant. Appropriate statistics must be applied to enable readers to justify findings.

Illustrations: The figures (photographs, drawings, graphs and schemes) must be numbered with Arabic numerals. If needed a short description is encouraged. They should be numbered in separate sequences and referred as Fig. 1 and Plate l both in caption and citation.

Tables: Tables must be numbered with Arabic numerals in the order in which they are cited in the text. The title of each Table (and Figure) should be short, complete and self-explanatory. A short description is also accepted. Tables should not duplicate data contained in the text. Heading text should be bold with 12 font size. These should be numbered and presented in text, e.g. Table: 1. Scientific tables must be used.

DISCUSSION: Discussion is the interpretation of the results and their relation to the existing body of knowledge in the most relevant context only. Must be presented with valid justification and compared with established facts. Each paragraph or sub-section of the discussion should draw a conclusion. It should also include the strengths and limitations of the study.

CONCLUSION: This should draw the central inference of the paper as conclusion of the conclusions. This should include a brief summary of the findings and the potential implications.

DECLARATIONS: Author(s) are required to declare: Source of funding, Conflict of interest, Ethical approval and consent to participate, Authors’ contributions, Acknowledgements, Availability of data and materials and Consent for publication.

REFERENCES: Authenticity of the references is the responsibility of author(s) and should be in Vancouver style of referencing. In the text, references should be cited in the text by ‘number in superscript’ form and the list should be in the order of citation. Citations from personal communications and unpublished data are not acceptable. Author(s) should ensure their non-disclosure while citing their own previous publication(s).

Views expressed in the journal are the intellectual property of the authors and these are not the views of the journal editorial board. Any violations of the existing laws are punishable, and the authors should be responsible for their own expressions.

  1. REVIEW ARTICLE:

These articles consist of Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, Meta-Synthesis, narrative review and Scoping Review. Inclusion and exclusion criteria for studies should be described in a flow diagram, preferably, PRISMA FLOW DIAGRAM. The specific type of research study or intervention, outcomes or tests should be described for each data source or article.

An abstract is also needed that include background, methods, results, and conclusion. For these articles, authors need to construct and include a PRISMA-P checklist. Authors must state page numbers where each item can be located. The main text of the review article can be structured as Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion.

Review articles can range from 2,000 words to a maximum of 5,000 words that are intended to reach a broad spectrum of public health professionals. Review article should integrate the latest public health discoveries with the current literature, providing critical analytical interpretation of the significance of any new information described. Authors should include a brief section describing the search strategies used to obtain information for the review stating the sources (including databases such as PubMed, MeSH Searching Medicine etc. and free text search terms and filters, and reference lists from journals or books) of the material covered, and the criteria used to include or exclude studies.

The review paper should comprise references to all applicable published work. Usually, papers contain at least 50 to 150 references.

‘Introduction” section should be included to explain to the reader the background to the subject area. The section should end by explaining why the author(s) have written the paper and how they have dealt with the subject area.

Authors should coherently cover the following topics in the method section:

  • Search strategy and selection criteria,
  • Data extraction,
  • Quality assessment, and
  • Data analysis.

The paper should end with a section in which the cutting edge is summarized and future inclinations in research are highlighted.

  1. VIEWPOINTS:

Viewpoints are considered as personal views and allow authors to express their own point of view on any issues relevant to public health. JNEPHA welcomes viewpoints in all areas of academic research works as the topics discoursed are relevant to society at large. JNEPHA aims to publish viewpoints that are likely to advance knowledge and promote free inquiry and rational argumentation. The main criterion for acceptance will be the quality of the arguments given.

The word limit for viewpoint is maximum 750 words excluding references.

  1. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

JNEPHA accept few letters as well under the section of “Letters to the Editor”. They must begin with the salutation, ‘Dear Editor.’ Letters to the editor should be short, decisive observation. They should not be preliminary observations that need a later paper for authentication. There should be at least 5 references.

  1. CASE STUDIES/FEILD REFLECTION

JNEPHA welcomes novel, rare and interesting case studies with public health significance or field reflection, which may add value to the public health practice. The word limit for case studies/field reflection is of 1000 words and can include a maximum of 10 references.  The case studies/field reflection can be structured as: Abstract, Introduction, Description of the case and Conclusion. 6. EDITORIAL

The editorial in each issue is composed by the JNEPHA editor-in-chief or any members of editorial board and is not open for outside authors unless invited for editorial.

  1. PERSPECTIVES

Perspectives are short articles focusing on pertinent issues of public health interest. The issue discussed should be supported by literature. Perspectives can include discussion on emerging public health issues or issue that enunciate debate or a concern regarding public health policy or practice. Perspective can be structured as Abstract, Introduction, Main text, Conclusion. The main text can include sub-headings as per necessary.

Perspectives are limited to 2500 words.

For more information:

JNEPHA Editorial Board

Journal of Nepal Public Health Association

Nepal Public Health Association, Lalitpur, Nepal

Tel.: +977 1- 5549509

Email: journalnepha@gmail.com

JOURNAL ETHICS

We are committed to meeting and upholding standards of ethical behavior at all stages of the publication process. We follow the guideline produced by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) to provide guidelines for best practices in order to meet these requirements. Manuscripts submitted to this journal should not have been published or under consideration for publication in any substantial form in any other publication. The articles are published under the terms of the latest Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike License, unless notified otherwise.

CHECKLIST

Manuscript Title

Covering letter

  • Signed by Corresponding author ensuring all co-authors are content to the submission
  • Source of funding mentioned
  • Conflicts of interest disclosed

Authors

  • Full name of all co-authors (First name bold, Middle name Last name underlined. Example, Shanta Bahadur Bishwokarma)
  • Author for correspondence, with e-mail address provided
  • Number of contributors restricted as per the instructions
  • Identity not revealed in paper except the title page (e.g. name of the institute in material and methods, citing previous study as ‘our study’, names on figure labels, name of institute in photographs, etc.)
  • For  the authorships and roles, please follow the ICMJE recommendations – http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html

Presentation and format

  • Double spacing
  • Margins 1 inch from all four sides
  • Title page contains all the desired information
  • Running title provided (not more than 50 characters)
  • Abstract page contains the full title of the manuscript
  • Abstract provided (not more than 300 words)
  • Structured abstract provided for an original article
  • Keywords provided (three to six)
  • Key messages provided (what is the new knowledge from this paper)
  • Headings in title case (not ALL CAPITALS, not underlined)
  • References cited in superscript in the text without brackets
  • References according to the journal’s instructions

Language and grammar

  • Uniformly British English
  • Abbreviations spelt out in full for the first time
  • Numerals from 1 to 10 spelt out
  • Numerals at the beginning of the sentence spelt out Tables and figures
  • No repetition of data in tables/graphs and in text
  • Actual numbers from which graphs drawn, provided
  • Figures necessary only and of good quality (colour)
  • Table and figure numbers in Arabic letters (not Roman)
  • Labels pasted on back of the photographs (no names written)
  • Figure legends provided (not more than 40 words)

PUBLISHER

Journal of Nepal Public Health Association is published by Nepal Public Health Association. Lalitpur, Nepal.

PUBLICATION CHARGE POLICY

This journal does not charge any fee for submission, review, processing, and publication and to read the papers submitted to it. The priority will be given to the scientifically conducted research by Nepalese authors or studies conducted in Nepal to help their work visible to the scientific communities.

AHEAD OF PRINT POLICY

Articles published online under the Ahead of Print are considered published and these can be cited and quoted.

 

ARCHIVING POLICY

The print version and digital version of the journal is archived in the database of Nepal Public Health Association.

PRIVACY POLICY

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party. However, email and phone number of the corresponding author will be made available in correspondence detail of the article, to make it available in a good faith that like minded people e.g. researchers could contact them.

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. JNEPHA allows readers to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of its articles and allow readers to use them for any other lawful purpose, as long as the author and journal are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications.

COPYRIGHT POLICY

The authors (or their employers) retain copyright in their work. The corresponding author has the right to grant on behalf of all authors to the JNEPHA and its licensees in perpetuity, in all forms, formats and media to:

  1. i) Publish, reproduce, distribute, display and store the contribution,
  2. ii) Translate the contribution into other languages, create adaptations, reprints, include within collections and create summaries, extracts and/or, abstracts of the contribution, iii) create any other derivative work(s) based on the contribution, iv) to exploit all subsidiary rights in the contribution,
  3. v) The inclusion of electronic links from the contribution to third party material where-ever it may be located; and,
  4. vi) License any third party to do any or all of the above.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

A brief statement on source of funding and conflict of interest should be included. We require the author, peer reviewer, editors and editorial staff to disclose any potential conflict of interest related to the article and publishing process. We request authors to disclose Conflict of Interest.