Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • The text is double-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
  • If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.

Author Guidelines

GENERAL INFORMATION

Introduction
Health Prospect: Journal of Public Health is an open access journal published from Institute of Medicine, Kathmandu, Nepal, affiliated with Nepal Public Health Students’ Society. Health Prospect has the mission of providing firm scientific base for public health researches and policy analyses, and a forum for dissemination of public health issues. This peer reviewed journal publishes articles related to researches done in the field of public health, medico-sociology, anthropology, health care management, including ethical and social issues pertaining to health; that explores inequities and disparities between and within the populations, and at the same time provides forum for discussion and dissemination of evidence on priority public health topics. The journal gives preference to socio-demographic studies relating to public health over clinical, experimental and animal studies. The accepted manuscripts after peer review and necessary proofing are published online in the nearest possible issue. Health Prospect adheres to the guidelines of Committee on Publication Ethics.

Submission and Inquiry
Authors are strongly advised for submission of the manuscripts in the format indicated in Instructions for Authors. Latest edition of ‘Instructions for Authors’ is available online at https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/HPROSPECT/information/authors

For submission of the manuscript and inquiry about the current progress of a submitted manuscript, authors can e-mail to the journal office at hpec@iom.edu.np. All the manuscripts submitted to Health Prospect are supposed not to have been published elsewhere, simultaneously submitted or under-consideration of publication elsewhere. Detected attempt of dual-publication will automatically get a manuscript rejected and the author blacklisted for future submission. In case of failure of a manuscript for compliance with these specifications, the authors will be requested to re-submit the manuscript in the specified format. So, the authors are requested to check this document as a checklist before submission of manuscripts.

Preparing your manuscripts
Health Prospect gives preference to definitive papers on Public Health and related disciplines. The Journal publishes Original Research Articles, Guest Editorial, Editorial, Viewpoints, Review Articles, Commentaries and Letter to the Editor solicited by the Editorial Committee. Health Prospect does not publish preliminary reports of work in progress or brief reports of single cases. All the submission should be accompanied with a Cover Letter addressed to the journal office.

All the manuscripts submitted to Health Prospect must include a title page.

Title Page
The title page should contain:

  • title of the study/manuscript
  • running title (short title of the study)
  • full name of the author(s) and their corresponding addresses,
  • details of corresponding author
  • e-mail details of corresponding author
  • e-mail of all co-authors
  • type of manuscript
  • tweetable abstract (120 characters)

Note: The identity of the authors should not be disclosed elsewhere in the manuscript as the manuscripts under peer-review are double-blinded.

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLES

Original research articles related to public health discipline are published in Health Prospect. The information below details the section headings that you should include in your manuscript and what information should be within each section. Total length of the original research article should not be more than 6000 words (excluding abstract). Peer Reviewer will support the Editorial Committee in making the decision of the quality of research articles.

The article should strictly be on the format mentioned below:

Abstract:
Abstract should be structured and not more than 350 words. The abstract must include the following segments: 

  • Background: the context and purpose of the study
  • Methods: how the study was performed, and statistical tests used
  • Results: the main findings
  • Conclusions: brief summary and potential implications
  • Keywords: No more than five keywords representing the main content of the article.

Background:
The background section should explain the background to the study, its aims, and a summary of the existing literature and why this study was necessary or its contribution to the field.

Methods:
The methods section should include:

  • the design and setting of the study
  • the characteristics of participants or description of materials
  • a clear description of all processes, interventions and comparisons.
  • the type of statistical analyses used, including a power calculation if appropriate
  • ethical considerations

Results:
This should include the findings of the study including, if appropriate, results of statistical analysis which must be included either in the text or as tables and figures.

Discussion:
This section should discuss the implications of the findings in context of existing research and highlight strengths and limitations of the study.

Conclusions:
This should state clearly the main conclusions and provide an explanation of the importance and relevance of the study reported.

References:
The authors are strictly advised to follow Vancouver style referencing with consecutively numbered inside a parenthesis followed by a full stop for in-text citation.

List of abbreviations:
If abbreviations are used in the text they should be defined in the text at first use, and a list of abbreviations should be provided.

Declarations:
Author should declare competing interests, acknowledgement and funding source, if any.

GUEST EDITORIAL

Guest Editorial on topic of current relevance will be published upon request by Editorial Board to a guest. The guest will be a renowned public health figure with distinct experience on the field of public health. This column will not be peer-reviewed. Guest Editorial will be limited to 1500 words and with 15 references at most. No specific format has been pre-specified for Guest Editorial.

EDITORIAL

Editorial Committee will decide a member of the committee to write for this column. The topic of editorial will be selected based upon ongoing public health issues of general concern. Proper referencing of this section will be done. Editorial will be limited to 2000 words excluding references. No specific format has been pre-specified for Editorial.

VIEWPOINT

Viewpoint from students and public health professionals will be published on Health Prospect. Word limit for viewpoint is 2000 excluding abstract. The article should follow:

Abstract: Unstructured abstract with 250 words limit.

Keywords: No more than five keywords representing the main content of the article.

The writer is expected to be analytical on the issue submitted for the Editorial Committee. It should contain:

Introduction: This section should introduce the subject matter, its importance and aim of the viewpoint.

Main Body: The main body should discuss on the views that the author is trying to put forward (with appropriate heading). This can be further divided into subheadings.

Conclusion: This should state clearly the main conclusions of the view put forward.

References: Vancouver style of referencing. 15 references at most.

Editorial Committee in consultation with Peer Reviewers will make decision about the submitted viewpoints.

REVIEW ARTICLES

This section has systematic critical assessments of literature and data sources. Words must be limited to 6000 words excluding abstract and tables.

Abstract: Unstructured abstract with 250 words limit.

Keywords: No more than five keywords representing the main content of the article.

The writer is expected to be analytical on the issue submitted for the Editorial Committee. It should contain:

Introduction: This section should introduce the subject matter, its importance and aim of the viewpoint.

Main Body: The main body should discuss on the views the author is trying to put forward (with appropriate heading). This can be further divided into subheadings.

Conclusion: This should state clearly the main conclusions of the view put forward and its importance.

References: Vancouver style of referencing. No limits on references.

Editorial Committee in consultation with Peer Reviewers will make decision about the publication of submitted Review Articles.

COMMENTARIES

This section contains comments which accompany papers published in Health Prospect: Journal of Public Health or on issues of wide-reaching concern in Public Health policy. The commentaries should be submitted which can provide a forum for varying perspectives on a certain topic to advance the research field. Comments linked to policy decisions are highly welcomed. Words must be limited less than 1000 words with one figure, panel, or small table.

Abstract: Unstructured abstract with 175 words limit.

Keywords: No more than five keywords representing the main content of the article.

It should contain:

Introduction: This section should introduce the subject matter its importance and aim of the commentaries.

Main Body: This section must draw attention to current advances on certain topic and speculate on future directions. The author may also include original data as well as personal opinion he/she is trying to put forward with appropriate heading. This can be further divided into subheadings.

Conclusion: This should state clearly the main conclusions of the view put forward and its importance.

References: Vancouver style of referencing. 10 references should be included at most.

Comments may be peer reviewed or be decided by Editorial Committee alone.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letter to the editor regarding the contents published on the journal are welcome. Letter to the Editor are published for increasing debate over the published contents. It should be limited to 600 words and 8 references. Editorial Committee alone makes refinements in the Letter to the Editor before making decision about the publication.

Apart from these authors should strictly consider these points while preparing their manuscripts

Font and Font size:
The manuscripts submitted must be typed in Microsoft® Word in Times New Roman font, 12 points. Title of paragraphs can be designed in Times New Roman font, 16 points. The text is double-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses)

Tables and Figures:
The text should not contain any graphs, tables or figures. They should be forwarded separately with filename as indicated in the text within the parenthesis. The images should be in .png or .tiff format with highest possible resolution (>300 dots per inch).

Language
The manuscript must have clear and concise English language (either American or British English) throughout the text.

Measurement
Use of SI unit as unit of measurement is prescribed.

Abbreviations
Use only the standard abbreviations. Spelled out abbreviation followed by abbreviation in parenthesis should be used during first mention.

References
For uniformity, the authors are strictly advised to follow referencing in Vancouver style (Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals). In the text followed by a full stop, references should be numbered consecutively in parenthesis. Reference to unpublished communications is unaccepted. Personal communications should be cited in the text in parentheses.

Example:
Adhikary P, Sheppard ZA, Keen S, van Teijlingen E. Risky work: Accidents among Nepalese migrant workers in Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Health Prospect. 2017;16(2):3-10.

Editorial review
After the submission of a manuscript, Editorial Committee will have thorough observation of the manuscript. It will be checked for compliance to the Instructions for Authors, public health significance of the issue and format of the manuscript. In case of affirmative conclusion, the author will be replied with ‘Letter of Receipt’ along with the reference ID for their manuscript. In case of non-compliance, manuscript will either be rejected or asked to be modified by the authors, depending upon the type of incompatibility. Then, the manuscript will be checked for plagiarism. Health prospect uses viper- the anti-plagiarism scanner for plagiarism checking. So, authors are advised to refrain from plagiarizing other’s work.

Peer Review
For each manuscript a Senior Editor is assigned based on the scope of the manuscript and expertise on the subject matter. The Senior Editor then sends the article for peer review. Generally, an article is reviewed by two peer reviewers. The content of the article and its standard to be published in Health Prospect will be checked. The peer reviewer then sends back the report of his/her review. Based upon the reports, the Senior Editor then forwards the journal office about the initial decision and modifications needed to be made in the manuscript (if any).  The journal office then forwards the reviewer report to the author who has to make required modifications within two weeks of receiving comments (with provision for extension of due dates, if necessary). In some cases, manuscript may be subject to second round of peer review.

In second round of Peer Review, the modified manuscript is again forwarded to the original Peer Reviewers to check whether the required changes have been made. In case of any further modification needed, the author will be asked to make final changes. If the revised manuscript is still unacceptable for the publication, it will be rejected. If it is now acceptable for publication, it will be checked for grammatical flaws and punctuation by the Editorial Committee.

Then, the manuscript gets published in the nearest possible Issue of Health Prospect by the production editors.

The details of the journal workflow can be seen on Annex I

Copyright and Permissions
Authors are required to transfer the copyright of their articles to Health Prospect; a Public Health Journal of NPHSS.

Creative Commons Licence
The articles in this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This work may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, or otherwise used provided that the original work is properly cited. Author e-mails are available at the end of the article.

 Annex 1 Health Prospect Work Flow

 

Privacy Statement

Nepal Journals Online (NepJOL) is a member of the Ubiquity Partner Network coordinated by Ubiquity Press. According to the EU definitions, NepJOL is the data controller, and Ubiquity Press are the service providers and data processors. Ubiquity Press provide the technical platform and some publishing services to NepJOL and operate under the principle of data minimisation where only the minimal amount of personal data that is required to carry out a task is obtained.

More information on the type of data that is required can be found in Ubiquity Press’ privacy policy below.

Ubiquity Press Privacy Policy

We take seriously our duty to process your personal data in a fair and transparent way. We collect and manage user data according to the following Privacy Policy. This document is part of our Terms of Service, and by using the press portal, affiliated journals, book, conference and repository websites (the “Websites”), you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy and the Terms of Service. Please read the Terms of Service in their entirety, and refer to those for definitions and contacts.

What type of personal data do we handle?

There are four main categories of personal data stored by our journal platform, our press platform, and our book management system; Website User data, Author data, Reviewer data and Editor data.

The minimum personal data that are stored are:

  • full name
  • email address
  • affiliation (department, and institution)
  • country of residence

Optionally, the user can provide:

  • salutation
  • gender
  • associated URL
  • phone number
  • fax number
  • reviewing interests
  • mailing address
  • ORCiD
  • a short biography
  • interests
  • Twitter profile
  • LinkedIn profile
  • ImpactStory profile
  • profile picture

The data subjects have complete control of this data through their profile, and can request for it to be removed by contacting info@ubiquitypress.com

What do we do to keep that data secure?

We regularly backup our databases, and we use reliable cloud service providers (Amazon, Google Cloud, Linode) to ensure they are kept securely. Backups are regularly rotated and the old data is permanently deleted. We have a clear internal data handling policy, restricting access to the data and backups to key employees only. In case of a data breach, we will report the breach to the affected users, and to the press/journal contacts within 72 hours.

How do we use the data?

Personal information is only used to deliver the services provided by the publisher. Personal data is not shared externally except for author names, affiliations, emails, and links to ORCiD and social media accounts (if provided) in published articles and books which are displayed as part of the article/book and shared externally to indexes and databases. If a journal operates under open peer review then the reviewer details are published alongside the reviewer details.

How we collect and use your data:

1. When using the website

1.1 what data we collect

  • When you browse our website, we collect anonymised data about your use of the website; for example, we collect information about which pages you view, which files you download, what browser you are using, and when you were using the site.
  • When you comment on an article or book using Disqus, we are not collecting, controlling or processing the data. More details on the DISQUS privacy policy can be found on their website.
  • When you annotate an article or book, this is done via a 3rd party plugin to the website called Hypothes.is. In using this plugin we are not collecting, controlling or processing the data. More details on the Hypothes.is privacy policy can be found on their website.

1.2 why we collect the data

  • We use anonymised website usage data to monitor traffic, help fix bugs, and see overall patterns that inform future redesigns of the website, and provide reports on how frequently the publications on our site have been accessed from within their IP ranges.

1.3 what we do (and don’t do) with the data

  • We do not collect personal information that can be used to identify you when you browse the website.
  • We currently use Google Analytics for publication reports, and to improve the website and services through traffic analysis, but no personal identifying data is shared with Google (for example your computer’s IP is anonymised before transmission).

1.4 what to do if you want to get a copy of your data, or want your data to be removed

  • Please contact info@ubiquitypress.com to request a copy of your data, or for your data to be removed/anonymised.

2. When registering as an author, and submitting an article or book

2.1 what data we collect

  • When registering an account we ask you to log in and provide certain personal information (such as your name and email address), and there is the option to register using an ORCiD which will pre-fill the registration form.
  • As part of submitting an article for publication, you will need to provide personally identifying information which will be used for the peer review process, and will be published. This can include ‘Affiliation’, ‘Competing interests’, ‘Acknowledgements’.

2.2 why we collect the data

  • Registering an account allows you to log in, manage your profile, and participate as an author/reviewer/editor. We use cookies and session information to streamline your use of the website (for example in order for you to remain logged-in when you return to a journal). You can block or delete cookies and still be able to use the websites, although if you do you will then need to enter your username and password to login. In order to take advantage of certain features of the websites, you may also choose to provide us with other personal information, such as your ORCiD, but your decision to utilize these features and provide such data will always be voluntary.
  • Personal data submitted with the article or book is collected to allow follow good publication ethics during the review process, and will form part of the official published record in order for the provenance of the work to be established, and for the work to be correctly attributed.

2.3 what we do (and don’t do) with the data

  • We do not share your personal information with third parties, other than as part of providing the publishing service.
  • As a registered author in the system you may be contacted by the journal editor to submit another article.
  • Any books published on the platform are freely available to download from the publisher website in PDF, EPUB and MOBI formats on the publisher’s site.
  • Any personal data accompanying an article or a book (that will have been added by the submitting author) is published alongside it. The published data includes the names, affiliations and email addresses of all authors.
  • Any articles published on the platform are freely available to download from the publisher website in various formats (e.g. PDF, XML).
  • Ubiquity Press books and articles are typeset by SiliconChips and Diacritech.This process involves them receiving the book and book associated metadata and contacting the authors to finalise the layout. Ubiquity Press work with these suppliers to ensure that personal data is only used for the purposes of typesetting and proofing.
  • For physical purchases of books on the platform Ubiquity Press use print on demand services via Lightning Source who are responsible for printing and distribution via retailers. (For example; Amazon, Book Repository, Waterstones). Lightning Source’s privacy policy and details on data handling can be found on their website.

2.4 why we store the data

  • We store the account data so that you may choose to become a reviewer and be able to perform those tasks, or to become an author and submit an article and then track progress of that article.
  • Published personal data that accompanies an article or a book forms part of the official published record in order for the provenance of the work to be established, and for the work to be correctly attributed.

2.5 what to do if you want to get a copy of your data, or want your data to be removed

  • You are able to view, change and remove your data associated with your profile. Should you choose to completely delete your account, please contact us at support@ubiquitypress.com and we will follow up with your request as soon as possible.
  • To conform to publication ethics and best practice any personal data that is published alongside an article or book cannot be removed. If you have a query about a publication to which you are attributed please contact info@ubiquitypress.com

3. When registering as a reviewer

3.1 what data we collect

  • To become a reviewer you must first register as a user on the website, and set your preference that you would like to be considered as a reviewer. No new personal data is collected when a registered user elects to become a reviewer.
  • When registering an account we ask you to log in and provide certain personal information (such as your name and email address), and there is the option to register using an ORCiD which will pre-fill the registration form.
  • Reviewers can also be registered by editors who invite them to review a specific article. This requires the editor to provide the reviewer’s First Name, Last Name, and Email address. Normally this will be done as part of the process of inviting you to review the article or book.
  • On submitting a review, the reviewer includes a competing interest statement, they may answer questions about the quality of the article, and they will submit their recommendation.

3.2 why we collect the data

  • The data entered is used to invite the reviewer to peer review the article or book, and to contact the reviewer during and the review process.
  • If you submit a review then the details of your review, including your recommendation, your responses to any review form, your free-form responses, your competing interests statement, and any cover letter are recorded.

3.3 what we do (and don’t do) with the data

  • This data is not shared publicly and is only accessible by the Editor and system administrators of that journal or press.
  • The data will only be used in connection with that journal or press.
  • Data that is retained post final decision is kept to conform to publication ethics and best practice, to provide evidence of peer review, and to resolve any disputes relating to the peer review of the article or book.
  • For journals or presses that publish the peer reviews, you will be asked to give consent to your review being published, and a subset of the data you have submitted will become part of the published record.

3.4 what to do if you want to get a copy of your data, or want your data to be removed

  • If you would no longer like to be registered as a reviewer you can edit your profile and tick the box ‘stop being a reviewer’. This will remove you from the reviewer database, however any existing reviews you may have carried out will remain.
  • If you have been contacted by an editor to peer review an article this means that you have been registered in the system. If you would not like to be contacted for peer review you can reply to the email requesting that your data be deleted.

4. When being registered as a co-author

4.1 what data we collect

  • Co-author data is entered by the submitting author. The submitting author will already have a user account. According to standard publishing practice, the submitting author is responsible for obtaining the consent of their co-authors to be included (including having their personal data included) in the article/book being submitted to the journal/press.
  • The requested personal data for co-authors are at the bare minimum; first name, last name, institution, country, email address. This can also include; ORCID ID, Title, Middle Name, Biographical Statement, Department, Twitter Handle, Linkedin Profile Name or ImpactStory ID.

4.2 why we collect the data

  • Assuming that it is accepted for publication, this data forms part of the official published record in order for the provenance of the work to be established, and for the work to be correctly attributed.
  • Author names, affiliations and emails are required for publication and will become part of the permanent cited record.

4.3 what we do (and don’t do) with the data

  • The co-author’s personal data is stored in the author database. This personal data is only used in relation to the publication of the associated article.
  • Any co-author data collected is added to the author database and is only used in association with the article the user is co-author on.

4.5 what to do if you want to get a copy of your data, or want your data to be removed

  • To receive a copy of your data, please contact info@ubiquitypress.com
  • To conform to publication ethics and best practice any personal data that is published alongside an article or book cannot be removed. If you have a query about a publication to which you are attributed please contact info@ubiquitypress.com

5. When signing-up to receive newsletters

5.1 what data we collect

  • We require you to include your name and email address

5.2 why we collect and store the data, and for how long

  • This data would be collected to keep you updated with any news about the platform or specific journal

5.3 what we do (and don’t do) with the data

  • We use mailchimp to provide our mailing list services. Their privacy policy can be found here

5.4 what to do if you want to get a copy of your data or want your data to be removed

  • All emails sent via our newsletter client will include a link that will allow you to unsubscribe from the mailing list

Notification about change of ownership or of control of data

We may choose to buy or sell assets. In the case that control of data changes to or from Ubiquity Press and a third party, or in the case of change of ownership of Ubiquity Press or of part of the business where the control of personal data is transferred, we will do our best to inform all affected users and present the options.

(Updated: 18 May 2018)