African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine
Online Submissions
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Author Guidelines
How to submit your paper online:
Review policy and timelines
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Aims, scope and review policy
The African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine aims to publish original research and review articles of relevance to primary health care practitioners, family medicine specialists and academics from both the developing and developed worlds, public sector and private practice. Papers are peer reviewed to ensure that the contents are understandable, valid, important, interesting and enjoyed. All manuscripts must be submitted online. All articles in PHCFM will be peer reviewed.
Article sections and length
The author guidelines are available in HTML format for convenience, as they contain a large amount of information. If you experience any difficulties please do not hesitate to contact us. For a video tutorial showing you how to submit your manuscript click here.
| The following contributions are accepted (word counts exclude abstracts, tables and references): * Original research (3500 to 5000 words) |
FULL AUTHOR GUIDELINES
Title page: All articles must have a title page with the following information and in this particular order: title of the article; surname, initials, qualifications and affiliation of each author; the name, postal address, e-mail address, postal address and telephonic contact details of the corresponding author; at least 5 keywords.
Abstract: All original and review articles should include an abstract of around 250 words. The structured abstract for an Original Research article should consist of five paragraphs labelled Background, Objective, Methods, Results and Conclusion. Abstracts for other types of articles need not follow the structured abstract format.
Structure of article: Original research articles should be organised according to the following sections: Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion and References.
Keywords: All articles should include keywords. Five words or short phrases should be used. Use terms from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) of Index Medicus when available and appropriate. Keywords are used to index the article and may be published with the abstract.
Acknowledgements: In a separate section, acknowledge any financial support received. This section may also be used to acknowledge substantial contributions to the research or preparation of the manuscript made by persons other than the authors.
References: Cite references in numerical order in the text, in superscript format. Do not use brackets. In the References section, references must be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are cited, not alphabetically.
The style for references should follow the format set forth in the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" prepared by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.
Abbreviations for journal titles should follow Index Medicus format. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of all references. Personal communications and unpublished data should not be referenced. If essential, such material should be incorporated into the appropriate place in the text. List all authors when there are six or fewer; when there are seven or more, list the first three, then "et al.".
For your reference style guide CLICK HERE for sample references.
Tables: Tables should be self-explanatory, clearly organised and supplemental to the text of the manuscript. Each table should include a clear descriptive title on top and should be numbered in Arabic numerals (1, 2, etc) in order of its appearance as called out in text. Tables must be inserted in the correct position in the text, or uploaded separately as supplementary files. Authors should place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain all nonstandard abbreviations in table footnotes. For footnotes use the following symbols, in sequence: *,†,‡,§,||,,**,††,‡‡.
Figures: All figures must be inserted in the appropriate position of the electronic document, or uploaded separately as supplementary files. Symbols, lettering and numbering (in Arabic numerals e.g. 1, 2, etc. in order of appearance in the text) should be placed below the figure, clear and large enough to remain legible after the figure has been reduced. Figures must have clear descriptive titles.
Photographs and images: If photographs of patients are used, the human subject should not be identifiable and use of the picture should be authorised by an enclosed written permission from the subject. The position of photographs and images should be clearly indicated in the text. Electronic images should be saved as either .jpeg or .gif files. All photographs should be scanned at a high resolution (300dpi, print optimised). Provision is made to upload individual images on the website as supplementary files. Please number the images appropriately.
Permission: Permission should be obtained from the author and publisher for the use of quotes, illustrations, tables, and other materials taken from previously published works which are not in the public domain. The author is responsible for the payment of any copyright fee(s) if these have not been waived. Letters of permission should accompany the manuscript. The original source(s) should be mentioned in the figure legend or as a footnote to a table.
Review and action: Manuscripts are initially examined by editorial staff and are sent by the Editor to independent reviewers who are not informed of the identity of the author(s). When publication in the article’s original form is not recommended, the reviewers' comments (without the identity of the reviewer being disclosed) may be passed to the first author and may include suggested revisions. Manuscripts not approved for publication will not be returned, in any format.
Ethical considerations: Papers based on original research must adhere to the Declaration of Helsinki on "Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects" and must specify from which recognised ethics committee approval for the research was obtained. Case studies must have the consent of the patient(s) or waiver of consent approved by an ethics committee.
Conflict of interest: Authors must declare all financial contributions to their work or other forms of conflict of interest which may potentially prevent them from executing and publishing unbiased research. [Conflict of interest exists when an author (or the author's institution), has financial or personal relationships with other persons or organisations that inappropriately influence (bias) his or her opinions or actions.]* *Modified from: Davidoff F, et al. Sponsorship, Authorship, and Accountability. (Editorial) JAMA 2001: 286(10)
The following declaration may be used if appropriate: "I declare that I have no financial or personal relationship(s) which may have inappropriately influenced me in writing this paper."
Submissions and correspondence
All submissions must be made online at www.phcfm.org and correspondence regarding manuscripts should be addressed to:
The Title Operations Coordinator, PHCFM, e-mail: information@phcfm.org
Note: Please ensure that the article ID [reference] number is included in the subject of your email correspondence.
Electronic submissions by post
Authors with no e-mail or internet connection can mail their submissions on a CD to: PHCFM, Postnet Suite #55, Private Bag X22, Tygervalley, Cape Town, South Africa.
All manuscripts will be processed online. Submissions by post or by e-mail must be accompanied by a signed copy of the following indemnity and copyright form. CLICK HERE to download and save it to your computer. Please include a signed copy with your submission.
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 Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format.
When available, the URLs to access references online are provided, including those for open access versions of the reference. The URLs are ready to click (e.g., http://www.openjournals.net). - The text is 1.5-spaced; uses a 12-point font for Times New Roman; employs italics for emphasis, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables placement indicators are within the text at the appropriate points.
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.
Electronic images are saved as either jpeg or gif files. All photographs were scanned at a high resolution (300dpi, print optimised) and saved/numbered appropriately corresponding with the text. - Have you asked a colleague or language expert to proofread your final manuscript?
All supplementary files such as survey instruments or scanned photographs are separated from the main text and will be uploaded as supplementary files.
Copyright Notice
Copyright on published articles is retained by the author(s). The exclusive responsibility in respect of the acknowledgment of author's rights and/or copyright rests with the responsible author(s). The Editor and reviewers of this journal cannot accept responsibility for the infringement of authors’ rights or copyright. The author grants the publisher unlimited rights to publish the work in any format and/or medium, whether for gain or any other purpose.
Privacy Statement
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.
OpenJournals Publishing, a proud division of AOSIS (Pty) Ltd | Postnet Suite #55, Private Bag X22, Tygervalley, 7536 | RSA Tel: 086 1000 381 | Fax: 086 5004 974 | International Tel: +27 21 9145100 | International Fax: +27 21 9145105| This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License