Submissions

Author Guidelines

Peer review

The Journal of Community Systems for Health (JCSH) is committed to peer-review integrity and upholding the highest standards of review. Once your paper has been assessed for suitability by the editor, it will then be peer-reviewed by independent experts in the subject area.

The Journal of Community Systems for Health have a single-blinded review policy in which reviewers do know the names of the authors but the names of the reviewers are not revealed to the authors. To ensure transparency and to acknowledge the reviewers work, we disclose the names of all reviewers after publication.

Papers submitted to the Journal of Community Systems for Health and judged to be of interest to our readers are sent to at least two referees. Reviewers should state no competing interests for reviewing. The review process is meant to maintain the high-quality standards of the journal, promote rigorous research within the field, and to offer authors constructive and formative feedback on their submissions.

Manuscripts will be reviewed for the significance, originality, quality and suitability of the method, coherence and clarity of writing. The goal is to review and respond to submissions within three weeks. 

To facilitate rapid publication, reviewers are given 3 weeks to complete their reviews and authors are given 4 weeks for submitting a revised version of their manuscript and their rebuttal letter. The revised version and the rebuttal letter are then sent to the reviewers who can recommend endorsing or rejecting the manuscript or ask for another round of revision.

JCSH Initial screening

Managing editors will screen each submitted manuscript to the Journal of Community Systems for Health. We are looking for high-quality manuscripts which: (i) present original research results within the field of community systems and health and/or community health systems, (ii) are well-motivated, designed appropriately with valid data collection methods, analysed using suitable methods, and (iii) contextualise findings within appropriate public health policy context and suggest concrete action for the population, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

Manuscripts may be rejected directly by the Editor or the Managing editors if one or more of the following weaknesses are identified:

1. The manuscript did not pass the originality detection test using a plagiarism software. The test will show if the manuscript consists of text published elsewhere without proper citations. The test would also indicate that the paper, in full or part, may have been previously published in a different format (for example as a project report or a conference presentation).
2. The manuscript is out of the scope of the journal. For example, if the manuscript is too clinical (unless there are clear public health implications), it is focused on animal studies, or it is too technical for a general readership.
3. The study lacks scientific originality.
4. There is no clear "evidence-based" rationale for the work. The manuscript does not include references to similar work or the need for work in this area.
5. The authors have not explained the significance/importance or added values of their work. The manuscript does not include a specific research question or a clear statement of intent.
6. The study methods are neither valid nor reliable. The study design does not clearly address the research question. There are flaws in the study design or data collection that cannot be corrected.
7. The study does not use the most recent or best available data, or the authors do not present a justification for using historical material.
8. The study cannot be situated within a current public health policy context.
9. The study was conducted in a Low or Middle-income country without including a local co-author or justifying the non-inclusion of a local co-author.
10. The manuscript is not well structured (as per JCSH Author Guidelines). The manuscript has poor English grammar, style, and syntax.
11. The references are not up-to-date or relevant.

In addition,

For quantitative studies:

1. The study includes a survey with low response rates that are not justified. Other issues arising from bias are not adequately explained or addressed.
2. The study is based on a small, selected population. The results allow inference of marginal impact only within this small population.

For qualitative studies:

1. The qualitative design cannot be understood from reading the manuscript.
2. The manuscript lacks analytical rigour that cannot be corrected. There is no section in the manuscript that clearly explains how the study was conducted and how the data were analysed.
3. The manuscript does not include a clear and relevant reflexivity statement.

 

Manuscript preparation for JCSH

This journal uses JCSH' Submission Portal to manage the submission process. The Submission Portal allows you to see your submissions across the journal portfolio in one place. To submit your manuscript please click here.

Please refer to the information provided below to ensure your manuscript conforms to the requirements before beginning the submission process. Incomplete submissions will not be considered.

JCSH accepts papers in Spanish. The types of articles accepted and requirements in Spanish can be found in the Spanish version of this site.

Types of Articles

Editorials and Commentaries - up to 3000 words: Editorials and Commentaries are commissioned and submission is based on invitation.

Original Research articles - up to 7500 words: An Original Research article must follow the following structure: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions. JCSH publishes articles based on quantitative and/or qualitative designs, and authors should follow the relevant reporting guidelines.

Review articles - up to 6000 words: JCSH welcomes literature reviews as well as systematic reviews. JCSH considers literature reviews in the form of narrative reviews, syntheses, etc. The systematic review is defined by The Cochrane Collaboration as a review that has a clearly formulated research question, uses explicit systematic methods to identify, select and critically appraise relevant research, and synthesizes data from studies that are included in the review. Statistical methods in the form of a meta-analysis may complement a systematic review. When submitting a systematic review and/or a meta-analysis, authors are encouraged to complete the PRISMA checklist as supporting information.

PhD Reviews - up to 6000 words: Young or emerging researchers who have recently defended their theses on health systems or health policy topic are invited to write a summary article based on their thesis. One rationale for this is that PhD theses are often based on a set of articles synthesized into a "cover story" of about 30-50 pages. Some of these syntheses provide excellent reviews of the research area but they seldom reach beyond the host institution or the close collaborators and examiners. Condensing the articles into a PhD Review may also serve as an incentive for the young or emerging researcher to publish his or her first post-doctoral paper as a sole author and thus "kick-start" their research career.

A PhD Review paper should have the same structure as an Original Research article including the Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions sections. One should be aware of self-plagiarism in writing a PhD review and not copy and paste text from the PhD thesis into the paper. The aim should be to synthesize the thesis, preferably cutting across papers thematically. The author should also provide a link to the full text of the PhD thesis, and secure permission from the University where the thesis was defended, if the thesis is not published in the public domain. In addition, authors are encouraged to submit supplementary files, such as an MS PowerPoint presentation, photos, videos, etc. that are related to the thesis/PhD review to be included as supplementary material.

Methods Forum articles - up to 4000 words: JCSH invites papers on innovative tools in community systems for health or community health systems that are being evaluated or implemented. These tools can be statistical and quantitative but they can also be based on field-oriented surveys and qualitative interviews.

Protocol articles - up to 6000 words: These articles are intended to be methodological papers presenting the design, rationale and aims, as well as hypotheses and background data of, for example, a longitudinal/cohort study or an intervention study. This type of article sets the scene and could be referenced in forthcoming original research papers arising from the studies.

Debates - up to 2000 words: aiming to create a platform for critical reflection about ongoing global/public health issues and policies of relevance for health systems nationally but also globally.

Short Communications - up to 1500 words: A short communication presents important preliminary observations, results and data from pilot studies, or side issues/secondary findings in a larger study that do not warrant publication as full papers.

Lessons and experiences – up to 2000 words: These articles may describe lessons learnt or salient experiences of interventions in the areas of community systems or community health as well as on-going community health programs.

Conversations with - up to 2000 words: These articles represent an interview, presented in a journalist form, of a person that is relevant in the field of community health systems. 

This journal uses JCSH' Submission Portal to manage the submission process. To submit your manuscript please click here.

Please refer to the information provided below to ensure your manuscript conforms to the requirements before beginning the submission process. Incomplete submissions will not be considered.

Manuscript Requirements

Manuscript length: Authors are advised to follow the recommendations stated above for different types of articles. The word limits exclude references, tables and figures, though authors should comply with a maximum of six tables and/or figures in their manuscript. Major deviations from the recommended word length must be justified in the covering letter. Manuscripts that are longer than the recommended word count are likely to be rejected or returned for major revisions.

Manuscript formatting: Manuscripts should be supplied as single Word files. Supplementary material should be provided in a separate Word file. Figures and tables should be located in their place in the manuscript. Figures should be of sufficient resolution to enable refereeing. Insert row numbers and page numbers for the entire manuscript. Line space should be 1½.

All manuscripts must contain the essential elements needed for their evaluation: author affiliation, abstract, figures, tables, funder information, and references. Further details may be requested upon acceptance.

References should be structured according to the Vancouver system where articles are referred to in the text by consecutive numbers within square brackets []. If a reference has more than six authors, the first six are entered followed by et.al. Author name(s), journal or book title, article or chapter title, year of publication, volume and issue (where appropriate) and page numbers are essential. All bibliographic entries must contain a corresponding in-text citation. References formatting can also be done after acceptance of the manuscript. Authors are encouraged to use reference managers such as Zotero, Endnote, Mendeley to better manage references.

Example of article: Müllersdorf M, Ivarsson A. Use of creative activities in occupational therapy practice in Sweden. Occup Ther Int. 2012 Sep;19(3):127-34.

The addition of DOI (Digital Object Identifier) numbers is recommended but not essential. Spelling can be US or UK English as long as the chosen version of spelling is used consistently.

Title page: Organize the title page in the following way: 1) title of manuscript, 2) short running title, 3) name of author(s), 4) affiliations for all authors, including name of institution(s) and department(s), 5) name, email address and full postal address of the corresponding author who also acts as 'guarantor' for all parts of the manuscript.

The corresponding author's institution, postal and email addresses are displayed in the article PDF and the online article. Please note: the submitting author must also enter the names and contact information for all co-authors during the submission process.

The title should be informative and accurate and at the same time trigger the interest of the reader. The title page should also include a separate word count of the abstract and manuscript (excluding references, tables and figures).

Abstract: Articles must include an abstract of up to 300 words. It should provide sufficient information for a reader to be able to decide whether or not to proceed to the full text but should not generally consist of sentences cut and pasted from the manuscript. For Original and Review Articles the abstract should follow the structure: Introduction (including the objectives), Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Please include 5-10 keywords that capture central aspects of the article and are not part of the title. There is no need for abstracts for Debates, Short communications, Lessons and experiences and Conversations with.

Please note that JCSH allows submitting articles in Spanish. In that case, the abstract should be submitted in both Spanish and English.

Manuscript sections: Original and Review articles should follow the layout: Introduction (including the objectives), Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. Other types of articles may have different structures.

Section headings: Please do not number section headings. Use a maximum of three levels of headings made clear by indicators, e.g., capitals, italics, bold, etc.

Tables: Tables should present new information rather than duplicating what is in the text. Readers should be able to interpret the table without reference to the text. Please supply editable files. Ensure that all the tables have been formatted correctly. Tables should have titles, column/row headings, and footnotes if applicable. Ensure that all parts of the tables fit within the page margins. If necessary, split large tables into two or more, but ensure column/row headings are provided on each page. Very large tables may be better presented as on-line supplementary material. We discourage the inclusion of p-values in the tables.

Figures: If the manuscript is accepted for publication, please supply figures/graphics/images in at least 300 dpi files. Figures should be saved as JPEG, TIFF, PostScript or EPS files. All charts (bar, pie, column, etc.) should be two dimensional, unless three dimensions are required to present the data. If the figures/graphics/images have been taken from sources not copyrighted by the author, it is the author's sole responsibility to secure the rights from the copyright holder to reproduce those figures/graphs/images for both worldwide print and web publication. All reproduction costs charged by the copyright holder must be borne by the author. When figures/graphics/images are reproduced, a parenthesis should be added to the figure legend thus: (Reproduced with permission from XX).

End materials: Please ensure you supply all end matter sections required in the following order: Acknowledgments, Author contributions, Disclosure statement, Ethics and consent, Funding information and ORCID identifiers. If one or more of these headings don't apply, please use N/A.

- Acknowledgments: All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the acknowledgments section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chairperson who provided only general support. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged.

- Authors' contributions: JCSH requests its authors to comply with authorship criteria as defined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) in its requirements for authorship. The contributions of each author should be revealed clearly and will be published in the article. If the study uses primary data that were collected by local researcher(s), their involvement as co-authors should be encouraged. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends that authorship be based on the following four criteria:

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

See here for further information on the authorship criteria.

- Disclosure statement: Authors are responsible for disclosing financial support from industry or other conflicts of interest that might bias the interpretation of results. This does not include salaries paid to authors by institutions to which the authors are affiliated. If you have no interests to declare, please state this (suggested wording: The authors report no conflicts of interest). Read more on declaring conflicts of interest.

 - Ethics and consent: When reporting experiments on patients or population surveys, please indicate whether the procedures followed were approved by a local ethics committee (including the ethical clearance number) and/or in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008. All other studies with direct involvement of human beings should also have ethical approvals and clear statements on how the ethical issues have been considered and resolved in the study. In case no ethical issues prevail in human studies, the authors should provide a justification.

 - Funding information: Please supply all details required by your funding and grant-awarding bodies.

- ORCID identifiers: Where available, please also include ORCID identifiers for all authors.

AI tools utilization

The following guidance pertains solely to the writing process and does not extend to the utilization of AI tools for analyzing and interpreting data during the research process. If authors choose to utilize generative artificial intelligence (AI) or AI-assisted technologies during the writing process, they should limit their usage to enhancing the readability and language of their work. It is crucial to exercise human oversight and control when utilizing these technologies, and authors must meticulously scrutinize and revise the outcome, as AI-generated content can be incorrect, biased, or incomplete. It is inappropriate to credit AI or AI-assisted technologies as an author or co-author or cite them as such, as authorship entails duties and responsibilities that are exclusive to humans, in accordance with the JCSH policy for authors. To reveal the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should comply with the instructions provided above and disclose it in their manuscript. The published work will include a statement acknowledging this disclosure. Please bear in mind that the authors bear ultimate responsibility and accountability for the content of their work.