Submissions
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 is supplied as single or multiple Word files.
- Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
- Line space should be 1½; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures and tables can be placed within the text or submitted as separate documents.
- The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
- References should be structured according to the Vancouver system where articles are referred to in the text by consecutive numbers within brackets.
Original Research
An Original Research Article (up to 6000 words) follows a strict structure: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References and with added paragraphs like Funding, Acknowledgement, Ethical considerations, and Author contributions. SHAJ publishes articles based on quantitative, qualitative, or mixed designs, and authors should clarify what is new knowledge and what actions are called for following the findings.
Short Communications
A short communication (up to 1500 words) 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 a full paper.
Study Design
These types of articles (up to 6000 words) 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.
Education
These articles (up to 4000 words) will present the design, implementation and evaluation of educational initiatives, including the use of digital tools, to improve the quality and outcome of basic and higher medical education as well as efforts to increase competence and performance of public health and healthcare service staff.
Capacity Building
Capacity-building articles (up to 4000 words) are published to document how research dealing with major public health issues has developed regarding infrastructure, human resources and capacity. These articles should reflect how partnerships and collaborations are established and built over time, and how research capacities can be built and sustained with reference to the Somali situation and similar fragile contexts.
Reviews
SHAJ welcomes literature reviews (up to 6000 words) as well as systematic and scooping reviews on health, prevention, diagnostics and services of public health importance. SHAJ also 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.
Guidelines
SHAJ publishes guidelines (up to 4000 words) of relevance for public health and health care services in Somalia and other fragile states. Guidelines should be based on scientific evidence while accounting for possible conflicts of interest.
Perspectives
SHAJ will also welcome the publication of reports and narratives (up to 4000 words) from programmes and activities of high public health relevance which may not fulfil the formal criteria for the above categories.
Debates
SHAJ will publish Debate articles (up to 2000 words) with an aim to create a platform for critical reflection about ongoing global/public health issues and policies of relevance for Somalia and other fragile states.
Commentaries
SHAJ welcomes brief and more informal articles (up to 2000 words) presenting opinions, viewpoints, reports and observations on current events and developments of public health relevance as well as book reviews.
PhD Outlines
This is a new category and option for publishing in SHAJ. It is an opportunity for registered Somali PhD-students at a university or university college to share their PhD plans in the form of a brief outline (up to 4,000 words) setting the background scene and stating their personal motivation as well as the scientific rationales for the PhD work. The article should also specify the aims and describe and motivate the choice of methods for either the full PhD plan or part of it. The author should include a discussion on steps to ensure that the plan is feasible to carry out. A concluding section should discuss the expected findings and implications of the studies. A suggested and more detailed structure of a PhD Outline article can be found here.
PhD Syntheses
Somali researchers who have recently defended their PhD theses on a health topic, are invited to submit a synthesis article based on their thesis work (up to 6000 words). PhD theses are often based on a set of articles synthesized into a ‘cover story’ of about 30-50 pages. Some ‘cover stories’ provide excellent reviews of a research area but they seldom reach beyond the host institution or the close collaborators and examiners. Further condensing this work into a PhD Synthesis may also serve as an opportunity for emerging researchers to publish their first post-doctoral paper as a sole author. A suggested and more detailed structure of a PhD Synthesis article can be found here.
Case Studies
SHAJ also welcomes clinical and health services case reports (up to 2000 words) of general and public health importance.
Obituaries
SHAJ invites suggestions for obituaries from members of its circle of stakeholders and readers.
Copyright Notice
This is an open access journal, which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles featured in the journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with definition of open access as formulated by the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI). All authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the SHAJ the right of first publication. The work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which allows others to share and distribute the work as long as it is attributed to the author and its initial publication in the SHAJ is acknowledged.
- Authors are encouraged to distribute the work themselves with information on its initial publication in the SHAJ, e.g. upload it to open repositories linked to their personal website or institutional affiliation, or publish it in a book.
The SHAJ is permitted non-exclusive distribution of the work, with attribution to the author, e.g. in a print book themed anthology.
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