Submissions

Author Guidelines

Submission Guidelines:

Authors are invited to make a submission to this journal. All submissions will be assessed by an editor to determine whether they meet the aims and scope of this journal. Those considered to be a good fit will be sent for peer review before determining whether they will be accepted or rejected.

Before making a submission, authors are responsible for obtaining permission to publish any material included with the submission, such as photos, documents and datasets. All authors identified on the submission must consent to be identified as an author. Where appropriate, research should be approved by an appropriate ethics committee in accordance with the legal requirements of the study's country.

An editor may desk reject a submission if it does not meet minimum standards of quality. Before submitting, please ensure that the study design and research argument are structured and articulated properly. The title should be concise and the abstract should be able to stand on its own. This will increase the likelihood of reviewers agreeing to review the paper. When you're satisfied that your submission meets this standard, please follow the checklist below to prepare your submission.

To ensure a smooth submission process, authors are required to confirm compliance with all of the following criteria:

1. The manuscript has not been previously published, nor is it currently under consideration by another journal. If applicable, any necessary explanations have been provided in the Comments to the Editor.
   2. The submission file is in Microsoft Word format. Please submit separate files for the Cover Letter, Title Page (including author affiliations), Manuscript (without author affiliations or any identifiers of the authors), Figures, Tables, and Supplementary Files (if any).
   3. The manuscript should be written in UK English. In-text citations must adhere to the Vancouver style, using square brackets. DOI URLs for the references should be provided where available.

Language and Format

The default language style at PHPR journal is UK English. The author should ensure the contents are written free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to the dominant culture, and/or cultural assumptions. Gender-neutral language should be used.

The PHPR permits "format-free submission" for the authors during their first submission. The authors need to adhere to the minimum requirements for the review process, i.e., the submission should have a Title, Abstract, Keywords, Authors list and their affiliation, Contact for correspondence, Main text ( as per IMRaD format), Declarations, Tables, Figures, References and Supplementary files, if applicable. If accepted for publication, the author must submit the formatted version of the manuscript files as per the journal guidelines.

Types of Article

The journal accepts manuscripts under the following types only:

• Research Articles: Primary research, secondary data analysis (population-level data sets). The structured abstract should be less than or equal to 250 words, and the main text can be up to 4000 words. Maximum of six tables/figures and no limit on the references.
• Reviews: Meta-analysis, Systematic reviews, Umbrella Reviews, Scoping reviews, Rapid Reviews, Bibliometric Analysis. The structured abstract should be less than or equal to 250 words, and the main text can be up to 5000 words. Maximum of eight tables/figures and no limit on the references.
• Methodological and Theoretical Reviews: The journal also invites methodological papers and theoretical research that contribute to the advancement of public health and psychiatry. Methodological papers should present new or improved methods, techniques, or procedures. Theoretical research should offer new theoretical insights or frameworks. The unstructured abstract should be less than or equal to 250 words, and the main text can be up to 5000 words. Maximum of eight tables/figures and no limit on the references.
• Short Communications: Short Communications in "Public Health and Psychiatry Research" are concise articles that present significant findings or innovative methods in the fields of public health and psychiatry. These submissions should provide enough detail to support the results and conclusions but be brief enough to capture the essential information in a succinct format. Short Communications should not exceed 1,500 words, excluding references, tables, and figures. Provide a brief abstract of no more than 150 words that summarizes the key points of the communication. Keywords: Include 3-5 keywords relevant to the article's content.
• Editorial: PHPR journal welcomes editorials that provide insightful commentary on current issues, trends, or advances in public health and psychiatry. Editorials should offer expert perspectives and stimulate discussion among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Editorials should be concise, generally between 1,000 to 1,500 words. No abstract is required for editorial submissions.

Note: Additional tables/figures/materials can be given as supplementary files.

Structure of Article
Title Page: The title page should contain the following details:
• Full title of the article in a maximum of 25 words: The title of your manuscript should be concise, specific, and relevant. It should identify if the study reports (human or animal) trial data or is a systematic review, meta-analysis or replication study. Please do not include abbreviated or short forms of the title, such as a running title or head.
• Short title (maximum six words)
• Type of the article
• Name of the authors (First name, middle name (if any), last name). 
• Indicate all affiliations (maximum of three per author) with lowercase superscript Arabic numerals immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author. The PHPR encourage all authors to provide their ORCID after the email IDs.
• Corresponding author must be mentioned with a full postal address and email ID.

Main Text File
The text should be written in the following in MS Word format:
Font size 12
Times New Roman
1.5 spacing between the lines
1-inch margins on all sides
Page numbers should be inserted at the bottom centre
Line number (continuous) must be added on the left side of the page
The authors are requested to refer to the most recently published article type of their submission from the journal to understand the format of the manuscript.

Manuscript

Abstract
Structured abstracts (Background, Objectives, Methods, Results & Conclusion) for the Research Articles and Reviews. Unstructured abstracts for the Theory and Methods and Perspectives are recommended. Authors are encouraged not to use abbreviations in the abstract. All abbreviations must be expanded when used first time in the abstract. The authors are encouraged to provide a graphical abstract as well.
Protocol/Trial Registration number and the agency (Mandatory for all systematic reviews, meta-analyses and trials)

Keywords
Every manuscript should provide 4-6 keywords following the abstract. Authors are encouraged to use the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms for the keywords. Keywords must be provided in alphabetical order, separated by a comma.

Main Text
The manuscript's main text should contain five major headings: Introduction, Materials & Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion. Theory and Methods type of articles may merge the Methods, results and discussion headings. Perspectives are free-format main text. Main headings shall be in bold, and sub-headings shall be in bold italics. All abbreviations must be expanded when used for the first time.

Introduction: The introduction should give an adequate but brief background of the problem, existing work in the area and the rationality for the current study/work. The study's objective must be clearly stated in the last part of the introduction.

Materials & Methods: The authors should provide the methods and tools used in the study in a descriptive and reproducible manner. Every aspect of the methodology sections must be provided under suitable sub-headings. Appropriate referencing of the existing methods taken from other research must be done. All statistical procedures must be adequately justified and explained, along with the Software used for the analysis. Provide an ethical approval statement without mentioning the specific IEC name.

Results: The results of the study must be clear and specific. The results text should not just repeat the table content but explain and complement the data in the tables and figures.

Discussion: This section should interpret and discuss the study's results with the findings from previous and similar studies. It should impress upon the novel findings and potential implications in the context of the research. The strengths and limitations of the study must be in the last paragraph of the discussion.

Conclusion: Key findings of the study, along with the recommendations from the research, must be mentioned in a single paragraph.

Declarations

• Acknowledgments: In this section, you can acknowledge any support given not covered by the author contribution or funding sections. This may include administrative and technical support or donations in kind (e.g., materials used for experiments).
• Author contributions statement: All authors have contributed adequately to qualify as authors according to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria.
• Funding: All sources of funding for the study should be disclosed. Indicate grants you have received to support your research work and if you received funds to cover publication costs. If the work was non-funded, please mention 'None'.
• Conflicts of Interest: Authors must identify and declare any personal circumstances or interests that may be perceived as influencing the representation or interpretation of reported research results. If there is no conflict of interest, please state, "The authors declare no conflict of interest." Any role of the funding sponsors in the choice of the research project; design of the study; collection, analysis or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results must be declared in this section. Any projects funded by industry must pay special attention to the full declaration of funder involvement. If there is no role, please state, “The sponsors had no role in the design, execution, interpretation, or writing of the study”.
• Data Availability Statement: In this section, please provide details regarding where data supporting reported results can be found, including links to publicly archived datasets analyzed or generated during the study.

References: Vancouver square brackets.

The PHPR follows the Vancouver [square brackets] style. Cite the references sequentially. Use the same for references in figures and tables. Use a comma without spaces when citing two references together. Use a hyphen when citing three or more continuous references. Journal names should not be abbreviated and full name of the Journal should be mentioned. Mention the names of all the authors as ‘surname-space-initials-comma’ if there are six or fewer authors. Mention the first three names in case of more than six authors. Do not use references in the abstract.

A citation example:
Domestic violence also affects physicalhealth and mental health of women[1].
An example for reference:
1. Syed H Z, Vinnakota DV, Martheonis M. COVID -19 pandemic and its impact on mental health of elderly population in the middle east: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Public Health and Psychiatry Research, 2023; 56: 101817.

Mention the editors, publisher, city and year of publication in the case of a book. Accompany it with the title, authors and page numbers of a specific chapter or section if citing that. Mention both the URL and the date of accessing the website when citing an online resource.

Tables
Tables must be submitted in editable Word format and not as images. Each table should have a concise title/caption describing the content at the top of the table. Tables should be placed at the end of the manuscript file after the references. Each table should start on a fresh page. Ordinarily, a table shall not be larger than a page. Tables should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals (Table 1, Table 2…) as they appear in the main text file. All tables must be cited in the main text of the manuscript. Footnotes are allowed, and the same should be given using superscript alphabets. All abbreviations in the table must be expanded in the footnote alphabetically.

Figures
Authors should provide the figures in an acceptable format (JPEG), and with the correct resolution (minimum 300 x 300 dpi resolutions). If the figures are not of adequate quality, the journal may ask for better-quality figures from the authors. When uploaded as JPEG, each figure must be provided/uploaded as separate files. If given as MS Word, then each figure must be provided on a separate page, with a caption/title at the top of the figure. All figures must be cited in the main text of the manuscript. Each figure should have a concise title/caption describing the content at the top of the figure. Figures should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals (Figure 1, Figure 2…) as they appear in the main text file. Any legends explaining the content of the figure must be within/part of the figure.

Supplementary materials
Any materials that cannot be added to the main text due to word limitation/Table-Figure limitations or supporting data can be uploaded under the supplementary materials. Supplementary materials must be labelled according to the type of the material. Tables, Figures, and Data files in Word, PDF, Excel and PowerPoint formats are accepted under supplementary materials. Supplementary tables should be labelled as Table S1, Table S2…. Supplementary Figures should be labelled as Figure S1, Figure S2….. Data files (Excel/CSV/SPSS/STATA/R) should be labelled as Data S1, Data S2….. All supplementary materials must be cited in the main text of the manuscript.

Authorship
The PHPR Journal accepts and follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria for authorship:
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.

All contributors listed as authors by the corresponding author must satisfy all the above four criteria, and a statement mentioning this must be provided in the cover letter submitted along with the manuscript.
Any person who has contributed to the manuscript, but does not qualify as a co-author, shall be acknowledged in the “Acknowledgement” Section.

Artificial intelligence (AI) use by authors

Authors should not list a generative AI technology as a co-author or author of any submitted manuscript. Generative AI technologies cannot be held accountable for all aspects of a manuscript and consequently do not meet the criteria required for authorship.

If the author of a submitted manuscript has used written or visual content produced by or edited using a generative AI technology, this use must follow all PHPR Journal guidelines and policies. Specifically, the author is responsible for checking the factual accuracy of any content created by the generative AI technology. This includes, but is not limited to, any quotes, citations or references. Figures produced by or edited using a generative AI technology must be checked to ensure they accurately reflect the data presented in the manuscript. Authors must also check that any written or visual content produced by or edited using a generative AI technology is free from plagiarism.

If the author of a submitted manuscript has used written or visual content produced by or edited using a generative AI technology, such use must be acknowledged in the acknowledgements section of the manuscript and the methods section if applicable. This explanation must list the name, version, model, and source of the generative AI technology. We encourage authors to upload all input prompts provided to a generative AI technology and outputs received from a generative AI technology in the supplementary files for the manuscript.

Publication Ethics

We fully adhere to Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct and to its Best Practice Guidelines.

Informed consent & Ethics approval
Studies involving patients and volunteers must have taken ethics committee/Institutional review board approval, which shall be documented in the cover letter of the manuscript. The authors must produce the ethics committee/ Institutional review board approval letter for such studies if demanded by the Journal. The authors shall retain evidence of consent and will be required to be produced in exceptional cases (e.g. Legal requirement).

Conflict of Interest
All existing and potential financial and non-financial conflicts of interest for all authors shall be disclosed.